Networking World

Daily News: PM

Network World Daily News: PM, 10/31/07

NEWS PODCAST: Network World 360
EMC is spending some of its third-quarter profit on network network change and configuration-management vendor Voyence; and, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a seven-year extension to an Internet tax ban, the final step before the legislation heads to President George Bush to be signed into law. (6:10)

Spooky networking
Check out Network World's home page for Halloween treats - including IT horror stories, the networkiest horror films, the winner of our costume contest, and more.

Storm worm pulls Halloween hoax
The latest Storm-backed spam campaign invites e-mail recipients to visit a Halloween-themed Web site where they can download a dancing skeleton. What ...

Building virtual worlds at Boeing
Want to see how an F-16 will react to the latest antiaircraft weapons? We talk to the man who creates the simulated wartime environments used by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Network downtime not as severe to users as IT pros think
End users and IT managers don't see eye-to-eye when it comes to how well IT does its job, but recent survey results show that IT gives itself poorer grades than the users they serve do.

Hartford Financial misplaces tapes with personal data
The Hartford Financial Services Group has notified about 237,000 policy holders of a potential compromise of their personal data.

Machine learning fuels Sun music recommendation technology
Software that listens to and analyzes music is driving a Sun project, which has a goal of creating an open source music recommendation system that surpasses the capabilities used today by iTunes and Amazon.

The Google phone: Has a wireless upheaval begun?
The Google phone is inching closer to reality, with wireless handhelds running Google applications and operating software expected in the first half of 2008, several industry analysts said today.

CASE STUDY

Presence comes to P&G
When your CEO challenges you to create the world’s most collaborative company, you’d best take some definitive steps in that direction.

PODCASTS

How to prepare your staff for a security attack
Being prepared before the next security attack is critical for your enterprise. Learn three strategies that can help you create a security aware culture at your company. Keith Shaw talks with Paula Hamm, VP of education and business critical services for Symantec Global Services, about the processes and strategies involved with being ready for a data security attack (19:28).

How IT service providers are accelerating ROI
A shift in the IT services space is being caused by the growth of solution accelerators, internally developed software that can customize a particular business process or aspect of product development for several clients. Denise and Alex talk with Forrester VP and Principal Analyst John McCarthy about recent research on solution accelerators. Find out what factors are driving IT services firms to develop these, how they compare with framework attempts, and what how it will impact enterprise IT's use of IT services (13:15).

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, 10/31/07

LinuxWorld.com Feature Story

Asustek's low-cost laptop coming to U.S., Europe October 30, 2007
Asustek Computer's Linux-based Eee PC laptop will soon be on sale in North America and Europe, and the company plans to offer a version running Windows XP by the end of the year. The Eee PC is a low-cost laptop designed primarily for children and emerging markets such as India. It weighs less than a kilogram, has a 7-inch LCD screen and can connect to the Internet wirelessly. The first version went on sale earlier this month in Asia, including in Hong Kong and Taiwan, where it's priced at about NT$11,100 (US$340).

On Nov. 1 the Eee PC will go on sale at stores in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Vancouver and Toronto, and also through e-commerce Web sites in North America, Asustek officials said Tuesday. It will then be rolled out gradually in Europe, starting in Germany on Nov. 9. Major Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, will follow in mid-November. (Read more)

More Linux news

Kernel space: should security modules be dynamically loadable? October 30, 2007
Security modules watch the rest of the Linux system for intruders, but if they're dynamically loadable, qui custodiet ipsos custodes? (Read more)

Windows XP will double the price of Asustek's Eee PC October 30, 2007
Adding Windows XP to Asustek Computer's Eee PC will double the price of the low-cost laptop compared to existing versions running Linux. (Read more)

Van Wyk aims to transform Red Hat for future growth October 30, 2007
Having established itself as the leading enterprise Linux vendor, Red Hat is in a pivotal phase of reinventing itself as a broader open-source software provider and a long-term technology leader a la Microsoft and Oracle. It's a tall order, and among other things it will take a business plan that lets the company move smoothly through this make-or-break stage. (Read more)

NZ government wins open source award October 30, 2007
The New Zealand State Services Commission's (SSC) championing of open-source software in government helped its ICT (Information and Communications Technology) branch pick up an award in the government category of the inaugural New Zealand Open Source Awards, held in Wellington this month. (Read more)

Software guru is hot on Linux, busting bureaucracy October 29, 2007
Grady Booch is chief scientist at IBM's Rational Software unit and an IBM fellow who also holds the title "free radical." His software development approach and the Unified Modeling Language, which he helped create, have been used to build the software that runs pacemakers, avionics in certain large airliners, antilock brake systems, and financial trading systems in the U.S., Europe and Asia. (Read more)

Red Hat: Open Source mature, disruptive and innovative October 26, 2007
Open source is disruptive, it develops rapidly, is adopted quickly, and it efficiently meets market needs while enabling new market capabilities. These were some of the statements made at an open source symposium held in Western Australia (WA) earlier this month. (Read more)

50 greatest networking arguments: VMware vs. Xen vs. Microsoft October 26, 2007
VMware is clearly the top player in virtualization, but competitors such as Citrix and Microsoft want a piece of this hot market, too. (Read more)

50 greatest networking arguments: Open source vs. proprietary software October 26, 2007
Open source software makes inroads vs. proprietary software despite warnings of Microsoft, others. (Read more)

50 greatest networking arguments: Novell NetWare vs. Microsoft networking October 26, 2007
Novell had the early lead in the network operating system market, but a persistent Microsoft kept hammering away until NetWare become a just a memory in many companies. (Read more)

SCO has a buyer, pending bankruptcy approval October 25, 2007
Embattled SCO Group is offering the bankruptcy court a deal it could be hard to refuse. (Read more)

Post-install tips for Ubuntu 7.10 October 25, 2007
I don't know about where you live, but where I live, it feels like October. Halloween orange has sprouted everywhere from the grocery store to the doctor's office, the weather has acquired a distinctive chill, and, of course, we have a new release of Ubuntu Linux. Version 7.10 hit the Net just last week, right on time. (Ubuntu releases tend to come each October and April.) (Read more)

Asian governments driving demand for open source October 25, 2007
Asian governments are pivotal to Red Hat's goal of earning 60 percent of its revenue from outside the United States by the end of 2009, said Matthew Szulik, the company's chairman, CEO and president, in a conference call on Thursday. (Read more)

LinuxWorld Community

Corporate open source advice October 28, 2007
Some surprising moves, such as the much-maligned mission statement, can help corporate open source projects work, said Ben Collins-Sussman and Brian Fitzpatrick. (Read more)

Don Marti is editor of LinuxWorld.com.

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Convergence & VoIP News Alert

Network World's Convergence & VoIP News Alert, 10/31/07

Huchison 3 to release Skypephone in 8 countries, 10/29/07: U.K. mobile phone operator Huchison 3G UK on Monday rolled out the Skypephone, a handset designed to simplify use of the Skype VoIP application.

Vonage update: AT&T files patent claim, Verizon dispute settled, 10/29/07: Vonage disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing that on Oct. 17 that AT&T had filed a patent infringement claim against the company. According to the filing, Vonage said that it intends to continue to pursue an amicable resolution of this matter, but that it cannot assure that this matter will not ultimately be litigated.

Location-aware fixed-mobile convergence holds promise, 10/29/07: On Oct. 15, start-up Agito Networks entered the exciting enterprise fixed-mobile convergence (eFMC) market. As John Dix pointed out in his article Cell/Wi-Fi convergence based on novel approach, Agito is using a new approach to determine when a mobile phone call should be switched from a cellular network to your enterprise WLAN when moving in building, and vice versa when you leave the enterprise.

