Networking World

Daily News: PM

Network World Daily News: PM, 06/29/07

Top 25 'iPhonies'
Take a look back at the best of the Photoshopped speculation surrounding one of the most-hyped tech devices.
Plus: Bradner: Will Apple's iPhone walk on water?

Harry Potter worm says he is dead
Always ready to hitch their creations to current pop-culture events, malware writers have developed a new worm just in time for the release of the latest "Harry Potter" movie and novel.

Schwartz mum on GPLv3, reveals licensing fantasy
Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz showed up Thursday evening at the Burton Group Catalyst Conference and declared he would not answer questions about the GNU general public license version 3, but he did disclose his lifelong fantasy concerning open source licensing.

YouTube video puts sharp focus on tech job ads
Cisco placed a help-wanted ad for a network consulting engineer in the Chicago Tribune on Sunday, June 3, and David Huber, a networking professional who lives in Chicago, was interested in the job.

Blogs

How much is your test lab at home worth?
Scott Morris, quadruple Cisco CCIE, boasts a $2.3 million lab in the basement of his home. Read more at the Brad Reese on Cisco blog.

Blogger John Obeto on Microsoft Subnet
Guess which Linux vendor is being less than honest about dealing with Microsoft? Windows Vista Hardware Assessment. A Windows Vista virtualization FAQ. Data Encryption toolkit for mobile PCs.

Questions? Feedback? Contact NetworkWorld.com Site Editor Jeff Caruso.

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Standards and Regulatory Compliance News Alert

Network World's Standards and Regulations News Alert, 06/29/07

NAC users driven by regulatory compliance, 06/28/07: Increasingly, businesses deploying NAC are worried about proving to regulators that they are following appropriate industry and governmental guidelines ...

IPv6 D-Day is coming up fast, 06/28/07: If you had asked John Curran, head of the American Registry of Internet Numbers, three years ago to pinpoint the date at which we would run out of IP address space under IPv4, he would have said 2025. Two years ago, his answer would have been 2017. On Wednesday, he told an audience at the Burton Group’s Catalyst Conference that the doomsday date is now 2011.

Multivendor identity systems can work together, demo shows, 06/28/07: A unique demonstration showed user-centric identity software from major vendors, start-ups, one-woman projects and open source hackers all working in concert to replace passwords with validated identity-card access to Web-based resources.

IBM expands security audit and compliance software, 06/28/07: IBM Tivoli expands security audit and compliance software.

Greens don't accept Berlin 'nein' to open source, 06/25/07: The Green Party is accusing the Berlin city government of lacking a coherent IT strategy and thus not being in a position to adequately judge the merits of open source software.

Contact Site Editor Jeff Caruso

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Daily News: AM

Network World Daily News: AM, 06/29/07

3Com to spin out TippingPoint
3Com is spinning out its intrusion-prevention subsidiary.

IPv6 D-Day is coming up fast
IP addresses under IPv4 will be gone by 2011, expert warns, meaning ISPs and enterprise networks have to upgrade to IPv6 soon.

Extreme claims clean bill on options review
Extreme Networks this week said it has completed its review of its stock-option grant practices and submitted filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that had been delayed by that review.

EMC exec targets open source plan for sustainable innovation
Storage kingpin EMC hatches open source-oriented R&D plan.

Cisco WAN gear preserves Nanometrics' VoIP quality
Cisco’s Wide-Area Application Services modules integrated into Cisco Integrated Services Routers preserve QoS for Cisco customer Nanometrics' delay-sensitive VoIP traffic.

Jobs: iPhone supply may not meet demand
The number of iPhones manufactured by Apple Inc. may not be enough to meet customer demand when the smart phone goes on sale later Friday, CEO Steve Jobs said in an interview published the same day.

Visto to offer Exchange, Notes e-mail on iPhone
Push e-mail provider Visto Corp. says it will be able to send enterprise e-mail to iPhones starting later this year.

Multivendor identity systems can work together, demo shows
User-centric identity may focus on consumers, but corporate users are finding that CardSpace, OpenID and other technologies could solve federation issues and attack privacy, access, management and other concerns.

State charges dropped in HP spy case
A state judge in California on Thursday dismissed charges against the three remaining state criminal defendants in the Hewlett-Packard Co. spying case.

MySpace again under phishing attack
Phishers have been using compromised MySpace.com accounts to attack unsuspecting Web surfers, security experts said Thursday.

Video

GPS: Devices vs. in-phone services
Keith debates the merits of purpose-built GPS units for the car versus the GPS services popping up on many cellphones. Which one is right for you? Find out on this week's Cool Tools show.

Podcast

I phone, you phone, we all drone for iPhone
Jason Meserve and guest-host Jonathan Summey talk about this new iPhone thing, a family getting stalked by their cell phone, and tell you which high-tech job ranked as one of the worst jobs of possible.

Blogs

Today at Cisco Subnet
While we mere mortals have to search eBay for cheap routers to kit out our Cisco lab at home, Scott Morris, quadruple-CCIE, has a $2.3 million Cisco lab in his basement. Did you know John Chambers has a degree in jurisprudence? What is jurisprudence?

Today on Layer 8, where we only spam the ones we love:
The Department of Justice has issued a warning about fraudulent spam e-mail messages claiming to be from DOJ. Based upon complaints from the public, the DOJ says the fraudulent messages are addressed "Dear Citizen."

Questions? Feedback? Contact NetworkWorld.com Site Editor Jeff Caruso.

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Linux & Open Source News Alert

LinuxWorld's Linux and Open Source News Alert, 06/29/07

LinuxWorld.com Feature Story

Linux contributor base broadens - LinuxWorld, 06/28/07: As the number of Linux kernel contributors continues to grow, core developers are finding themselves mostly managing and checking, not coding, said Greg Kroah-Hartman, maintainer of USB and PCI support in Linux.

More of this week's Linux news

Free Software Foundation to unveil new GPL Version 3 - LinuxWorld, 06/28/07: After several years of debate and more than 18 months of sometimes passionate public comments and revisions, the latest GNU General Public License Version 3 (GPLv3) software license will officially be released Friday.

Red Hat profit rises on 42 percent revenue hike - LinuxWorld, 06/27/07: The introduction of a new version of its Linux distribution and new JBoss software helped Red Hat Inc. increase profit to US$16.2 million, or $0.08 a share, on revenue of $118.9 million, in its fiscal first quarter ended May 31, the company reported Wednesday.

Kernel space: two new filesystems for Linux - LinuxWorld, 06/27/07: New filesystem technology for Linux includes high capacity, snapshots, copy-on-write, and on-the-fly corruption detection.

Sun to donate Cluster code to OpenSolaris community - LinuxWorld, 06/27/07: Sun Microsystems Inc. on Wednesday is to begin donating its Solaris clustering code to the open-source community, the latest move in the company's ongoing strategy to eventually make all of its software freely available.

IBM supercomputer more powerful than 1.5-mile-high stack of laptops - LinuxWorld, 06/26/07: IBM says it has nearly tripled the performance of the technology behind the world’s fastest and most energy-efficient supercomputer, developing a system that is potentially 100,000 times more powerful than a home computer.

Greens don't accept Berlin 'nein' to open source - LinuxWorld, 06/25/07: The Green Party is accusing the Berlin city government of lacking a coherent IT strategy and thus not being in a position to adequately judge the merits of open source software.

Talk your way to better pay - LinuxWorld, 06/25/07: IT salaries have been on a steady incline during the past year. While analysts and industry groups tout a nationwide shortage of suitably skilled candidates, a resource boom and widespread uptake of technology is driving the job market up and up.

State legislators keep e-voting apps in public hands - LinuxWorld, 06/25/07: With this year's New York Senate and Assembly session now ended, local voting activists are chalking up a victory for the public at the expense of Microsoft Corp. and the e-voting industry.

