Baseline articles from April 2006

Baseline archives from April 2006

The Limited Designs Supply Chain to Begin and End With the Customer.(Limited Brands Inc. is using supply chain management software from TIBCO Software Inc.)
April 3, 2006... Four years ago Limited Brands, the $9.4 billion specialty retailer, learned about the need for supply chain visibility--and the cost of not having it in place--the hard way. "We had a pretty significant catastrophe," Paul Matthews, the...

What if CIOs Had To Sign Off on Data?(customer's privacy and intellectual property management)
April 4, 2006... Over the last couple of months, the Department of Justice and Google have been wrangling over access to the Internet service's Web search records. The Justice Department, which is out to protect minors from online pornography, wants the search...

Microsoft Says Recovery from Malware Becoming Impossible.
April 4, 2006... LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.--In a rare discussion on the severity of the Windows malware scourge, a Microsoft security official said businesses should consider investing in an automated process to wipe hard drives and reinstall operating systems as...

Planner: Calculating the Costs of a Defense System.
April 5, 2006... How much does an hour of Internet downtime cost you? Your Web-based horse wagering operation, which gets the bulk of its $240 million in annual revenue from bets placed online, can't afford to find out. Your company is one of the few legal Web...

New Edge for Blade Servers.
April 6, 2006... Blade servers, which pack more processing power into less space than conventional servers, are attracting increased interest among technology managers. Why? They are cheaper, more powerful and more flexible compared to blade servers sold even...

Service-Oriented Architecture.(software design)
April 6, 2006... What is it? Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is an approach to software or systems architecture built around services--computing components that can be flexibly reused and recombined. In an SOA, software components advertise themselves...

Lauren Scott California: At the Seams of RFID.
April 6, 2006... You have to be forward-thinking to survive and thrive in the fashion business. Designs being drawn up on sketch pads today probably won't appear on racks in stores until the fall of 2007. Predicting trends and the fluctuations of consumer...

3Com's Tippingpoint: Bot Terminator.(TippingPoint Technologies Inc.)(Company overview)
April 6, 2006... How to strengthen your network's immune system against constantly mutating digital pathogens? One step: Give it a shot in the arm with an intrusion prevention system. TippingPoint, bought last year by 3Com, was among the first developers...

Base Technologies: One Hacker's Tools.
April 6, 2006... Jeanson James Ancheta--a.k.a. Resili3nt--used readily available software and hardware to create a botnet-for-profit of at least 400,000 infected computers that netted him at least $60,000. APPLICATION PRODUCT SUPPLIER Bot code...

2005: The Year of the Bot.(computer viruses)(Chronology)
April 6, 2006... Jan 5 Bots created by hacker Jeanson James Ancheta in Downey, Calif., attack U.S. Department of Defense computers at the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station in Southern California. Ancheta pleads guilty to the attack a year later, on Jan. 23,...

Bots: Seven Safety Tips.(for preventing computer virus)
April 6, 2006... The company versus botmaster battle continues to rage, with neither side clearly winning, says Phyllis Schneck, chairman of the InfraGard National Members Alliance, a coalition of law enforcement and technology professionals and academic...

Player Roster: Botmasters.(Jeanson James Ancheta, Christopher Maxwell, Anthony Scott Clark were punished for computer crimes)
April 6, 2006... Jeanson James Ancheta, a.k.a. "Resili3nt" Downey, Calif. A self-taught computer expert, according to his uncle and cousin, he pleaded guilty in January in federal court in Los Angeles to running botnets that infected at least 400,000 PCs,...

Vurv Technology: Hello My Name is...
April 6, 2006... It's not just for hiring anymore: In February, Recruitmax rechristened itself Vurv (pronounced "verve") Technology, explaining that it now offers performance and compensation management applications in addition to e-recruiting tools. ...

SuccessFactors: Getting the Job Done.
April 6, 2006... Customers give SuccessFactors top reviews as a candid and responsive vendor, though it's hit the occasional snag. Kimberly-Clark initiated a performance management project using SuccessFactors' system in November 2004 for 20,000 salaried...

Authoria: Needs Some Polish.(Compensation Advisor and Performance Advisor)(Company overview)
April 6, 2006... Authoria's original gig was selling portals to let employees check benefits info. Now it says it has a full talent-management suite after buying, in the last two years, Advanced Information Management (AIM), a compensation and performance...

Talent Management: Hire Gauge.
April 6, 2006... Liviu Dedes Pep Boys Dir., Training and Organizational Development Philadelphia, Pa. www.pepboys.com MANAGER'S PROFILE: Oversees training and development programs for the 20,000-employee auto parts and vehicle maintenance chain, which...