The Network World IT Buyer's Guides provide comprehensive, detailed information on how to select, test, buy and deploy thousands of network and IT products. The new Network World IT Buyer's Guides offer even more features than before, here's just one that's worth checking out: VoIP Security Products

Editor's note: Starting the week of Nov. 12, you will notice a number of enhancements to Network World newsletters that will provide you with more resources and more news links relevant to the newsletter's subject. The Convergence & VoIP Newsletter, written by analysts Steve Taylor and Larry Hettick, will be merged with the VoIP News Alert and will be named the Convergence & VoIP Alert. You'll get Steve and Larry's analysis of the convergence and VoIP market, which you will be able to read in full at NetworkWorld.com, plus links to the day's convergence news and other relevant resources. This Alert will be mailed on Mondays and WedneWAN + WAN ALertsdays. We hope you will enjoy the enhancements and we thank you for reading Network World newsletters.

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

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Daily News: AM

Network World Daily News: AM, 10/31/07

Microsoft plots ambitious SOA roadmap
Microsoft Tuesday laid out an ambitious SOA roadmap around a set technologies code-named Oslo that will be blended into its middleware, development, and management tools and some of its emerging enterprise online services.

Google makes social networking power move -- finally
Belatedly recognizing the importance of social networking as an online service and advertising vehicle, Google this week will unleash its strongest response yet to the rising threat and skyrocketing popularity of MySpace and Facebook.

Companies tap RSS to tame info overload
As employees struggle to read an increasing amount of work-related material, some companies have turned to RSS (Really Simple Syndication) technology to improve productivity.

Ingrian updates encryption appliance line
Ingrian Networks announced Monday it has updated its DataSecure encryption appliance line most commonly used for credit-card encryption, adding the high-end 400 Series and discontinuing the 300 Series, while keeping the low-end 100 Series with enhancements.

IBM taps Alcatel for unified-communications strategy
IBM and networking provider Alcatel-Lucent are teaming up to take Microsoft head-on in the unified-communications market.

7-year Internet tax ban heads to president
The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a seven-year extension to an Internet tax ban, the final step before the legislation heads to President George Bush to be signed into law. The House on Tuesday approved the Senate version of the Internet tax moratorium, which would ban Internet-only taxes such as access taxes for seven years. The current ban has been in effect since 1998, except for a lapse during most of 2004.

Van Wyk aims to transform Red Hat for future growth
Having established itself as the leading enterprise Linux vendor, Red Hat is in a pivotal phase of reinventing itself as a broader open-source software provider and a long-term technology leader a la Microsoft and Oracle. It's a tall order, and among other things it will take a business plan that lets the company move smoothly through this make-or-break stage.

PODCAST

Real-life scary security stories
Want some real Halloween scares? Listen to tales of the school district where compromised computers were giving up data for months; the CSO who thought his password was secure by leaving it on a Post-It Note under his keyboard; how a USB device with nuclear weapon data ended up in the hands of a crack dealer; how a cyber-stalker was able to steal and delete digital images from his victim's PC; and more spooky stories from security experts.

BLOGS

Today on Microsoft Subnet
Microsoft releases roadmap for SOA, codenamed Oslo and involving the next-generation of BizTalk, .Net and System Center 5; Apple reports that it has sold 2 million copies of Leopard spurring the comparisons between Leopard and Vista; Blogger Tyson Kopczynski weighs in on the perimeter vs. no-perimeter argument.

Today at Cisco Subnet
Cisco to triple headcount in India to 10K by 2010; Does the Vyatta router solution monitor how business processes are operating?; Cisco's profits: 5 trends worth watching; It's the last day to enter to win free Cisco training worth up to $3,995, courtesy of Global Knowledge. Plus enter to win a free copy of "Monitoring with Cisco Security MARS" by Gary Halleen and Greg Kellogg, published by Cisco Press.

Buzzblog: Let poker players be free
Pentagon Papers case: check. Bailing out Julia Roberts: check. Lawyer’s next crusade? Freeing poker players from tyranny.

Today on Layer 8, where we fully expect to have our own tractor beam up and running in a few years that will significanlty reduce our commuting time:
Call it Star Trek tech for microscopes. MIT researchers said today they have found a way to use a “tractor beam” of light to pick up, hold, and move around individual cells and other objects on the surface of a microchip.

Editor's note: Starting the week of Nov. 12, subscribers to the HTML version of this newsletter will notice some enhancements to the layout that will provide you with easier and clearer access to a wider range of resources at Network World. We hope you enjoy the enhancements and we thank you for reading Network World newsletters.

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

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WAN News Alert

WAN News Alert, 10/31/07

ISPs want to rule the world: Jason and Keith gab about Comcast's broadband meddling, the Facebook / Microsoft love affair, and whether the Internet can be a good substitute for a significant other.

Van Wyk aims to transform Red Hat for future growth, 10/30/07: Having established itself as the leading enterprise Linux vendor, Red Hat is in a pivotal phase of reinventing itself as a broader open-source software provider and a long-term technology leader a la Microsoft and Oracle. It's a tall order, and among other things it will take a business plan that lets the company move smoothly through this make-or-break stage.

Hibernia Atlantic upgrades undersea network capacity, 10/26/07: In response to increasing bandwidth demands, Hibernia Atlantic announced this week that it had upgraded its undersea data transport span from Boston to Halifax to 40G capacity.

The Network World IT Buyer's Guides provide comprehensive, detailed information on how to select, test, buy and deploy thousands of network and IT products. The new Network World IT Buyer's Guides offer even more features than before, here's just one that's worth checking out: WAN Traffic Optimization and Application Acceleration

Editor's note: Starting Nov. 12 week, you will notice a number of enhancements to Network World newsletters that will provide you with more resources and more news links relevant to the newsletter's subject. Beginning Monday, Nov. 12, the Wide Area Networking Newsletter, written by Steve Taylor and Jim Metzler, will be merged with the WAN News Alert and will be named the Wide Area Networking Alert. You'll get Steve and Jim's analysis of the convergence and WAN market, which you will be able to read in full at NetworkWorld.com, plus links to the day's WAN news and other relevant resources. This Alert will be mailed on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We hope you will enjoy the enhancements and we thank you for reading Network World newsletters.

Contact Site Editor Jeff Caruso

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Cisco News Alert

Network World's Cisco News Alert, 10/31/07

Cisco's profits: 5 trends worth watching, 10/29/07: Wall Street has high hopes for Cisco's latest quarterly results, which are slated to be announced Nov. 7. But even if you aren't a shareholder, there are five key pieces of information that Cisco customers and partners should listen for during the earnings call. Here's the rundown.

Cisco cautious on Brazil case, 10/29/07: Cisco Monday appeared to further distance itself from a tax scandal in Brazil, saying it can't vouch for everything its channel partners do.

Cisco and OOPSLA hoopla: While Cisco has its share of excellent technical experts, it might not be the first company you’d think of headlining an event called the Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages and Applications event (OOPSLA 2007 ).

Cisco Subnet: Cisco to triple headcount in India to 10K by 2010, 10/30/07: John Chambers said Monday that Cisco plans to scale-up its headcount in India to 10,000 by 2010, reports the Rediff news. Cisco currently employs about 3,000 there. In December, the company selected India as the site for its Cisco Globalization Center East. (Also, check out Layer 8, where we find that: Cisco expects a lot out of India.)

Cisco vs. Bay/3Com/Cabletron/Juniper, 10/26/07: Cisco blew through a slew of rivals in routing and switching during the 1990s and early 2000s, though Juniper is hanging tough

Routing vs. switching, 10/26/07: Routing got the early lead on switching thanks to Cisco, then the two technologies melded and evolved.

Cisco Subnet giveaways: Last day to enter to win free Cisco training worth up to $3,995, courtesy of Global Knowledge. Plus enter to win a free copy of "Monitoring with Cisco Security MARS" by Gary Halleen and Greg Kellogg, published by Cisco Press.

Editor's note: Starting the week of Nov. 12, subscribers to the HTML version of this newsletter will notice some enhancements to the layout that will provide you with easier and clearer access to a wider range of resources at Network World. We hope you enjoy the enhancements and we thank you for reading Network World newsletters.

Senior Editor Jim Duffy covers Cisco for Network World.

