* Welcome to the first afternoon edition of Network World Daily News.
RSA ’07: Cisco’s transformation still work in progress, 02/06/07 Cisco used the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco to trumpet its transformation from “packet pusher” to “infrastructure” company, unveiling a string of product updates that unify its diverse security portfolio on Monday.
Breaking news
Zero-day flaw in Solaris allows remote attacks
Security experts are warning of a zero-day vulnerability with Sun’s Solaris 10 and 11 OSes.
AT&T teams with Microsoft for Web conferencing
AT&T partnered with Microsoft to create a new Web conferencing service called AT&T Live Meeting, unveiled Monday.
A global solution to a Web performance problem
When Sling Media went live with a service provider to help it deliver large files worldwide, one of its Japanese partners was skeptical. The concern was that customers wouldn’t be able to download files as fast as they could when the partner hosted …
Review
Management wares that fit the bill but don’t break the bank
If you despair because good network management and monitoring tools can eclipse your company’s total annual revenue, take heart. In this Clear Choice test of seven entry-level network monitoring and management offerings, we found these tools feature-rich, mature, reliable, easy to use, able to monitor a diverse network and affordable.
From the blogs and forums
Scott Annan wonders if enterprise IT is ready for software as a service. Tmancill wonders if digital certificates will work on a VoIP network. Users debate a federal proposal to retaliate in force against any cyberattacks. Paul McNamara considers whether Bill Gates fibbed about H-1B issues and whether Wikipedia is really on the brink of financial disaster. Mark Gibbs continues to be outraged by Sony’s slap on the wrist over digital-rights issues. Cisconet looks at the implications of Cisco’s latest NAC client.
How to
Ron Nutter helps a user figure out how to connect a building to the campus LAN. Tim Cranny explains captive portals – those systems Wi-Fi hotspots use to force you to log in.
ITVideo
Sling speeds application downloads
Sling Media need to be able to distribute its player application more efficiently to customers across the globe. Director of technical marketing Olav Phillips explains how they did it in this edition of Voices from IT Roadmap.
Can you hear me now?
How did insurance giant Aetna converge its voice and data networks while maintaining voice quality? Brix Networks CEO Tom Pincince explains on this week’s Network World Hot Seat.
In depth
A lesson in SOA model-based mgmt.
IT practitioners striving to meet changing business needs are using service-oriented architectures to speed development, improve visibility into the business impact of IT events, and lower integration and management costs.
The best and worst of working in IT
Bruce McMillan had a couple of weeks off around the holidays. Sharing some eggnog with his neighbors, he realized something about himself and his job: While his neighbors were dreading returning to work, he was actually looking forward to it.
More news
3GSM World Congress: Microsoft readies Windows Mobile 6
Next week’s 3GSM World Congress – the annual love fest for the global cellular industry – will be the venue for an array of new products designed to give enterprises ever more capabilities, control and security over mobile computing.
Volpi bolts Cisco
Mike Volpi, the head of Cisco’s Routing and Service Provider Technology Group, has resigned from the company effective today.
Q&A: Where Cisco is focusing its R&D
As Cisco’s chief development officer, Charles Giancarlo oversees the company’s R&D direction and strategy. With the expansion into new markets and technologies – such as consumer electronics and video – the types of engineers Giancarlo manages at Cisco have diversified beyond router, switch, ASIC and network software developers. He spoke with Network World about juggling Cisco’s various R&D activities, as well as some enterprise security technologies to expect from Cisco this year.
AJAX not yet the norm, but some companies report success
New research suggests that few large retailers are using AJAX technology on their Web sites, but at least a few companies using AJAX techniques to create interactive Web pages say they have been able to improve customer experience while avoiding prohibitive startup costs.
A growing divide in healthcare IT
Electronic medical records and other IT upgrades are seen as a “silver bullet” in the health industry’s struggle against rising costs and quality problems, but high startup expenses are creating a growing divide between big industry players and small practices, said the keynote speaker of a healthcare IT conference hosted by the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium last week.