Spiceworks adds troubleshooting to its free net mgmt. tool - LinuxWorld, 06/22/07: Spiceworks adds remote-access and antivirus capabilities to enhance the troubleshooting features of its free network management software.

LinuxWorld Community

New in Fedora: Jack Aboutboul, 06/27/07: Tickless kernel, new GUI, virtualization management—sure Fedora is bleeding-edge, but if it were ever tempting, now is the time. (podcast, 17:50)

LinuxWorld Community, 06/28/07: Raw editor's notes on the Linux Symposium in Ottawa. What's in the future for the kernel?

Don Marti is editor of LinuxWorld.com.

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Special News Alert

NETWORK WORLD SPECIAL NEWS ALERT, 06/28/07

Contact Site Editor Jeff Caruso

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Daily News: PM

Network World Daily News: PM, 06/28/07

The top 10 most-read NEWS STORIES this week

1. Can cell phones be hacked?
2. Microsoft security group on 'worst jobs' list
3. Gartner to IT: Avoid Apple's iPhone
4. Feds want presence systems
5. Cisco moving reputation services into network devices
6. Judge favors Microsoft search agreement
7. Withdrawn Black Hat paper hints at flaws in TPM security architecture
8. Researchers map the Internet
9. Apple's iPhone may struggle out of the gate
10. Data breaches start at the gas station

The top 5 most-read IN-DEPTH STORIES this week

1. Beyond iPhone: The most-hyped tech products of all time
2. How MySpace is hurting your network
3. 10 automation companies to watch
4. Groundbreaking 802.11n wireless LAN rollout
5. Summer gadget guide

The top 5 most-read BLOGS and COLUMNS this week

1. Name that parallel processing machine 100X faster than current PCs
2. How to avoid hiring an American
3. The case of the 500-mile e-mail
4. Cisco introduces basic-level networking certification
5. Even Apple doesn't know why time stands still on the iPhone

The most-read REVIEW this week

Is Microsoft OCS your next IP PBX?

Questions? Feedback? Contact NetworkWorld.com Site Editor Jeff Caruso.

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LANs & Routers

Network World's LANs & Routers Newsletter, 06/28/07

Low-cost router introduced

By Jeff Caruso

ImageStream Internet Solutions this week introduced a low-cost access router, one that can be rack-mounted and can support more ports than previous models.

I have to admit, I'm not very familiar with ImageStream. Network World rarely writes about the company or its products, but it does show up in our buyer's guides on access routers and enterprise core routers. Plus, an ImageStream router was reviewed as part of this 2003 test.

ImageStream is based outside of Indianapolis. It was founded in 1995 and has focused on Linux-based routers and firewalls. It has built up much of its business (39%, according to its Web site) on OEM deals, which helps to explain its low profile.

If you have experience with ImageStream products, let me know.

The new product is called the Envoy 1U, a low-cost router for small and medium-sized business and ISPs. ImageStream says the device routes two T-1/E-1 or synchronous serial interfaces at line speed. As the name suggests, it fits into one rack-unit. It can support up to two HD26 connectors for synchronous serial ports, and up to three LAN or WAN modules that use modular connectors such as RJ-48 for T1/E1 and RJ-45 for Ethernet.

The base router includes a 266-MHz CPU, 128 MB of RAM, two ports of 10/100Mbps Ethernet, support for ImageStream's line of T1/E1 and synchronous serial WAN cards, and, of course, ImageStream's Linux router distribution.

The base unit costs $799, and can be bundled with one T-1/E-1 or sync serial port for $999, or two T-1/E-1 or sync serial ports for $1,299.

What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

Jeff Caruso is managing editor of online news for Network World. He oversees daily online news posting and newsletter editing, and writes the NetFlash daily news summary, the High-Speed LANs newsletter and the Voices of Networking newsletter. Contact him at jcaruso@nww.com

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Cool Tools Alert

Keith Shaw's Cool Tools Alert, 06/28/07

* LATEST COOL TOOLS VIDEOS:

GPS: Devices vs. in-phone services
Keith debates the merits of purpose-built GPS units for the car versus the GPS services popping up on many cellphones. Which one is right for you? Find out on this week's Cool Tools show.

* LATEST COOL TOOLS COLUMNS:

Cool Tools moves online
It’s the end of an era of sorts for the Cool Tools column. This is the last print edition of the column, which debuted as a weekly column on Sept. 10, 2001 (weird, huh?). It was around before occasionally to fill extra pages, but it officially became a weekly column in the Technology Update section. Starting next week the column will be online only, but I’ve been doing stuff online for years now.

* LATEST TWISTED PAIR PODCAST:

Microsoft can patch anything faster than you
On today's show, Keith and Jason talk about security woes at the Department of Homeland Security, whether Microsoft can Patch holes faster than anyone else, the impending iPhone release and why we should be the new hosts of the Price is Right. (49:43)

* LATEST COOL TOOL BLOGS:

More iPhone costs revealed
Still thinking about buying an iPhone when it comes out next week? AT&T isn't talking yet regarding its data plan costs, but this Boston.com report suggests that if you want to cancel your required 2-year agreement early, it's gonna cost you $175.

Prepare for the SAT on an iPod
You can pretty much do everything on an iPod, so why not prepare for the SAT? Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions today announced availability of three interactive SAT prep programs that students can buy and download from the iTunes store.

Pleo dinosaur to ship in October
Robotics vendor Ugobe announced today it is now taking online pre-orders for its Pleo robotic dinosaur, a "designer Life Form" that "will evolve through life stages and develop a unique personality based on interaction with its owner." The Pleo (pictured, photo by Mack Fraga Designs) will cost $349 and will begin shipping in October, Ugobe said.

Keith Shaw is an award-winning editor at Network World. In addition to creating the Cool Tools universe of columns, blogs and videocasts, he also edits the weekly DEMOletter newsletter and is the Programming Director at Network World, responsible for the multimedia strategy for the Web site.

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Wide Area Networking

Network World's Wide Area Networking Newsletter, 06/28/07

Aruba proposes alternative to using IPSec for remote access security

By Steve Taylor and Jim Metzler

For years, there have been two traditional methods for secure remote access: IPSec and SSL VPNs. Both have been discussed in this newsletter over the years, and each has its definite strengths and weaknesses. Now, wireless LAN provider Aruba has proposed an alternative to using IPSec on the client computer that we find innovative.

Aruba proposes that telecommuters and road warriors consider deploying Aruba’s special remote-access point (RAP) software on the company’s APs and using the Aruba APs from home or hotel rooms. The APs — rather than your client device - communicate with Aruba’s centralized controller in your data center over an IPSec tunnel. This precludes the user from having to mess with passwords, PINs and IPSec key fobs.

The only requirement is that the remote AP has wired Internet connectivity.

This approach certainly seems to us to have some appeal. But we also turned to our colleague, Joanie Wexler, author of Network World’s Wireless in the Enterprise newsletter, for her take. Joanie said, “This could be easier for home users who have to log in to the VPN repeatedly every day and for road warriors who would like to use multiple wireless devices from a single hotel-room Internet connection.”

If you would like to take a closer look at this solution, a white paper with an extensive explanation is available here. And while you’re at the Webtorials site, you might also want to take a look at a paper on next-generation access, the Kubernan State-of-the-Market report on Mobile WiMAX.

We’d like to hear your thoughts on the Aruba approach. Let us hear from you, and we’ll be happy to share the feedback.

What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. For more detailed information on most of the topics discussed in this newsletter, connect to Webtorials, the premier site for Web-based educational presentations, white papers, and market research. Taylor can be reached at taylor@webtorials.com

Jim Metzler is the Vice President of Ashton, Metzler & Associates, a consulting organization that focuses on leveraging technology for business success. Jim assists vendors to refine product strategies, service providers to deploy technologies and services, and enterprises evolve their network infrastructure. He can be reached via e-mail.