Linda Leung edits Cisco Subnet.

Cisco Subnet: The independent voice of Cisco customers

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Storage News Alert

Network World's Storage News Alert, 10/31/07

EMC acquires network-configuration player, 10/30/07: The number of pure-play network change and configuration-management vendors decreased again Tuesday as EMC announced it had purchased Voyence for an undisclosed amount.

Vendor claims about storage virtualization flawed, 10/30/07: IT managers have been advised to be wary of vendor hype surrounding storage virtualization as it is a technology that is poorly defined, misunderstood and not widely used, according to Dr. Kevin McIsaac, an advisor at research firm Intelligent Business Research Services (IBRS).

Is Fibre Channel dead?: Fibre Channel is the king of enterprise storage-area-network technologies. It's fast, it can handle long distances, and it's got strong vendor support.

Satisfied with iSCSI SAN?: The Enterprise Strategy Group surveyed 76 storage customers to determine their level of satisfaction, check out the results.

The Network World IT Buyer's Guides provide comprehensive, detailed information on how to select, test, buy and deploy thousands of network and IT products. The new Network World IT Buyer's Guides offer even more features than before, here's just one that's worth checking out: Storage Virtualization

Editor's note: Starting the week of Nov. 12, you will notice a number of enhancements to Network World newsletters that will provide you with more resources and more news links relevant to the newsletter's subject. Beginning Tuesday, Nov. 13, the Storage in the Enterprise Newsletter, written by Network World Senior Editor Deni Connor, will be merged with the Storage News Alert and will be named the Storage Alert. You'll get Deni's analysis of the storage market, which you will be able to read in full at NetworkWorld.com, plus links to the day's storage news and other relevant resources. This Alert will be mailed on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We hope you will enjoy the enhancements and we thank you for reading Network World newsletters.

Senior Editor Deni Connor covers storage for Network World.

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Whitepapers Download

Today we have 4 featured Whitepapers for you from DataDirect Networks , D-Link, 3Com, and VMware.

You can see all of the available whitepapers here.

DataDirect Networks

Enterprise Grade "No-Compromise" Backup/Recovery, DataDirect Networks VTLS Solution
DataDirect Networks (DDN) offers the VTLS solution to meet the challenges of ever-stringent requirements for services levels and response times. VTLS leverages the proven DDN S2A storage controller architecture to deliver high performance and availability while emulating leading tape solutions. DataDirect's VTLS is a simple-to-deploy and ease-to-use disk-based backup and restore solution.

D-Link

D-Link Unified Switching Improves Network Efficiency
As businesses scale, blending traditional wireless and wired networks become a challenge. D-Link's xStack 3200 series incorporate effortless wireless switching and advanced wired functionality for a TOTAL unified network solution. Discover how D-Link can help take your network to the next level. Download your copy of "Unified Wireless Switching" to learn more.

3Com

Assessing Your Network for Voice Readiness
Learn how to assess your network readiness for Voice over IP with this whitepaper. There are specific questions that need to be answered to figure out if your existing network is up to the task. Find out which IP telephony solution best meshes with your network and when you should make the transition. Learn how to develop a solid transition plan that will lead to a successful VoIP deployment.

VMware

Benefits of virtualization
Learn why server and storage virtualization is the right technology for you. Download this whitepaper to find out how virtualization allows you to improve critical IT operations such as disaster recovery and back up, while also reducing IT costs.

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Wireless in the Enterprise

Network World's Wireless in the Enterprise Newsletter, 10/31/07

Can you build a mesh 802.11n backbone yet?

By Joanie Wexler

High-speed aggregate core networks built from a mesh of intercommunicating Draft 2.0 802.11n nodes could alleviate having to cable every wireless LAN access point to an Ethernet switch.

Such an approach could conserve significant resources as Wi-Fi deployments grow. And 802.11n mesh APs could be deployed in small enough numbers so that eventual upgrades to final standards in a year or so, if needed, would not be overwhelming.

This potential application of the technology begs the question: Where can you get Draft 2.0 802.11n products that also support mesh?

Perhaps the first available such animal will come from WLAN-maker Ruckus Wireless. A spokesman says Ruckus will ship an 802.11n Draft 2.0-compatible version of its ZoneFlex AP—a mesh-capable AP used with a Ruckus WLAN controller—in December. Ruckus has traditionally focused on high-quality, high-speed Wi-Fi consumer applications such as streaming media but branched out in May to embrace small and midsized enterprise wireless networking requirements with its business-class ZoneFlex line.

In addition, Colubris says it will ship its MAP-625 802.11n access point later this quarter and that it will support Colubris’s existing Local Mesh Protocol for backhaul applications.

A sampling of other 802.11n mesh plans in the industry:

* Aruba Wireless: All currently shipping Aruba APs support meshing. The company says its mesh product line will include 802.11n on or before first-quarter 2008.

* Cisco: A version of the enterprise market leader’s Draft 2.0-compatible Aironet 1250 802.11n access point that supports mesh “will be coming soon, by year-end or early next year,” according to a company spokesman.

* Firetide: Focused on radio-agnostic mesh networking for indoor and outdoor use, the company is “evaluating both 802.11n and WiMAX modules” for its systems, says Manish Chandra, product manager. He adds that, because of Firetide-proprietary technology, the company’s existing 802.11a and 802.11g products can achieve 70Mbps speeds from one AP to another (across a single hop) or sustained 35Mbps end-to-end speeds today. He indicated that these higher-than-average Wi-Fi speeds have tempered the need for 802.11n’s 100Mbps-and-up speeds among its customer base.

* Meru Networks: VP of strategic marketing Rachna Ahlawat says the company’s new AP-300 802.11a/b/g/n series AP will support mesh sometime during the first quarter of 2008.

* Motorola/Symbol: Will be beta testing Draft 2.0 802.11n in the first quarter of 2008. It plans to ship 802.11n mesh-capable products in the first half of 2008 in what Sujai Hajela, VP and GM of Motorola’s Enterprise Mobility business, describes as “adaptive WLANs,” which allow the AP to be part of a mesh-only or combination mesh-WLAN controller network.

* Trapeze Networks: Director of product marketing David Cohen says the company’s Draft 2.0 802.11n AP, integrated with its RingMaster network management and system features, “should all come together by the end of Q1” 2008. He says, “Our 802.11a/b/g AP already supports mesh network, and our .11n AP will also support mesh.”

Editor's note: Starting Nov. 12 week, you will notice a number of enhancements to Network World newsletters that will provide you with more resources and more news links relevant to the newsletter's subject. Beginning Monday, Nov. 12, the Wireless in the Enterprise Newsletter, written by Joanie Wexler, will be merged with the Wireless News Alert and will be named the Wireless Alert. You'll get Joanie's analysis of the wireless market, which you will be able to read in full at NetworkWorld.com, plus links to the day's wireless news and other relevant resources. This Alert will be mailed on Mondays and Wednesdays. We hope you will enjoy the enhancements and we thank you for reading Network World newsletters.

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.

ARCHIVE

Archive of the Wireless in the Enterprise Newsletter.

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Network/Systems Management

Network World's Network/Systems Management Newsletter, 10/31/07

Managing Web services and SOA applications

By Denise Dubie

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) initiatives promise to cause management challenges for IT managers looking to ensure application performance and exceptional IT service delivery.

Network World recently devoted a New Data Center issue to the topic of SOA in the enterprise and offered articles on putting SOA best practices in place as well as managing the loosely-coupled applications across distributed environments. And I trolled the vendor landscape to find 10 tools to address SOA governance, quality and management.

And Network World isn't the only industry watcher with SOA management on its radar. Separately, Forrester Research vice president and principal analyst Randy Heffner recently put out a series of reports on stand-alone tools to manage SOA and Web services. Forrester looked at products during July and August of this year and interviewed vendor and user companies to determine what tools are available today. Vendors included Amber Point, BEA Systems, CA, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Progress Software, SAP and more. The research firm also defines what it sees as SOA and Web services management, something the analyst group considers critical for any SOA implementation.

