InfoWorld articles from March 2006

InfoWorld archives from March 2006

VoIP on demand - Don't have the time or inclination to fire up a VoIP system in-house? Then call a provider.(Voice over Internet Protocol )
March 6, 2006... No one ever said VoIP would be easy. Adding voice to the data network entails networking equipment upgrades, new IP phones, network management software, and staff expertise beyond that of TDM network administrators. As a result, many IT...

Altiris shakes up Windows configuration management - SVS 2.0 uses virtualization to improve app deployment model.(Altiris Inc)
March 6, 2006... Every once in a while a product comes along that fundamentally alters your perception of what is possible with IT. For me, it was the first time I saw Microsoft's IntelliMirror technology. The combination of Group Policies and client-side...

Six Apart takes blogs to work - Six Apart launches two new business- class blog offerings.(weblog service)
March 6, 2006... Whether businesses are ready for them or not, tools for blogging are getting quite serious about the business customer. Case in point: Weblog service and tool provider Six Apart this week is expected to launch two business-specific blog...

BEA nabs red-hot BPM player - Acquisition of Fuego will add business process management fuel to SOA.(BEA Systems Inc)
March 6, 2006... For many enterprises, SOA remains stuck at square one. It's one thing to play with Web services, but another to create an agile architecture that spans an organization. Such grand initiatives typically require leadership on the business side,...

Six Vistas: an IT nightmare? Microsoft's plan to release six or more versions of its forthcoming OS could break the backs of IT administrators.(Operating System)(Information Technology)
March 6, 2006... Microsoft has detailed how its forthcoming Vista OS will appear, and the six-pronged view is raising the concern of enterprise IT managers. When it is released later this year, Vista will have six core editions: four aimed at consumers and two...

Product Previews.(disaster recovery systems)
March 6, 2006... Near-Time gets up close to blogs and wikis; Symantec tackles threats at the gateway; peering into the network storm; Optovia boosts disaster recovery By InfoWorld staff Near-Time serves up blogs, wikis on demand Near-Time later...

Security in the spotlight at CeBIT - Annual trade show features security products for VoIP, handhelds, printing.(trade shows)
March 6, 2006... Security will be a major focus this week at the giant CeBIT show in Hannover, Germany. This year, the annual digital IT trade show will hone in on the multiple layers of security threats facing enterprise networks. Now it's not just data...

AOL's certified e-mail plan sparks furor - Alliance of organizations set to fight plan to quarter-cent charge per e-mail.(America Online Inc.)
March 6, 2006... AOL's plan to implement a fee-based "certified" e-mail service within the next 30 days is setting off a firestorm of protest. A coalition of more than 50 organizations has formed to fight AOL's opt-in plan to institute a quarter-cent charge per...

OPEN ENTERPRISE: Community development breathes new life into old gadgets - Open source software can add features to electronic gizmos that their manufacturers never thought of.(open source software)
March 6, 2006... At home right now I have a coffee grinder that I use strictly for milling spices. My power drill spends more time driving screws or mixing drywall mud than it does drilling holes. And from time to time I've been known to remove the pills from...

EDITOR'S LETTER: Plug-and-play appliances reshape IT landscape - All- in-one devices help IT keep it simple.(Editorial)
March 6, 2006... Looking for a can't-miss enterprise trend? I have just one word for you: appliances. During the past year, our Test Center has been inundated with the things. And not just the old standbys like firewalls, switches, and routers. I'm talking...

NOTES FROM THE FIELD: Dell gets petitioned, HP's photo mission - New Microsoft OS looks more and more like junk food.(Microsoft Corp.)(Operating Systems)
March 6, 2006... Great news: Microsoft is rolling out six flavors of vista when it appears later this millennium. Along with Vista Classic we'll be able to choose from Vista Lite, Original Recipe, Extra Crispy, Hot-n-Spicy McVista, or Enterprise Supersized,...

SECURITY ADVISER: An SSL trojan unmasked - Analyzing an especially dastardly trojan's inner workings produces startling -- but useful -- results.
March 6, 2006... As mentioned in last week's column, I was recently sent an SSL Trojan from a security consultant assisting a bank with a large online presence. This particular SSL Trojan had installed itself on more than 100 of the bank customers' computers....