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Daily News: AM

Network World Daily News: AM, 06/28/07

Microsoft moves against California, Florida pirates
Microsoft Thursday filed lawsuits against 23 companies in California and Florida, alleging distribution of counterfeit software.

Wireless service providers struggling to retain customers
Wireless services churn hits ninth consecutive quarter of growth globally.

DOJ warns U.S. citizens of phishing attack
The U.S. Department of Justice is alerting e-mail users about a possible phishing attack using messages that claim to be from the DOJ.

Broadband driving job growth, firm says
Broadband adoption grows U.S. jobs, according to research.

FTC is neutral on net neutrality
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is taking the middle ground in the net neutrality debate that pits large telecommunications operators against Internet giants.

Mazu, eIQnetworks integrate network behavior, security systems
Mazu, which makes a network behavior analysis product, and security information management vendor eIQnetworks, will integrate their products to offer enterprises more information about network operations and threats .

Tech vendors disagree on patent reform
Legislation that would overhaul the U.S. patent system would hurt innovation and decrease the value of patents, representatives of two tech companies said Wednesday.

Blogs

From Cisco Subnet
We have a sneak peek of a chapter from Jim Geier's book Deploying Voice over Wireless LANs. Cisco creates a business unit in India focused on intelligent infrastructures, its latest move to source more innovation from that country. Brian McGahan, triple CCIE, tells you how to turn PCs, including Linux machines, into Cisco routers.

From Microsoft Subnet
Microsoft Security attempts to forklift its PR image. Executive reveals Windows Live roadmap. The next beta of IIS 7.0 now available. Japan mobile phone operator signs on for Microsoft’s Web 2.0 SaaS. $25K in prize money and face-time with Bill Gates.

Buzzblog: Amazon finally rids Disney-related site of jockstrap ads
Amazon had failed miserably in helping the proprietor of MiceAge.com keep revealing pictures of male models from appearing on his family-oriented site. A bit of Buzzblog coverage prompted a better effort, though, and now not only is the site jockstrap-free, Amazon is hinting at giving more granular content control to its advertising partners.

Today on Layer 8, where we've never made it onto anyone's "to buy" list:
Private equity firms have shown more than a fleeting interest in acquiring high-tech companies these days. Just take a look at a few of the deals this year: Avaya by TPG Capital and Silver Lake Partners for $8.2 billion; CDW by Madison Dearborn Partners for $7.3 billion, and Alltel by Goldman Sachs and TPG Capital for $27.5 billion. Investors at UBS have built a model for looking at hypothetical leveraged buyouts of technology companies and ranks potential targets by how profitable they might be. See the top 10 companies on UBS's list.

Questions? Feedback? Contact NetworkWorld.com Site Editor Jeff Caruso.

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Network/Systems Management News Alert

Network World's Network/Systems Management News Alert, 06/28/07

Enterprises embrace Web 2.0 technologies, 06/26/07: Web 2.0 technologies such as wikis, blogs and RSS feeds are taking off in the enterprise, according to a new report from advisory firm Nemertes Research.

Before iPhone: The most-hyped tech products of all time, 06/26/07: The iPhone isn’t the first tech product to generate a deafening amount of buzz before its availability in stores. Here’s our list of the most-hyped tech products of all time. Some thrived, others died, but all generated more than their fair share of ink.

The human side of net optimization, 06/26/07: When I write about a new technology implementation, it’s easy to focus on the products rather than the staffing and operational resources that go into a ...

What to consider when looking for a data-protection solution, 06/26/07: Losing access to key applications and critical business data can be devastating. With downtime costing companies from thousands to millions of dollars per hour in lost productivity and opportunity costs, it is imperative to keep the IT business ...

Rivermine brings in $8.7 million in third round, 06/25/07: Rivermine announced Monday that it closed its third round of financing bringing in $8.7 million.

Senior Editor Denise Dubie covers network and systems management for Network World.

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Network Access Control

Network World's Network Access Control Newsletter, 06/28/07

NAC users driven by regulatory compliance

By Tim Greene

Increasingly, businesses deploying NAC are worried about proving to regulators that they are following appropriate industry and governmental guidelines for protecting data.

Specifically, they want to be able to show that those who accessed data were properly authorized, and this is something that NAC can help with.

By authenticating users and their machines and checking that the devices assume an acceptable security posture, businesses can demonstrate that they restrict access to just authorized users. Further, by restricting the access that is granted, they can show that authorized users access only a limited set of data.

Post-admission NAC monitors whether users maintain their security posture and checks that their network use doesn’t stray from what is acceptable. Post-admission NAC can also shut down access for those whose behavior looks suspicious.

Regulators want more. For instance they are concerned that sensitive data doesn’t travel outside the network and if it does, that it is appropriately protected via encryption, but other technologies handle.

Still, more than half of those planning to deploy NAC say they are driven by the need to demonstrate regulatory compliance, and that number is growing, according to Infonetics Research.

Those considering NAC as a compliance tool should evaluate the reporting capabilities of the products they test. Do they keep comprehensive logs of who is granted access to what and whether they adhere to policies? Are these logs readily converted into reports useful to addressing the demands of regulators?

If chosen carefully, NAC can be an important component for answering regulators.

What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

Tim Greene is a senior editor at Network World, covering network access control, virtual private networking gear, remote access, WAN acceleration and aspects of VoIP technology. You can reach him at tgreene@nww.com.

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Storage in the Enterprise

Network World's Storage in the Enterprise Newsletter, 06/28/07

A fun interlude with storage videos

By Deni Connor

It’s time to take a little time out of the day and have some fun. Network World has once again collected a series of videos about storage technology. We did one last fall in the Servers newletter.

The latest video I’ve seen comes courtesy of the marketing minions at EMC and it’s called Bob + Joe: Fun with Tape. The video promotes disk-based backup. It asks you to enter your name and e-mail and even though you’ll likely get an e-mail from EMC, it’s worth it.

Here’s a maudlin little missive for HP’s All-in-One Storage System, a system designed for small and midsize businesses. Also from HP is “The Juggler” about storage consolidation.

One of the funniest videos comes from Hitachi Data Systems. It uses Mr. T to pound some sense into users’ heads about basing storage virtualization in the storage controller instead of the network.

A sequel to this classic video exists – it tells the tale of Mr. T the Trucker in his Technology Chariot, and it’s even funnier.

IBM couldn’t be left out of the viral video craze. Its Basil the Boffin Backs Up video is about IBM Tivoli’s Continuous Data Protection for Files.

One of the most interesting videos I saw last week at the HP Americas StorageWorks Summit isn’t online yet. It shows HP blowing up a data center in Arkansas and because data was replicated offsite, recovery can take place in less than 90 seconds. Encourage HP to make it available.

Last but not least are two videos that bring home the problem of managing a data center. One, sponsored by IBM of course, is Lost Control in the Data Center.

The other, which is engaging, can end your day or lunch hour. It’s Staying Alive in the Data Center and you can watch it here.

What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

Deni Connor is senior editor for Network World magazine covering storage, archiving and compliance, IT in healthcare, Novell and data center-related issues. E-mail Deni.

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Servers

Network World's Servers Newsletter, 06/28/07

How National Association of Home Builders moved beyond VMware, Part 2

By Jennifer Mears

What follows is the continuation of the edited transcript of my talk with John Yanekian, director of network services at the National Association of Home Builders in Washington, D.C. The NAHB has been running SWsoft in production for the past year and a half. In this part, Yanekian talks more about the features and advantages of Virtuozzo, SWsoft’s x86 server virtualization software.

Mears: What kinds of benefits are you seeing from using Virtuozzo?

Yanekian: We’ve consolidated 16 servers onto two production boxes. So we don’t have 16 individual servers we’d have to maintain and patch. That’s a good thing about Virtuozzo: since it virtualizes above the operating system, when you patch the host server, all your virtual servers are patched. I don’t have to go one-by-one and patch them.

