- eBay deals setback to Microsoft Passport
- Looking for IT yarns
- Oracle takes control of PeopleSoft
- Got Spam? It probably came from the U.S.
- New Santy worm poses threat to sites
- IBM outlines search strategy
- Cisco takes Protego and 3Com takes Tipping Point
- ZapThink's SOA Forecast For Next Year
- Google acts fast to stop Santy worm
- RSA CEO's take on the biggest security threat in 2005
December 30, 2004 | Comments: (0)
eBay deals setback to Microsoft Passport
The decision by eBay to discontinue support for Microsoft Passport in early January is a major blow to Microsoft's identity management initiative for online commerce.
"In late January, we will no longer support the ability for members to sign in to eBay through Microsoft Passport," eBay announced Thursday on its Website. "This means that members currently using this service will have to sign in through eBay directly. Once this takes place, the Microsoft Passport button that is currently displayed on Sign In pages will be replaced with links to a page with more information, including Help in case you cannot remember your User ID or password."
Additionally, eBay said it will discontinue sending eBay notifications through Microsoft .NET alerts.
Microsoft, for its part, discontinued its directory of sites using Passport.
"The .NET Passport service offers streamlined sign-in at a wide range of Web sites and services," Microsoft said on its Website. "We have discontinued our Site Directory, but you'll know when you can use your Passport to make sign-in easier. Just look for the .NET Passport Sign In button!"
Analyst Jim Slaby, of The Yankee Group, said eBay's move reflects the diminished stature of Passport.
"It looks like Passport's moment in the Sun has passed," Slaby said. "Even Microsoft seems to be stealthily backing away from it. At one time, Microsoft touted Passport as the ultimate identity management solution for online commerce, but it's pretty obvious its uptake has been limited and it has had significant customers backing away from it. Monster.com earlier this year backed away."
The continued progress made by the Liberty Alliance toward identity manage-ment standards has also undercut Passport, Slaby added. Liberty Alliance participants includes technology giants such as Sun Microsystems, IBM, Oracle, Intel and others.
In fact, one of the results of the Sun-Microsoft alliance announced earlier this year may be Microsoft moving closer to collaboration with the Liberty Alliance. "It's not inconceivable that Microsoft would become a Liberty Alliance participant," Slaby said.
Posted by Jack McCarthy on December 30, 2004 02:13 PM
December 30, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Some of the most important technology news is really about what's happening to IT managers who are struggling to successfully run their departments.
We'd like to read the personal stories of you folks.
We can all gain a lot of insight from your experiences. For example, how did you clear up a particular security threat? That kind of thing.
If you're inclined, send your story to Eric Knorr, InfoWorld's Executive Editor At Large, at eric_knorr@infoworld.com.
Posted by Jack McCarthy on December 30, 2004 11:28 AM
December 29, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Oracle takes control of PeopleSoft
The news that Oracle has formerly taken control of PeopleSoft and that David Duffield has resigned as PeopleSoft's CEO comes as no surprise.
Larry Ellison, Oracle's mercurial CEO, says the obvious in announcing on Oracle's Web site that PeopleSoft stockholders had tendered approximately 75 percent of PeopleSoft outstanding stock, giving Oracle control of the company.
"The combination of these two companies brings together some of the best products and people in the enterprise applications market, all for the benefit of the customer," Ellison says. "We are moving forward quickly with the integration planning process and have been pleased by the level of co-ordination as we combine the two organizations."
The real action is taking place around integration of the organizations' product portfolios, already in progress, says Christine Tenneson, Program Manager for Software and Hardware Support Services for IT research and consulting company, IDC.
Tenneson says Oracle needs to work hard to successfully integrate PeopleSoft's best practices for customer support and maintenance to insure an effective tran-sition.
"PeopleSoft has one of the highest (customer) attachment rates in the industry," Tenneson says. "Their (customer) maintenance base is clearly one of the drivers of the deal."
After its purchase of J.D. Edwards, PeopleSoft successfully integrated the new products and kept the customers, Tenneson says.
"PeopleSoft, with its acquisition of J.D. Edwards, has real experience in taking a portfolio and developing it and integrating it," she says.
Oracle will do well to hold on to the PeopleSoft executives involved in the previous transition, she says.
For more details on PeopleSoft's customer support practices, see Tenneson's report for IDC.
Posted by Jack McCarthy on December 29, 2004 11:37 AM
December 28, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Got Spam? It probably came from the U.S.
The United States topped the list of spam-sending countries in 2004, according to a list produced by anti-spam and anti-virus software company Sophos.
Almost half of all spam e-mail messages sent in 2004, roughly 42 percent, came from the United States, Sophos researchers said.
Sophos compiled the list of the top twelve spam producing countries by scanning all spam messages received at its worldwide network of honeypots during 2004. In a distant second to the U.S. was South Korea, with an estimated 13.43 percent.
