Baseline articles from June 2006

Baseline archives from June 2006

LexisNexis in the Security Hot Seat.
June 1, 2006... In April 2005, Leo Cronin, chief information security officer of data provider LexisNexis Group, got the kind of news that every manager in his position dreads: Personal records for 310,000 individuals had been stolen from the company's...

Sun Is Banking On Its Upgraded Storage Business.
June 1, 2006... If Sun Microsystems is going to pull itself out of a five-year financial nosedive, one of the three key areas in which it will need to perform well is data storage--a very competitive market for which the company is not well known. ...

H-1B Supply Tapped Out in Record Time.
June 1, 2006... The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service announced on June 1 that the 65,000 H-1B visa supply has been exhausted for the 2007 fiscal year, four months before new ones will be made available. The H-1B, launched in 1990, is a temporary...

FCC Mulls Taxing VOIP Calls.
June 1, 2006... Businesses that moved to voice over IP calling services to lower their phone bills could see a portion of their savings disappear if the most recent FCC proposal to add VOIP services to the Universal Service Fund is adopted. FCC Chairman...

Sprint to Deliver Broadband BlackBerry.(BlackBerry 7130e of Research in Motion Ltd. is shipping by Sprint Nextel Corp.)
June 1, 2006... Sprint Nextel has begun shipping a new version of Research In Motion's popular BlackBerry device, designed to take advantage of its Power Vision mobile broadband network. The company will also upgrade an earlier version of the BlackBerry...

WSJ: Microsoft Expects Adobe to File Antitrust Suit.
June 2, 2006... NEW YORK (Reuters)--Microsoft Corp. said it expected Adobe Systems Inc. to file an antitrust suit in Europe after talks to use Adobe's technology broke down this week, according to the Wall Street Journal. The two companies have been in...

Compliance: Corey Booth, CIO of the SEC, on Catching the Bad Guys.(Interview)(Brief article)
June 2, 2006... Corey Booth is working hard these days. The CIO of the Securities and Exchange Commission is busy installing new technologies to help companies better comply with regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act--and help SEC investigators analyze...

Despite PDF Deal, Adobe Continues to Press Microsoft.
June 2, 2006... Following a published report claiming that Adobe Systems is poised to launch an antitrust suit against Microsoft over Microsoft's Office 2007 planned PDF support, Microsoft is going on the offensive and discussing what has led to the impasse...

Internet on U.S. Planes Moves Closer to Takeoff.
June 2, 2006... WASHINGTON (Reuters)--The prospect of fast Internet connections aboard U.S. commercial airline flights moved ahead on Friday when JetBlue Airways Corp. and another company won licenses for airborne communications services. LiveTV LLC, a...

The Big Deal: Tech Giants Fawn over Small Fry.
June 5, 2006... Tom Miller is a wanted man. He's wanted by Microsoft and a handful of other top technology vendors willing to go to unusual lengths to get his business, even though his company might look like small potatoes to some. "The enterprise market...

HP Targets the Midrange with New NonStop Server.
June 5, 2006... Hewlett-Packard is looking to bring its high-availability platform for the midrange market. The Palo Alto, Calif., company on June 5 is launching the Integrity NonStop NS1000 system, an Itanium 2-based server that offers the same level of...

Accelerated Intel Roadmaps Spur New Mac Speculation.
June 5, 2006... For the first time, talk about new Intel processors is raising the pulses of editors at Mac-centric Web sites. This is a major change from the years when Apple Computer's Macintosh computers were powered by PowerPC chips from Freescale...

Supercomputer Serves as Weapon in AIDS Fight.
June 5, 2006... Researchers at Stony Brook University's Center for Structural Biology wanted to understand how an essential HIV protein switched between two known conformations. They used computer simulation to model the transition and identified a new...

Robots Clean Floors--and Save Lives, Panel Says.
June 5, 2006... WASHINGTON--Calling robots a "disruptive technology," iRobot Chairman and Founder Helen Greiner said that robots made by her company have already saved the lives of dozens of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. She said that robotics will be...

