InfoWorld articles from September 2002

InfoWorld archives from September 2002

Information aggregation - XML plays key role in simplifying multiformat data access via EII.
September 2, 2002... XML'S COMING-OF-AGE as a data equalizer is fueling a furious information management push as vendors ranging from BEA Systems and IBM to a cadre of small players aim to simplify the way companies access data scattered across the enterprise. ...

Troubled travels - Airlines and related travel companies are deploying strategic technologies including Web services to cut costs and support innovative partnerships amid fiscal fallout.
September 2, 2002... THE DECLINE IN TRAVEL brought on by the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and the weakened economy have forced airlines and travel companies to cut costs wherever they can. As a result, CTOs are using Web services and other technologies as strategic...

Secure and at ease - PayPal's Levchin turned his early fascination with encryption into a successful business model.
September 2, 2002... MAX LEVCHIN'S FASCINATION with encryption started when he was a teenager in Kiev, Ukraine, and continued as he immigrated to the United States where he attended the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. In late 1998, not two years out of...

Casting a .Net.
September 2, 2002... The number of CTOs currently using .Net is almost equal to the number of those with no plans to use it, and a significant proportion plan to implement .Net in the near future. Related Articles:Gordon Mangione tells how .Net influences...

Bringing it all together - Integrating myriad systems to present a single view of the customer continues to be a frustrating task for enterprises seeking a course to CRM success.
September 2, 2002... Driving records for the entire state were -- and still are -- hosted on a closed IBM mainframe database, which could not accommodate online transactions and was accessible only to staffers in DVS headquarters. Drivers' paperwork was routed to...

Seeking CRM Satisfaction.
September 2, 2002... Related Articles:CRM integration package Copyright (c) 2002 InfoWorld Media Group Inc.

Finding the right tools - Achieving solid CRM integration requires advances in data transformation, business process coordination to tackle this multilayered problem.
September 2, 2002... DURING THE Vietnam War, the "body count" measured the slow slog of battle against a poorly understood enemy. No metric has emerged yet to measure the carnage in the CRM integration war, but one thing is certain: It's a mess out there. ...

OASIS fuels security agenda - Coalition ranks swell to address corporate concerns over Web services adoption.(Organization for Advancement of Structured Information Standards)
September 2, 2002... DETERMINED TO NAIL down key security and interoperability standards, the broad base of support for official standards bodies is swelling to counter enterprise apprehension regarding Web services adoption. Next week, 95 individuals...

Intel cooks up chip fest - Banias, Pentium 4 to take center stage at IDF as communications converge.(Intel Developer Forum conference)
September 2, 2002... INTEL WILL REVEAL details of its forthcoming mobile Banias and 3.0GHz Pentium 4 processors and will tout plans for sophisticated communications devices at its semi-annual Developer Forum conference, which begins Sept. 9 in San Jose, Calif. ...

Net Physics tells all - NP-1000 appliance monitors Internet traffic from server to end-user.(Evaluation)
September 2, 2002... ONE OF THE GREAT challenges of running a Web site has been to learn enough about your Internet traffic to provide visitors to your site with the level of service they need. The reason, of course, is that it's difficult to know what's really...

A fast merry-go-round - Dell's PowerVault 122T eight-slot carousel represents an affordable step up from single Quantum drives.(Product Announcement)
September 2, 2002... THE CONSTANT GROWTH of business-supporting data will inevitably compel many midsize companies and departments of larger corporations to consider switching from DLT (digital linear tape) or LTO (linear tape open) single-drive backup units to...

ABOVE THE NOISE: Goodbye big buys of yesterday - Underutilized apps and a failure to meet promised ROI is a boon for modular rollouts.
September 2, 2002... ANY TIME YOU HEAR an enterprise software vendor wax philosophical about the tremendous economic impact his company's products are having on customers, odds are good that the executive in question only spends time with a highly select minority...

NOTES FROM THE FIELD: Dreams of summer.
September 2, 2002... THIS ISLAND IN Hawaii sure is beautiful, although I think Amber is getting a bit bored by my desire to lay around on the beach all day. "Aren't there any activities that you want to do, Bobby?" Ah, yes, watching the waves crash. Federal...

To the editor.(Letter to the Editor)
September 2, 2002... Long live Notes ON THE EVE of ND6 commercial release, Steve Gillmor's column "Notes is dead" (See Ahead of the Curve) is a real party spoiler. Remember, InfoWorld is the same trade journal that gave a thumbs-up review to deploy ND6...

