InfoWorld articles from September 2005

InfoWorld archives from September 2005

Vista vs. Tiger - Finally, now that OS X is in its fourth version, the beta release of Vista shows that Microsoft realizes it needs to catch up.(Windows Vista)(OS X 10.4 (Tiger))
September 5, 2005... Although consistent, Windows' user interface reflects a die-hard business philosophy: If one is enjoying one's work, then one must be goofing off on company time. Windows is flat, uninspiring, motionless, and utterly unlike actual life. And...

Cisco's new IOS brings true process modularity to the core - Software upgrade aims to reduce core switch downtime.
September 5, 2005... Cisco Systems' upgrade of its IOS (Internetwork Operating System) software for the Catalyst 6500 core switch is a major step in core- switching redundancy. The new IOS can separate core processes to reside within their own memory space,...

Surprise! Microsoft's WinFS beta arrives - Developers pore over Microsoft's grand experiment in desktop information management.
September 5, 2005... The surprise beta release of Microsoft's WinFS file system on Monday has attracted intense scrutiny. WinFS was one of the three pillars of Microsoft's next-generation version of Windows announced two years ago, then code-named Longhorn and now...

EDITOR'S LETTER: Dirty words, take II - Readers offer up a collection of terms sure to offend technologists everywhere.
September 5, 2005... My column "IT's Seven Dirty Words" -- a subjective list of terms that shouldn't be repeated in polite IT company -- generated piles of e-mail from readers who were quick to add a few choice words of their own. In the interest of sharing, let me...

NOTES FROM THE FIELD: NOTES FROM THE FIELD: Intel strikes up new brand, Fiorina takes pen in hand - Gossipmonger beats a monastic retreat.
September 5, 2005... Well, I finally tracked down the social networking diva, and as I suspected, she was avoiding me for a reason. It seems my social network just wasn't big enough for her, so she's dumped me for someone with a much larger Rolodex. Nothing...

FROM THE ANALYSTS: FROM THE ANALYSTS: Glass half-full? IT spending predictions are rosy, until you talk to the check-signers.(Editorial)
September 5, 2005... Good news. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that analysts say IT spending in the United States is on track for an encouraging rise of 5 percent to 7 percent this year, to nearly $800 billion. These figures compare with a 3 percent to 4...

ENTERPRISE WINDOWS: ENTERPRISE WINDOWS: Microsoft Business Solutions gets a SharePoint facelift - Potentially more than just a pretty face, the new WSS template overlay may enhance MS Business Solutions.(Windows SharePoint Services)(Editorial)
September 5, 2005... In the semi-humble opinions of most of us pundits, SharePoint has been one of Redmond's most underutilized platforms in the past few years. Basically, it's an intranet in a can, and you must admit that Microsoft did a truly excellent job making...

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Intel aims lower - Goodbye, Xeon. Hello, lower power consumption and lower prices.(Column)
September 5, 2005... The keynote at August's Intel Developer Forum could have had the ring of a concession speech. Instead, Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini rang out the Pentium 4 era with style -- considering he had to put a smiley face on the reversal of...

REALITY CHECK: REALITY CHECK: Living in an all-Internet Protocol world - Hossein Eslambolchi advises companies to prepare for networking convergence.(Editorial)
September 5, 2005... Hossein Eslambolchi is a man of many titles. He is president of AT&T Global Networking Technology Services and AT&T Labs, as well as CIO and CTO of AT&T proper. When Hossein talks, I listen. And what he talks about in late August is the...

OFF THE RECORD: Recipe for an app dev disaster - Expect trouble when users don't have time to test drive your software.(Column)
September 5, 2005... By Anonymous Not long ago, I was hired by a well-known cable television network to act as tech lead for a major revision to its Web site's content management system. The network had been using a homegrown interface, and it was our job...

Smarter than the average CMS - XyEnterprise Content@ taps XML for powerful document searching and sophisticated content reuse.(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 5, 2005... XyEnterprise's Content@ is a CMS (content management system) that combines heavy use of XML and a sophisticated workflow-management scheme. The result is an intelligent application that takes your content in one hand and content users in the...

Behemoth vs. blade - A farm of blades seems like the best way to scale to meet application demands, but only when the software will cooperate.(Editorial)
September 5, 2005... Generally, you can expect a giant to triumph over a platoon of munchkins. Maybe that's why enterprises continue to favor hulking, eight-way servers over blades. Blade servers never really took off the way everyone expected. The first...