Study Finds Offshoring's Impact Overstated.(American Sentinel University report of IT job losses)(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... The risk of losing high-end IT jobs to offshoring is lower than widely believed, argues a report released June 2 by American Sentinel University. "Studies from consulting groups during the stagnant job growth years of 2002 to 2004 stoked...

E&Y Gaffe Exposes Hotels.com Customer Info.
June 5, 2006... Hotels.com and auditors at Ernst & Young are warning consumers of an incident that may have exposed the personal data of roughly 243,000 customers of the online travel site. According to the two companies, an Ernst & Young auditor working...

Where Are the Vista Killer Apps?
June 6, 2006... Users don't buy operating systems for operating systems' sake; they buy them for the applications that run on them. Given that truism, it's not too early to wonder about the whereabouts of Windows-Vista-optimized apps. Microsoft will...

Intel Tips Core 2 Duo Launch Plans, Phases Out IDE.
June 6, 2006... Intel is expected to disclose June 6 its launch plans surrounding its next-generation Core 2 microprocessors, as well as a new low-voltage Core Duo chip that will be featured in thin-and-light notebooks from Dell and Hewlett-Packard. Of...

CA's Sales Head Resigns.
June 6, 2006... The revolving door at software giant CA, formerly Computer Associates, continues to spin, this time with the company's head of worldwide sales departing. The Islandia, N.Y.-based company, whose products help businesses manage large...

I.T. Governance: Overcoming the Triple Threat.
June 6, 2006... Mention the word "compliance" in a roomful of executives these days, and you're likely to hear a chorus of groans and sighs. In addition to Sarbanes-Oxley--the law attacking corporate fraud that Congress passed in 2002--organizations are...

Veterans Sue VA over Data Loss.
June 6, 2006... WASHINGTON--Claiming that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs "flagrantly disregarded the privacy rights of essentially every man or woman to have worn a United States military uniform," veterans groups filed a massive class-action lawsuit...

Despite Decelerating Market, IT Boasts Growth.(National Association of Computer Consultant Businesses IT Employment Index report)(Brief article)
June 6, 2006... IT employment accelerated in May, according to the National Association of Computer Consultant Businesses IT Employment Index, released June 5, just days after the Labor Department's May 2006 employment numbers failed to meet expectations. ...

Microsoft Plans to Expand BI to Performance Management.(Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007)(business intelligence)
June 6, 2006... The June 6 announcement of Microsoft's new Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 is more than a continuation of the company's business intelligence strategy, it's a galvanizing force that puts a product in front of its many disparate...

Personal Displays Keep Data Private.(Samsung Electronics Company Ltd. introduced ultramobile tablet computer)(Lumus introduced Lumus PD-20 Series display devices)
June 6, 2006... SAN FRANCISCO--The dueling needs for privacy and data sharing played out here at the annual SID (Society of Information Display) International Symposium. Vendors showed new technologies that can keep neighbors on a flight from getting a glimpse...

Google Founder Lobbies for Net Neutrality.
June 6, 2006... WASHINGTON--Google Inc. co-founder and President Sergey Brin met with U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday to press for legislation that would prevent Internet access providers from charging Web sites more for faster content delivery. "The only way...

Microsoft to Publish New Common Engineering Criteria at Tech Ed.
June 6, 2006... Microsoft will use its annual Tech Ed conference to be held in Boston the week of June 12 to publish the new Windows Server System Common Engineering Criteria for infrastructure software produced in 2007. Among the new criteria are...

Wi-Fi Security: Analysts Offer 3 Tips.
June 7, 2006... Financial firms stand to lose customers' trust--and potentially massive amounts of their data--if they don't rein in security risks to their Wi-Fi networks, according to new research. Analysts with TowerGroup, a Needham, Mass., financial...

