Will major vendors dilute open source? And more

EDITORS’ CHOICE

Editor’s Note

Getting those WAN acceleration questions ready? Check back on Monday for our Application Acceleration across the WAN forum, where Cisco, Silver Peak, Citrix and Packeteer will answer your general questions on the topic and specific questions on how their approaches differ, so you can make the right choice for your WAN efforts. On a personal note, what do you do when you’re spending a long weekend in New York and you go down to Times Square to gape at the giant electronic billboards and you notice one has stopped working because of a Windows error – which you know because the world’s largest Windows error message is staring down at you? If you’re a geek like me, you take photos of it, of course.Adam Gaffin, executive editor, online

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Will major vendors dilute open source?

Commercial software giants such as Oracle and IBM are moving deeper into and changing the face of the open source community by snapping up start-ups.

Microsoft, Cisco not in sync on securityour complete roundup of RSA Conference news.

While Microsoft and Cisco continue the hard sell on their respective visions for quarantine-based endpoint security, customers and industry experts are asking hard questions about cost, complexity and the willingness of these industry giants to work together. Also see our

Health net gets a checkup

Amid privacy, security and technology concerns, healthcare IT professionals got a progress report on the status of the Nationwide Health Information Network, a project that seeks to improve patient care and reduce medical errors in implementing electronic health record systems.

CCIE: Talk about a stress test

Anthony Sequeira knows a little about stress. The 35-year-old network instructor from Tampa, Fla., once purposely stalled a single-engine plane and sent it into a tailspin five times in a row as part of his efforts to earn his pilot’s license. He’s also a world-class poker player. But nothing in his thrill-seeking exploits prepared him for the pressure of taking the CCIE lab exam.

Review

Test shows VoIP call quality can improve with SSL VPN links

Clear Choice Test shows VoIP call quality can improve with SSL VPN links.

Advice

Analyzing an employee’s PC use without his knowledge

Ron Nutter helps a user do some forensic analysis of a PC belonging to an end user who may be up to no good.

Office 2007

James Gaskin suggests what to look for in the new suite.

In depth

A dose of telemedicine saves lives, cuts costs

After Carolyn Thornton was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, she was given a choice: wait at her suburban Boston home for twice-weekly medical readings taken by a visiting nurse, or do it herself. Her decision to take her own daily readings may have saved her life.

Network World’s Hot Seat: What’s new about the “new” CA?

CA’s Alan Nugent, senior vice president and GM of the Unicenter line, says customer needs will come first, rather than what CA thinks customers need, in this five-minute video interview with Network World Editorial Director John Gallant.

Tech Update

Multithreading weaves its way into nets

Network systems increasingly need to be application-aware to control access, allocate resources and prioritize traffic. Maintaining stateful packet flow information at gigabit per second line speeds requires a rate of random memory access that is beyond the capability of today’s traditional processors.

Management Strategies

Insurer conquers change management

Erie Insurance automates change management with ITSM tool.

More news

Users weigh Exchange mobile messaging

Wary network administrators are starting to evaluate the mobile-messaging capability rolled out by Microsoft via Exchange Server.

Start-up offers content mgmt.

Open source software start-up Alfresco Software has new funding to fuel its drive into the corporate content-management arena.

Network security is the key to keeping VoIP networks secure

Despite warnings that VoIP is vulnerable to a new breed of attacks, the biggest threat remains weaknesses in general network security.

Cisco CIO takes wireless industry to task

Despite improvements in recent years, the wireless industry has done a poor job of giving companies the tools they need to let workers access corporate data from mobile devices, Cisco CIO Brad Boston said last week at 3GSM World Congress, a huge mobile and wireless event held this year in Barcelona, Spain.

Analysts: Juniper could be doing better

Juniper emphasized its laser-like focus as a core component of its success over the past 10 years – but attendees of the company’s annual Analyst Day say it may have to defocus a bit in order to land more deals and regain market share.

Active Directory gains broader role

Microsoft last week laid out a new road map for Active Directory designed to transform it into the centerpiece of the company’s effort to provide users with an integrated identity management platform.

CA set to tackle Web services security

CA is readying software designed to help secure and manage systems using Web services software.

But wait, there’s more

Our This Week page will also link you to: Microsoft’s Office 2007 includes new twists; Convergence, wireless are fueling telecom spending; Businesses should pay more attention to software security; Google, BearingPoint team to support enterprise search; Blade server switch market in flux; Stronger security urged; Internet Security Systems bolsters network monitoring family; Quest extends single sign-on support; Sophos unveils e-mail security appliance; Study: Telecom is over the hump; Cingular touts upgrades to wireless.