FROM THE ANALYSTS: Network firewalls top wish list for security cops - On a side note, Microsoft OneCare beta became a OneScare experience.(Letter to the editor)
March 6, 2006... I made a mistake last weekend. Not your typical alcohol-induced mistake.... I downloaded a piece of software I shouldn't have (more on that in a minute). You see, having just gotten back from RSA Conference 2006, I had anti-virus on the brain....

STORAGE INSIDER: eDiscovery sets sights on cutting legal fees - EMC combines products and services in a paperless compliance solution that's no laughing matter.(leagal fees)
March 6, 2006... In a previous column, I made the point that to avoid the possibility of severe legal penalties, a company should choose a scalable and secure e-mail archiving system that allows fast and easy searches. I could make the same point for other...

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Internet at every TV may make for a gated Web - Media hubs will change the way most Americans navigate the Web, but what role will vendors play?(internet services)
March 6, 2006... Within the next two weeks, I'll be getting in deep with the Mac and PC technology that will take us into the next decade of Internet with every TV. This time, I'm certain it'll catch. Intel's Viiv Internet media hub initiative isn't just a...

STRATEGIC DEVELOPER: Sidestepping the analog hole - Even the most sophisticated digital security measures can't ignore our analog human nature.(Column)
March 6, 2006... On an episode of "The West Wing," deputy national security adviser Kate Harper (Mary McCormack) reprimands presidential assistant Debbie Fiderer (Lily Tomlin) for displaying the president's schedule on her computer screen. As Harper correctly...

OFF THE RECORD: Deciphering IT corporate-speak - When your boss asks you to "take it to the next level," get your resume in order.(Column)
March 6, 2006... By Anonymous I was senior IT manager at a large health-care organization when the vice president of applications management asked me to create a centralized quality assurance department. At that point, our IT organization consisted of...

REALITY CHECK: Filling the void left by baby-boomer techies - As an aging workforce retires, companies must cope with the inevitable brain drain.
March 6, 2006... The big exodus is getting closer and closer. The baby boomers are about to retire in droves. Every day 10,000 baby boomers turn 50. In the next 10 years, 43 percent of the workforce will be eligible for retirement, while the next two...

Exabyte stretches the tape drive - New VXA-172 starter model offers turn-key expandability from 172GB to 300GB.(Brief Article)
March 6, 2006... A new tape drive from Exabyte promises to ease the growing pains of the small company that one day realizes it has more data to back up than can fit on a single tape. The VXA-172, which Exabyte began shipping at the end of February, has the...

UTM appliances whip blended security threats - Unified threat management appliances combine multiple perimeter protections with mixed results.(Column)
March 6, 2006... Taking one part stateful inspection firewall, one part intrusion prevention, and equal parts anti-virus, anti-spam, anti-spyware, and content filtering, UTM (Unified Threat Management) appliances blend traditionally separate security services...

Asigra runs the system-backup gamut - Televaulting for Enterprises 6.0 offers agentless backup of e-mail and database servers, OSes.
March 6, 2006... Most backup packages are geared toward backing up a server to tape or disk, or at most backing up all the workstations on a LAN. Enterprises that need to back up a variety of servers and clients over a WAN are left to cobble together an...

HP plots an effective e-mail archiving grid - Blade system creates a solid platform to aid in compliance.(Hewlett- Packard's StorageWorks RISS 1.1)(Product/Service Evaluation)
March 6, 2006... Security, scalability, and performance are the most obvious factors to consider when choosing an e-mail archiving system for your company. To be well prepared for responding to litigation or audits from regulatory bodies, you want a...

LogLogic hits the high points of log management - Appliance-based solution archives, analyzes multiple log file types.(network management software)
March 13, 2006... There are a million and one log-management tools running in networks all over the world. Some are simple file-searching utilities. Some dig a little deeper. But all are focused on a specific log file from a specific service or network device....

TriCipher divides keys to conquer security - TriCipher Armored Credential System combines multi-part keys and many modes of multi- factor authentication.(TriCipher Armored Credential System )
March 13, 2006... The TriCipher Armored Credential System really is a suite of utility programs and appliances that allow a company to have secure internal and external communications using authentication that's difficult or impossible to compromise. TACS...