I.T. Procurement Fraud: How Tech Insiders Cheat Their Employers.(Brief article)
June 7, 2006... A number of information-technology managers stand accused of ripping off their employers, allegedly using "shadow companies" and inflated or bogus invoices--in some cases, stealing tens of millions of dollars or more. The scam? It's called...

MS Live Labs Offers Web-based Authentication Service.(Microsoft Live Labs Security Token Service and Microsoft Live Labs Relay Service)(Brief article)
June 7, 2006... Two new security-themed projects have been added to Microsoft's Live Labs research stable. The two beta projects--Microsoft Live Labs Security Token Service and Microsoft Live Labs Relay Service--indicate a big push by the Redmond, Wash.,...

CIOInsight Survey: Compliance Spending is Leveling Off.
June 7, 2006... In previous CIO Insight studies on compliance and Sarbanes-Oxley, getting and staying compliant was seen as something to achieve in the future. But in our new survey, many more respondents say they have achieved full compliance with the...

Opinion: Lose My Data, Pay Me $1,000.
June 7, 2006... Veterans groups may have accidentally found the remedy for companies' lax protection of customer information. The cure: $1,000 for each person affected by a data breach. The veterans groups behind a massive class-action lawsuit against the...

Intel Seeks Mainstream Acceptance of Core 2 PCs With Powerfully Low Cost.
June 7, 2006... Intel wants its forthcoming Core 2 Duo desktop chips to be very popular. To that end, the chip maker will aim the dual-core chips, due to start shipping in July, at desktops priced under $1,000, versus restricting them to more expensive...

Another Windows Vista Feature Bites the Dust.
June 7, 2006... Microsoft officials decided the week of June 5 to cut another feature from Windows Vista: PC-to-PC synchronization. Microsoft officials said they cut the feature due to quality concerns, but the functionality is still "something we plan to...

VA to Recall All Agency Laptops.
June 8, 2006... The Secretary of the Department of Veteran Affairs, R. James Nicholson, will announce a VA-wide recall of all laptop computers June 8 in a 10:00 a.m. hearing at the House of Representatives Government Reform Committee. According to Rick...

IBM's DB2 'Viper' Update Bites at Last.
June 8, 2006... IBM has let "Viper" out of the bag, unleashing the next-generation DB2 9 data server with XML handling capabilities that Big Blue claims will turn our data handling ways on their head. IBM on June 8 announced the ship date for the new data...

Web Attackers Train Guns on Patched Windows MDAC Flaw.
June 8, 2006... Malicious hackers are actively exploiting a flaw patched by Microsoft in its April batch of bulletins to hijack computers for use in botnets, according to a warning from malware hunters. Researchers at Exploit Prevention Labs, an...

Data Losses May Spur Lawsuits.
June 8, 2006... From the nation's largest financial services institutions to the local YMCA, legal and privacy experts maintain that organizations that inadvertently or secretly expose their customers' data will increasingly face legal action. On June 6,...

Tech's Glass Ceiling Shows Some Cracks.(women executive discrimination in IT industry)
June 8, 2006... Despite considerable progress, industry leaders and gender advocates make no bones about stating that women are still largely underrepresented in technology, put off by uneven salaries, difficulties balancing home life with the long hours...

VA Secretary Announces New Security Measures.
June 8, 2006... WASHINGTON--Secretary of Veterans Affairs R. James Nicholson on June 8 called for criminal penalties for VA personnel who fail to secure protected personal information. Nicholson called for the heavier sanctions in an impromptu press...

Microsoft Plans to Take On Linux in High-Performance Computing.
June 9, 2006... Microsoft is finally ready to enter the high-performance computing market, a technology dominated by open-source Linux technology. The Redmond, Wash., software maker released Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 to manufacturing on June 9,...

RuBee Offers an Alternative to RFID.
June 9, 2006... The IEEE has started work on a new protocol--a standard called IEEE 1902.1 also known as RuBee--that is expected to give retailers and manufacturers an attractive alternative to RFID for many applications, especially item-level efforts. ...