Tools for People Who Need People.(employee performace appraisals calculations)
April 6, 2006... Lots of companies claim that "people"--by which they mean experienced and motivated employees--are their No. 1 asset. But are they sure they're actually recruiting and promoting the cream of the crop? Sure, companies have long conducted...

Computer Security: When Bots Attack.(tips)(Brief article)
April 6, 2006... It happens in minutes. Hackers with bot code break into vulnerable computers, turn them into zombies and launch an assault against your computer systems. And while you scramble to secure your network--and the vital data on it--botmasters sell...

Security Alert: When Bots Attack.
April 6, 2006... The malicious code snuck through Auburn University's firewall and onto one of the school's lab PCs in an electronic message. On that September day in 2004, Auburn's network security specialist, Mark Wilson, watched from his computer what...

Unloading on Illegal Downloads.
April 7, 2006... Some of the nation's best-known universities, including MIT, UCLA and Texas A&M, and their students are spearheading efforts to stem the illegal downloading of music. The music industry has been taking aggressive steps, including suing...

Talent Management Tools Help Size Up a Workforce.
April 7, 2006... Lots of companies claim that "people"--by which they mean experienced and motivated employees--are their No. 1 asset. But are they sure they're actually recruiting and promoting the cream of the crop? >Software, even human-resources...

Return of the Web Mob.(Ken Dunham of iDefense)(Brief article)
April 10, 2006... Ken Dunham, you could say, spends his life peeking into the bowels of the Internet. As director of the Rapid Response Team at VeriSign-owned iDefense, of Dulles, Va., Dunham--along with his team of malware hunters--infiltrates black hat hacker...

RFID Gets Hammered.
April 11, 2006... Security concerns over radio frequency identification (RFID) technology seem to be coming to a head. A 37-year-old software engineer actually took a hammer to his MasterCard PayPass ATM card to destroy the RFID circuitry inside, according to an...

Salesforce.com Takes to the Road.(by acquiring Sendia)(Brief article)
April 11, 2006... Salesforce.com is going mobile with the acquisition of Sendia. Salesforce.com, whose AppExchange service offers CRM (customer relationship management) software on demand, said on April 11 that it had created a new AppExchange Mobile service...

MS Patch Day: 10 Flaws Fixed in Monster IE Update.
April 11, 2006... Microsoft's dominant Internet Explorer browser has undergone a major security makeover to plug 10 vulnerabilities that puts millions at risk of PC takeover, address bar spoofing and information disclosure attacks. The monster IE update...

Richard Harrington: The Transformer.(of Thomson Corp.)(Interview)
April 11, 2006... Richard Harrington, president and chief executive officer of Thomson Corp., knows firsthand how information technology can be used as a powerful tool to change businesses. He has led the transformation of Thomson from a print publisher to a...

Calculator: Pricing Blade Servers.
April 12, 2006... Blade servers offer a way to pack lots of processors into a small space. But they have other advantages as well. There's a savings in networking, hardware maintenance, software upgrade time, and often in power costs. It all comes at a price:...

Project Management: How to Set Up Shop.(Mike Stober of Stanley Works)(Interview)(Brief article)
April 12, 2006... Project Management: How to Set Up Shop Mike Stober, 36, is global manager of the newly created information-technology project management office at Stanley Works, the $3.3 billion tool manufacturer based in New Britain, Conn. He spoke...

Researchers: Smaller Desktops to Dominate.(IDC study)
April 12, 2006... The minitower, the most common type of desktop PC seen today, is a dying breed, researchers say. After several fits and starts in the past, the minitower is expected to cede its most favored status to small PCs during this decade, based on...

April 2006 Online Extras.
April 13, 2006... BASELINE ONLINE The Smartest 100 Companies of 2006 Which companies are the smartest? Using public financial data companies have reported over the past three years, Baseline contributor Paul A. Strassmann has developed a formula that can be...

March 2006 Online Extras.
April 13, 2006... BASELINE ONLINE Planner: Calculating the Costs of Disaster Recovery (p.41) Saving for a rainy day is a good idea, but thoroughly planning for one could save your business. Cost out a complete disaster recovery plan. Calculator: Compare...

Microsoft's Security Disclosures Come Under Fire.
April 13, 2006... Is Microsoft silently fixing security vulnerabilities and deliberately obfuscating details about patches in its monthly security bulletins? Matthew Murphy, a security researcher who has worked closely with the MSRC (Microsoft Security...

Wal-Mart's New CIO Says He'll Back RFID.
April 13, 2006... Suppliers and RFID vendors alike can breathe a sigh of relief. Wal-Mart Stores' new CIO, Rollin Ford, said in an in-house CIO Summit on April 13 that he plans to stand behind the RFID technology march at Wal-Mart, much to the same degree...