Bring business analysis to streaming events - AptSoft's and iSpheres' complex event processing solutions provide effective ways to sift business meaning from system events in real time.(AptSoft's Director for CEP 4.0)(ispheres Corp's Event server 5.2)
March 13, 2006... It's no secret to IT people, or any business executive worth his Beemer, that an amazing wealth of actionable business intelligence is coursing through enterprise applications, databases, and even system logs nearly every moment of every day....

Novell to ship improved Linux desktop this summer - Desktop version improves compatibility with Microsoft Office.(case studies)
March 13, 2006... With Linux attracting a worldwide audience of customers who prefer the open source paradigm to closed operating systems, CeBit -- the world's largest international trade show -- was the perfect venue for Novell this week to announce its latest...

AT&T, BellSouth merger to spur fixed mobile convergence - Voice, video and data over wireless and wire line is finally coming.(company forecasts)(Brief article)
March 13, 2006... Bigger may be better if AT&T's $67 billion offer for BellSouth gets past government watchdogs, which it is expected to do. According to several industry analysts, a key benefit to AT&T's enterprise customers will come from the convergence of...

Intel details its processor road map at IDF 2006 - Core architecture to power a great leap forward.(processor development)
March 13, 2006... At the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, Intel's new slogan, "Leap Ahead," has shown its true meaning: The once-indomitable chipmaker wants a time machine that will let it leap ahead to 2007. After all, 2006 is shaping up to be quite an...

VoIP buddies: Cisco, Citrix, and Microsoft - Cisco partners with Citrix and Microsoft to bring IM-like presence and click-to-call capabilities to their hosted and desktop applications.(Cisco Systems Inc.)(Citrix Systems Inc.)(Brief article)
March 13, 2006... For better or worse, voice has escaped the telephone and is weaving its way into the fabric of enterprise applications. According to Gartner, by 2010, 80 percent of companies will have integrated voice and messaging into some business...

EDITOR'S LETTER: Dilbert knows SOA - A service-oriented architecture starts with a dialogue between business and IT.(Editorial)
March 13, 2006... This Thursday in San Francisco we're delighted to host another edition of the InfoWorld SOA Executive Forum, our fifth conference targeting service-oriented architecture. Subtitled "Lessons From the Front Lines," this incarnation is rich in...

OPEN ENTERPRISE: The Internet is flat; AOL just doesn't know it - The online giant makes a halfhearted attempt at opening its instant messaging service.(The World Is Flat)(Book review)
March 13, 2006... In his bestselling book, The World Is Flat, New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman observed that geography is no longer an advantage in today's globalized economy. There's no guaranteed "high ground"; a company in the United States doesn't...

SECURITY ADVISER: SSL Trojans getting ever nastier - Based on increases in Trojan technology, frequency, Roger predicts a major bank heist is on the horizon.(spyware viruses)
March 13, 2006... Last week's column on SSL Trojans generated a lot of interest and some new information. First, I must admit to feeling like I've been living in a sheltered time warp. Although SSL Trojans are new to me, a little Googling turned up similar...

NOTES FROM THE FIELD: Office ads dis the prez; storage firm sorry for spam, it sez - Pugnacious punster looks forward to more silly patent suits.(patents)
March 13, 2006... Now that RIM and NTP have kissed and made up, all the twitchy-thumbed execs I know can finally stop holding their breath. RIM wins because it can keep doing what it does so well. NTP wins because $612.5 million is a pretty good payday for a...

FROM THE ANALYSTS: Experts offer fresh perspective on offshoring IT - At a time when data is in short supply, a new report yields in-depth findings.(case studies on outsourcing)
March 13, 2006... One of the problems with the debate over IT offshoring has been a lack of facts on the table. There's been plenty of rhetoric and emotion, but little in the way of credible data. Now, thanks to the academic, ultrageeky Association for...

ENTERPRISE WINDOWS: ENTERPRISE WINDOWS: Don't neuter the Net - Net neutrality legislation would stop bandwidth providers' power grab.(regulations in telecommunications)
March 13, 2006... Senator Ron Wyden: We love you. Wyden's the Oregon Democrat who introduced legislation this week seeking to end this attack on Net neutrality. In case you're not fully aware, the big telecom and cable broadband vendors have proposed some...