FDA Task Force Releases RFID Recommendations.
June 9, 2006... The Food and Drug Administration's Counterfeit Drug Task Force announced June 9 its recommendations for the pharmaceutical industry regarding the use of radio-frequency identification technology to fight the proliferation of some 35 million...

Is 'Windows Genuine Advantage' Genuine Spyware?
June 9, 2006... Here is Microsoft Watch's attempt to provide answers to some of the most commonly asked Windows Genuine Advantage questions. Q: What is Genuine Advantage? A: WGA is Microsoft's latest program designed to thwart software piracy. It...

Microsoft Outlines App Integration Plan in Tech Ed Keynote.
June 11, 2006... BOSTON--Microsoft is using its annual Tech Ed developer conference to stress the tight integration of its applications and how this will allow developers to build better solutions more quickly. The opening keynote address was delivered here...

E-Newspapers Just Around the Corner--Really.
June 12, 2006... NEW YORK (Reuters)--The newspapers of the future--cheap digital screens that can be rolled up and stuffed into a back pocket--have been just around the corner for the last three decades. But as early as this year, the future may finally...

Fraud Detection Software: How to Shut Down Scammers.
June 12, 2006... Lead Story: Stopping Corporate Fraud Schemes In the wake of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a new crop of tools popped up to cut the risk of fraud happening and also help technology executives get a better handle on their enterprise's financial...

DB2 Crack Lets in Attackers Without Database Credentials.
June 12, 2006... Security researchers have uncovered a critical client/server protocol flaw in IBM's DB2 database. Imperva's Application Defense Center reported on June 12 that it had discovered the vulnerability--which allows any attacker with network...

Job Site Monster Joins Companies Under Options Review.
June 12, 2006... NEW YORK (Reuters)--Online job site Monster Worldwide Inc. and four other companies on Monday disclosed new inquiries into the granting of stock options to top executives, widening a scandal that now involves some 40 companies. The growing...

Smart Phones Surge in the Enterprise.(IDC report)
June 12, 2006... Mobile device maker Research In Motion (RIM) still dominates the U.S. smart-phone market, but a few other players are tempting technology executives with new models and network capabilities, according to research firm IDC. IDC declared the...

Outsourcing: The Russian Revelation.
June 12, 2006... When Daniel Marovitz sought an offshore partner, he scanned the globe. "We talked about Canada, Ireland and low-cost locations in the United Kingdom. But it really came down to India and Russia," said Marovitz, chief technology officer for...

Microsoft: Trojans, Bots Are 'Significant and Tangible Threat'.
June 12, 2006... BOSTON -- Microsoft security researchers have used data collected from its MSRT (malicious software removal tool) to produce the clearest picture yet of the malware scourge on Windows -- and it's not a pretty sight. On the eve of the Tech...

Baseline's Look Ahead, Week of June 12.
June 12, 2006... June 11-16: Microsoft TechEd 2006 in Boston. Microsoft is expected to outline its strategy to promote the development of Office Business Applications, which are based on the user interfaces of Microsoft Office and access and interact with...

Oracle Wants to Hold Your Linux-Leery Hand.
June 12, 2006... Oracle is catering to the Linux-leery, announcing June 12 the Oracle Validated Configuration program to provide pre-tested architectures for running Oracle on Linux. The free offering includes specs for common mixes of software, hardware,...

Microsoft Rebrands Enterprise Security Push as 'Forefront'.
June 12, 2006... BOSTON--Microsoft's ambitious push into the enterprise security software market has a new name. At the TechEd conference here, the software maker's SASD (Security, Access and Solutions Division) unveiled the Microsoft Forefront brand, a...

Judge Defers Decision on U.S. Wiretap Suit.
June 12, 2006... DETROIT (Reuters)--A federal judge on Monday deferred making an immediate decision on a request that the Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping program be halted as a violation of law. The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed...

Hoboken RFID Eases Parking, Worries Privacy Activists.
June 12, 2006... Radio frequency identification is traveling deeper into public spaces, particularly in the city of Hoboken, New Jersey. With 40,000 residents crammed into its one-square-mile borders, and the city situated along the New Jersey Transit path...