Group Creating Tools to Rate Server Power Use.
April 14, 2006... Several top computer industry companies are on the road to creating a universal set of measurements for server power consumption--something they hope will become the equivalent of a server miles per gallon--in an effort to help businesses...

Stitching Up Health Records: Privacy Compliance Lags.
April 16, 2006... The good news about privacy and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is that more than 80 percent of companies involved in health care have technology and processes in place to provide the level of patient-privacy protection...

Rootkits, Smarter Hackers Pose Growing Security Threats.
April 17, 2006... If reports issued by several well-known anti-virus companies are on the money, IT administrators will continue to face new and sophisticated forms of malware that challenge the security industry's ability to stay ahead of emerging threats. ...

Mobile Computing: A Window into the Future?
April 17, 2006... Microsoft plunged into the mobile handheld computing market this year with the debut of its Windows Mobile operating system on the Palm Treo 700w, but it's not clear yet whether the move has encouraged many mobile workers to jump in, too. ...

Microsoft Patches Causing Breakages, Lockups.
April 17, 2006... Two patches released in Microsoft's April batch of security updates are causing system hangs, Windows crashes and the appearance of strange dialog boxes. The problems stem from a nonsecurity modification to Internet Explorer and a critical...

Oracle to Become a Linux Power?
April 17, 2006... In an interview with the Financial Times, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said that Oracle may be considering buying a Linux company in the future. After considering open source's and Linux's pluses and minuses, Ellison has concluded that for...

Should Oracle Get into the Linux Business?
April 17, 2006... If Oracle were to get into the operating system business with Linux, would this be a good thing for the database giant? Industry watchers are all over the map with their thoughts on the matter. On the plus side, Dan Kusnetzky, executive...

Report: Lack of Security Expertise Drives I.T. Spending.(IDC survey)(Brief article)
April 18, 2006... Overburdened employees in many corporate and government I.T. departments have trouble keeping up with cybersecurity, according to a study by IDC. That lack of expertise, coupled with an increase in viruses, worms and other malicious code,...

Oracle Plugs 36 Holes in Critical Patch Update.(Brief article)
April 18, 2006... Database server giant Oracle on April 18 shipped its scheduled quarterly critical patch update with fixes for 36 security vulnerabilities in several enterprise-facing products. The mega update includes a fix for a gaping flaw in the Oracle...

Google Redoubles Enterprise Search Push.(by partnering with Salesforce.com Inc. and Oracle Corp.)(Brief article)
April 19, 2006... Google has forged new partnerships with business software suppliers Oracle and Salesforce.com as it makes a big push into selling enterprise search features. As previously reported, Google has also coupled with business intelligence...

Project Snafu: California Agency Muffs Mailing.(information breach at the California's Department of Employment Development)(Brief article)
April 19, 2006... The Problem: In late January, California's Employment Development Department, a state agency that provides job-placement services and disability insurance, mailed 63,000 tax statements that included Social Security numbers and income data--to...

High-Tech Employment Shows Promise.(American Electronics Association report)(Brief article)
April 19, 2006... U.S. high-tech employment increased 1 percent in 2005, bringing the nationwide total to 5.6 million, with the greatest gains in the electronic manufacturing, software, and engineering and tech services segments, according to the Cyberstates...

CA to Intro New Web-Based Database Control Center.
April 19, 2006... Computer Associates may not be going open-source with its product offerings, but it is using the open source distribution model--free downloads for basic functionality, payment for added functions and services--as an example of how it wants to...

Microsoft Express Tools Target New Developers.
April 19, 2006... Just like tobacco companies and automobile makers, Microsoft knows that the best way to make sure that people will keep buying products is to get them into the hands of young people, especially young women. For Microsoft, that means...

Governance: Sox Technology's Second Wave.(Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 compliance software)(Brief article)
April 20, 2006... As companies seek to make Sarbanes-Oxley (Sox) compliance more efficient and sustainable, they are investing in a new wave of Sox-related software, says Paul Hamerman, vice president, enterprise applications at Forrester Research. "During...

Cisco, Apple Patch Security Glitches.
April 20, 2006... Cisco Systems and Apple Computer each released new security patches meant to plug vulnerabilities discovered in their respective products. The networking giant issued patches for several types of software, while industry watchdogs...

Microsoft to Developers: Experiment a Little.(developing website called Windows Live Experimentation Platform)(Brief article)
April 21, 2006... Microsoft is building a Web site designed to allow Microsoft product groups--and, later, third-party software developers--to test new Live features and services in a controlled environment. The new site, known as the Windows Live...