THE OPEN SOURCE: Set a Linux standard - Efforts by the Free Standards Group to issue certification will help prevent Unix Wars II.
September 2, 2002... THE RECENTLY completed LinuxWorld Expo in San Francisco dealt with business -- lots of business. But one issue that concerns many companies developing solutions for Linux is the number of different Linux distributions. The earlier fragmentation...

WINDOW MANAGER: IE doesn't lock down - The SSL security indicator in Internet Explorer 5.x and 6.0 doesn't mean you're secure.
September 2, 2002... WE'VE SPENT years teaching users that their passwords and credit card numbers are secure on the Web as long as a little lock icon appears in the status bar of their browser windows. Now it turns out that this isn't true. Microsoft Internet...

SECURITY ADVISER: Layers of security - Anti-virus software and firewalls are often better defenses than intrusion detection systems.
September 2, 2002... GROWING UP in Michigan, or in most temperate climates for that matter, one quickly learns the value of layering. Spend a winter in Chicago, and you'll see that "more layers than baklava" isn't a fashion statement, it's about maintaining core...

STORAGE INSIDER: The new kid jumps in - Cisco shakes up the market with a new line of storage network switches.
September 2, 2002... CAN CISCO, a relatively new entry in the networked storage market, give the likes of Brocade, Inrange, and McData a run for their money in the strategic fabric switching arena? Recent news indicates that this is exactly what Cisco has in mind....

WIRELESS WORLD: Powering off - Companies examine ways to optimize software development for power management.
September 2, 2002... JUST AS CUSTOM cars and motorcycles express the individuality and personal goals of the owner, customized corporate software expresses the unique personality and goals of the individual enterprise. There is no reason to believe that mobile...

ENTERPRISE STRATEGIES: Quality in-house - Software quality isn't a process or department, it's a job requirement for everyone in IT.
September 2, 2002... NO MATTER WHAT your job title is, if you're involved in IT, you are responsible for software quality. Your right to complain about unstable, insecure, underperforming, inefficient, or inaccessible programs correlates with your willingness to...

CTO CONNECTION: Consultant canons - CTOs should know how to use consultants, but it's a long way from lip service to implementation.
September 2, 2002... I'VE SPENT A lot of time in recent weeks thinking about the role of consultants in IT and business in general. Every CTO has one and usually several stories about an enterprise software product or custom integration project that began with...

SURVIVAL GUIDE: Evolutionary IT - Don't get tricked into thinking that natural selection has put you right at the top of the corporate heap.
September 2, 2002... USUALLY, I get the joke. I don't always think it's funny, but at least I get it. Not always, though -- in a recent column I reported on the antics of a certain "Dr. Richard Paley, teacher of Divinity and Theobiology, Fellowship...

THE GRIPE LINE: Demand better - With the IT industry in a slump, now is the time for users to demand that vendors produce bug-free software.(Column)
September 2, 2002... EVERYONE TALKS ABOUT software quality, or the lack thereof, but who is going to do something about it? That was the question many readers were pondering in their response to my recent column on the subject (see "Battling the bugs"). As you...

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Notes postmortem - Some readers suggest reports of Notes' death may be greatly exaggerated, but save the obituary just in case.(Column)
September 2, 2002... LAST WEEK'S COLUMN (See "Notes is Dead") touched a deep nerve. I expected it would; I did not undertake the piece lightly, as some have suggested. Notes at its core is highly personal, and its proponents take it that way. I know -- I'm one of...

No match for paper - Microsoft's Tablet PC must outperform a steno pad to be successful.(Microsoft's Tablet PC, Acer TravelMate 100)(Evaluation)
September 2, 2002... PAPER IS SILENT and supremely portable. When you use a pen to fill out a form, you're using one of the densest, most efficient input tools available. Remarkably, computers have yet to match these benefits. A notebook PC's keyboard and...

Vendors ready for Tablet OS.
September 2, 2002... MICROSOFT'S WINDOWS XP Tablet PC Edition OS isn't slated to launch until Nov. 7, but companies such as Motion Computing, Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba, and Fujitsu already have revealed plans to release Tablet PC products. Groove Networks also has...

XSPs tab APIs to push Web services rollouts.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... A growing number of service providers are offering APIs to help customers link customized and third-party applications to existing ones. In September, Boston-based sales force automation company Salesnet plans to release Salesnet Extended,...

