Also: Fiorina says HP hasn’t taken full advantage of Compaq buy; Microsoft releases largest single patch distribution yet; Intels bags 4-GHz Pentium 4 microprocessor; Sprint to cut 700 jobs
Cisco and Microsoft this week are expected to announce a strategic plan to work together to make Cisco’s Network Admission Control (NAC) and Microsoft’s Network Access Protection (NAP) security plans work together. The companies did not detail exact plans for the integration of their products. While differing in some fundamental technologies, both NAC and NAP intend to provide a way for security managers to inspect desktop computers to ensure they meet security requirements and are free of worms and other problems before letting them access the network. Both firms say it may take at least two to three years to achieve full interoperability.
More than two years after completing its buyout of rival Compaq, HP has not done enough to take full advantage of the acquisition, according to HP’s chairman and CEO. “We are not fully leveraging what we built,” said Carly Fiorina during a speech last week. HP acquired Compaq in 2002 with the purpose of putting together a portfolio of technologies and products – spanning consumer and corporate applications – that would be different from that offered by other vendors, Fiorina said. Fiorina’s comments that the full potential of the Compaq acquisition have not been realized were most likely in reference to recent problems at HP’s Enterprise Servers and Storage Group. During a conference call with analysts and journalists in August, Fiorina blamed the management of that group for a series of operational problems that cost the company an estimated $400 million in revenue and $275 million in operating profit during its fiscal third quarter.
Microsoft last week released 10 patches, seven with the rating of critical, in its largest single patch distribution yet. The second Tuesday of each month, Microsoft releases patches for its software. The critical rating means exploitation of the vulnerability could allow remote code execution and the propagation of an Internet worm without user action, according to the company’s Web site. The vulnerabilities covered by the patches expose 22 flaws in Windows, Office, Exchange and Internet Explorer. Microsoft has issued 38 patches this year. Experts said the most critical patches for corporate customers appear to be MS04-035, which patches a hole in the Windows Simple Message Transfer Protocol component, and MS04-36, which plugs holes in the Windows Network News Transfer Protocol component.
Intel last week axed its 4-GHz Pentium 4 microprocessor and said it would switch to a new chip design. Published reports said the scuttling of the PC processor is just another embarrassing move for the world’s biggest chip maker. The past year has been marked by tectonic shifts in Intel’s design and marketing philosophies. After years of promoting clock speed as the most important indicator of processor performance, Intel now says introducing multi-core products and new silicon features are the best ways to improve processor performance. Intel has re-evaluated many product decisions this year after CEO Craig Barrett wrote a memo chastising the company for its string of product delays and manufacturing glitches earlier this year. The memo called for Intel to focus on products that can be delivered on time and without incident, and the decision to forgo the 4-GHz chip seems linked to that emerging mindset.
Sprint last week said it plans to cut up to 700 jobs as it realigns its business to focus on wireless and Internet services. Sprint said the job cuts, about 1% of its workforce, will affect sales and support at its business solutions unit, which provides services to businesses. The cuts will come from layoffs, attrition and voluntary separation, it said. Sprint said it will stop selling stand-alone services such as long-distance to business customers because of steep competition in the long-distance market. It will focus on multi-product bundles and wireless and Internet services.
Iron Mountain last week said it is acquiring Connected to enhance its online back-up and recovery portfolio. The roughly $117 million acquisition should help Iron Mountain protect, archive and recover data that is distributed throughout an organization. Connected backs up and recovers information from users’ laptops and desktops.