Mears: What other features do you use?

Yanekian: One of the things that amazes me with Virtuozzo is if you’re running a virtual server and you run out of disk space you can go to the management console and say, ‘Give it another 20 gigs.’ And before you reach the terminal server and refresh it, that 20 gigs is allocated to your OS partition and you have more room. You’re never going to run out of disk space. You can do the same with memory and CPUs, adding more memory or CPUs on the fly. Another good thing is you can back up one virtual server to another virtual server. You can cross back up, so if your virtual server dies or the host server dies for some reason, you can restore the backups on the surviving host until you fix the hardware.

Mears: With Virtuozzo, you don’t need a SAN to move virtual servers, right?

Yanekian: Right, Virtuozzo moves the data file, the hard drive file, to the other server and brings it up. Every server is allocated a folder with an ID and all your registry, all your files, all your data are in that private area. When you move the virtual server from one node to another, Virtuozzo moves that folder from one node to another and brings it right up.

Mears: What kinds of savings are you seeing with Virtuozzo?

Yanekian: We have 16 servers consolidated in virtual servers and I figure that average server costs between $6,000 and $8,000, so we saved that. We saved on network ports, power, KVM ports, rack space, cooling and heating. I’d say we save about $10,000 per server per year. And I don’t have to have the maintenance for the hardware. So I don’t have to buy the hardware and I don’t have to worry about patching it because I patched the host and everything is patched. Plus the OS license, which is another $800 dollars for standard and $3,000 for enterprise.

Mears: So you’ve been able to streamline server management?

Yanekian: It used to be that it would take a week to deploy a new server. The virtual servers we can do in minutes. Plus the patching advantages that I talked about save a lot of management time. SWsoft has its own Windows update equivalent. They have their own update manager so for any Microsoft update, they test it, they approve it and they release it to SWsoft customers. You download the stuff from them and you patch the host server and all your servers are patched, so that saves money in patching your servers.

Mears: Is there anything that Virtuozzo doesn’t provide today that you’re looking for? VMware with Virtual Infrastructure 3 is now moving into the utility computing idea with some of the functions and features they have.

Yanekian: At this point, I don’t know. Maybe a little bit better backup interface, better scheduling from within Virtuozzo for the backup. They have version 4.0 coming up, which seems like it’s going to be a significant step forward. At this point for what they’re doing, they have a very impressive product and the most impressive part about it is their support.

Mears: Finally, what kind of advice would you give your peers who are now ready to look at virtualization, but aren’t sure how to decide which technology is best for them?

Yanekian: It depends on the environment you have and how much money you want to invest. If running different OS versions is important for you, then you need to look into a solution that can give you that. If your environment is standard cookie cutter, one OS level, everything runs on the same level, then Virtuozzo is a superb product. We have a cookie cutter environment: all the drivers are the same on all of the servers, etc. So in our environment, SWsoft is a very cost-effective solution.

What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

Jennifer Mears is a freelance journalist based in Arizona. She was previously senior editor at Network World focusing on server issues. E-mail her at jlmears@gmail.com.

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Network Optimization

Network World's Network Optimization Newsletter, 06/28/07

Breaking down walls

By Ann Bednarz

In the last newsletter I wrote about how HR specialist Ceridian deployed WAN optimization gear from F5 Networks to streamline its transition from a packaged software maker to a hosted application provider. The corporate makeover posed challenges for the IT department, which was responsible for making sure the performance of applications delivered over the Internet was up to par for Ceridian’s enterprise customers.

At the beginning of the project, Rodney Bowers had responsibility for the network teams at Ceridian. As the makeover transpired, it became clear that individual IT groups needed to work more closely with one another, and Bowers assumed responsibility for the company’s storage and data center teams as well.

The application development team does not report to Bower, but it’s a group his team members work closely with. “We provide those guys with lots of data, and now they’re learning more about how to put their applications together for delivery to an external customer,” says Bowers, who is director of data center services at Ceridian.

Bowers worked closely with Ceridian’s director of infrastructure and data architecture, Craig Henne, to get the all the different groups talking regularly. “We would get people in the room and facilitate the discussions,” he says. “That was a key thing that we established early on -- we need everybody’s help to make this better.”

In addition to resolving technical issues more quickly, planning inclusive meetings gives talented staff a chance to shine, Bowers says.

“My storage guys, for example, know about more than just storage. They’re sharp guys in a lot of other ways,” Bowers says. “So they get to use their talents for some other problem-solving mechanisms. They get to contribute to the overall goals, and they get to see the bigger picture. When you start to allow people to do that, you’d be amazed at how receptive they are to coming to meetings and talking about opportunities to improve.”

Cross-training also is a key to success, according to Bowers. “We’ve trained all of our primary WAN engineers on all aspects of F5. Day to day, some of them don’t even touch the boxes. But I want them to be aware of the functionality and capabilities of it,” he says.

Cross-training is important not only for tactical reasons, but also for strategic planning. “There’s the support component, but we also want them to be thinking outside the box when we present them with an architectural problem or an infrastructure problem,” Bowers says.

Has your company undertaken efforts to improve collaboration among IT disciplines? If so and you’d like to share your success story, please get in touch.

What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

Ann Bednarz is an associate news editor at Network World responsible for editing daily news content. She previously covered enterprise applications, e-commerce and telework trends for Network World. E-mail Ann.

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Unified Communications

Network World's Unified Communications Newsletter, 06/28/07

Unified communications Pronto!

By Michael Osterman

In early June, CommuniGate introduced Pronto!, a Flash-based client that is focused on unifying various forms of communication, including e-mail, IP telephony, instant messaging, RSS feeds, video, calendaring, blogs, etc. Pronto! is designed for use with any Flash 9-compatible browser and is platform independent, running on Windows-, Linux- and Mac OS X-based browsers. Pronto! requires no plug-ins, allowing user accounts to be accessed from any compatible browser.

Pronto! runs in less than 400 kilobytes of memory and operates in memory space, not in the browser cache, which CommuniGate claims provides better security than competing offerings. The user interface allows resizing of windows and a variety of other features that often are available only in desktop-based clients.

Pronto! is the front end for CommuniGate Pro v5.1, a highly scalable and standards-compliant server platform that operates on both Windows and OS X servers. At the low end, CommuniGate Pro Core Server is quite inexpensive, starting at just under $34 per seat for 25 users and dropping to $27 per seat for 200 users. CommuniGate also offers carrier-grade servers for supporting very large numbers of users. A variety of antispam and antivirus plug-ins are also available from vendors like Cloudmark, Kaspersky, McAfee, Sophos and Mailshell.

Why consider using CommuniGate’s server platform and Pronto! as a front end, particularly when other messaging systems receive so much more attention from the press and others? There are a variety of reasons, including lower cost than many other messaging platforms, scalability, ease of deployment and a very capable user experience with the Pronto! interface. The integration of various types of communications in Pronto!, coupled with the fact that the interface is written in Flash and the benefits of the back-end server, makes the system worth a serious look.

What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

For webinars or research on messaging, or to join the Osterman Research market research survey panel, go here. Osterman Research helps organizations understand the markets for messaging and directory related offerings. To e-mail Michael, click here.

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Daily News: PM

Network World Daily News: PM, 06/27/07

Black Hat paper on breaking Trusted Platform Module withdrawn
A presentation scheduled for Black Hat USA 2007 that promised to undermine chip-based desktop and laptop security has been suddenly withdrawn without explanation.

Data center designers share secrets for going green
Rising utility costs from running denser and hotter server and storage gear is forcing IT managers to redesign data centers to be more energy-efficient.

Sun offers up Solaris clustering to open source
Two years after it first offered open source code to Solaris, Sun Wednesday said it would open source the cluster technology for the operating system.

IBM tackles “dirtier” metadata issues
A new IBM product tackles the problems associated with managing and reporting on metadata, which has implications for regulatory compliance, business intelligence, service-oriented architecture and data integration projects.