Startup eyes XML management.(Swingtide)
September 2, 2002... Portsmouth, N.H.-based startup Swingtide this week announced its plans to the IT industry, detailing its upcoming products scheduled for the fourth quarter. Its new offerings will focus on XML and XML-based services. According to CEO David...

Juggling workflow - Tenrox Projeca 7 PSA suite counters complex projects with complex features worth a look.(Evaluation)
September 2, 2002... PROFESSIONAL SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS, companies that sell staff services instead of goods, normally have little use for traditional ERP solutions because their production cycles focus on managing human activities rather than material or assembly...

Toolkits tackle standards - Web services kits advance toward easier integration, interoperability.
September 9, 2002... PROMISING ACCESS to a wider set of standards, developer toolkits are emerging to address growing enterprise demand for internal Web services and application integration. As toolkits from the likes of Microsoft, IBM, and Cape Clear arrive...

Monumental mission - In the year since Sept. 11, government CTOs have been put to the task -- cutting red tape to reinvent fed systems and the definition of a secure enterprise.
September 9, 2002... IN THE YEAR SINCE Sept. 11, the federal government has launched the mother of all IT projects: re-architecting hundreds of standalone systems with the goal of a unified architecture for domestic and defense agencies. At the same time, federal...

Putting security first.(Interview)
September 9, 2002... Anteon IT executive ponders dilemmas raised while searching for national technology security solutions SECURITY HAS BEEN the watchword in government since Sept. 11, and in his role as chief scientist at government contractor Anteon, Robert...

Without a safety .Net (Second in a four-part series).
September 9, 2002... Many CTOs are taking a cautious approach to their plans to rollout Net. Related Articles:Pulse - part one Copyright (c) 2002 InfoWorld Media Group Inc.

Lessons learned.
September 9, 2002... One year after the attacks of Sept. 11, enterprises have re-examined some of their technology priorities to focus on communication and continuity IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING the events of Sept. 11, 2001, information technology and IT staffers...

Wireless' flexibility earns praise - Technology's usefulness garners attention, but security concerns remain up in the air.
September 9, 2002... TWELVE MONTHS AFTER the attacks that left the Pentagon and New York's financial district in rubble, organizations both private and public are still sorting out how to assess the lessons of Sept. 11 and incorporate them into future plans. ...

Telecoms eye continuity.
September 9, 2002... ACCOUNTING SCANDALS and bankruptcies may have brought the telecom industry to its knees, but the unforgettable events of Sept. 11 dealt one of the initial blows. Not only were the carriers themselves shaken, but customers of data and telecom...

Information access gets a boost - Knowledge management, data sharing become critical as companies strive to make data always available.
September 9, 2002... EFFORTS TO strengthen knowledge management and information sharing have accelerated since Sept. 11, according to Gary Bird, corporate vice president of the digitization group at Honeywell, a large aerospace and transportation materials company...

Security weathers the spotlight - Network security gets a hard look as companies accept responsibility and boost defenses.
September 9, 2002... PERIMETER SCANS, vulnerability assessments, and re-evaluated business continuity plans became even more sought-after during the frenzied dash to unearth and plug enterprise holes after the events of Sept. 11. One year later, acceptance of...

Distributing the datacenter - Thanks to advances in storage networking, it's becoming easier to maintain useful data off-site.
September 9, 2002... LAST YEAR'S EVENTS taught us that data security and physical security are closely entwined. Data security cannot happen without physical security, and physical security without data security is pointless. The question is where to place the...

Planning ahead.
September 9, 2002... Enterprises are taking a measured approach when planning disaster recovery and business continuity. Related Articles:Special Report: Sept. 11, one year later Copyright (c) 2002 InfoWorld Media Group Inc.

Feds raise recovery bar - U.S. government, industry coalition aim to unify business-continuity plans.
September 9, 2002... DETERMINED TO ESTABLISH a coordinated approach to business continuity, the federal government and an industry coalition are working separately to establish regulations and tools governing technology and industry development. Three federal...

Intel and brethren form PC migration group.(PC Migration Working Group)(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... Intel, IBM, and Microsoft have formed The PC Migration Working Group to study and promote methods that improve PC data migrations. The group will focus on raising awareness of migration products and creating migration guidelines for ISVs. Also...

RSA secures mobile apps.(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... RSA Security detailed new software that provides one-time access codes to mobile devices via SMS (short messaging service). RSA's Mobile authentication software delivers the access codes to users' pagers, mobile phones, PDAs, or e-mail accounts...