Forrester defines it as such: "Software infrastructure to ensure that the production operation of SOA-based services delivers on QoS expectations for technical performance and availability and, optionally, on QoS for security, business operations, and general policy compliance"

Heffner also spells out facts about SOA that will require enterprise IT managers to plan for "robust SOA management."

To start, Heffner clarifies that SOA management involves more than just Web services. "For reasons of performance, reliability, or maturity, many firms find it necessary to deliver SOA-based services using both Web services and other protocols such as Java Message Service, native .Net protocols, and Java RMI," the report reads. "With today's levels of Web services maturity, Web services can't meet all SOA demands."

Second, SOA management requires more than monitoring response times and traffic flows. "It must also have a view into application components, process flows involving multiple services, database calls, and multiple types of SOA infrastructure such as application servers, enterprise services buses (ESB), and SOA appliances, to name a few such extended visibility points" Heffner writes.

And managing SOA also requires visibility into business operations. "Viewing the flow of requests into and responses from your strategic business services amounts to direct, real-time visibility into meaningful, measurable units of business activity," according to Forrester. "Business users may have a keen and direct interest in any of these streams of business activity."

For much more on Forrester's SOA and Web services management report and the vendors it evaluated, click here.

Editor's note: Starting the week of Nov. 12, you will notice a number of enhancements to Network World newsletters that will provide you with more resources and more news links relevant to the newsletter's subject. The Network/Systems Management newsletter written by Network World Senior Editor Denise Dubie will be merged with the Network/Systems News Alert and will be named the Network/Systems Alert. You'll get Denise's analysis of the network/systems management market, which you will be able to read in full at NetworkWorld.com, plus links to the day's network/systems management news and other relevant resources. This Alert will be mailed on Mondays and Wednesdays. We hope you will enjoy the enhancements and we thank you for reading Network World newsletters.

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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Convergence & VoIP

Network World's Convergence & VoIP Newsletter, 10/31/07

Minneapolis deploys 3-1-1 service

By Steve Taylor and Larry Hettick

The city of Minneapolis, Minn. recently joined a growing number of cities deploying 3-1-1 services - a single phone number to provide its 380,000 citizens with faster access to non-emergency city government services. As part of the city’s efforts to upgrade its communication services, it decided to use a Siemens HiPath infrastructure that was installed by Black Box Network Services.

With the move to support 3-1-1, the city also took the opportunity to concurrently consolidate communications across 15 smaller contact centers and 35 locations. In a prepared statement, Connie Perila, Manager of Telecommunications and Network Services for the city said, "3-1-1 is a huge initiative for us, and we needed to implement a more reliable telecommunications platform and robust applications for that to be successful. Not only does it offload 9-1-1 and let us improve our responsiveness to our citizens' needs, but it also will help us address other disaster recovery scenarios by giving us a way to field excess 9-1-1 calls in the event of a citywide catastrophe."

We followed up with Perila and during the interview she said that before the 3-1-1 service, citizens had to sort through 250 phone numbers to get to the right person or department. By creating a contact center supported by 30 to 35 active agents, access to city services is much easier. The blended contact center uses skills based routing to support both phone calls and e-mails, and Siemens is working with the city’s CRM supplier to offer CTI-based “screen-pops” to the agents. She also noted that the infrastructure upgrades will position the city to fully converge its voice and data networks, although today the remote locations still rely on one circuit for voice and another circuit for data, pending upgrades to make the data network ready for VoIP.

When asked why the city chose the Siemens solution, Perila said that the city has had a 17-year relationship with Siemens, and that Siemens VoIP-ready digital phones were already installed at 30 remote locations serving the city’s employees using 3,500 phone extensions. She said, “With such a diverse work force, we wanted to make sure [all the city employees] didn’t have to learn new features. We also wanted to protect our existing investment since some of the equipment has been in place for less than five years. And we’ve had a great relationship with Black Box and with Siemens.”

Next time: VoIP Security Issues Reported

Editor's note: Starting the week of  Nov. 12, you will notice a number of enhancements to Network World newsletters that will provide you with more resources and more news links relevant to the newsletter's subject. The Convergence & VoIP Newsletter, written by analysts Steve Taylor and Larry Hettick, will be merged with the VoIP News Alert and will be newly named the Convergence & VoIP Alert. You'll get Steve and Larry's analysis of the convergence and VoIP market, which you will be able to read in full at NetworkWorld.com, plus links to the day's convergence news and other relevant resources. This Alert will be mailed on Mondays and Wednesdays. We hope you will enjoy the enhancements and we thank you for reading Network World newsletters.

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 a Principal Analyst at Current Analysis, the leading provider of competitive response solutions. A 25
year industry veteran, he has focused on Convergence and VoIP since 2000.

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Daily News: PM

Network World Daily News: PM, 10/30/07

NEWS PODCAST: Network World 360
Cisco appears to be distancing itself from a tax scandal in Brazil; Platinum Equity to acquire Covad Commuincations for about $304 million, making the communications services company the latest technology company to sell to a private equity firm.

IT pros share their horror stories
Tech pros get in the Halloween spirit and share their horror stories via the head of the Encompass user group of HP customers.

EMC acquires network-configuration player
EMC acquires network-configuration and -management vendor Voyence to add the technology to its IT service-management suite. Plus: Outsourcing overhyped, overused, says EMC's Tucci

Winning costume: The Human Transformer
We didn't get many entries for our Halloween costume contest this year, but the last one is a doozy. See how this IT pro "transforms" his costume from one into another, in six steps.

Vendor claims about storage virtualization flawed
IT managers have been advised to be wary of vendor hype surrounding storage virtualization as it is a technology that is poorly ...

Covad sells to private equity firm for $304 million
Platinum Equity LLC will acquire Covad Communications Corp. for about $304 million, making the communications services company the ...

Cash isn't king: Apple limits iPhone purchases
People looking to walk into an Apple retailer and buy an iPhone with cash will be out of luck. The company is now accepting only credit or ...

IBM process turns waste silicon into cash, energy savings
Big Blue is looking a little green around the chips today. That’s because IBM announced a semiconductor wafer reclamation process that removes chip circuitry with an abrasive pad and water, saving money and leaving the silicon in better shape for reuse in solar panels or other duties. Enabling reuse is crucial because IBM estimates that approximately three million silicon wafers worldwide are scrapped each year.

Wi-Fi growth fuels video surveillance adoption
Despite privacy concerns surrounding the use of video surveillance systems in public spaces, industry observers have noted increasing uptake of ...

Internet researchers discover new hacking service site
Security researchers studying the latest Internet crime trends have discovered a new Eastern European Web site that uses a large botnet to ...

Geek stars: The secret (nerdy) life of celebrities
You might be amazed to learn of the remarkable number of actors, directors, musicians and other celebrities who nurture an inner geek.

CASE STUDY

T. Rowe goes 2.0
These days T. Rowe Price vice president Kirk Kness is busy implementing relatively low-cost, Web 2.0-based collaboration tools including wikis and blogs.

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

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Microsoft News Alert

Network World's Microsoft News Alert, 10/30/07

* TOP PICK OF THE WEEK:

Vista goes green in the enterprise
Technology for reducing the energy consumption of computers running Windows Vista has hit the market, with a product from London-based power-management software vendor 1E that centralizes and automates the PC shutdown process.

What the hackers know about SQL Server Management Studio 

Microsoft has killer Q1, profits surge, beats estimates 

When training is a bad thing

Port80 Software announces Web app firewall for IIS 7

* FROM OUR BLOGGERS:

John Obeto: Notes from a Microsoft Fan
The downside of blatant copying
Obeto jokes that Apple Leopard has so thoroughly ripped off Microsoft Vista that it even copied its BSOD."Somewhere along the line during the ripping off of Windows Vista, the loops at Apple copied the faults of pre-release Windows Vista, id est, it’s ability to bluescreen!"