Google enlists reseller Ingram Micro for enterprise push
Google on Wednesday inked its first reseller deal for United States distribution enlisting Ingram Micro to help sell Google’s search appliances and establish the company as a corporate applications provider.

Windows Server 2008 makes hosting debut at Microsoft.com
About 2,600 Web sites are already running Microsoft Corp.'s forthcoming Windows Server 2008, a small but increasing number that indicates rising interest in the OS, according to new statistics from Netcraft Ltd.

IBM, HP share bragging rights on supercomputer list
IBM Corp. still operates the fastest supercomputer in the industry, but rival Hewlett-Packard Co. has more of them in operation, according to a closely-watched global survey released Wednesday.

Asustek smartphone hits market ahead of iPhone
Taiwanese electronics maker Asustek Computer Inc. launched a Windows Mobile 6 smartphone with a touch-sensitive screen on Wednesday, just days ahead of the launch of Apple Inc.'s iPhone.

Microsoft launches Windows Live file sharing beta
Microsoft Corp. Wednesday started limited beta offerings of Windows Live file and photo sharing services.

Questions? Feedback? Contact NetworkWorld.com Site Editor Jeff Caruso.

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Cisco News Alert

Network World's Cisco News Alert, 06/27/07

Cisco introduces entry-level networking certification
Networking pros question its worth.

R U there? Feds want presence systems, survey says, 06/25/07: Federal network managers are hot on presence applications that enable real-time notification and identification systems, according to a Cisco survey.

Today's Cisco Subnet
Is Cisco looking to launch an architect-level cert? Cisco closes the enterprise communications gap with Avaya. More than 50 school districts across the country have adopted the SchoolMessenger-Cisco integrated parental notification service. Jeff Doyle says a business case for IPv6 is mobility.

Senior Editor Phil Hochmuth covers Cisco for Network World.

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Storage News Alert

Network World's Storage News Alert, 06/27/07

Storing video surveillance: A burgeoning market? 06/26/07: When start-up Pivot3 announced its system for storing video surveillance data recently, I frankly dismissed it. Storing data from video surveillance ...

Video: Managing storage resources efficiently, 06/25/07: United Airlines manages one-half petabyte of storage with just a few people. Samuel Turner, manager of storage utilities at the airline, explains how on this edition of Voices from IT Roadmap.

Quantum storage appliance could attract OEM partners, 06/25/07: Quantum Corp. introduced a disk storage appliance Monday that could both appeal to enterprise customers and improve its partnerships with other storage vendors.

Senior Editor Deni Connor covers storage for Network World.

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Windows Networking Strategies

Network World's Windows Networking Strategies Newsletter, 06/27/07

Microsoft and you – the dynamic duo

By Dave Kearns

Earlier this month at Microsoft’s TechEd conference, Bob Muglia, senior vice president of Microsoft server and tools business, introduced a new initiative called Dynamic IT.

According to a story by Network World’s John Fontana, the concept is derived from remarks by Gartner’s Tom Bittman who told the TechEd audience that agility is the key in a world that is becoming more connected, providing opportunities that appear and disappear in the blink of an eye. Bittman said agility is not only the speed needed to adjust to change but also the ability to ensure operational efficiency and to do it systemwide using variable cost model, which enables customers to pay only for what they need.

In his talk, Muglia noted that customers want to take advantage of new technologies and computing approaches, such as mobile devices and software-as-a-service (SaaS), while still getting maximum value out of their existing environments. He identified four key areas of technical innovation that constitute Dynamic IT, which he called: Unified and Virtualized; Process-Led, Model-Driven; Service-Enabled; and User-Focused.

Unified and Virtualized - This, according to Muglia, requires a comprehensive and unified approach to virtualization, spanning operating systems, applications and servers with more powerful and more intuitive front-end technologies. Unified and virtualized environments can be managed comprehensively and consistently across a wide range of scenarios. The benefits include reduced costs, increased availability and better response to changing computing needs within an existing infrastructure.

Process-Led, Model-Driven - Dynamic IT takes advantage of ongoing advances in modeling capabilities to help IT automate processes where human decisions and input are not needed. Such capabilities improve organizational agility and help IT to optimize how a company’s systems and people work together. Using models to capture organizational knowledge helps to automate procedures, reduce complexity, and improve responsiveness to business demands.

Service-Enabled - Dynamic IT provides a powerful way for companies to enhance and extend their existing environments to support new business scenarios based on services. Customers today are faced with an array of options that involve SaaS, service-oriented architectures, and Web 2.0 technologies. A key benefit is that companies can transform their existing array of heterogeneous, distributed and often inflexible IT systems into a set of more connected, simplified and adaptable ones that can better support the business.

User-Focused - User experience has a direct impact on key areas such as productivity, customer loyalty and corporate image, yet many development efforts fail to meet even the most basic user-experience requirements. Dynamic IT will allow you to drive real business benefits through better user experiences.

Some of what you’ll be seeing under the Dynamic IT label is old stuff repackaged, such as BizTalk Server and SQL Server, but there’ll be new developments like the virtual machine migration feature of Windows Server Virtualization (WSV) called Quick Migration.

You’ll probably be hearing more about Dynamic IT in the months ahead leading up to the release of Windows Server 2008, so when you have a few moments, browse to the Web site and bone up on the new terms, services and products so you’ll know what the Microsoft sales team is talking about.

What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

Dave Kearns is a writer and consultant in Silicon Valley. He's written a number of books including the (sadly) now out of print "Peter Norton's Complete Guide to Networks." His musings can be found at Virtual Quill.

Kearns is the author of two Network World Newsletters: Windows Networking Strategies, and Identity Management. Comments about these newsletters should be sent to him at these respective addresses: windows@vquill.com, identity@vquill.com .

Kearns provides content services to network vendors: books, manuals, white papers, lectures and seminars, marketing, technical marketing and support documents. Virtual Quill provides "words to sell by..." Find out more by e-mail.

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Convergence & VoIP News Alert

Network World's Convergence & VoIP News Alert, 06/27/07

IPhone may struggle out of the gate, 06/26/07: IPhone’s price, commitment may initially turn off users.

VoIP monitoring tools make financial sense, 06/26/07: Of the dozen or so triggers that cause companies to implement VoIP, branch-office communications is high on the list. IT leaders recognize the number ...

Catching up with Nortel CTO John Roese, 06/26/07: In a wide ranging interview, Nortel Networks CTO John Roese talks with Network World's Phil Hochmuth about the company's renewed...

R U there? Feds want presence systems, survey says, 06/25/07: Federal network managers are hot on presence applications that enable real-time notification and identification systems, according to a Cisco survey.

NXTcomm 2007 highlights, 06/25/07: If company announcements are any indication, the NXTcomm2007 trade show held last week in Chicago was very successful with fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) and ...

Senior Editor Phil Hochmuth covers VoIP for Network World.

Senior Editor Tim Greene covers VoIP carrier issues for Network World.

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Daily News: AM

Network World Daily News: AM, 06/27/07

Before iPhone: The most-hyped tech products of all time
The iPhone isn’t the first tech product to generate a deafening amount of buzz before its availability in stores. Here’s our list of the most-hyped tech products of all time.

More iPhone news:
AT&T details iPhone service plans, iTunes activation
Will wait for beer: iPhone spawns gray market
New Yorkers camp out for iPhone despite summer heat
IPhone may struggle out of the gate
Apple rivals dread iPhone

Israeli researchers map the Internet
Israeli researchers have created a topographical map of the Internet by enlisting volunteers across 97 countries who agreed to download a program that tracks how Internet nodes interact.

Cisco introduces entry-level networking certification
Networking pros question its worth.

T-Mobile to launch nationwide converged Wi-Fi, cell service
T-Mobile USA Inc. planned to launch its converged Wi-Fi and cellular service nationwide Wednesday, following the introduction of the service late last year in Seattle.

