VoIP management vendor Qovia is warning of what it regards as a nuisance waiting to happen: the inevitable arrival of audio spam  that clogs VoIP customers' voice mailboxes. VoIP spam, or Spam over Internet Telephony (SPIT), will rear its head as soon as there are enough VoIP customers to make it worthwhile for advertisers to send pre-recorded messages via IP, the company says. "It's only a matter of time before the spammers see a critical mass," says Pierce Reid, Qovia's vice president of marketing. In anticipation, Qovia has filed for a patent on software that detects voice messages sent in bulk or that are exactly the same length and then block them from being stored in voice-messaging systems. The company plans to start selling the software later this year.

Customers of Microsoft's Hotmail service play an integral part in the company's fight against junk e-mail, Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates said in an open letter last week. He also dismissed the idea of generating revenue from spammers by imposing a charge for sending e-mail. "Monetary charges would be inappropriate and contrary to the fundamental purpose of the Internet as an extremely efficient and inexpensive medium for communications," he wrote. The letter, entitled "Preserving and Enhancing the Benefits of Email - A Progress Report," reviewed the company's work and outlined future plans in the fields of filtering, sender authentication and other preventive measures, and collaboration with regulators and law enforcement officials. Spamming is becoming more difficult and less lucrative, Gates said. For Microsoft customers, the situation is improving thanks to the introduction of Microsoft's SmartScreen spam filter, which it deployed on its Hotmail Web-based e-mail service six months ago, he wrote in the e-mail.

The major changes to Windows XP brought by Service Pack 2 - due this quarter - are bound to cause support headaches. Analysts, users, PC makers and Microsoft all expect a spike in help desk calls. The service pack automatically will be downloaded into many PCs through Microsoft's Windows Update service and could create problems, including breaking current applications, disrupting network setups and prompting nontechnical users to make PC configuration decisions that might be beyond their grasp. Microsoft will offer free, worldwide telephone support for the service pack. Microsoft is returning to its policy to provide free support for service packs after leaving support for Windows XP SP1 to the PC makers. Nevertheless, HP, Dell and Gateway also are gearing up for the release of SP2 and will support their customers, spokespeople for the PC makers say.

Thirty blue-chip companies surveyed recently by Business Engine, an IT portfolio management software maker, reported wasting an average of $10 million apiece per year on poorly managed IT projects. The survey found that three key areas account for the majority of the missed opportunities to use IT dollars more effectively. About one-third of the total loss is the result of failure to take advantage of offshore outsourcing, respondents said. "The biggest prize will go to those organizations that start their offshore initiatives as soon as possible," says Doug Dickey, CEO and president of Business Engine. Twenty-eight percent of the losses were the result of poor visibility and control of projects that result in missed deadlines. A failure to align IT with business strategy accounted for another 28% of the losses.

The state of Mississippi is deploying a new system that aggregates data from multiple sources - including mug shots, arrest warrants, hazardous materials data and medical emergency protocols - in one database accessible to police and other public safety personnel working in the field. The initial pilot of the Mississippi Automated System Project will support all law enforcement, fire department and emergency medical services within three of the state's counties. The system incorporates IBM's iSeries 825 and xSeries 445 servers running Novell's SuSE Linux, remote access software from Tarantella and IBM's DB2 database software. The project, funded by $14 million in federal grants, eventually could become a model for linking law enforcement and public safety agencies nationwide, IBM says.

Network Associates  last week officially changed its name to McAfee, as had been planned. The sale of its Sniffer technologies division to Silver Lake Partners and Texas Pacific Group is expected to close by the end of the month, the company also confirmed.