Microsoft author expert Kerrie Meyler
Agent versus agentless monitoring
"Like many other software packages, MOM and OpsMgr can deploy an agent to the system being monitored. Whether or not to deploy agents in general is always a discussion point. Let's talk about the agent used by Operations Manager."
Last chance to enter to win one of 15 free copies of Meyler's book Microsoft Operations Manager Unleashed. Giveaway ends Oct. 31.

Tyson Kopczynski: Hidden Microsoft gems
Using PowerShell to take Virtual Server snapshots (Part Two)
"As promised, I’m doing a follow up to my VS snapshots posting last week.  In this posting I will go over the basic code snippets that are needed to construct the VS snapshots script."

Chris Dalby: The Essential Microsoft Toolkit
Live Search for BlackBerry
"Live Search for Blackberry has been released, meaning the huge chunk of corporate Blackberry users now have access to this excellent service."

* HOT DISCUSSIONS AMONG MICROSOFT SUBNET READERS:

What's holding Vista back?

High-tech wages climbing in 2007

Four sentenced in Microsoft fraud scheme

* FREEBIES, GIVEAWAYS AND OTHER NOTABLES:

The next New Horizons Microsoft training giveaway ends November 30. Enter today to win your free training course worth up to $2,500 from New Horizons Computer Learning Centers. Win any kind of training you want: classroom, online, mentoring and more.
Win one of 15 copies of Microsoft Operations Manager bible Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Unleashed (MOM): With A Preview of Operations Manager 2007
Check out Microsoft Subnet’s library for more free chapters and special discounts on best-selling books. 
Visit the Microsoft Subnet page for daily news, opinions, hot topics.

Senior Editor John Fontana covers Microsoft for Network World.

Julie Bort edits Microsoft Subnet

Microsoft Subnet: The independent voice of Microsoft customers

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Network/Systems Management News Alert

Network World's Network/Systems Management News Alert, 10/30/07

NetIQ enters IT process automation fray, 10/24/07: NetIQ develops IT process automation software to help customers reduce the manual work across network, security and application management.

Outsourcing vs. keeping it in-house, 10/26/07: Outsourcing isn’t just about cost savings any more. Customer relationships and expanding geographical reach are other potential benefits, proponents say.

U.S. outsourcing contracts shrink in size and number, 10/24/07: U.S. companies signed fewer outsourcing contracts in 2007 and committed less time and money to those they did purchase, according to the most recent TPI data.

Agent-based vs. agentless, 10/26/07: A management software mainstay, agent software can be difficult to deploy and update on multiple boxes and, in some cases, is said to hurt the performance of the device it managers.

Ruby on Rails management vendor lands $6.2 million in funding, 10/29/07: FiveRuns adds $6.2 million in funding to its business, plans to accelerate product development, sales and marketing, and partnership efforts for its Ruby on Rails-based technology.

Netuitive upgrades service-management software, 10/29/07: Netuitive updates its Service Analyzer product with dashboard views, alarm prioritization and real-time, service-level monitoring capabilities.

Business, gov't systems keep running despite wildfires, 10/24/07: For Qualcomm CIO Norm Fjeldheim, it's been anything but a typical working week. On Monday, Fjeldheim became one of the more than 250,000 San Diego area residents driven from their homes by the fiercest set of wildfires to ravage Southern California since 2003.

Encrypt data stored off site, warns Louisiana agency, 10/25/07: The loss of unencrypted storage media from an Iron Mountain vehicle last month renewed calls for IT managers to better protect data stored off site.

CIO compensation: Top IT execs make millions of dollars, 10/24/07: That fabled seat at the table that CIOs so crave comes with extra responsibility and pressure. And lots of money.

Group creates standard to ease e-discovery data transfer, 10/24/07: The Electronic Discovery Reference Model standards group Tuesday unveiled an XML-based standard that it says will allow documents transfer through the systems of multiple vendors during the various stages of e-discovery.

Editor's note: Starting the week of Nov. 12, you will notice a number of enhancements to Network World newsletters that will provide you with more resources and more news links relevant to the newsletter's subject. The Network/Systems Management newsletter written by Network World Senior Editor Denise Dubie will be merged with the Network/Systems News Alert and will be named the Network/Systems Alert. You'll get Denise's analysis of the network/systems management market, which you will be able to read in full at NetworkWorld.com, plus links to the day's network/systems management news and other relevant resources. This Alert will be mailed on Mondays and Wednesdays. We hope you will enjoy the enhancements and we thank you for reading Network World newsletters.

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

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Network Architecture

Network World's Network Architecture Newsletter, 10/30/07

A long history of strong feelings

By Jeff Caruso

Network World recently introduced its list of 50 greatest networking arguments of all time, and needless to say there are some classic battles of network architecture on the list.

Many of the arguments have been settled, but it's fun to go back and revisit them. Many others on the list haven't been settled yet.

You can see the full list by category here, and you may notice that the category of LANs & WANs is the largest. Yes, it shows Network World's historical bias toward covering the networkiest of IT issues. But it also lays bare the fact that the technologies to make networking happen, to make the act of connecting one computer to another as good as it could be, were incredibly important - and therefore worth fighting over.

On our narrower list of 10 all-time greatest arguments are a couple of network architecture issues: Ethernet vs. Token Ring, and routing vs. switching. 

A bit of historical perspective reveals that the routing vs. switching argument contributed greatly to the rise of Cisco. As my colleague Jim Duffy writes, you had Cisco on the side of routing and many others on the side of switching. But when switching grew up into Layer 3 switching, Cisco was able to profit the most from the merging of the two worlds and to cement its lead in enterprise networking.

Ethernet vs. Token Ring was the main event, but Ethernet has taken on many networking technologies over the years, and has won. Token Ring was just the biggest, most obvious target. When an attempt to update Token Ring (with so-called "High Speed Token Ring") failed in the late '90s, the writing had already been on the wall.

We compiled a list of the 10 "hottest" networking arguments as well - these are the arguments that haven't yet been settled. On that list are such network architecture-related battles as IPv4 vs. IPv6, wired LANs vs. wireless LANs, and Fibre Channel vs. iSCSI. 

Carolyn Duffy Marsan's story points out that IPv6 was finalized almost a decade ago, but widespread adoption still hasn't happened. Still, the dwindling number of IP addresses is a stark, undeniable fact, and a migration to IPv6 and its larger address space is starting to take place. IPv6, it would seem, is eventually going to win.

In our story on wireless vs. wired LANs, John Cox asks, "Will 802.11n, the next generation high-throughput Wi-Fi, make the RJ-45 connector in the office wall as obsolete as gaslights?" He points to examples where this is already the case, and gives reasons for why wireless will become the new wired.

The debate over Fibre Channel vs. iSCSI seems to be coming to a head lately. Deni Connor puts it into perspective, saying that while iSCSI has recently only captured 3% of the market for external disk storage systems, that number is expected to rise to 21% in just a few short years.

Check out our full list. Reminisce about the old battles and let us know what you think about the new ones.

Editor's note: Starting the week of Nov. 12, you will notice a number of enhancements to Network World newsletters that will provide you with more resources and more news links relevant to the newsletter's subject. Beginning 'Tues., Nov. 13, the Network Architecture Newsletter, written by Jeff Caruso, will be merged with the LAN News Alert and will be named the Network Architecture Alert. You'll get Jeff's analysis of the Network Architecture market, which you will be able to read in full at NetworkWorld.com, plus links to the day's network architecture news and other relevant resources. This Alert will be mailed on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We hope you will enjoy the enhancements and we thank you for reading Network World newsletters.

What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

Jeff Caruso is site editor at Network World. Contact him.

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IT Market Watch News Alert

Network World's IT Market Watch News Alert, 10/30/07

SCO has a buyer, pending bankruptcy approval, 10/25/07: Embattled SCO Group is offering the bankruptcy court a deal it could be hard to refuse.

Vonage settles Verizon patent dispute, 10/25/07: There are worse things in life than getting bopped in the head with a heavy orange box. Paying $120 million to settle a patent dispute is likely one of them.