STORAGE INSIDER: Optical and tape drives duel for archiving dominance - Vendors may push alternative archive technologies, but disk drives are getting high praise from the low-end market.(Column)
March 13, 2006... Is anyone surprised that vendors are coming up with new backup solutions for the SMEs (small-medium enterprises)? I'm not, considering the growing opportunity for smaller storage systems -- but don't think for a minute that large enterprise...

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Apple products go wild - With little enterprise news to tout, Steve Jobs tests the limits of his Midas touch.(Letter to the editor)
March 13, 2006... In early February, I received an invitation to an unveiling of some "fun new products" at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. After being dropped into a herd of journalists all crushed into a cube, I asked and was assured that there was...

STRATEGIC DEVELOPER: Tools for enterprise mashups - New Firefox add-ins are powerful tools for developing composite Web applications.
March 13, 2006... It was inevitable that someone would coin the phrase "enterprise mashup," and SOA analyst Phil Wainewright seems to have gotten there first. A mashup, for those not at the white-hot center of Silicon Valley's latest craze, is a composite Web...

REALITY CHECK: Paid e-mail plan raises the people's ire - AOL and Yahoo's plan to charge fees for messaging inspires righteous indignation -- but why?(internet service providers)
March 13, 2006... If the '60s has left any mark on following generations, it can still be found in high tech. That seminal generation perceived, and held as its credo, the belief that ordinary people could change the course of American policy, and did, when...

OFF THE RECORD: Development project becomes "March to Hell" - When the time line is impossible and the requirements keep changing, experienced managers look for the exit.(chronology)(Chronology)
March 13, 2006... By Anonymous When the project time line is impossible and the requirements keep changing, experienced managers look for the exit I started out as a developer but quickly moved into project management, process development, and training....

Processes from point A to B to X - Appian Enterprise 5 promises to make exception handling no exception.
March 13, 2006... Not so long ago BPM (business process management) vendors could afford to specialize. Now they're moving as fast as they can to bring the spheres of collaborative workflow and system-centric processes together. One vendor cooking up a...

Product Previews.(software release)
March 13, 2006... Parasoft SOAtest 4.5 adds governance; TippingPoint unveils global MSS; Proofpoint turns 4.0; Senforce steers into NAC By InfoWorld staff Parasoft brings BPEL testing, SOA governance to SOAtest Parasoft has released SOAtest 4.5, an...

DoD puts SOA into action - A long history of process modeling helps the U.S. Transportation Command launch a promising SOA initiative.
March 13, 2006... When it comes to modeling complex business processes, the folks at the U.S. Transportation Command (U.S. Transcom) have a lot of experience. As the central defense agency responsible for worldwide air, land, and sea transportation for the U.S....

Maximizing the business value of SOA - Steps in business processes map to digital services, which can then be recomposed into new process- driven applications on the fly.(service oriented architecture )(Brief article)
March 13, 2006... SOA is a better way to do application integration, but a small SOA vision centered on integration misses the point of designing for greater business flexibility. The word "service" in SOA refers to business services, which capture business...

SOA planning: Sizing up business processes - Successful service- oriented architectures begin with process modeling and careful collaboration between IT architects and business stakeholders.
March 13, 2006... As SOA goes mainstream in the enterprise, its success may hinge on a crucial meeting of the minds -- a mashup of talent that can uncap a font of creative potential. On one side of the mashup are architects and developers, who up to now...

BEA rides Java toward SOA - Manageability shines in complementary WebLogic and AquaLogic ESB releases.(company overview)(Company overview)
March 13, 2006... BEA Systems has redefined itself several times in its short history. Originally set up to sell the Tuxedo transaction manager, the company made a deft acquisition of the WebLogic application server in 1998, which it rode like a rocket to...

A first look at Microsoft Exchange Server 12 - New version improves management, integration, and brings a souped-up Web client.
March 20, 2006... The basic questions of when the next version of exchange will arrive and how much it will cost remain vague. Answers can be summed up as "end of 2006/early 2007" and "in line with current Exchange pricing." Still, while many of the details...

Tackling Exchange management from all angles - Tools from DYS Analytics, Microsoft, Quest, Zenprise emphasize different admin strengths.
March 20, 2006... When you consider the number of different applications, Windows services, and settings that need to be configured properly in order to create a working Exchange server, it isn't surprising that many administrators spend a lot of time...