Grid Computing: Buying Computing Power, by the Hour.
April 21, 2006... As the senior director of computational genetics at Applied Biosystems, Francisco De La Vega was familiar with the advantages of using clusters of inexpensive computers working together to solve tough scientific computing problems. But...

McNealy Out as Sun CEO, Schwartz In.
April 24, 2006... Scott McNealy, one of Sun Microsystems' co-founders and CEO for 22 years, is stepping down from the company's top position, being replaced by current President and Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Schwartz. McNealy made the announcement...

Government-Funded Startup Blasts Rootkits.(Komoku launched Gamma)
April 24, 2006... A startup funded by the U.S. government's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is ready to emerge from stealth mode with hardware- and software-based technologies to fight the rapid spread of malicious rootkits. Komoku, of College...

CA's Ex-CEO Kumar Pleads Guilty to Securities Fraud.
April 24, 2006... NEW YORK (Reuters)--Sanjay Kumar, the former chief executive of CA Inc., pleaded guilty on Monday to securities fraud and obstruction of justice charges related to a $2.2 billion accounting fraud at the software company. Kumar, who left...

Project Snafu: Residents Go Rabid Over Midnight Calls.(when system fails)(emergency management agency of Ohio)
April 25, 2006... THE PROBLEM: The emergency management agency for Lake County, Ohio, mistakenly placed 5,600 automated phone calls to area residents between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. on April 13 and 14 about its rabies-vaccine program for wild raccoons, after a key...

Microsoft Rocked by New IE Zero-Day Flaw Warning.
April 25, 2006... Barely two weeks after shipping an Internet Explorer security makeover to cover a wave of drive-by malware downloads, Microsoft is scrambling to address the public disclosure of a new zero-day vulnerability that could be used in code execution...

Cybercriminals Turn Their Attention to the Corporate World.
April 25, 2006... Banks and financial services companies are the favorite targets for Trojan (malware) and software probes, according to a report released in March by two security vendors, Counterpane, and Message Labs. Nearly 40% of Trojan attacks and 30%...

JDA Software to Acquire Manugistics.
April 26, 2006... The once high-flying supply chain management software provider Manugistics has succumbed to consolidation. Scottsdale, Ariz.-based JDA Software Group announced April 24 that it is acquiring SCM stalwart Manugistics for $211 million in cash,...

Oracle Locks DBAs in the Vault.
April 26, 2006... Oracle's new Database Vault technology restricts data access rights of even powerful users, while its new encryption technology, Secure Backup, encrypts data to tape. Oracle introduced two new security tools on April 25: Database Vault,...

Security: Bleak Prospects for Corporate Data Center.(AFCOM study report)(Brief article)
April 26, 2006... Are you paying enough attention to your company's data center? Probably not, according to AFCOM, the Orange, Calif.-based association for data management professionals. AFCOM recently released a set of predictions resulting from a membership...

Intel Sets Hacker Trap.
April 26, 2006... Intel wants to lay a virtual trap for hackers. The chip maker, which launched its vPro brand for business desktops April 24, aims to increase PC security by stepping up the vPro machines' abilities to proactively guard against malware. ...

IBM Delivers Mainframe for the Masses.
April 27, 2006... IBM is looking to make the mainframe more attractive to SMB customers and emerging markets. The Armonk, N.Y., company in May will launch the System z9 Business Class mainframe, with a starting price of $100,000 and a host of new specialty...

Apple Guards the Secrets of the Server.
April 27, 2006... Apple Computer is guarding its server plans closely, leaving observers to wonder what will come of the product line. The Mac manufacturer said on April 5 that it will preview its new Mac OS X 10.5, dubbed Leopard, at its Worldwide...

UPS Bolsters International Services.
April 27, 2006... Package delivery giant UPS announced on April 27 a series of additions to its Internet services that it says will make it easier for companies to maneuver around the complexities of international trade. The services include customized...

Microsoft Highlights 2007 Business Challenges, Opportunities.
April 27, 2006... There are a number of challenges and opportunities that will affect Microsoft's financial performance in the fourth quarter of 2006 as well as its 2007 fiscal year, the company said. During a media and analyst call on April 27, Chris...

Outsourcing: Kraft Signs $1.7B Deal With EDS.(Kraft Foods Inc.'s outsourcing deal)(Brief article)
April 28, 2006... EDS announced Friday a seven-year information-technology outsourcing contract with Kraft Foods, the $23 billion food company, worth an estimated $1.7 billion over that time--making it the biggest deal EDS has ever signed in the consumer...

Will Sun Open-Source Java?
April 30, 2006... New Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz's first 100 days at the helm are about to get interesting. First up: managing an internal debate over whether the company should open-source Java. According to sources inside Sun, an ongoing debate...