Consolidation vs. federation - Should you standardize on one database platform or connect existing databases together where they reside?
September 5, 2005... You have dozens, maybe hundreds, of operational data sources spread among multiple business groups and locations. If only you could get a clear, consolidated view across all this information at once, you would gain a better understanding of...

Conventional software vs. software as a service - Hosted apps may hold a tiny slice of the market right now, but over the long haul, does conventional software stand a chance?
September 5, 2005... When Peter Yared, CEO and founder of LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and Perl/PHP/Python) middleware startup ActiveGrid, realized he needed project management software to coordinate his company's development work, he tried Microsoft Project 2003....

NAC vs. NAP - Network access management locks out untrusted end points; Cisco and Microsoft are duking it out over who gets the keys.(Network Admission Control)(Network Access Protection)
September 5, 2005... It all started with the Blaster worm in August 2003. That disastrous epidemic proved once and for all that boundary gateway protection alone is a failed security strategy. Since then, beginning with broader adoption of host-based personal...

Seven technology battlegrounds - Choosing among competing technologies has never been tougher. Here are InfoWorld's calls on the most important matchups.
September 5, 2005... Some people enjoy a good fight; others would prefer to look the other way. One thing is certain, though: If you have a stake in that fight, you'll watch the outcome closely. With nearly every purchase, IT decision-makers place bets large...

Fibre Channel vs. iSCSI - The price and performance of these two rivals may be closer than you think. Much depends on what -- and who -- is already in place.(Internet Small Computer Systems Interface)
September 5, 2005... Anyone who has considered crossing the bridge from DAS to a SAN has faced a fundamental choice between two technologies: the established, but pricey FC (Fibre Channel) and the more affordable but still emerging iSCSI (Internet SCSI) transport....

Product Previews.
September 5, 2005... Oracle, Zend to ship PHP tool; McAfee offers secure messaging services; Serena enhances requirements management; GoldenGate finds database discrepancies Oracle, Zend to ship PHP developement tool Oracle and Zend Technologies in late...

Windows vs. Linux - Is this battle really the fight of the new century? Or should these old warhorses shake hands and just get along?
September 5, 2005... The fight between Windows and Linux has been nearly as overhyped as a Don King venture in a monster Vegas arena, screaming fans included. In one corner, hard-core Microsoft fans avow Windows Server 2003 as the comeback kid of the new century,...

Windows Vista offers view of integrated desktop search - Beta 1 shows potential with Virtual Folders, metadata features.
September 5, 2005... There's no reason to postpone planning your enterprise desktop search deployment while waiting for far-off OS-based search technologies. Still, that doesn't mean these developments aren't worth tracking, considering that they have the potential...

Desktop search gets down to business - Solutions from dtSearch, Google, ISYS, X1 allow users to explore knowledge assets throughout the enterprise.
September 5, 2005... When enterprises roll out search applications, it's usually a big IT effort to keep indexes refreshed and the overall systems running. Because of this complexity and the reality that most enterprise knowledge resides on workers' PCs, consumer...

WANSyncHA protects databases and servers - XOsoft's latest product offers auto-fail-over for multiple data, server types.(WANSyncHA 3.71)(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 12, 2005... Real-time data protection is quickly becoming one of the most important aspects of IT. To help keep datacenters and disaster recovery sites in synch, some companies are turning to high-availability products designed to kick in with synchronized...

Bulletproofing public IM for business - Postini, IMlogic add security, virus prevention for IM.(instant messaging service launch by information technology services industry)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2005... Public IM services have deeply entrenched themselves in the enterprise. Although the free services are a lightning rod for malicious network attacks, banning them from corporate networks may not be the best answer. According to The...

PDC offers glimpse under Vista's hood - Microsoft's annual Professional Developers' Conference lets developers dig into upcoming technologies.
September 12, 2005... Not since two years ago, when attendees of Microsoft's annual Professional Developers' Conference (PDC) got their first look at Longhorn, has Microsoft promised a conference so jam-packed with groundbreaking new technology. PDC 2005, kicking...

Salesforce.com bundles up for Winter '06 - Dreamforce show previews Winter 2006 release, new "mash-up" toolkit.(Salesforce.com Winter '06 and Salesforce.com AJAX)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2005... Salesforce.com kicks off its third annual Dreamforce user conference on Monday, pledging details about the next release of its on-demand CRM application and to release a toolkit for creating application "mash- ups." Salesforce.com plans to...