Does agile programming lack agility? Software exec notes that agile seems to be mostly about processes and tools instead of individuals.(Brief article)
March 20, 2006... Agile software development, which aims for quicker delivery of software than traditional methods, hasn't yet met its promise, said Steve McConnell, author and chief software engineer at Construx Software Builders, at the SD West 2006 conference...

EclipseCon reflects IDE's rise as plug-in platform of choice - But no one said it would be easy: Transitioning can bring undesirable complexities.
March 20, 2006... EclipseCon kicks off this week in Santa Clara, Calif., marking the second annual convocation of Eclipse partners and vendors, who will gather to learn about and celebrate alliances, new products, and new directions. Indeed, there's much to...

McAfee vows to help after faulty software release - Staff in overdrive, helping enterprise customers restore utility files deleted March 10.(Brief article)
March 20, 2006... Executives at McAfee are promising to help enterprise customers manage the difficulties that arose March 10 after faulty software prompted users to delete Microsoft Excel files, among others. The defective software is no longer posted, so users...

Red Hat aims to simplify CPU virtualization - Linux vendor is integrating Xen virtualization technologies into the next version of its OS.
March 20, 2006... Red Hat formally announced at a press event in San Francisco last week its Integrated Virtualization strategy, aimed at simplifying CPU virtualization deployment for RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) customers. The initiative includes integration...

EDITOR'S LETTER: Who's Bullish on SaaS? Software as a service has momentum, but success isn't inevitable.(Editorial)
March 20, 2006... All you have to do is glance at this week's cover to realize that InfoWorld is bullish on SaaS (software as a service). After all, we reserve "The Next Big Thing" label for, well, really big things, and we think that hosted enterprise software,...

NOTES FROM THE FIELD: Age of Google dawns, Microsoft's gizmo yawns - Humbled scribe finds message in a bottle.
March 20, 2006... So Google snaps up a humble online word processor and suddenly the walls are tumbling down in Redmond. Somehow, the purchase of Upstartle (the upstart creators of Writely) seems unlikely to inspire millions to ditch Microsoft, but it could lead...

FROM THE ANALYSTS: Do you believe in the power of telecom mergers? Verizon and AT&T must prove they can be as agile and customer-focused as the niche players.(Editorial)
March 20, 2006... In a year when top-tier Oscars went to niche-market movies, why are business plaudits going to do a blockbuster deal such as AT&T's just- announced $67 billion acquisition of BellSouth? If scale doesn't work in movies anymore, why should it...

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Cheap, fast, portable servers are no longer the stuff of daydreams - What will two grand buy these days? How about a server blade you can cart around with you.
March 20, 2006... I've learned that Intel is wedging notebook CPUs into places they ought not go. The Core Duo CPU, the very same one that's now in iMac, MacBook Pro and (cover your ears) Mac mini, is being branded as a Xeon and sold for blade servers. That's...

STRATEGIC DEVELOPER: Microsoft builds bridges with Live Clipboard - Ray Ozzie's new code example brings Windows and Web applications closer together.
March 20, 2006... At Microsoft's PDC (Professional Developers Conference) a decade ago, the company took the first steps toward a union of Windows and the Web. Adam Bosworth showed off the technologies we now call AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML). J Allard...

REALITY CHECK: Microsoft: A 21st-century has-been? As the Redmond-based giant struggles to remain relevant, time and technology are passing it by.
March 20, 2006... Early this month, Neil Holloway, president of Microsoft EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), said that in six months Microsoft's search engine "will be more relevant" to the consumer than Google's. It is no coincidence that Holloway used the...

OFF THE RECORD: The real downside of a Fortune 500 analyst job - Overtime hours are eating up your life, and the boss is cracking the whip. Your options?
March 20, 2006... By Anonymous I graduated at the top of my class with a degree in IT and several appealing job offers. After scoping out my options, I signed on as a systems analyst at a manufacturing plant for a Fortune 500 company, where I was tasked...

Elemental extends visibility and control - Elemental Security Platform 2.0 broadens platform support, policy management, and reporting.
March 20, 2006... In an impressive debut release, Elemental Security's Elemental Compliance System 1.1 advanced the cause of enterprisewide system monitoring and access control with exceptional reporting and granular policy management. Version 2.0 of the...