Oracle and BEA: What happens next, 10/24/07: Despite consistent pressure from acquisition-happy Oracle, leadership at BEA Systems leadership has so far resisted selling itself to the software giant. Oracle now says it is prepared to pull its $6.7 billion offer for BEA off the table.

Facebook chooses Microsoft over Google, 10/24/07: Facebook will sell a $240 million minority stake to Microsoft, which as part of the deal will also expand the advertising services it provides to the social networking phenom, the companies said Wednesday in a statement.

Former top UMC executives found not guilty, 10/29/07: The founder and former chairman of the world's second largest contract chip maker was found not guilty of investing in and transferring technology to a Chinese chip maker, a Taiwanese court said Friday.

Ruby on Rails management vendor lands $6.2 million in funding, 10/29/07: FiveRuns adds $6.2 million in funding to its business, plans to accelerate product development, sales and marketing, and partnership efforts for its Ruby on Rails-based technology.

Michael Dell hints at more, bigger acquisitions, 10/29/07: Dell Inc. CEO Michael Dell hinted Monday that his company could be shopping for more acquisition targets, and that they could be larger than the companies it has acquired to date.

Intel settles patent case with Transmeta, 10/24/07: Intel Wednesday agreed to settle a dispute with Transmeta for $250 million, ending patent litigation between both companies.

Sun and NetApp: It's WAR, 10/25/07: There is a NetApp lawsuit against Sun for IP infringement that has just erupted into near open marketing warfare.

Apple now bigger than IBM, 10/24/07: Apple has become the most valuable computer maker in the world.

Oracle threatens to drop BEA takeover bid, 10/23/07: Oracle on Tuesday threatened to withdraw its bid to purchase BEA Systems if BEA doesn’t let its shareholders vote on the proposal by Sunday.

Cisco buys into WiMAX with $330M purchase of Navini, 10/23/07: The rumors were right: Cisco has signed a deal to buy WiMAX radio vendor Navini Networks for $330 million.

Judge takes Qualcomm's side in patent spat with Nokia, 10/23/07: Qualcomm scored a minor victory in its continuing spat with Nokia when a judge last week recommended ending the investigation Nokia bought against it in August for infringing patents.

Editor's note: Starting the week of Nov. 12, subscribers to the HTML version of this newsletter will notice some enhancements to the layout that will provide you with easier and clearer access to a wider range of resources at Network World. We hope you enjoy the enhancements and we thank you for reading Network World newsletters.

Contact Network World Site Editor Jeff Caruso

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Daily News: AM

Network World Daily News: AM, 10/30/07

Attack code out for critical Kodak bug in Windows
A hacker has released attack code that could be used to exploit a critical bug in some versions of the Windows operating system.

Cisco cautious on Brazil case
Cisco Monday appeared to further distance itself from a tax scandal in Brazil, saying it can't vouch for everything its channel partners do.

Oracle bid for BEA expires as expected
BEA Systems made good Sunday on its promise to let a 5 p.m. Pacific Time deadline expire on Oracle's $17-per-share offer to buy the company.

Former top UMC executives found not guilty
The founder and former chairman of the world's second largest contract chip maker was found not guilty of investing in and transferring technology to a Chinese chip maker, a Taiwanese court said Friday.

FTC: More spyware-fighting tools needed
Organizations and law enforcement agencies fighting spyware are making progress, but new tools in an antispyware bill stalled in the U.S. Congress could improve the efforts, a member of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said Monday.

Fake FTC e-mails contain virus attack
Scammers are sending out virus-laden e-mails claiming to have information on complaints filed with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the FTC warned Monday.

Michael Dell hints at more, bigger acquisitions
Dell Inc. CEO Michael Dell hinted Monday that his company could be shopping for more acquisition targets, and that they could be larger than the companies it has acquired to date.

OLPC developing new 'supercharger'
As One Laptop Per Child prepares to ship its highly anticipated XO laptops in two weeks, it is developing a "supercharger," a mass battery recharger that will draw power from cows and yo-yos to help the laptops run longer.

BLOGS

Buzzblog: Captcha-ing the power of naughty pictures
Getting guys who are interested in looking at pictures of unclad women to solve captchas and set up fake e-mail accounts: What could be easier?

Today on Layer 8, where Halloween rules:
Unless you live in Transylvania County, N.C., Tombstone, Ariz , Pumpkin Center, N.C. or Skull Creek, Neb., you’re probably surprised that 34% of people in a recent poll say they believe in ghosts and unidentified flying objects, or even that 19% accept the existence of spells or witchcraft. (Another Halloween treat: Podcast: Twisted Pair Halloween Special)

Cisco Subnet giveaways
Last few days to enter to win free Cisco training worth up to $3,995, courtesy of Global Knowledge. Plus enter to win a free copy of "Monitoring with Cisco Security MARS" by Gary Halleen and Greg Kellogg, published by Cisco Press.

Editor's note: Starting the week of Nov. 12, subscribers to the HTML version of this newsletter will notice some enhancements to the layout that will provide you with easier and clearer access to a wider range of resources at Network World. We hope you enjoy the enhancements and we thank you for reading Network World newsletters. 

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

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Data Center News Alert

Network World's Data Center News Alert, 10/30/07

Podcast: Extreme makeover: Data center, 10/29/07: Robert Wakefield, Vice President of IT at Snelling Staffing Services and Intrepid Home Health Services, had seven months to combine two data centers into a single new structure without interrupting critical projects such as a PeopleSoft installation.

HP's 'shorty' blade server takes fresh approach, 10/29/07: Is HP's BladeSystem c3000 Enclosure a blade server, or is it a modular, server put into a 6U rack profile? It's a bit of both.

How we tested HP c3000, 10/29/07: How we tested HP's BladeSystem c3000.

Former top UMC executives found not guilty, 10/29/07: The founder and former chairman of the world's second largest contract chip maker was found not guilty of investing in and transferring technology to a Chinese chip maker, a Taiwanese court said Friday.

NEC launches fastest vector supercomputer, 10/25/07: NEC is selling what it says is the fastest vector supercomputer in the world.

Color Interop green, 10/26/07: It wasn’t St. Patrick’s Day, but there was plenty of green to be found at Interop New York 2007.

How SOA could change the way you buy electricity, 10/22/07: Imagine that your appliances could power up or down, in real time, based on up-to-the-minute electricity costs. An SOA-based electricity marketplace proves the possibility.

Editor's note: Starting the week of Nov. 12, subscribers to the HTML version of this newsletter will notice some enhancements to the layout that will provide you with easier and clearer access to a wider range of resources at Network World. We hope you enjoy the enhancements and we thank you for reading Network World newsletters.

Contact Site Editor Jeff Caruso at jcaruso@nww.com

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Wide Area Networking

Network World's Wide Area Networking Newsletter, 10/30/07

SLAs: Who gets penalized by what?

By Steve Taylor and Jim Metzler

Before we move to the topic at hand, a brief explanation. Last week we started a point-counterpoint on whether Application Acceleration functions should be integrated into the router or be handled by a separate appliance. However, there has been a delay in receiving the counterpoint position statement, so that will be forthcoming in a week or two.

Now on to a favorite topic, service-level agreements. We all know that an SLA for any service should be a standard part of the offering. And in some ongoing research on MPLS, we’re seeing very preliminary results that indicate users are relatively happy with their SLAs being delivered, with only 17% selecting this from a list of areas in which they are least satisfied as compared to 67% being unhappy with the time to deliver new circuits and/or services.

But what happens when you're unhappy? Are the penalties worth the paper they're written on?

The first issue, of course, is how do you prove that the SLA is not being delivered upon. Doing a historical search of this newsletter’s archives will yield extensive discussion including defining outages, defining how these outages are measured, etc. of course, most of these discussions centered on frame relay, but the fundamental questions haven’t changed.

And what happens if you do get to a portion of the SLA where penalties kick in? You should make sure that the penalties penalize the service provider, not you. 