IT takes stock in Katrina's wake - Continuity and emergency e-mail services keep enterprises afloat while landline and cellular networks collapse.
September 12, 2005... In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, enterprise IT managers are assessing the damage to critical infrastructures and searching for lessons to be gleaned from the disaster. There were winners and losers. Datacenter continuity, backup, and...

Borland upgrading IDE while preparing for Eclipse future - Open source Eclipse is growing at the expense of commercial IDEs.(integrated development environments)(launch of Borland JBuilder 2006)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2005... Borland Software on Tuesday will unveil a major upgrade to its JBuilder IDE. The release, however, comes amid uncertainty regarding the future of commercial Java IDEs, in large part because the open source Eclipse consortium continues to...

Good Technology links voice to wireless e-mail - New unified messaging system forwards corporate voice mail to Palm Treo 600 or 650 inbox.(Brief Article)
September 12, 2005... Treo owners are about to get another bragging right. Good Technology will make available on Tuesday a download that allows GoodLink subscribers to access corporate voice mail from their Palm Treo 600 or 650 inbox, thereby eliminating the need...

EDITOR'S LETTER: SOA reality check - A grand tour of service architectures uncovers startlingly diverse approaches.
September 12, 2005... This is the second issue of InfoWorld in a matter of months with an SOA (service-oriented architecture) cover story. I'll have to take at least some of the blame for that. I've been covering SOA since it first gained traction several years ago,...

OPEN ENTERPRISE: Kicking the Microsoft Office habit - If Massachusetts switches to open document formats, will the business community follow?
September 12, 2005... Face it: You're addicted and you can't quit. When we talk about the Microsoft monopoly, we usually mean Windows. Yet the Office productivity suite enjoys such total market dominance, analysts occasionally ponder whether there are even...

NOTES FROM THE FIELD: Microsoft honors worms, Creative Labs squirms - Cranky columnist goes deep on Net protocols and marine biology.
September 12, 2005... I'm feeling philosophical about the social networking diva. We laughed, we partied, and I expanded my network of professional contacts. It was a good thing. Now it's time to take a vow of celibacy -- voluntarily, for a change. Tunnel...

FROM THE ANALYSTS: Katrina's total system disruption - How many recovery plans anticipate what actual human beings might do?(Editorial)
September 12, 2005... I recently attended a CIO/CFO roundtable that, among other things, focused on the difficulty of demonstrating the business value of IT. Exasperated, one CIO said half-jokingly: "Want to see if IT matters? I'll just go unplug all the servers and...

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: The CPU's next 20 years - The compiler is the processor of the future, and the IA-64 is a compiler's dream date.(product details of Intel Corp.)(Column)
September 12, 2005... With great respect, you probably won't be deciding the outcome of the CPU race; not if your normal shopping list has called for backward- compatible, x86 systems (25 percent faster than the previous years' models) at about the same cost. ...

STRATEGIC DEVELOPER: WinFS and social information management - Will Microsoft's new file system be relevant for the era of social computing?(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 12, 2005... I saw my first demo of Microsoft's Cairo OFS (Object File System) back in 1993. It was briefly unveiled at the Professional Developers Conference that year, and then shelved. This week I installed the beta version of its successor, WinFS. ...

REALITY CHECK: Digital health care and privacy issues - When Intel starts worrying about your health, should you be worried?(Editorial)
September 12, 2005... Technology and the profit motive combine to offer us tremendous benefits -- often life-saving ones. But this combination also challenges our right to privacy. Take, for example, the amazing new health care devices unveiled at the recent Intel...

OFF THE RECORD: The myth of job security - Learn to refocus the concept of loyalty inward as you take care of your career first.(Column)
September 12, 2005... By Anonymous I've come to realize that I'm an outlier in terms of job stability. In my 28-year career I've had only three jobs: 11 years with Arthur Andersen, 11 years with Oracle, and seven years with my current company. This seems quite...

FROM THE ANALYSTS: Locking down checking accounts - Better security in online banking may mean the end of ease of use as we know it.(information management of banking industry)
September 12, 2005... Conventional wisdom says IT security has less to do with technology than with people and process -- think Kevin Mitnick conning an administrative assistant or Frank Abagnale forging checks in Catch Me If You Can. Yet Gartner is reporting...

