NetFlash: What the year ahead holds for customers

IT spending isn’t supposed to increase very much in 2006 – but that doesn’t mean we won’t see anything interesting from the networking industry. In fact, the opposite may be true, as networking vendors strive to compete for the few dollars that customers are willing to spend. From security and wireless to servers and service-oriented architectures, here’s what you can expect from the new year.

What the year ahead holds for customers

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/crystalball.html?net&story=cball

Microsoft WMF vulnerability exploits renew debate over unauthorized patching

When Microsoft didn’t patch its software fast enough to plug the recent WMF vulnerability, the SANS Institute issued an emergency patch. Is it wise to install unauthorized patches like that? Or is it better to wait for Microsoft?

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/010906wmf.html?net&story=010906wmf

File format shifts have users worried

As an industrywide tussle rages over standardized word-processing and spreadsheet formats, end users say the real issues are the costs of reformatting archived documents, support and training, and the possibility that multiple formats could make it difficult to share documents with customers and partners.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/010906-odf.html?net&story=010906-odf

Case study: CareGroup checks out Symantec database security tool

CareGroup Healthcare System, with six hospitals in the Boston area, for years has let patients from home or elsewhere gain access to their medical records over the Web with the password and ID that their doctors gave them. However, CareGroup didn’t have a way to monitor traffic going to the patient records stored in IBM and Oracle databases at the data center.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/010906-caregroup.html?net&story=010906-caregroup

Today on Layer 8, where we await word from MacWorld:

Google has released a new pack of goodies for Internet users; My First iPod; and we announce our latest caption contest winner and kick off a new competition. Check it out at:

http://www.networkworld.com/weblogs/layer8/?net&story=layer8