For instance, while you may want to have an option of canceling the entire agreement, that’s pretty drastic. You should first go for economic penalties that reduce the service price significantly. After all, canceling the contract means that you have to admit to your upper management that you made a bad choice in the first place. Further, you have to re-install and re-engineer the entire network. So even in the most extreme cases, the penalties should be that you have a gradual cutover as you leave the service provider – without economic penalties and with the explicit provision that the incumbent service provider will provide all reasonable (and even unreasonable) cooperation in working with the new service provider for a smooth transition.

Only then will you make sure that delivering on the SLA is providing the appropriate incentive to the service provider.

Editor's note: Starting Nov. 12 week, you will notice a number of enhancements to Network World newsletters that will provide you with more resources and more news links relevant to the newsletter's subject. Beginning Monday, Nov. 12, the Wide Area Networking Newsletter, written by Steve Taylor and Jim Metzler, will be merged with the WAN News Alert and will be named the Wide Area Networking Alert. You'll get Steve and Jim's analysis of the convergence and WAN market, which you will be able to read in full at NetworkWorld.com, plus links to the day's WAN news and other relevant resources. This Alert will be mailed on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We hope you will enjoy the enhancements and we thank you for reading Network World newsletters.

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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Storage in the Enterprise

Network World's Storage in the Enterprise Newsletter, 10/30/07

RevStor revs grid storage engines

By Deni Connor

A storage start-up is launching this week that has put an interesting spin on grid computing and existing direct-attached storage.

RevStor, based in Schaumsberg, Ill., has taken commodity x86-based hardware and pooled its storage resources. The company’s product, SANware, groups the direct-attached storage from servers, laptops and desktops and makes their unused storage capacity available to users on the network.

In SANware, a software agent is installed on each machine in the grid. The software agent controls the node and allows it to take part in the grid. A node called a SuperNode controls the storing and retrieval of data for each group of 10 nodes.

While at present, RevStor only backs up file-based data to the grid of computers, a storage-area networking version will be available in the future. Network drives can also be added to the grid workgroup. As nodes leave the grid, their data is distributed to other nodes. As data changes, only the delta changes are added to the grid. Additionally to maximize disk space, compression is built in.

RevStor’s product looks similar to that of Seanodes, a company that also launched last week. 

SANware runs on Windows, Linux, Unix or Solaris servers and is available for $3,500 per terabyte of storage. A Mac version is in the works. The company is self-funded.

Editor's note: Starting the week of Nov. 12, you will notice a number of enhancements to Network World newsletters that will provide you with more resources and more news links relevant to the newsletter's subject. Beginning Tuesday, Nov. 13, the Storage in the Enterprise Newsletter, written by Network World Senior Editor Deni Connor, will be merged with the Storage News Alert and will be named the Storage Alert. You'll get Deni's analysis of the storage market, which you will be able to read in full at NetworkWorld.com, plus links to the day's storage news and other relevant resources. This Alert will be mailed on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We hope you will enjoy the enhancements and we thank you for reading Network World newsletters.

What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

Network World senior editor Deni Connor covers storage, servers, IT in healthcare, and data center issues including virtualization and energy efficiency.

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Unified Communications

Network World's Unified Communications Newsletter, 10/30/07

The political side of unified communications

By Michael Osterman

A reader to my column, in response to my newsletter on Microsoft’s recent unified communications announcements, wrote “Expertise is a biggie: the network folks don't know telephony *applications* and the telecom folks don't know Windows networks well enough.”

The reader raises a good point. In many organizations, messaging and telecom are distinct groups that manage separate systems. The expertise involved in managing these separate systems simply doesn’t flow freely back and forth between the groups, nor does it have to in a traditional environment. E-mail servers can be managed separately from the PBX and other components of the telephony infrastructure and, typically, this works very well.

An even bigger issue for those considering a migration to unified communications, however, is the potential political difficulty that many organizations will face. In a study on unified communications that we conducted earlier this year, we found that 45% of organizations reported that they anticipated some level of political difficulty if they migrated to unified communications, while another 7% expected ‘lots of difficulty.’ For example, in a unified communications environment, do those who manage e-mail servers now manage telephony? Do the telecom people now manage the e-mail servers? Do the groups get merged into one?

This is one of the key issues that will have to be resolved in midsized and large organizations that operate separate messaging and telecom groups. It could be a showstopper in some organizations if they are not prepared for the potential difficulties that could arise from competing groups fighting for control of the new communications infrastructure.

I’d like to know what you think about this – please e-mail me your thoughts.

Editor's note: Starting Tuesday, Nov, 13, this newsletter will be renamed "Unified Communications Alert." Subscribers to the HTML version of this newsletter will notice some enhancements that will provide you with access to more resources relevant to unified communications. You will still receive Michael Osterman's analysis of this market, which you will be able to read in its entirety online at NetworkWorld.com, along with links to relevant news headlines of the day. We hope you enjoy the enhancements and we thank you for reading Network World newsletters.

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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Security: Network Access Control

Network World's Security: Network Access Control Newsletter, 10/30/07

NAC is on Storm's path

By Tim Greene

The Storm worm could cause trouble for NAC.

A newly discovered feature of the versatile malware lets it interrupt applications as they boot up and either shuts them down or allows them to appear to boot, but actually disables them.

The implication is that if used against antivirus software, the software would appear to be running and scanning for viruses when really it is doing nothing. NAC scanning agents would think the software is running and report that back to the NAC server. The infected machine would pass that part of the health check.

Several NAC vendors acknowledged that this could render the NAC health report inaccurate, and had several suggestions about what to do.

First, get a NAC product that includes post-admission NAC. Even if a machine is infected, this phase of NAC could track its behavior on the network and quarantine it or disconnect it altogether if it engages in anomalous behavior.

Second, supplement NAC with other security products such as anti-rootkit software.

And third, use NAC preadmission products when they are available that tap into security chips placed in the computers that would detect that something is amiss.

As a matter of course, businesses should design the admission policies to constrain users as much as possible while letting them do their jobs. That way whatever damage an infected machine might do is limited.

A security expert who talked about this application-numbing feature of the Storm worm at Interop last week says it seems to keep adapting and developing new characteristics. Stay tuned.

Editor's note: Starting Tuesday, Nov, 13, this newsletter will be renamed "Security: Network Access Control Alert." Subscribers to the HTML version of this newsletter will notice some enhancements that will provide you with access to more resources relevant to IT security. You will still receive Tim Greene's analysis of this market, which you will be able to read in its entirety online at NetworkWorld.com, along with links to relevant news headlines of the day. We hope you enjoy the enhancements and we thank you for reading Network World newsletters.

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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Network Optimization

Network World's Network Optimization Newsletter, 10/30/07

Juniper upgrades address security, content distribution

By Ann Bednarz

New features from Juniper Networks are aimed at letting enterprises speed acceleration of SSL-encrypted applications and take advantage of content-distribution functions now built into the vendor’s management platform.

Juniper announced the upgrades last week at Interop New York, where other WAN optimization players staged their own product unveilings as well. 

Juniper’s latest WX software -- WXOS Version 5.5 -- supports encrypted traffic via its new AppFlow for SSL feature. AppFlow for SSL can speed encrypted application performance by as much as 25 times over the WAN, the vendor says. It’s geared for applications such as collaboration, CRM, financial accounting and others that enterprises SSL-enable to tighten access to sensitive corporate data.

“Once you encrypt data across the WAN, it becomes very challenging for WAN optimization products to be able to optimize the performance of those applications. They need to be able to intercept the data, look at what’s going on, and optimize it accordingly. If you encrypt it, that means you can’t optimize it as much,” says Tim Richards, senior product manager for Juniper’s WX line.

However, with Juniper’s AppFlow for SSL technology, enterprises can get around that problem, he says.