HP cuts server costs.(introduces HP 05 Series)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
September 9, 2002... Hewlett-Packard launched a line of Unix servers aimed at cost-conscious buyers. The three servers, collectively dubbed the 05 Series, use slower processors than do those of HP's mainstream Unix line. The systems are currently available in...

MS on CRM offensive - SAP, Siebel build out analytics, portal features ahead of Microsoft CRM.(Microsoft MSCRM, MySAP 3.1and Siebel 7.5)(Product Announcement)
September 9, 2002... AS SAP AND SIEBEL unleash new CRM offerings, Microsoft has quietly deployed an internal project known as Alchemy that melds its Web services and CRM aspirations. Expected to release MS CRM in November, executives from the Redmond,...

Token security - iGate's key-based approach to security works well -- in theory.(Rainbow Technologies NetSwift iGate)(Evaluation)
September 9, 2002... THE CONCEPT BEHIND the NetSwift iGate is a good one: Provide an appliance with SSL acceleration and security that resides in front of your Web servers. That way, you can have secure communications to your network without burdening those servers...

The ultimate filer - The PowerVault 775N -- Dell's new scalable, competitively priced NAS unit -- integrates seamlessly with back-end SANs.(Evaluation)
September 9, 2002... A COMPANY MOVING from DAS (direct access storage) to networked storage typically faces the dilemma of choosing between NAS and SAN solutions. NAS appliances are easier to implement and are sensibly less expensive than even a small a SAN. Most...

NOTES FROM THE FIELD: Strategic hostility.
September 9, 2002... AFTER I SUGGESTED TO Amber that we "do our own thing" on some of the days during our vacation to Hawaii, she got angry enough to bark at me "OK, let's take separate flights back home." Takeover target BEA officials are considering a...

To the editor.(Letter to the Editor)
September 9, 2002... H-1B misconceptions I READ BOB LEWIS' column, "Hiring at home" and was a bit puzzled by the comment, "[the H-1B program was] created to help American companies deal with a shortage of skilled programmers." The H-1B program is not something...

THE OPEN SOURCE: Red-mond Hat? Red Hat is making gains, but licensing realities will keep it from following in Microsoft's footsteps.
September 9, 2002... I GUESS IT'S that time again. About once every quarter, someone circulates the story that the open-source world is cowering in fear over the possibility that Red Hat may become the next Microsoft. Pardon me if I fail to cringe. The...

WINDOW MANAGER: Welcome, new admin - Anyone with a guest account can get administrative control of your PC and maybe your network.
September 9, 2002... YOU KNOW HOW to set up Windows 2000 and XP workstations so that users must log on with passwords and they can't administer other users or your network. It's easy, right? Wrong. The basic design of the Win32 architecture, going back to...

SECURITY ADVISER: Liberty for all? A first pass over the Liberty Alliance specifications reveals flexibility and an open design.(Column)
September 9, 2002... I'M STILL NOT OVER the attacks of Sept. 11. But I feel that "business as usual" is the most fitting way to show that the attackers' goal remains unachieved. In that spirit, here's this week's installment of what I hope is your favorite column....

WIRELESS WORLD: Eerie possibilities - RFID technology is helping track travelers, but what's next, under-the-skin implants at birth?(Column)
September 9, 2002... WHAT IF WHEN you were born, a nanosize RFID (Radio Frequency ID) tag was implanted under your skin to tell the airlines, the passport office, the hospital, and even the motor vehicle bureau who you are? Well, things haven't gone that far,...

STORAGE INSIDER: The changing rules - Storage vendors try a new tack: Venturing down the services and solutions avenue.
September 9, 2002... AN INTERESTING phenomenon is hitting the storage industry, one that scarcely has anything to do with technology. The buzzwords this time are solutions and services. To wit, last month StorageTek -- a tape vendor, among other trades --...

ENTERPRISE STRATEGIES: Keep it covered - Squeeze business continuity planning in among your many other underfunded IT priorities.
September 9, 2002... DURING AN INTERVIEW, an actress was asked where she was last Sept. 11. She was rehearsing a play in New York, and when the news of the day's events came in, the director sent everyone home. They all returned to the theater the next morning and...

CTO CONNECTION: Fostering creativity - Because technology fails, it's critical to have a team that can improvise on-the-spot solutions.
September 9, 2002... THE ROLE OF the CTO is as much business as it is technology, so I make sure to pay attention to the business press as much as the technology press to provide new insights into my job. One of my favorite sources for information is the Harvard...