Microsoft launches Windows Live file sharing beta
Microsoft Corp. Wednesday started limited beta offerings of Windows Live file and photo sharing services.

BlackBerry banned (sort of) in France
French spy chiefs, claiming that RIM’s BlackBerry device is a security threat because U.S. and Britain can snoop on French wireless e-mails, urge officials to scrap their handhelds.

Microsoft security group makes 'worst jobs' list
What do whale-feces researchers, hazmat divers and employees of Microsoft's Security Response Center have in common? They all made Popular Science magazine's 2007 list of the absolute worst jobs in science.

Vendors show how to read RFID tags onboard trucks
The latest wireless security problem for RFID is laid bare in a demonstration where researchers scanned RFID-tagged boxes loaded on a truck.

Microsoft releases Windows Server 2008 beta
Microsoft’s Windows Server 2008 gets IIS update as it moves toward year-end release.

Blogs

Buzzblog: $18 an hour to wait in an iPhone line?
Sounds like easy money... but you have to factor in the public humiliation.

Today's Cisco Subnet
Is Cisco looking to launch an architect-level cert? Cisco closes the enterprise communications gap with Avaya. More than 50 school districts across the country have adopted the SchoolMessenger-Cisco integrated parental notification service. Jeff Doyle says a business case for IPv6 is mobility.

Today on Microsoft Subnet
Windows 2008 beta with IIS 7.0 beta is now available. Microsoft re-releases an “important” rated patch for Windows 2000, 2003 and XP servers. Google loses a round regarding Microsoft search complaint. Microsoft Vista six-month security analysis. All of the Web’s top Microsoft news on Microsoft Subnet.

Today on Layer 8 we look right through the latest nanotechnology - get it?
Transparent transistors and circuits that could be used in a wide range of applications from e-paper and flexible color screens for electronics gear to smart cards and "heads-up" displays in auto windshields is on tap from researchers at Purdue University's Birck Nanotechnology Center.

Questions? Feedback? Contact NetworkWorld.com Site Editor Jeff Caruso.

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Wireless in the Enterprise

Network World's Wireless in the Enterprise Newsletter, 06/27/07

Verizon fuels FMC momentum

By Joanie Wexler

When it comes to converging fixed and mobile networks that yield seamless user experiences, some enterprises want CPE-based solutions, fearing that waiting for carriers to deliver unified services will take an eternity. Others put their faith in the carriers, because they consider fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) too tough to figure out alone.

In these early days before widespread dual-mode products and services, many companies seem momentarily placated by single-number reachability. Last week, Verizon Business joined the likes of Ascendent Systems, Cisco, DiVitas and FirstHand, as well as direct competitor AT&T/Cingular Wireless, in offering a way to extend corporate PBX calls and dial plans to mobile phones to achieve this capability.

The carrier teamed with its Verizon Wireless sibling to offer PBX Mobile Extension, a service to launch next month. It works with a company’s existing PBX to provide a single direct-inward dial (DID) phone number that simultaneously rings multiple phones, a function often referred to as “twinning.”

To offer the service, Verizon is reselling Ascendent’s Voice Mobility Server, which resides on the customer premises. Mike Marcellin, VP of product marketing for Verizon Business, acknowledged that PBX Mobile Extension doesn’t yet constitute a full-blown managed service, because enterprise IT departments manage the server software themselves.

So what’s the difference between using Verizon’s service and just buying mobility server software from Ascendent (now owned by Research In Motion of BlackBerry fame)?

One-stop shopping for multiple wired and wireless services, says Marcellin.

In addition, like AT&T’s existing OfficeReach service, Verizon PBX Mobile Extension offers calling plans that lower the cost of cell calls made from within certain corporate zones, adds Jim Elter, associate director, wireless business product development at Verizon.

The Verizon and AT&T offerings indicate that the carrier community is coming around to acknowledge that, while there are a number of ways to skin an FMC cat, large enterprises are serious about making PBX DID numbers their employees’ primary business phone numbers.

For smaller businesses, though, Verizon launched a Wireless Office service, which is basically a mobile Centrex service. In this case, Verizon Wireless phone numbers become users’ extension numbers, and Verizon said it will install in-building repeaters to ensure strong in-house signals.

What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

Joanie Wexler is an independent networking technology writer/editor in California's Silicon Valley who has spent most of her career analyzing trends and news in the computer networking industry. She welcomes your comments on the articles published in this newsletter, as well as your ideas for future article topics. Reach her at joanie@jwexler.com.

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Convergence & VoIP

Network World's Convergence & VoIP Newsletter, 06/27/07

DiVitas aiming to speed up the pace of FMC, mobile-to-mobile convergence

By Steve Taylor and Larry Hettick

Following up on the fixed-mobile convergence topic we covered last week, we had a chance to discuss FMC trends with Vivek Khuller, president and CEO of DiVitas Networks. DiVitas is focused on helping to “unwire” businesses communications using mobile-to-mobile convergence. The company’s MMC solution leverages technologies like Wi-Fi, open source software and smart mobile devices to extend business applications over wireless LANs, hot spots and cellular networks. It is also appliance-agnostic.

One concept Khuller advanced was the idea of “corridor warriors” – suggesting that even workers who typically spend most of their work hours in the office can also benefit from FMC/MMC. He cited a 2006 Yankee Research report that estimates about 75% of corridor warriors are limited to a desktop phone and don’t have access to mobility. But based on his company’s ROI modeling, an MMC solution can achieve an operating cost benefit to even office assistants and IT staff in as few as three to five months — including the cost of the premise-based MMC infrastructure and mobile handsets.

When speaking of handsets, Khuller noted that one particular challenge for an FMC/MMC enterprise solution is integrating so many variants of mobile handsets. A handset supplier’s mobile device product life is typically six to 12 months, and the shelf life of a business mobile handset is, on average, less that 24 months. Consequently, any solution supplied to the enterprise must quickly adapt to new handsets, new software revisions, and support multiple operating systems like those supplied on a Microsoft, Linux, or Symbian base. Khuller suggests that sustaining cost-effective upgrades in a dynamic handset environment coupled with the ongoing changes in the Wi-Fi, IP-PBX, and cellular networks is a complex task, and a task that requires a sustainable underlying approach to development.

Our analysis: As with many technology lifecycles, it looks like the introductory innovations for FMC/MMC will likely happen first within enterprise premises-based solutions. Once some of the technology challenges are resolved and carriers start to lose market share to private solutions, maybe the carriers will finally pick up the pace of FMC/MMC deployment.

What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. For more detailed information on most of the topics discussed in this newsletter, connect to Webtorials, the premier site for Web-based educational presentations, white papers, and market research. Taylor can be reached at taylor@webtorials.com

Larry Hettick is an industry veteran with more than 20 years of experience in voice and data. He is Vice President for Telecom Services and Infrastructure at Current Analysis, the leading competitive response solutions company. He can be reached at lhettick@currentanalysis.com

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Service Provider News Report

Network World's Service Provider News Report Newsletter, 06/27/07

OEM provider Bivio targets government market

By Carolyn Duffy Marsan

Being able to look deep inside IP packets at real-time speeds is becoming more critical for network security and QoS applications. Start-up Bivio Networks is trying to take advantage of that trend with a special-purpose platform that handles inline packet inspection at gigabit speeds.

"We have the de facto platform for deep packet inspection services and applications," says Bivio CEO Elan Amir. "Our platform is becoming more important with the proliferation of gigabit networking…and the need for security devices."

For the last few years, Bivio has sold its special-purpose system to manufacturers of security devices including Arbor Networks, Check Point and Sourcefire. Now the start-up is selling direct to government agencies and integrators.

"Around 18 months ago, we started selling direct to government organizations," Amir said. "We’re selling direct under the Bivio brand. It’s becoming a major part of our business."