Microsoft Pledges Another Round of Open-Source Links.
June 12, 2006... BOSTON--Microsoft has been reaching out to the open-source community to try to find ways to overcome the incompatibilities between software distributed under the GNU General Public License and its own commercial software. "Open source is a...

Virtual Chargeback: IBM's New Data Center Move.
June 13, 2006... This month, IBM announced software to help companies track usage and allocate costs in virtualized information environments. It's a breakthrough for I.T. managers, Big Blue claims--but industry executives say IBM may be a little ahead of the...

The Real Impact of Globalization.
June 13, 2006... NAPA, Calif. -- Stuart Varney, an economist and contributor to Fox News, is bullish on the U.S. economy. He warns, however, that government will have trouble supporting long-term pension and health-care commitments to retirees in coming years....

SAP Fights Off Oracle in CRM Market.
June 13, 2006... SAP still brings home more dollars from its customer relationship management (CRM) software business than anyone else, but Oracle is closing in on the German giant. Last year, SAP was the top vendor by revenue in the CRM category with...

Microsoft Putting Vista Under 'Black Hat' Spotlight.
June 13, 2006... Microsoft's Windows Vista has a date with some of the world's smartest hackers. The software maker will use the spotlight of the Black Hat security conference in August to show off some of the key security features and functionality being...

Yahoo, World's Most Popular E-Mail, Hit by Worm.
June 13, 2006... LAS VEGAS (Reuters)--Yahoo Inc., the world's largest provider of e-mail services, said on Monday that a software virus aimed at Yahoo Mail users had infected "a very small fraction" of its base of more than 200 million accounts. The e-mail...

June 2006 Online Extras.
June 13, 2006... BASELINE ONLINE Expert Analysis: What It Takes To Catch a Thief An executive from LECG, an electronic discovery practice, explaines how technology executives, working on their own or with a chief financial officer, can rip off a company....

Senate Holds Final Telecom Bill Hearing.
June 13, 2006... WASHINGTON--Members of the U.S. Senate heard from the telecom industry and others in what was the final hearing on its version of a new telecom bill. This is the only hearing since the U.S. House of Representatives passed a similar bill...

CA Acquires MDY for Innovative Records Management.(MDY Group International)
June 13, 2006... IT management software provider CA filled a major gap in its product offerings June 13 by acquiring MDY Group International, a small but leading-edge provider of enterprise records management software and services. CA and MDY did not...

Creative Says Probe Under Way Against Apple.
June 14, 2006... NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. International Trade Commission has launched a probe into whether Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod digital music player infringes on a Creative Technology Ltd. patent, Creative said on Wednesday. Creative filed a...

Microsoft Forms Interoperabilty Council.
June 14, 2006... BOSTON--Hot on the heels of revelations that it is reaching out to the open-source community to find ways of interoperating with software licensed under the GPL, Microsoft announced on June 14 that it has formed an Interoperability Customer...

June 2006 Survey: Data Security Receives a Boost from Compliance Efforts.
June 14, 2006... Regulations appear to be achieving what the government intended. Investors, not CIOs, are in a better position to judge whether Sarbanes-Oxley is improving their confidence in the numbers reported by companies. But CIOs do know a fair amount...

Show the Love to Your I.T. Staff.
June 14, 2006... NAPA, Calif. -- Jerry Bartlett, chief information officer of online brokerage TD Ameritrade, has some advice for technology managers tasked with integrating technology during a merger or acquisition: Don't overlook your employees during tenuous...

Sun Ready to Wage Blade Wars Against IBM, HP.
June 14, 2006... SAN FRANCISCO--Sun Microsystems first entered the blade server market back in spring 2004 with the launch of the SPARC-powered Sun Fire B1600 and the B100/200 lines. They had heat and I/O problems and weren't exactly a roaring success, and they...