SURVIVAL GUIDE: Crisis management - Lessons in leadership from Sept. 11: Managing in a crisis is easy -- it's the aftermath that takes work.
September 9, 2002... LEADERSHIP IS EASIEST in a crisis. Crisis provides motivation and mutual trust, something leaders have to provide for themselves in less urgent times. Crisis also provides alignment of purpose, allowing leaders the luxury of authoritarian...

THE GRIPE LINE: Bug-free dreams - Developers say that software bugs are hard to eradicate, and it's often difficult to say who is responsible for them anyway.
September 9, 2002... YOU'VE ENCOUNTERED A bug, but where does the responsibility for it lie? Software developers say that's a question that needs an answer for software quality to really improve. During both our recent discussions about the need for bug-free...

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Link free or die - No taxation without representation: It's time for bloggers to convene the Content-inental Congress.
September 9, 2002... REMEMBER THE browser wars? Weren't they something -- a titanic struggle for control of the Internet operating system. Now it's the run time wars. Microsoft bootstraps Internet Explorer and NT's IIS (Internet Information Server) to launch...

ABOVE THE NOISE: Leadership looking forward, not back - In a post-Sept. 11 world, IT leaders are taking up the challenge to secure the future.
September 9, 2002... WHEN SEMINAL EVENTS occur, people remember where they were and what changed afterward as a result. When transitional events occur, people remember what the outcome of that transition was and how smoothly it went. In this issue, InfoWorld...

Controlling media - Microsoft and RealNetworks media services platforms address corporate requirements.
September 9, 2002... CORPORATE NETWORKS increasingly carry more company information in audio and video files: broadcasts of executive briefings, online training courses for employees and partners, and sales presentations, to name a few. Just as e-mail is a...

Ready with plan B - Vendors tap services to offer aid in disaster recovery preparation.
September 9, 2002... UNDER PRESSURE from customers to brace network systems to withstand disasters and shutdowns, organizations are investigating ways to enlist business continuity services, from companies such as T-Systems and EMC, as a flexible safety net. ...

MS opens Wallet service.(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... Microsoft this week unveiled MSN Wallet, a free online shopping service on MSN. MSN Wallet stores users' payment and address information to expedite their online shopping. With the introduction of the service, Microsoft said that it is...

Novell offers cheaper license for Web services.(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... Novell this week announced discounted license pricing for business and government agencies that use Novell's software to provide Web services. Novell's new business-to-consumer user license price for Web services software is 25 percent of the...

Room to share - eRoom raises the bar with simple setup, Web services support.(Evaluation)
September 16, 2002... COLLABORATION IMPLIES sharing, whether it's a data file or just an opinion. That's what makes it so valuable: Everyone gets something in return. Today's collaborative processes pull data from a variety of sources, and the difficult part remains...

The future is now - CTOs are at the forefront of grid computing technology, delivering on the promise of providing large-scale computing availability as a utility.
September 16, 2002... GRID TECHNOLOGY, ONCE just a glamorous vision for marshaling computing power to link far flung users for collaborative projects, is gaining traction. And as CTOs begin to develop these new distributed networks that offer computing power as a...

Behind the markets - Reuters' CTO leads innovative technology development and strategic partnerships.(Mike Sayers, CTO, Reuters Group)
September 16, 2002... MENTION REUTERS and most people think of news. Few will immediately think financial services and even fewer will think innovative labs or complex Beta projects. "Ninety-three percent of our revenue comes from the financial services market...

.Net? No thanks (Third in a four-part series).(Microsoft.NET application development software)(Brief Article)
September 16, 2002... Security issues continue to dog .Net's rise within the CTO community as many IT executives pursue alternative approaches. Related Articles:CTO Pulse Copyright (c) 2002 InfoWorld Media Group Inc.

Web services applications - New technology promises to smooth the way for BPI, EAI, and Web-based app dev, but the work isn't done yet. Web services must now travel the last mile to the desktop.
September 16, 2002... The browser is today, and will for some time remain, the dominant way to interact with Web services on the desktop. More accurately it's a platform that supports many different modes of interaction. Cloud-based SOAP clients can reflect data...

Middleware evolution - Web services give CTOs an opportunity to rethink their portfolios of high-cost technologies.
September 16, 2002... THE FUTURE OF WEB services in the enterprise lies not in hit-and-run applications such as stock quotes, ZIP code validation, and weather updates. Rather, Web services promises to take companies to the next level of automation: Business process...