Adobe brings on the BPM - Adobe LiveCycle 7.0 extends document-centric processes to back-end systems.(business process management)(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 12, 2005... Adobe LiveCycle 7.0 brings to fruition Adobe Systems' May 2004 acquisition of Q-Link Technologies, maker of Java-based business process management software. Finally incorporating Q-Link's component-based workflow engine into Adobe's Intelligent...

Citadel's Hercules 4.0 keeps systems safe and in compliance - Solid vulnerability management functions reduce network breaches, protect IT assets.(Citadel Security Software Inc. )(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 12, 2005... Despite the complex infrastructures large organizations require, vulnerabilities inevitably slip through. To protect against those invaders, Citadel Security Software's Hercules EVM (Enterprise Vulnerability Management) Suite 4.0 helps patch...

PrimalScript 4.0 a boon for novices and experts alike - New version's Evolved Script Packager lets you wrap scripts into a convenient executable file.(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 12, 2005... Windows administrators have long been denied good scripting tools with real enterprise features. Instead, they quite often offer little more than the most basic syntax coloring and text editing. PrimalScript 4.0 by Sapien gives administrators...

A Galaxy of opportunity - Opteron server line could help Sun rise from its self-created mire.(Sun Galaxy)(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 12, 2005... Back in the day, Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim made his mark pioneering single-board workstations and servers, an engineering feat that required a new take on integration. Sun's "pizza box" workstations earned the company a reputation as an...

Exploring Galaxy, the new center of Sun's universe - Look past the preproduction glitches, and Sun's new dual-core server looks promising.(Sun Microsystems Galaxy)(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 12, 2005... In response to the market's dual-core mania, Sun is releasing its new Opteron-powered Galaxy line of rack-mount dual-core servers, intended to augment its Sun Fire line of x86-based machines. The question is: Given Sun Fire's somewhat...

Product previews.(enhancement of Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise 15.0)(JabberNow launched)(CollabNet Enterprise Edition 4.0 launched)
September 12, 2005... Jabber Unveils IM Appliance, CollabNet Bolsters Collaborative Development, Sybase Preps Major Database Software Revision, Critical Path stops e-mail attacks Jabber unveils IM appliance Jabber is shipping a plug-and-play appliance that...

Web services registry aids both IT and business interests - What began as an infrastructure tool became a driver for new sales.(production management of Sprint Business Services)
September 12, 2005... As the Sprint Business Services (SBS) IT group rationalized its existing Web services and figured out what services were still needed, it became clear that something else was needed: a registry for Web services. In a large company, having an...

Sprint rationalizes its infrastructure with SOA - The telco's component- based, service-oriented architecture unites customer, partner, and departmental apps.(information management of Sprint Business Services)
September 12, 2005... As far back as four years ago, Sprint's IT staff was already headed toward SOA (service-oriented architecture). They just didn't know it yet. When developers first began exposing Sprint's back-end systems as reusable components, the...

Building SOA your way - Every enterprise needs to find its own balance between complete, scalable architecture and simply building a service- oriented architecture that works.
September 12, 2005... A fault line runs beneath the groundswell that began a few years ago with XML Web services and continues today as SOA (service-oriented architecture). True, nearly everyone agrees that XML messaging is the right way to implement low-level,...

Soul of a new standard server - The man behind Sun's Galaxy servers sings the praises of AMD Opteron, small form factor SAS, and the new sweet spot in enterprise x86 systems.(Andy Bechtolsheim)(serial attached SCSI)(Interview)
September 12, 2005... Andy Bechtolsheim, one among the group of Stanford University students who founded Sun Microsystems, invented the original Sun workstation and guided many subsequent computers into production. Bechtolsheim left Sun in 1995 to start Granite...

Jtest 7.0 passes with honors - Parasoft's feature-rich app-testing tool keeps getting better.
September 19, 2005... Parasoft Jtest 7.0 is like a Java code development assistant on a SoBe Adrenaline Rush intravenous drip. Not only does it do source analysis, perform coverage analysis, and manage unit test production, execution, and tracking, but now it...

Product Previews.(Sun Microsystems Inc. enhanced its StarOffice 8.0 product)(new product Sendmail Sentrion from Sendmail Inc.)(Real Software N.V. introduced RealBasic 2005)
September 19, 2005... StarOffice 8 plays nice, Sendmail Sentrion guards e-mail perimeter, App dev for Linux gets Real, Solidcore documents compliance StarOffice 8 plays nice Sun Microsystems next week will update its StarOffice productivity suite, featuring...

