This week on Network World Fusion, 05/24/04

1) Cisco’s WLAN plan has landed 2) N+I spotlights security and apps management 3) A Wider Net: Inside MIT’s new geek lair 4) InteropNet Labs: Testers drill down on SIP, 802.1X security and MPLS 5) InteropNet Labs: SIP aces basic interop tests 6) InteropNet Labs: Vendors hit the 802.1X mark for access, but security holes remain 7) InteropNet Labs: Team mixes MPLS and IPv6 for enterprising results 8) VoIP breaks down the walls of the call center 9) Review: Network Physics NP-2000 appliance 10) Review: Cisco’s MDS 9509 11) Face-off: Is a unified WLAN approach better than an overlay? 12) Management Strategies: Negotiation know-how 13) Server Sleuths: Security attributes of a server management platform 14) Channel woes dog Microsoft 15) Nutter’s Help Desk: Wireless access point problems 16) Extreme changes 17) IBM ups the ante on Power servers 18) MCI by the numbers 19) New access services meet SOHO needs 20) Start-ups scramble for venture dollars

1) Review: VoIP security

2) Cisco aims to own used-gear market

3) The New Data Center: Spotlight on storage

4) Microsoft scrambling to secure Web services

5) Server Sleuths: Automation: Will I lose control?

6) Wireless Wizards: Is 802.11a like Betamax?

7) Nutter’s Help Desk: IPSec vs SSL VPN

8) A Wider Net: Pneumatic nets haven’t gone down the tubes

9) Technology Update: 10GBase-CX4 lowers 10G Ethernet cost

10) Management Strategies: Don’t blame the network

11) Wells Fargo unifies portal infrastructure

12) Citrix shifts gears; users wary

13) Blade servers get integrated

14) Personal servers simplify remote work

15) HomePlug trials hitting the market

16) Experts disagree about seriousness of IOS code theft

17) Contest brings out entrepreneurial spirit

18) Cometa succumbs, Wi-Fi carries on

19) RFID expectations vary

20) WLAN switch execs come to dinner

1) Review: VoIP security

The first-ever public test of VoIP security pits Avaya vs. Cisco. See who came out on top and at what price.

DocFinder: 2144

https://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/2004/0524voipsecurity.html

2) Cisco aims to own used-gear market

Cisco is quietly rallying its sales force to push its refurbished equipment – at 25% to 30% savings over new products – in order to keep customers from defecting to gray-market vendors of Cisco or rival products. Read the article, then jump into our new used-gear forum to discuss: Would you use used Cisco gear from the gray market?

DocFinder: 2141

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0524ciscoused.html

3) The New Data Center: Spotlight on storage

See how new data center technologies such as information life-cycle management, pay-as-you-go capacity and virtualization can help you handle storage demands.

DocFinder: 2143

https://www.nwfusion.com/supp/2004/ndc3/

4) Microsoft scrambling to secure Web services

Microsoft this week is scheduled to plug a major gap in its perimeter security software by integrating a partner’s XML filtering and acceleration technology into its firewall and caching server.

DocFinder: 2140

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0524microsoft.html

5) Server Sleuths: Automation: Will I lose control?

This week, the Sleuths look at what to consider with a large data center.

DocFinder: 2157

https://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/2004/0524sleuths.html

6) Wireless Wizards: Is 802.11a like Betamax?

The Wizards ponder whether you should invest in 802.11a.

DocFinder: 2158

https://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/2004/0524wizards.html

7) Nutter’s Help Desk: IPSec vs SSL VPN

Ron Nutter helps a user decide between the two.

DocFinder: 2159

https://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/2004/0524nutter.html

8) A Wider Net: Pneumatic nets haven’t gone down the tubes

Why is that? Try delivering bottles of pills over Ethernet, explains one hospital exec.

DocFinder: 2139

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0524widernettubes.html

9) Technology Update: 10GBase-CX4 lowers 10G Ethernet cost

The details behind 10GBase-CX4, the lower-cost alternative to 10G Ethernet.

DocFinder: 2145

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/tech/2004/0524techupdate.html

10) Management Strategies: Don’t blame the network

Testing software before a rollout helps curtail finger-pointing about poor performance.

DocFinder: 2146

https://www.nwfusion.com/careers/2004/0524man.html

11) Wells Fargo unifies portal infrastructure

The wholesale banking division of Wells Fargo had so much success with its customer-focused Internet efforts, it decided to replicate the infrastructure internally.

DocFinder: 2147

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0524wellsfargo.html

12) Citrix shifts gears; users wary

Citrix Systems customers are welcoming the most recent release of the company’s software products, but generally not for the reasons Citrix executives would like.

DocFinder: 2148

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0524specialfocus.html

13) Blade servers get integrated

Blade servers, those compact slices of computing power that fit into racks like books in a bookshelf, have largely been relegated to running front-end jobs in the data center – tasks such as Web serving, caching and firewalls. But increasingly, business customers are looking to blades for data center consolidation, hoping to run databases and other critical applications on the systems.

DocFinder: 2149

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0524blades.html

14) Personal servers simplify remote work 

The new wave of USB devices let users carry their PC wherever they go.

DocFinder: 2150

https://www.nwfusion.com/net.worker/news/2004/0524netlead.html

15) HomePlug trials hitting the market

Wireless continues to dominate the headlines, but HomePlug power-line technology is making steady progress as a home network backbone and eventually will be offered by utility companies as a broadband alternative.

DocFinder: 2151

https://www.nwfusion.com/net.worker/news/2004/0524netsecondstory.html

16) Experts disagree about seriousness of IOS code theft

While the FBI and Cisco scrambled last week to recover source code stolen from the network giant, expert opinion differs about how serious a threat the incident is for corporate customers.

DocFinder: 2152

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0524ciscoios.html

17) Contest brings out entrepreneurial spirit

Entrepreneurs zeroing in on wireless, vertical markets and legacy migrations were among the nearly 60 people who have entered Network World’s “Who Wants to be an Entrepreneur?” contest.

DocFinder: 2153

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0524contestupdate.html

18) Cometa succumbs, Wi-Fi carries on

Big-name backers, bravado and media fanfare might get a start-up momentum when launching, but they weren’t enough to keep Wi-Fi service provider Cometa Networks afloat.

DocFinder: 2154

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0524cometa.html

19) RFID expectations vary

Retailers expressed divergent views of the revenue-generating potential of radio frequency identification technology at last week’s Retail Systems conference.

DocFinder: 2155

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0524msecommerce.html

20) WLAN switch execs come to dinner

At last year’s Network World dinner with top executives from some of the leading wireless LAN switch start-ups, the talk focused on access points, chipsets and radio frequency beams. This year, the conversation centered on partnerships, the channel, horizontal markets and, of course, an 800-pound gorilla called Cisco.

DocFinder: 2156

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0524wlandinner.html