Report Offers Guidelines for Putting Prescription Drug Information Online.
June 14, 2006... A year after Hurricane Katrina disrupted thousands of lives across the South, a coalition of health IT leaders has outlined how to help evacuees get necessary medications and better-informed care. The nonprofit Markle Foundation, a...

It's 10 P.M. Do You Know Who's Logged On?(Ziff Davis Media's CIO Summit on identity management)(Discussion)
June 14, 2006... NAPA, Calif. -- If you thought most companies handle identity management effectively, think again. "Many organizations fail to deal with the basic issue of who gets access to what," said Ed Partenope, vice president of operations and I.T....

Larry Ellison as CIO? Believe It!
June 14, 2006... NAPA, Calif. -- And you thought you had it bad as the typical overworked, underbudgeted CIO. Take heart from David Thompson, executive vice president and CIO at Symantec, who related the following experience to attendees at the Ziff Davis Media...

Mountain States Lead in IT Hiring Plans.(Robert Half Technology report )(Brief article)
June 14, 2006... CIOs anticipate a "moderate uptick" in the hiring of technology workers in the third quarter of 2006, according to a hiring and skills report released June 14 by Robert Half Technology, a provider of IT professional services, based in Menlo...

Exploits Aplenty for Patch Tuesday Bugs.
June 14, 2006... Less than 24 hours after the release of patches for 21 product vulnerabilities, proof-of-concept exploits are popping up on the Internet. According to the SANS ISC (Internet Storm Center), a group of volunteers who track malicious Web...

Startup Aims to Automate Identity Compliance.
June 14, 2006... A new software startup named Aveksa introduced its first product June 14 with the goal of helping companies automate IT authentication systems management and regulatory compliance work. Labeled as Alexa Compliance Manager, the software...

Report: IT Market Upswing a 'Jobless Recovery'.(study by Center for Urban Economic Development)(Survey)(Brief article)
June 14, 2006... Dismissing industry claims to the contrary, a study released on June 14 asserts that the technology market is actually in a "jobless recovery." The study was released by the CUED (Center for Urban Economic Development) at the University of...

Options Backdating: Can I.T. Help?(to stop employee stock options backdating)(Brief article)
June 15, 2006... Lead Story: I.T.'s Role in Stock Options Options backdating, the latest scandal to hit corporate America, may be more widespread than anyone is willing to admit. If that's true, what can be done to prevent this fraudulent practice in the...

IBM Global Services Exec Offers Glimpse into Russian Market.
June 15, 2006... MOSCOW--The rapidly developing Russian economy presents the Moscow office of IBM Global Services with plenty of challenges as executives there seek to convince Russian IT managers that outsourcing has its place in the IT landscape. "We...

SEC Chairman Cox on Options Backdating.
June 15, 2006... The following is excerpted from a speech given by SEC Chairman Christopher Cox to the New York Financial Writers Association on June 8. The full text can be found at www.sec.gov/news/speech/2006/spch060806cc.htm. Cox was speaking about...

Options Backdating: Technology Companies Under Scrutiny.
June 15, 2006... A selected list of technology companies that are the subject of formal of informal probes by the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Justice Department, or have announced their own internal investigations related to backdating options....

Options Backdating: Red Hat CEO on Avoiding Problems.
June 15, 2006... Matthew Szulik, chief executive officer of Linux operating systems vendor Red Hat, says there's one good solution to avoiding the stock option scandal now being encountered by other companies: Make sure there's transparency involving corporate...

Options Backdating: Can I.T. Help?(executives compensation)
June 15, 2006... Options backdating, the latest scandal to hit corporate America, may be more widespread than anyone is willing to admit. If that's true, what can be done to prevent this fraudulent practice in the future? Can information technology be used as a...

Microsoft on Security: Pariah or Trendsetter?
June 15, 2006... BOSTON--Microsoft's transformation from pariah to trendsetter in the information security sector is slowly beginning to sink in, but users are mixed about hopping on the bandwagon. At the TechEd 2006 conference here, the software maker...