Amir said that Bivio had 20% of its business direct and 80% from OEMs last year. This year, he anticipates the percentages will shift to 40% direct and 60% through OEMs.

Bivio says its expertise is in its architecture.

"We are a system company and a networking company," Amir said. "We have built a hardware architecture that is very different from a PC or any application out there. It’s a combination of parallel processing, network processing and high-speed interconnect….We are the leaders in building this new type of network platform focused on deep packet inspection."

Bivio’s system architecture is proprietary, but the company’s network devices meet all relevant IETF standards.

"It’s as sophisticated as a Cisco router or a Foundry switch. But rather than switching or routing, it provides a computational environment in Linux," Amir said.

Bivio has shipped more than 400 systems during the last two years. Earlier this year, the company introduced the Bivio 7000, which is a 10G platform. The company’s systems range in price from $10,000 to $100,000.

Initially, the company’s primary direct market has been government agencies in North America, Europe and Asia.

"They have their own requirements, a lot of them being classified, and they have their own software," Amir said. "What they are looking for is a platform on which they can develop software applications and deploy network solutions."

Rivals in this market include CloudShield Technologies.

"We are getting some interest from banks, particularly in the area of financial transaction performance," Amir said. "In this application, we provide the packet capture, inspection, classification, computation and analysis. On top of that runs a suite of software that can interact with the financial-based systems."

Bivio was founded in 2000 and has 60 employees. It’s privately held and has raised over $60 million in venture capital.

What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

Carolyn Duffy Marsan is a senior editor with Network World and covers emerging Internet technologies and standards. Reach her at cmarsan@nww.com

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Whitepapers Download

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Templates for More Efficient Virtualization Management
SWsoft Virtuozzo, an OS level server virtualization product, addresses the challenges faced by today's datacenters through its unique template-based approach to software provisioning. Using templates, administrators can consolidate OS and application management so that only a single instance of a software package is required and managed on a physical machine regardless of the number of virtual environments that use the software.

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Networking Technology Update

Networking Technology Update, 06/27/07

N.Y. state college takes the plunge, plans 11n WLAN rollout this summer

By John Cox

A small New York state college will be the site of the first large-scale wireless LAN based on the draft 802.11n high-throughput standard.

Within the next two weeks, Morrisville State College will start initial testing of thin access points from Meru, plus the vendor’s existing 802.11abg devices and early models of its recently announced 11n device, the AP300. Even at this stage, the net is posing intriguing new challenges for Morrisville, Meru and IBM Global Technology Services, the systems integrator for the project.

By the end of September, the college plans to have installed a campus-wide net of some 900 11n access points. The net will also include Meru’s recently announced high-end companion controller, the MC5000. Morrisville VP of Information Services Jean Boland says she expects conservatively that each AP will offer 130Mbps of throughput, shared by whatever number of clients associate to it. That compares with 20-25Mbps for 11a nets, also in the 5-GHz band, and 11g nets in the 2.4-GHz band.

The actual 11n deployment hinges on the availability of Meru’s AP300, announced in April. The school’s athletes arrive back on campus Aug. 10 and Boland plans to have a wireless net ready by them. To do so, the college will deploy Meru’s existing 11abg AP as needed, replacing them with the AP300 as it becomes available in late August. In any case, by the end of September, the 1,800 students on this rural campus southwest of Syracuse, will become a living laboratory for 802.11n.

For more on this story, please click here.

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Optical Networking

Network World's Optical Networking Newsletter, 06/27/07

Verizon nears convergence goal

By Jim Duffy and Denise Pappalardo

Verizon Business will announce vendors it has selected for its converged core router architecture and its next-generation multiservice access edge in the third quarter, according to officials interviewed at the NXTcomm conference here.

Verizon Business has had an RFP out for a few years on the converged core router. The carrier has been looking for a system that can consolidate its five separate IP networks into the same box with virtual segmentation and 100% availability.

The multiservice edge project will essentially be the next-generation Converged Packet Access (CPA) architecture, said Fred Briggs, executive vice president of network operations and technology at Verizon Business. CPA converges multiple services -- IP, Ethernet, private line data and voice -- over a single Ethernet interface for access to an IP/MPLS core at speeds up to 1Gbps.

The multiservice edge will extend access interfaces beyond Ethernet, Briggs said.

These projects fall under Briggs’ network technology priorities for this year, which include 100% availability, flow-through provisioning, predictable latency and accurate billing.

For availability and predictable latency, Verizon Business is extending its optical mesh technology onto three routes in the Pacific Ocean, Briggs said. It is on seven routes in the Atlantic and it helped Verizon Business maintain uptime on its Private IP VPN service during the devastating earthquake in Taiwan late last year.

The carrier plans to deploy the optical mesh across the United States in the second half of this year.

“One of the big drivers is latency,” Briggs said, as are better restoration, higher availability and predictable performance.

The carrier’s vendors for the optical mesh are Ciena, with its CoreDirector product, and Alcatel-Lucent’s LambdaUnite system.

Verizon Business is also turning up its 40Gbps route between New York and Washington, D.C. It will trial 100Gbps next year, Briggs said.

For the full story, please go here.

What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

Jim Duffy is managing editor of Network World's service provider equipment coverage. He has 18 years of high-tech reporting experience, including over 12 years at Network World. Previously, he was senior editor at Computer Systems News and associate editor/reporter at Electronic News and MIS Week. He can be reached at jduffy@nww.com.

Denise Pappalardo is a Senior Editor at Network World covering service providers. She can be reached by e-mail.

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Network/Systems Management

Network World's Network/Systems Management Newsletter, 06/27/07

HP's grand software aspirations

By Denise Dubie

In case you haven't heard yet, let me share the big news with you: HP is now all about the software.

It is odd for me to write about HP having big plans for software when the majority of what I have written over my career at Network World about HP has been about its OpenView network management software portfolio. But after having spent a week with the company at its HP Software Universe conference in Las Vegas, I can say the company's attitude toward software has changed -- even if HP's attitude toward certain press remains unchanged. (That's just my minor journalist gripe about no press room at the show.) But what remains unclear to me is if the heightened focus on the company's broader software portfolio will help or hurt the long-time and faithful network management customers.

For one, company CEO Mark Hurd turned out for the show and provided me (and about 3,400 other attendees) with more than a few sound bites detailing how committed HP is to software. According to keynotes from Hurd and Tom Hogan, senior vice president for HP's Software business, HP has spent $20 billion on R&D over the past five years, and of the $3.6 billion the company spent last year, HP dedicated 70% of that to software. "Four years ago we spent 70% of our R&D dollars on hardware, but last year that 70% was dedicated to software," Hurd explained to show attendees.

HP also spent in the past year $500 million to deliver on 50 integration packages across HP, Mercury and other technologies it acquired. With somewhere between 200 and 300 products — HP's now renamed OpenView portfolio had more than 100 applications alone. And while the company has its sights set on a $1.1 trillion IT market and displacing rival IBM, the future of software seemed to be more a great business strategy and less a technology agenda.

"We are seriously committed to taking the leadership position in software," said Hurd this week "[Management] software is evolving into a category as important as database or ERP, and it's a category looking for leadership. This is what we are going to be great at."

While the company detailed many integrations and Hurd discussed adding automation in areas that made sense, there wasn't a lot of technology talk around the software strategy. But that could be because the company is already rich in management technology and needs to apply it in a practical business sense for its customers. According to industry watchers, HP has as many strengths as it does potential weaknesses and it will be interesting to watch the company tackle this area and take on Big Blue.

"Both companies [HP and IBM] need to work on complex, still hard to deploy product offerings and move toward more integrated, modular designs across their full portfolios. HP is aware of this and actively working on it," says Dennis Drogseth, a vice president with research firm Enterprise Management Associates. "HP has some advantages if it continues to accelerate to address integration and reconciliation issues architecturally and continues to invest in making using its solutions easier and more adaptable."