The technology intercepts SSL-encrypted traffic by populating a data center appliance with information such as the certificate from the application using SSL and the private keys, Richards says. “Without touching the client or the server or even the branch WAN optimization box,” the system can intercept the encrypted data, decrypt it, optimize it, send it across the WAN and re-encrypt it again before presenting it to the server in the data center, he says.

Also new to WXOS 5.5 is an acceleration feature geared for Server Message Block (SMB)-signed traffic. SMB signing is enabled by default on Windows 2003 servers when acting as domain controllers and helps prevent “man-in-the-middle” attacks by ensuring that data packets have not been changed between the client and server, Richards explains.

“By the nature of the way WAN optimization solutions work, they are a man in the middle. But they are a kind man in the middle,” Richards says. “Still, that imposes some challenges.”

Signed SMB traffic can complicate optimization efforts by requiring enterprises to disable signatures or deploy proxy servers at the branch -- sometimes forcing a tradeoff between performance and security. Juniper is looking to get around the problem with transparent SMB signing:

“We can intercept SMB-signed traffic. We can preserve the SMB signing posture, or policy, across the WAN and still transparently intercept that traffic and optimize it,” Richards says. “You don’t need to change your policy or the configuration on your clients and servers, and you also maintain your WAN security and don’t have to deploy servers down at the branch.”

On the content distribution front, Juniper is building certain content management features into its WX Central Management System (CMS). Juniper’s WX CMS software lets users configure and troubleshoot multiple WX/WXC platforms, as well as monitor and report on application acceleration statistics. 

In the 5.5 version, IT administrators can pre-populate WXC platforms with large files such as training videos, antivirus and software updates, as well as set policies for the scheduled distribution of content. Juniper says this can eliminate the need to deploy dedicated content servers in branch offices, as well as reduce the cost of managing data replication and back-up for branch servers.

WXOS 5.5 and WX CMS 5.5 software are due to be available in November. The software is available for download free of charge to customers with active maintenance contracts, Juniper says.

Editor's note: Starting Monday, Nov, 12, this newsletter will be renamed "Network Optimization Alert." Subscribers to the HTML version of this newsletter will notice some enhancements that will provide you with access to more resources relevant to network optimization. You will still receive Ann Bednarz's analysis of this market, which you will be able to read in its entirety online at NetworkWorld.com, along with links to relevant news headlines of the day. We hope you enjoy the enhancements and we thank you for reading Network World newsletters.

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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All Things Gibbs

Network World's All Things Gibbs Newsletter, 10/30/07

All Things Gibbs

By Mark Gibbs

Gearhead: Analyzing Deferred Procedure Calls

Faithful readers will know I’m still on the hunt for what is causing Deferred Procedure Calls to drive wild swings in processor utilization on my Windows XP machine. I rebooted the box but the DPC utilization of around 40% returned for most of Tuesday and lasted through to Wednesday when it magically settled back down to around 2%.

To read this week's Gearhead, click here.

Backspin: Look out! It’s FrankenSCO!

This is a real Halloween story: A few weeks ago the Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) looked like a zombie. The company filed for Chapter 11 protection on Sept. 14, one month after a federal district court judge ruled that SCO wasn’t the owner of the Unix operating-system copyrights that the company had used as the basis for litigation and extortion.

To read this week's Backspin, click here.

Gibbsblog: The past 7 days

Fixing the Small Time Spammers
OK, here's a question: What do you do when an ostensibly professional company keeps spamming you and you have politely asked them to stop and they don't? When it appears that they simply can't be bothered to remove you from their list?

Deaf Leopard Developers and the Wisdom of a Crowd of Users
(That title amused me far more than it should have ... that's the kind of day I'm having). So, what was I going to write about? Oh yeah: I just read a review of Apple's OS X Leopard release and, well, 'disappointing' is how the new user interface sounds.

Editor's note: Starting the week of Nov. 12, subscribers to the HTML version of this newsletter will notice some enhancements to the layout that will provide you with easier and clearer access to a wider range of resources at Network World. We hope you enjoy the enhancements and we thank you for reading Network World newsletters.

Mark Gibbs is a consultant, author, journalist, and columnist and now blogger: Check out Gibbsblog.

Gibbs not only pens (well, keyboards) this newsletter he also writes the weekly Backspin and Gearhead columns in Network World. We’ll spare you the rest of the bio but if you want to know more, go here

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Daily News: PM

Network World Daily News: PM, 10/29/07

In depth

Is Fibre Channel dead?
Fibre Channel is the king of enterprise storage-area-network technologies. iSCSI, however, is the heir apparent. When it comes to new SANs, add-ons to existing systems or departmental-level installations at large enterprises that have Fibre Channel, customers increasingly are choosing iSCSI.

The evolution of antivirus software
Reports about the death of traditional signature-based antivirus software are premature. As the threat landscape evolves, so too must antivirus software to provide both signature- and behavioral-based protection. Effective endpoint security must also incorporate technologies such as endpoint firewall, host intrusion prevention and network access control.

NetworkWorld.com Community

New bloggers: Ross Mistry, co-author of "Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Management and Administration," will be blogging on SQL Server and Windows Server 2008 issues. Chris Amaris, who works with Windows Server 2008, Operations Manager 2007, Configuration Manager 2007, Exchange 2007 and SQL 2005, will be blogging on network and systems management issues. Jeff Helm wishes hotel chains could get on the ball and provide consistently decent Internet access. Users debate WAN optimization and branch routers and Cisco vs. Juniper. They also consider the enterprise implications of Facebook. Some users still love OS/2. James Gaskin compares Leopard and Vista. John Obeto explains why Vista is the best client OS in the universe. Greg Royal sighs about more Microsoft plug-in nightmares. Tyson Kopczynski continues his look at using PowerShell to take virtual server snapshots.

Chris Dalby looks at Live Search for BlackBerry. Alex Lewis talks about running OCS 2007 in a 64-bit world. Susan Hanley wonders if we can ban folders from SharePoint deployments.

Paul McNamara examines the controversy over Comcast and alleged blocking of packets based on application (including Lotus Notes). Dave Schulz helps you begin your journey into IP telephony. Michael Morris sure hopes you're doing network capacity management. Kerrie Meyler compares agent and agentless monitoring. Brad Reese discusses FBI action against people charged with trying to defraud Cisco. Channelguy details changes in Cisco Capital's leasing program. Jamey Heary explains the Common Vulnerability Scoring System. Raj Tolani shows how to limit your VTY access. Mark Gibbs notices efforts to fight smalltime spammers.

Review

HP's 'shorty' blade server takes fresh approach
Is HP's BladeSystem c3000 Enclosure a blade server, or is it a modular, server put into a 6U rack profile? It's a bit of both. We take it out for a spin and let you know how it does.

How to

Ron Nutter helps a user get a laptop to connect to access points again. Rich Mogull explains how to make sense of data-loss prevention. Jeff Prince discusses whether NAC is worth it.

More news

T. Rowe goes 2.0
These days T. Rowe Price vice president Kirk Kness is busy implementing relatively low-cost, Web 2.0-based collaboration tools including wikis and blogs.

Presence comes to P&G
When your CEO challenges you to create the world's most collaborative company, you'd best take some definitive steps in that direction.

Building virtual worlds at Boeing
Want to see how an F-16 will react to the latest antiaircraft weapons? Tip Slater is your man.

Despite Cisco's play, WiMAX has long way to go
Cisco's buy of WiMAX vendor Navini shows the network giant sees broadband wireless access as a key technology. Just don't expect it to blossom overnight.

Seven enterprise IT start-ups grab new funding
A look at seven enterprise technology innovators that received significant venture capital during the third quarter of 2007.

Storm worm can befuddle NAC
A newly discovered capability of the Storm worm could invalidate results churned out by NAC products, attendees at Interop New York learned last week.

Oracle and BEA: What happens next?
BEA Systems has rejected Oracle's $6.7 billion purchase offer. What happens next is anyone's guess.

Payment-card security standards for wireless and Web applications debated
Proposed new security standards governing wireless and applications from the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council are stirring debate among merchants still struggling with PCI compliance on existing security standards.

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

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