Oracle swallows Siebel - CRM grab gives Oracle newfound applications might.(customer relationship management, Siebel Systems Inc.)
September 19, 2005... Oracle's $5.85 billion purchase of Siebel Systems announced last week is a bold move that may catapult the voracious software giant to the head of the CRM class and squarely into IBM's megavendor league. "Where does this put Oracle?" asked...

Microsoft goes with the flow - At PDF, company announces Windows Workflow Foundation.(Professional Developers Conference)(new software)
September 19, 2005... What separates enterprise apps from desktop apps? Mainly, business rules and workflow. At its Professional Developers Conference (PDC) last week, Microsoft announced WWF (Windows Workflow Foundation), a Windows technology that will enable...

IBM jumps into ESB camp with SOA rollout - But company maintains it already has had such a product.
September 19, 2005... IBM has jumped on the bandwagon. In a comprehensive SOA products-and- services push last week, Big Blue joined a list of companies offering products labeled as ESB (enterprise service bus). In addition to WebSphere ESB, IBM also rolled out...

EDITOR'S LETTER: Anti-spyware on the move - Also: Deadline for InfoWorld 100 Award nominations extended to Sept. 23.
September 19, 2005... Let us take a moment to marvel at the ever-quickening pace of technology, both of the beneficial kind and (sadly) of the malicious variety. Take spyware, for instance. In roughly two years, it has evolved from a personal nuisance to...

FROM THE ANALYSTS: Is information technology change good? Two different takes on the subject of IT change.(Column)
September 19, 2005... If you're reading this magazine, you're probably not a Luddite. You probably believe that technology change is inevitable and generally also good. I bought a new PC this week that came with a shocking two gigs of RAM, so I'm right there with...

NOTES FROM THE FIELD: Microsoft rebuffed, Oracle gets stuffed - Gossip hound seeks quiet place to check out and log in.(Oracle Corp. plans to acquire Siebel Systems Inc.)(Microsoft Corp., Appointmentquest.com, contract)(Federal Emergency Management Agency launched a new web page)
September 19, 2005... Many thanks to the Cringesters who've served up suggestions for places to begin my monastic life. So far, I haven't found any retreats that allow dogs and offer good Wi-Fi connections, but I'm still looking. Open sores: When a Microsoft...

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Software porting is evil - Shun vendors who make application porting and validation a thorn in your side.(Column)
September 19, 2005... Although I love writing code, I hate porting code. To me, the least enjoyable task in software development is crawling through an application, usually one that I didn't write, trying to figure out what compile-time errors really mean, and...

STRATEGIC DEVELOPER: Reinventing the office suite - Instead of arguing about file formats, we should be engineering productivity apps for a networked world.(changing the format of OpenOffice.org )
September 19, 2005... The controversy over office document formats heated up again this month when Microsoft and Massachusetts tangled over the state's firm intention to standardize on the OpenOffice.org XML format. Personally, I think everyone's barking up the...

REALITY CHECK: The fragile wireless network - Katrina showed us that our cellular infrastructure clearly needs improvement.(Hurricane Katrina)
September 19, 2005... The veil was lifted from my eyes when Katrina hit. I realized that our wireless infrastructure, critical for relief efforts, was sorely lacking. Unfortunately, disasters come in all shapes and sizes, and so must the ways in which telcos...

NearPoint sweetens e-mail archiving - Exchange users get a boost with Mimosa Systems' intelligent message management.(Brief Article)
September 19, 2005... Mimosa Systems' NearPoint for Microsoft Exchange is an e-mail archiving solution for reducing the storage used by Exchange servers and expediting auditing and archiving processes. It works without installing an agent on the Exchange server,...

Spyware slips through the patches - A handful of malware programs wreak havoc on a fully patched Windows XP system.
September 19, 2005... Neither users nor even IT admins may fully grasp what impact this spyware and adware could have on individual systems -- even fully patched ones. InfoWorld decided to install some of the most popular spyware and adware programs to assess...