Product Previews.
March 20, 2006... Fujitsu unveils eight-socket server blade, Blue Coat bolts application acceleration into proxy appliance, Credant extends the reach of data encryption, and Applied Identity applies directory to policy management By InfoWorld staff ...

Software as a service: The next big thing - Applications are evolving in a Web ecosystem. Will enterprises one day get their key applications through the Web?
March 20, 2006... In a now legendary 1995 memo, bill Gates raised the alarm that Microsoft was woefully unprepared for what he termed the "Internet Tidal Wave." Fast forward 10 years to last October, and Gates blasts out another high-priority e-mail, this time...

Veteran venture capitalist is sold on SaaS - Ann Winblad of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners discusses the remarkable momentum of software as a service.(Company overview)
March 20, 2006... Hummer Winblad Venture Partners was established in 1989 as the first venture capital fund to invest exclusively in software companies. These days, 12 of the 30 companies in Hummer Winblad's portfolio are SaaS ventures. We spoke with Ann...

What about those Salesforce.com outages? Any way you slice it, SaaS applications are a single point of failure for a host of customers.(Editorial)
March 20, 2006... The first objection to SaaS, particularly among enterprise IT customers, is that reliability and availability are in someone else's hands. So when Salesforce.com customers experienced significant service disruptions in December and January,...

Modern strategies for managing Microsoft Exchange - A range of tools and services help admins make the most of enterprise messaging.
March 20, 2006... Let's face it: administering a Microsoft-based network inevitably means dealing with Exchange Server. Microsoft continues to lead the messaging market in new-account sales "by a significant margin," according to Erica Rugullies, principal...

NOTES FROM THE FIELD: Security snafus linger, Gates gives cheap PCs the finger - Columnist upstaged in the gossip department.(Dell Inc. may change its name to Dull)
March 27, 2006... Dell will no longer be forced to change its name to Dull now that its hotly rumored acquisition of gamer PC maker Alienware has come to pass. I understand Alienware OK'd the deal, but only on the condition that Michael Dell agrees to undergo a...

STRATEGIC DEVELOPER: Metered Web services - The ability to track usage will enable the future business model for network services.(Amazon.com Inc.'s new simple storage service)
March 27, 2006... Amazon's new simple storage service, S3, burst on the scene a few hours before I had to hop on a plane. There was enough time to sign up for an account, download and run some sample programs, snag the documentation, and take the pulse of the...

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: The Intel-AMD processor race revs up - Intel's Core microarchitecture has some predicting AMD's doom. Dream on ...
March 27, 2006... Intel's new emphasis on low power suits me to a T. The company's present take on low power is backed with some specious marketing that pretends the CPU is the only system component that draws current. Even so, Intel earns my nod for moving its...

OFF THE RECORD: Do good work, lose your job - Basic economics: One well-paid employee is cheaper than two poorly paid ones.(Column)
March 27, 2006... By Anonymous I'm a database programmer by trade, but I can write too. Several years ago, a large hardware vendor offered me a handsome salary to oversee documentation for the company's embedded utilities. I decided if they had the money, I...

REALITY CHECK: Homeland Security probes L-1 visa abuses - Office of the Inspector General finds significant flaws in overseas hiring program.(Editorial)
March 27, 2006... In the course of my research for a column on misuse of the L-1A and L- 1B visa program for temporary workers in the United States, I was alerted to the Inspector General's report published in January of this year by the Department of Homeland...

Novell unveils Enterprise 10 - Suse Linux Enterprise 10 client and server put on a show at BrainShare.(Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop 10.0)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Last week at the BrainShare 2006 conference, Novell handed out beta editions of SLES (Suse Linux Enterprise Server) 10 and SLED (Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop) 10, the latter a rebranding of the Novell Linux Desktop to emphasize the shared code...

Product previews.(Sonic Software Corp.'s Sonic ESB 7.0)(Nsite Inc.'s Nsite 6.0)(Mirapoint Inc.'s ComplianceVault)
March 27, 2006... Sonic Software revs Enterprise Service Bus; Nsite 6.0 tools the on- demand SMB; Mirapoint unveils appliance for compliance; Azaleos launches disaster recovery service for Exchange By InfoWorld staff Sonic Software revs enterprise...

