CA snaps up Concord
Computer Associates President and CEO John Swainson last Tuesday outlined a corporate reorganization designed in part to better
focus the company on new opportunities in management software. Two days later, the company started making good on that plan
by announcing the $330 million buyout of Concord Communications.
Users laud open source VPN code
Businesses interested in VPNs need not spend any money to find out more, because there is a wealth of open source VPN code
available with which to experiment. In fact, they might find the free software meets their needs and budgets well enough that
they don't need to look to commercial software.
Carrier life after Chapter 11
Nearly six months after announcing its shift to more squarely focus on enterprise business customers, international service
provider Global Crossing is still waiting for all the clouds to clear.
EMC revamps SAN tool
Kevin Violette had enough things to worry about when the University of North Carolina Wilmington recently moved a data center.
The last thing he wanted to mess around on was the school's storage-area network upgrade.
Telecom tax structure in for an overhaul?
For the first time in 40 years, the nation's telecom tax system might be getting an overhaul. Several proposals are floating
around Washington to modify, expand or repeal this tax in light of the migration of voice services to the Internet.
Software aimed at corralling USB storage devices
DeviceWall employs a server program to set up usage policies and a software agent, running on Windows PCs and notebooks, to
enforce them. It can block the use of all USB storage devices plugged into PCs, or permit use of specific devices based on
individual users or groups of users.
Higher ed learns notebook PC lessons
More colleges and universities are requiring students to have notebook computers. And the notebook growth is sparking far-ranging
changes in the way these institutions do computing.
FullArmor boosting range of Microsoft management policy
Policy management vendor FullArmor this week is expected to introduce software that will extend the ability to centrally manage
settings on Microsoft desktops and servers to computers routinely disconnected from corporate networks and those networks
not running Microsoft's Active Directory.
Faster Fibre Channel products on tap
Fibre Channel is getting faster but not necessarily more expensive. That was the word leading up to this week's Storage Networking
World in Phoenix, where some of the first 4G bit/sec Fibre Channel products are expected to be introduced.
SEC launches financial reporting XML project
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last week launched a pilot project built around a specialized flavor of XML for
financial reporting.
Trend Micro takes aim at spyware
Trend Micro this week is expected to announce two products aimed at eradicating spyware, one for desktops and servers called
OfficeScan Anti-Spyware Suite, and a second dubbed InterScan Anti-Spyware Suite for gateway-based protection.
IBM, Net App team on storage
Network Appliance's reach in storage could grow as the result of a deal with IBM last week through which Big Blue will sell
Network Appliance's products.
NetScaler tool aims to speed apps traffic
NetScaler this week is expected to release a tool designed to simplify the deployment of its application acceleration hardware
News briefs: Microsoft readies security alerts
Also: Micromuse buys Quallaby; ICSA Labs releases annual "Virus Prevalence Survey; U.S. patent policy "lousy, IBM VP says;
more
Start-up touts policy-based apps management
Newcomer OpTier has its sights set on helping network executives better allocate IT resources based on pre-defined policies.
The company this week is expected to unveil software that monitors IT components and automates transactions across them based
on increased user demands or changing IT conditions.
Fujitsu adds Itanium options for high end
Fujitsu says it soon will begin shipping high-end systems that bring mainframe-class technologies to an Itanium platform,
which widens the choice for IT managers looking to run important applications on industry-standard servers.
Studies show Windows progress vs. Linux
Corporate users are taking a more pragmatic look at Linux than in the past. They're stripping away the hype and finding the
true cost, as well as how it stacks up against Windows in terms of reliability and security, according to a pair of reports
released last week.
MCI cites headway with IPv6
IPv6, the long-awaited upgrade to the Internet's main communications protocol, might be showing signs of life with last week's
announcement of MCI's first commercial customer for IPv6 services.
Check Point adds wireless to VPN box
Check Point this week is expected to announce a small-office firewall/VPN appliance that supports wireless access, making
it possible to streamline setting up LANs and WANs in remote corporate offices.
Alacritech NICs open larger server pipe
Alacritech last week released eight new server network interface cards that combine multi-port Gigabit Ethernet connectivity
with a TCP/IP offload chip for speeding application processing.
In brief: Microsoft delays Server 2003 Compute Cluster Edition beta
Also: PowerDsine says its Power over Ethernet certified POET 6000; Gateway expands server, storage lines
In brief: AT&T announces $8.5 million VPN deal
Also: WilTel lands 12-year Defense Department deal; Juniper names new vice president, cable products business
In brief: Demantra adds app for improving sales forecasting
Also: Marqui to announce upgrades to its content management and marketing analytics suite
IBM bundles key WebSphere products for retailers
IBM last week announced more integrated versions of its e-commerce, portal and product information management software designed
to make it easier for retailers and manufacturers to tie together product, pricing and promotional information across business
systems.
HP to dump eight-way servers
HP, which leads the x86 server market, has followed rival Dell in scrapping its line of eight-processor, Xeon-based systems,
saying that new, more powerful chips coupled with a growing interest in tying together smaller boxes for processing oomph
make the bigger machines obsolete.
In brief: McData introduces Fibre Channel switches for SANs
Also: Xiotech rolls out SAN array for SMBs
Q&A: Nugent sketches CA's direction
Ex-Novell CTO Alan Nugent last week officially joined Computer Associates as senior vice president and general manager of
the company's newly designated Enterprise Systems Management unit, home to CA's Unicenter network and systems management software.
Nugent recently spoke with Network World Senior Editor Denise Dubie.