Countering spyware - The InfoWorld Test Center assesses the readiness of 10 anti-spyware operatives for active enterprise duty.(Tenebril SpyCatcher 3.0 Enterprise, McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.0 with Anti-Spyware Enterprise Module 8.0, Computer Associates eTrust PestPatrol Corporate Edition 5.0, Norton AntiVirus Corporate Edition 7.6, Eset NOD32 2.5 Antivirus System, F-Secure Anti-Virus Client Security 6, LANDesk Security Suite 8.6, Sunbelt CounterSpy Enterprise 1.5, Tenebril SpyCatcher 4.0 Beta, Trend Micro Anti-Spyware for Small and Medium Business 3.0, Webroot Spy Sweeper Enterprise 2.5, SurfControl Enterprise Protection Suite -- Enterprise Threat Shield)(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 19, 2005... Spyware outbreaks are escalating from a frustrating productivity problem to an outright security issue. All it takes is one careless user who decides to satisfy his MP3 addiction by downloading a free file-swapping program poisoned with...

Demo Fall gives six minutes of fame - Startups vie for investor dollars at 16th annual show.
September 19, 2005... Hope springs eternal, as this year's Demo Fall 2005 conference proves. For the 16th consecutive year, high-tech innovators will get six minutes in the spotlight to entice an audience of venture capitalists and established tech vendors into...

Curing document management complexity - Xythos, Xerox prove X marks the spot for keeping tabs on text, files.
September 19, 2005... The old adage "keep it simple" is sometimes lost with enterprise document management products. Instead, vendors layer on non-core functions such as multimedia cataloging -- making the products pricey and difficult to implement and use. ...

VeriSign develops tools for wireless roaming - New tech could aid handoffs between Wi-Fi, 3G cellular, and landline networks.
September 26, 2005... Mobile users typically move among multiple networks: a wired DSL connection at home, a Wi-Fi hot spot at the airport, a landline connection at a hotel, and 3G service in between. Today, users must use a connection manager to log off one service...

Malware matures into control-hungry menace - Malicious code took decades to evolve but now threatens whole enterprises.
September 26, 2005... "I'm the creeper! Catch me if you can!" taunted a rogue program called Creeper, written by Bob Thomas, of the BBN (Bulletin Board Network), in 1971. His creation has the dubious honor of being the first worm that spread through many of the...

Microsoft sharpens product focus with reorganization - The software giant peers past Windows toward a software-services future.(Steve Ballmer)
September 26, 2005... At the advanced corporate age of 30, Microsoft felt it was losing its competitive spirit under layers of bureaucratic fat. So last week the world's largest software maker ripped up its organizational chart, consolidated six unwieldy divisions...

Oracle's Fusion faces knotted challenge - First Fusion applications are set for release in 2008.(Brief Article)
September 26, 2005... Oracle's sweeping Project Fusion vision dominated the company's message at its OpenWorld user conference last week, but skepticism abounds about the ambitious plan. Fusion is a new, Java-based applications line merging the best features from...

Demo Fall: Sensors wield disruptive potential - Tendril and Echelon showcase technology for automating sensors.(new product Tendril Service Broker from Tendril Software Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 26, 2005... Although only two of the 65 presenters at Demo Fall 2005 unveiled products designed to enhance sensor technology, Tendril and Echelon -- and similar sensor companies -- will likely bring more sweeping changes to the tech industry than any of...

Peregrine, AppIQ fill out HP's Adaptive Enterprise - Asset management, storage acquisitions to play role in utility computing vision.
September 26, 2005... Hewlett-Packard's acquisitions of Peregrine Systems and AppIQ, announced last week, are designed to flesh out key pieces of HP's overarching Adaptive Enterprise strategy. HP unveiled Adaptive Enterprise in May 2003 as a way to more tightly...

EDITOR'S LETTER: High-tech mobsters - The new breed of hacker doesn't want fame; he just wants your money.(Brief Article)(Editorial)
September 26, 2005... Organized crime is a ruthlessly efficient machine: It follows the money. And these days, the big bucks -- passwords, identities, intellectual property, or cash from compromised credit cards and bank accounts -- are secreted behind corporate...

OPEN ENTERPRISE: Dell bets on Linux to capture enterprise market - Can a free OS and a partnership with Oracle break the No. 1 x86 vendor out of its SMB doldrums?(small and medium sized business)(Judy Chavis views)
September 26, 2005... In the Wintel-systems market, Dell is king of the hill. But what do you do when your hill just isn't big enough? "To some extent, Dell is seen as more of an SMB kind of player," says Judy Chavis, director of business development for the...