Scaling a federated identity infrastructure - Most identity federations start small, but as they grow in size you may need to rethink your approach.(Editorial)
March 27, 2006... Different kinds of organizations approach the problem of scaling a federated identity implementation in different ways. When you're federating with one or two partners, hammering out the legal arrangements and assigning risk and liability is...

User-centric identity brings federation close to home - Agreements between peers can add up to an effective federation.(Editorial)
March 27, 2006... Federation doesn't have to be a behind-the-scenes interaction between big companies. Lately, an idea called "user-centric identity" has gained traction. It revolves around a few core principles, most notably the idea that users should be...

The hidden challenges of federated identity - Federation is the logical goal of identity infrastructures, but achieving it takes more than just technology.(Editorial)
March 27, 2006... For years, companies have kept stores of identity information about employees, customers, and partners. These databases and directories are critical components of a company's identity infrastructure. But as businesses push to create new...

Ricoh and Xerox deliver fast color in a big way - Pricey and speedy models break the tabloid barrier.(Ricoh Aficio CL7300D and Xerox Phaser 7400DN comparision)(Column)
March 27, 2006... The past couple of years have seen the consolidation of color laser printers as affordable, reliable mainstream machines, delivering a big boon to office workers who need to produce attractive, informative business documents. The next frontier...

No-cost solutions in the anti-spam ecosystem - Blacklists, whitelists, and greylists are all essential spam-fighting tools. Here's how your organization can use them effectively.(Editorial)
March 27, 2006... Like the rising cost of postage stamps, increasing complexity in e-mail is inevitable. In the early, halcyon days of the Internet, SMTP connections flowed like a mountain spring and mail filters were used solely for mail organization. Now, the...

A day in the life of a mail server - Think your life is hard? A mail server's is harder -- it spends far more time killing spam than delivering mail.(Editorial)
March 27, 2006... I woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head, and checked the statistics generated by one of my mail servers during the past 24 hours. The day before, I wrote a Sendmail milter in Perl to match every inbound mail relay against...

Blacklisters on the front lines - What thanks do you get for maintaining a blacklist? Malware and denial-of-service attacks.
March 27, 2006... Although the major DNS blacklists offer their services free to most users, they certainly pay a price for providing them. As each DNS blacklist grows in popularity and effectiveness, it presents a significant problem to the revenue stream of...

Lightweight Linux e-mail platforms pack a punch - Scalix and Zimbra leverage AJAX to deliver enterprise-class messaging.(Zimbra Collaboration Suite 3.0 and Scalix 10.0 comparision)
March 27, 2006... E-mail is a killer application. Your organization can become immobilized when messages don't flow. Servers need to be restarted for security patches. Whole infrastructures must be taken offline for costly hardware upgrades that provide...

IBM pushes new governance tools and practices - A new initiative goes beyond managing service assets in a registry.(International Business Machines Corp. and its Service oriented architecture (Software design) governance)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... IBM expanded its SOA governance efforts last Wednesday with new products and services, including a Rational plug-in and a Business Consulting Services program focusing on best practices. The company says it believes SOA governance has been...

Microsoft reveals Web app dev strategy -- and Vista delay - Gates admits letting IE languish was a mistake, looks ahead at a brave new world of Web apps with or without Vista.(Microsoft Windows Vista)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Microsoft intended last week's first-ever Mix 06 show to be a coming- out party for the company's next-generation Web app dev plan. But the show may be better remembered for Microsoft's sudden announcement of the delay of Windows Vista until...

Oracle rolls out BI bundles - Fusion platform continues to bulk up, this time with a business intelligence suite.(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Oracle is making a major push into BI software with three bundles of existing products. The company anticipates ramping up its BI software presence in the same way that it built up its middleware business, said Oracle President Charles...

Novell steers Linux to the virtualized datacenter - SLES 10 and Xen virtualization take center stage at BrainShare 2006.(Suse Linux Enterprise Server 10.0)
March 27, 2006... At Novell's annual gathering of the faithful in Salt Lake City, the company had plenty of news to share, including a new mobile server for GroupWise based on Nokia Intellisync, upgrades to Novell's SSO (single sign-on) and storage management...