What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

Senior Editor Denise Dubie covers the technologies, products and services that address network, systems, application and IT service management for Network World. E-mail Denise.

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Linux & Open Source

Network World's Linux & Open Source Newsletter, 06/27/07

So long, and thanks for all the penguins

By Phil Hochmuth

In my last Linux & Open Source newsletter, I'd like to thank the tens of thousands of subscribers who have read loyally over the last eight years.

It was a thrill to cover this market as it built critical mass during the dot-com era, through the post-bubble downturn and now into a new era of virtualization, desktop rejuvenation and data center dominance. The first Network World Fusion Focus on Linux reflected the open, free nature of the market, with a look at how to turn a Linux box into a router. Subsequent topics ranged from outrageous Linux company IPOs in the late 1990s, IBM's dramatic bet on Linux as a strategic platform in the early 2000s, and the emergence of Linux into every conceivable hardware platform — servers, PCs, mainframes, midranges, cell phones, wristwatches, routers, TiVOs and animatronic fish. We also had some fun with SCO along the way.

That's not to say the exciting trends in Linux and open source are all in the rearview mirror. Microsoft vs. the open-source world will be a crucial development for enterprise IT administrators to watch. The developments in the upcoming GNU Public License Version 3 will also be interesting to watch. And expect Linux distributors Red Hat, Novell, Ubuntu, Gentoo and others to continue pushing the envelope in Linux server scalability and virtualization, as well as desktop enhancements.

You will be able to follow all of these developments via the Linux & Open Source News Alert newsletter by LinuxWorld Editor Don Marti (starting Friday, July 6). Don has been a veteran of the Linux technology and journalism communities longer than this newsletter has been around.

What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

Phil Hochmuth is a Network World Senior Editor and a former systems integrator. You can reach him at phochmut@nww.com.

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Daily News: PM

Network World Daily News: PM, 06/26/07

News podcast: Network World 360
How MySpace is hurting your network; Cisco moving reputation services into network devices; NY state college takes the plunge, plans 11n WLAN rollout this summer; and Level3 completes Internet2 100G net. (8:56)

Judge favors Microsoft search agreement
A U.S. judge said Tuesday she will likely defer to an agreement on desktop search forged between Microsoft Corp. and the plaintiffs in the U.S. government's antitrust lawsuit against the software vendor, instead of responding to a complaint from rival ...

Security vendors question antivirus tests
Antivirus software is frequently tested for performance, so picking a top product should be straightforward: Select the number-one vendor whose software kills off all of the evil things circulating on the Internet. You're good to go then, right? Not ...

Web security product aims to foil hackers with continuous authentication
A new Web application security product prevents hacker attacks with 256-bit secret keys that authenticate and encrypt each data transmission as it happens.

Sun needs AMD chips to launch new supercomputer
As Sun Microsystems Inc. prepares to demonstrate a new high-performance computer Tuesday at a technology conference in Germany, it hopes that quad-core processors from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. that will power the computer arrive on time to deliver ...

What to consider when looking for a data-protection solution
Losing access to key applications and critical business data can be devastating. With downtime costing companies from thousands to millions of dollars per hour in lost productivity and opportunity costs, it is imperative to keep the IT business ...

IBM supercomputer more powerful than 1.5-mile-high stack of laptops
IBM says it has nearly tripled the performance of the technology behind the world’s fastest and most energy-efficient supercomputer, developing a system that is potentially 100,000 times more powerful than a home computer. It will be used by the U.S. ...

Data breaches start at the gas station, analyst says
Using a credit card at a gas station could pose more of a risk for data theft than shopping online, as point-of-sale terminals have emerged as a weak link in the security chain, according to a Gartner Inc. analyst.

Questions? Feedback? Contact NetworkWorld.com Site Editor Jeff Caruso.

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LANs & Routers

Network World's LANs & Routers Newsletter, 06/26/07

Nortel Ethernet switch tested against Cisco, HP switches

By Jeff Caruso

In all the hubbub over Interop last month, I missed this test from the Tolly Group: The testing firm compared the Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 2526T and 2550T against the Cisco Catalyst 2960-24TC and 2960-48TC, and the HP ProCurve 2626 and 2650.

As always with the Tolly Group, remember that the organization is paid by a vendor - in this case, Nortel. However, Tolly bills itself as independent and unbiased; it runs its tests, gives the results to the sponsoring vendor, and leaves it up to the vendor to release the results or not.

The Nortel ERS 2500 series of switches are Layer 2/Layer 3-capable. The 2526T is a 24-port Fast Ethernet switch, and the 2550T is a 48-port Fast Ethernet switch. Both have four Gigabit Ethernet ports for uplinks.

Tolly said the Cisco and HP switches had comparable configurations, except that they had two fewer Gigabit Ethernet ports.

In its tests, Tolly found that the Nortel switches were able to forward frames 45% faster in the 24-port test and 16% faster in the 48-port test. The Nortel switches reached a bidirectional frame forwarding rate of 9.52 million frames per second in the 24-port test, compared to 6.55 million frames per second for both the Cisco and HP switches. In the 48-port test, the numbers were 11.6 million frames per second for Nortel and 10.12 million for Cisco and HP.

Tolly also noted that the cost per gigabit of throughput for the Nortel switches was a fraction of that of the Cisco switches. It was even better than that of the HP ProCurve switches, though not by as much.

If you are interested, you can view the full report here.

What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

Jeff Caruso is managing editor of online news for Network World. He oversees daily online news posting and newsletter editing, and writes the NetFlash daily news summary, the High-Speed LANs newsletter and the Voices of Networking newsletter. Contact him at jcaruso@nww.com

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Data Center News Alert

Network World's Data Center News Alert, 06/26/07

IBM uses green technology to build the company's largest data center, 06/22/07: IBM’s green initiative takes root in Boulder, Colo., with expansion that will make the facility the company’s largest data center in the world.

6 tips for jump-starting your automation project, 06/25/07: IT managers need to grease the wheels a bit to enjoy the benefits of automation. The tools available today rely on IT managers understanding what they have in their environments, what it all does and what they need it to do on its own. Inventorying ...

10 automation companies to watch, 06/25/07: Run-book, IT process and data-center automation companies deliver products to help IT shops reduce manual work, eliminate repetitive tasks and speed problem resolution.

Insurer aims for automation, 06/25/07: After Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida invested $40 million in a new data center, Paul Stallings began his quest to reduce manual labor, integrate systems across IT silos and ultimately optimize data center operations through automation.

Sun needs AMD chips to launch new supercomputer, 06/26/07: As Sun Microsystems Inc. prepares to demonstrate a new high-performance computer Tuesday at a technology conference in Germany, it hopes that quad-core processors from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. that will power the computer arrive on time to deliver ...

IBM pushes z9 mainframe for small business, 06/21/07: IBM unveiled a Web site and IT security software application Thursday as part of its effort to compete with HP and Sun for customers in the fast-growing small and midsize business sector.

Virtualization questions abound, 06/21/07: Many of the customers attending this week's Hewlett-Packard Co. Technology Forum in Las Vegas ran back and forth across the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino's convention center absorbing all they could about virtualization. There were 87 workshops ...

Emerson helps customers get a handle on power and cooling, 06/21/07: Power and cooling continue to be big issues as systems become smaller and more powerful, so I’d guess that most data center managers are ...

Google to build $600M data center in Iowa, 06/20/07: Google is building a $600 million data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, that is scheduled to open in the spring of 2009.

Burning question: Blades or racks? 06/19/07: Blade servers are no longer on the bleeding edge, but there continues to be a lot of debate about when and where the slimmed-down servers make sense. It ...

HP is its own case study with data center project, 06/19/07: The $100 million data center consolidation project being undertaken by Hewlett-Packard Co. will help it be more efficient but also informs the consulting advice it gives to client companies.