NOTES FROM THE FIELD: Quark sports Scottish logo, Novell disks a no-go - Google rivalry has Microsoft's boxers in a bunch.(International Oracle Users Group changed its name)(a case between Google Inc. and Microsoft Inc.)(Quark Inc. changed its logo)
September 26, 2005... Nothing reveals raging corporate paranoia like the testimony of disgruntled former employees. And in Microsoft's lawsuit against Google, it's clear the Redmond reprobates have their knickers in a Gordian knot. More than 100 Microsofties have...

FROM THE ANALYSTS: Saluting the Siebel supernova - Summing up the postmortems on Oracle's latest acquisition.
September 26, 2005... Very few software companies ever top a billion dollars in annual revenue; even fewer do so within 10 years of their founding and by pioneering a totally new product category. Siebel Systems, however, which recently agreed to be acquired by...

GUEST COLUMN: The death of software - A developer who's seen it all believes the U.S. software industry is circling the drain ... and he knows who's to blame.(Column)
September 26, 2005... Editor's Note: Whenever InfoWorld addresses the issue of outsourcing, our e-mail inboxes get a workout; in fact, no topic raises readers' hackles quite as predictably. The following letter, from reader Tom LaBelle, so eloquently encapsulates...

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Data grows no moss - Life is real-time, and for some, future-time. Data must be, too.(use of programming languages)(Column)
September 26, 2005... I'm not just bored with the present, I'm uncomfortable there. I drop in on now every so often to do things like pick up my mail, write reviews, and make sure the pipes didn't freeze last winter, but before the neighbors get a chance to screw...

STRATEGIC DEVELOPER: Microsoft driving toward .Net unity - Microsoft's new tools are finally beginning to fulfill the promise of a unified development environment.
September 26, 2005... Specialized programming languages and their supporting environments have always been tightly coupled: SQL and the database; business rules and the rules engine. It's tempting to wish for an uberlanguage or one syntax to rule them all, but what...

REALITY CHECK: The end of 'one throat to choke'? Are enterprises willing to rely on multiple vendors to deliver their most essential apps?
September 26, 2005... OK, first let's dispel two myths foisted on us by big-name software industry personalities. Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff, as of Sept. 12, would have us believe that his company will become a major platform for enterprise application...

OFF THE RECORD: Secret team sinks app dev project - Why politics and software don't mix.(analysis)(Column)
September 26, 2005... By Anonymous I was born in Cameroon, and if there's one thing I learned during my 16 years of doing IT in Africa, it's that politics and technical work are mutually incompatible. I had the "honor" of designing and deploying a number of...

Akimbi puts virtualization to the test - Akimbi Slingshot 1.0 makes quick work of reproducing run-time environments.(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 26, 2005... Virtualization is becoming a popular resource for testing software. Companies use virtual machines (VMs) not only to test external packages they're evaluating but also software they're developing internally. A hosted VM is a complete run-time...

IT under siege: The security arms race - The enterprise's security defense must get more sophisticated to stop criminal-minded attackers who are out for high stakes -- money and identities.(survey)
September 26, 2005... The security arms race is escalating to unprecedented levels and has security professionals more nervous -- and more vigilant -- than ever. What was once the domain of hacker hobbyists looking for glory and free digital content is now the...

Security event managers rule the roost - Five contenders, including e- Security and Network Intelligence products, return similar results despite different monitoring styles.
September 26, 2005... You won't find many IT products as ambitious as the SEM (security event manager), which attempts no less than to track, correlate, and ultimately make sense of a vast number of events occurring throughout a sprawling enterprise network. ...

SEM test bed tribulations - When the best-laid test plans go awry, it makes for some interesting reconfigurations.(security event manager)(Column)
September 26, 2005... We certainly didn't make things easy for the vendors in this SEM test. By the time we were finished, our test infrastructure had been replaced, our test equipment was showing signs of failure, and our client devices were calling in sick -- the...

Product previews.(new product Vulnerability Protection Suite from Determina)(new Interwoven Records Manager 5.0)(new product SessionSuite from BlueNote Networks)
September 26, 2005... Determina unveils VPS; Interwoven launches IRM 5.0; BlueNote introduces SessionSuite Determina stokes the memory firewall Determina last week unveiled its Vulnerability Protection Suite (VPS), which combines the company's Memory...

Wireless broadband's long and winding road - Truly pervasive, high-speed mobile data services won't happen overnight.
September 26, 2005... First, the good news: for companies planning to deploy broadband connectivity to their mobile workforces, the options have never looked better. Initial rollouts of 3G (third-generation) cellular data technology are fulfilling the technology's...