Forever free services? Patented standards and proprietary implementations may turn out to be for the good of Web services.
September 16, 2002... WEB SERVICES, so the story goes, typify the best aspects of modern business software. Their foundation technologies, including XML, SOAP, and WSDL, were hewn by the sharpest minds in the IT industry and made free for the benefit of all. But as...

Beyond integration - The new generation of Web services-enabled enterprise apps means smooth assimilation of homegrown tools.
September 16, 2002... NEW TECHNOLOGIES and evolving business practices guarantee that enterprise apps are never fully cooked. Right now, enterprise application vendors are feeling the heat to respond to users' demands for greater interaction among applications,...

Web services to unify apps - Siebel, Salesforce.com seek standards- based CRM integration nirvana.
September 16, 2002... AS IT EXECUTIVES wrestle with islands of disconnected enterprise apps, vendors are scurrying to offer simpler application bridges driven by XML, Web services standards, and prebuilt business processes. CRM giant Siebel is the latest...

BEA, IBM engage in fight for speed.(BEA challenges IBM in Web service development contest)(Brief Article)
September 16, 2002... BEA Systems has challenged IBM to build a Web service in fewer than 14 steps and has claimed that its WebLogic Workshop platform requires fewer than one-fifth the steps to build a Web service than does archrival IBM's WebSphere Studio...

Oracle seeks backing for Web services spec.(Brief Article)
September 16, 2002... Oracle is looking to garner industry consensus on a Web services specification for choreographing interactions in business-to-business transactions, an alternative to the current plethora of proposed specifications devised to meet this aim....

Microsoft buys security software vendor.(XDegrees)(Brief Article)
September 16, 2002... Microsoft has acquired XDegrees, a small maker of security software, in hopes of strengthening its arsenal as it works to improve the security and reliability of its products. Microsoft has agreed to purchase all the assets of XDegrees for an...

CA unifies eTrust tools - Command center reworked in effort to alleviate security worries.(Product Announcement)
September 16, 2002... ATTEMPTING TO RESOLVE enterprise integration and security concerns, Computer Associates this week will introduce its new eTrust Command Center product designed to unify CA's own and third-party security tools. The Islandia, N.Y.-based...

Gateways mix data types - Connected SAN, NAS boxes deliver stream of file and block data.
September 16, 2002... ATTEMPTING TO RESOLVE enterprise demand for unified SAN and NAS architectures, storage vendors are forging appliances designed to funnel file and block data into a single stream. Offerings by Network Appliance, Auspex Systems, LeftHand...

ABOVE THE NOISE: Web services step into the enterprise - InfoWorld readers and analysts weigh in on Web services implementation.(Next- Generation Web Services Conference)
September 16, 2002... EIGHT MONTHS AGO, InfoWorld Media Group launched its first Next- Generation Web Services conference in San Francisco. This capped months of Web services coverage by both our Test Center analysts and our news and features team. This week marks...

NOTES FROM THE FIELD: Worries about the mail.(Column)
September 16, 2002... IN AN 11TH-HOUR attempt to make amends to Amber, I decided to reschedule the flight home so we could stay in Hawaii an extra week. Amber didn't react the way I hoped. "What, did you book on separate flights after all?" she demanded. Nope, but I...

To the editor.(Letter to the Editor)
September 16, 2002... BackWeb rebuttal WE READ WITH interest Tom Yager's review of the BackWeb ProactivePortal Server(see "Portal Unplugged"). We hope the following details may balance some misperceptions his opinions might have conveyed. First, regarding...

WINDOW MANAGER: Windows and HIPAA - Does Microsoft's new 'we will update you' license comply with U.S. law on health-care privacy?
September 16, 2002... I REPORTED that Windows' newest patches -- Service Pack 1 for Windows XP and SP3 for Windows 2000 -- contain new license language that gives Microsoft the right to silently revise your operating system (see "Sneaky service packs"). This...

SECURITY ADVISER: Processing onward - Packing up the InfoWorld lab means it's housekeeping time, with maintenance on the chore list.
September 16, 2002... A FEW WEEKS AGO, I was poking around the logs of a mail server in the InfoWorld Test Center lab, and noticed something amiss. Over the course of a month, it appeared that a few messages were relayed through my server to destinations in Russia,...

STORAGE INSIDER: Welcome, iSCSI - SNIA announces the arrival of a final iSCSI draft standard, all ready and raring to go.
September 16, 2002... AFTER TWO YEARS of countless meetings and animated discussions, the Storage Network Industry Association (SNIA) announced the completion of a final iSCSI standard draft. The last call for revisions triggered only a few minor requests for edits...