This week on Network World Fusion, 04/11/05

————————————– 1) Users still bullish on Web services ————————————– We catch up with the companies profiled in last year’s Web Services Early Adopters series (http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2002/0415webservices.html) to see if they’re reaping the benefits promised. Two out of three give an enthusiastic thumb’s up. DocFinder: 5944 http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2003/0519revisited.html

1) Check Point set to defend security turf

2) Users find dual roles for management tools

3) Be secure: Think like bad guys

4) Talkin’ trash: One outfit’s story of e-commerce

5) Nutter’s Help Desk: Keeping an Internet connection secure

6) Network World Radio: Broadband without wires

7) Fighting back against phishing

8) Symantec slows spam at the edge

9) Technology Update: IAX protocol simplifies VoIP

10) Careers: Employers seek RFID expertise

11) CA snaps up Concord

12) Users laud open source VPN code

13) Telecom tax structure in for an overhaul?

14) Faster Fibre Channel products on tap

15) Trend Micro takes aim at spyware

16) Gearblog: Gibbs talks back

17) NetScaler tool aims to speed apps traffic

18) FullArmor boosting range of Microsoft management policy

19) Start-up touts policy-based apps management

20) Fujitsu adds Itanium options for high end

21) Studies show Windows progress vs. Linux

22) MCI cites headway with IPv6

23) Alacritech NICs open larger server pipe

24) HP to dump eight-way servers

25) Software aimed at corralling USB storage devices

26) Q&A: New VP sketches Computer Associates’ direction

1) Check Point set to defend security turf

Check Point next month intends to announce its major software upgrade of the year – a package that will include VoIP improvements and enhanced auditing – in a move industry experts call critical to the company’s long-term success.

DocFinder: 6655

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2005/041105-check-point.html?tw

2) Users find dual roles for management tools

When it comes to management software, there’s something to be said for double dipping.

DocFinder: 6656

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2005/041105-reuse.html?tw

3) Be secure: Think like bad guys

Security managers at last week’s InfoSec World conference say they’re combating the risks posed by outsider attacks and insider exploits by thinking – and sometimes acting – like hackers.

DocFinder: 6657

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2005/041105infosec.html?tw

4) Talkin’ trash: One outfit’s story of e-commerce

These images might scream more of ‘Sanford & Son’ than modern-day e-business, and that’s exactly what they represent to a tech-savvy company called 1-800-GOT-JUNK.

DocFinder: 6658

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2005/041105widernetjunk.html?tw

5) Nutter’s Help Desk: Keeping an Internet connection secure

Ron Nutter helps a user concerned about security when his shop moves to a managed DS-3 service in which he has no router access.

DocFinder: 6659

https://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/2005/041105nutter.html?tw

6) Network World Radio: Broadband without wires

How does a fixed wireless ISP differ from a traditional wire-based service provider? To find out, we talk with Graham Barnes, CEO of NextWeb, a wireless ISP service provider in California. Listen in or download the MP3.

DocFinder: 6660

https://www.nwfusion.com/research/2005/0411radio.html?tw

7) Fighting back against phishing

In the past year, attacks have grown in volume and sophistication, but online merchants are on the offensive with consumer education and new authentication tools.

DocFinder: 6661

https://www.nwfusion.com/research/2005/041105phish.html?tw

8) Symantec slows spam at the edge

Symantec’s new Mail Security 8100 Series appliance offers a twist on spam management. It limits the amount of network bandwidth spam can consume. In our exclusive Clear Choice test of the Mail Security 8160, we found that when the bits start flying it manages the load on corporate mail servers quite well, providing a good first line of defense in reducing the amount of spam that enters the network.

DocFinder: 6662

https://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/2005/041105symantectest.html?tw

9) Technology Update: IAX protocol simplifies VoIP

Instead of using Real-time Protocol, IAX uses User Datagram Protocol over a single Internet port (Port 4569) to transmit and receive signaling and media. IAX easily traverses firewalls and uses much less overhead than RTP.

DocFinder: 6663

https://www.nwfusion.com//news/tech/2005/041105techupdate.html?tw

10) Careers: Employers seek RFID expertise

As retailers and manufacturers ramp up RFID deployments, professionals with the expertise to introduce the technology to supply chain processes are a hot commodity.

DocFinder: 6664

https://www.nwfusion.com/careers/2005/041105man.html?tw

11) 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.

DocFinder: 6665

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2005/0407cainde.html?tw

12) 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.

DocFinder: 6666

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2005/041105-openvpn.html?tw

13) 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.

DocFinder: 6668

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2005/041105-telecom-tax.html?tw

14) 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.

DocFinder: 6669

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2005/041105-fibre-channel.html?tw

15) 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.

DocFinder: 6670

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2005/041105-trend-spyware.html?tw

16) Gearblog: Gibbs talks back

On Gearblog, Mark Gibbs replies to e-mail and discusses other interesting stuff.

DocFinder: 6671

https://www.nwfusion.com/weblogs/gearblog/

17) 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

DocFinder: 6672

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2005/041105-netscaler.html?tw

18) 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.

DocFinder: 6673

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2005/041105-fullarmor.html?tw

19) 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.

DocFinder: 6674

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2005/041105-optier.html?tw

20) 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.

DocFinder: 6675

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2005/041105-fujitsu-itanium.html?tw

21) 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.

DocFinder: 6676

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2005/041105studies.html?tw

22) 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.

DocFinder: 6677

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2005/041105-mci-ipv6.html?tw

23) 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.

DocFinder: 6678

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2005/041105-alacritech.html?tw

24) 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.

DocFinder: 6679

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2005/041105-hp-xeon.html?tw

25) 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.

DocFinder: 6680

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2005/041105-devicewall.html?tw

26) Q&A: New VP sketches Computer Associates’ 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.

DocFinder: 6681

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2005/041105-ca-nugent.html?tw