The United States also claimed the spam-sending crown when Sophos' first list was released in February of this year. In that tally the U.S. was responsible for a whopping 56.74 percent of unsolicited e-mail barrages. But that was before the CAN-SPAM law, which went into effect in January of 2004, could have shown much progress.
CAN-SPAM has had a year to prove its worth, and is now largely viewed as be ineffective, as the latest Sophos list and statistics from other vendors such as Postini and MX Logic show.
IDG News Service reporter Grant Gross wrote a story this week looking at CAN-SPAM and the view isn't pretty. One of the biggest criticisms is that the legislation forces recipients of unwanted e-mail to opt-out of receiving spam by contacting each sender, rather than requiring spammers to receive opt-in permission.
Posted by Cathleen Moore on December 28, 2004 04:07 PM
December 28, 2004 | Comments: (0)
New Santy worm poses threat to sites
The Santy worm continues its expansion with variants attacking more Web sites.
The flaw exploited by the most recent versions of the worm such as Santy.C or Santy.E is more general than the original, and can occur anywhere a site designer has left the door open for the inclusion of arbitrary files into PHP scripts, reports IDG News Service.
The worm is taking advantage of search engines, including Google, Yahoo and AOL to identify exploitable Web pages, IDG News Service reports.
Jonathan Singer, research associate for security solutions and services with The Yankee Group, advises IT managers to look to security providers such as Symantec to find appropriate responses.
"It looks like the antivirus companies have put up their warnings about (Santy)," Singer said. "At this point, it's up to the end user to follow the recommended steps from their security providers."
Posted by Jack McCarthy on December 28, 2004 01:16 PM
December 27, 2004 | Comments: (0)
The New York Times has a piece on Big Blue's search strategy, and how it competes with Google, Microsoft and a cadre of others.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on December 27, 2004 12:54 PM
December 23, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Cisco takes Protego and 3Com takes Tipping Point
Cisco takes Protego and 3Com takes Tipping Point. You can be excused if you missed those headlines while Symantec was shelling out billions for Veritas and IBM was dumping its PC business across the ocean. I haven't seen the numbers for the year, but from my observations, it has been a good year for startups like Protego and Tipping Point.
Protego, a startup that developed a moderately priced end point security device and was founded by two former Cisco employees, was grabbed recently by Cisco. Cisco has been on a bit of an acquisition binge recently with security companies. It also recently purchased Perfigo and Twingo, two companies that offer network security components. Tipping Point, which develops intrusion prevention systems, was acquired by 3Com, which is looking to increase its presence as a network security provider.
Both startups have their fans, but plenty of IT departments have a difficult time buying products from companies without a pedigree. With the imprimatur of Cisco or 3Com, the products can be approved with nary a signature.
Not all startups have that problem. Take a look at Panasas, for instance. After three years in stealth mode, the company announced its product - a clustered storage system for Linux. It also announced the system already had a customer - the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The company says Los Alamos will use Panasas' ActiveScale Cluster technology to build the single largest Linux storage deployment on record. It certainly is huge - the lab has installed 120 terabytes of Panasas' storage system and has plans for up to 500 TB of storage over the next year.
It helped that Panasas had $72 million in funding and a pedigreed roster of talent, including Garth Gibson, who helped pioneer RAID storage and network-attached storage, as chief technology officer.
All these companies shared one attribute - they developed products that the market actually needed. It reminds me of one startup company from the early days of the Internet. The company had six figures of seed money and sought to find a market for skateboard products on the Internet. After two years of market research by the two founders, they came to the conclusion that the products they wanted to offer were already available for free. It must have been a nice two-year ride, but there was not much to show at the end of it, save for a nice anecdote for me. That does not seem to be the case with Tipping Point, Panasas and Protego - they built something someone, be it customers or other companies, needed.
Posted by Bob Francis on December 23, 2004 08:56 AM
December 23, 2004 | Comments: (0)
ZapThink's SOA Forecast For Next Year
Analyst firm ZapThink issued a report that included its predictions for the fate of service-oriented architectures in 2005.
The authors kept it short and sweet, listing but three items:
*WS-I Gets Going or Gets Out --
The group has yet to deliver on the necessary profiles for security, process, and reliability – three significant minefields full of specifications that lack cohesive vendor support and have widespread disagreement. In order for the WS-I to prove their relevance, the group must not only produce profiles that cover those areas, but must also garner enough respect from vendors and implementers to make their word law in the SOA nation.
*Companies will Make More Money on SOA Services than on SOA Products --
In many ways that was true of the early years, but increasingly there is a real market for both products as well as implementation services for SOA. The past nine months or so have seen a dramatic increase in the number of professional service firms that have either opened a new division solely focused on SOA or significantly expanded an existing practice.
*ESB Use it or Lose it --
Once a vaguely-defined term that nevertheless carried with it some specific functionality requirements and implementation implications, the ESB term now refers to a hodgepodge of mostly unrelated products, disparate feature and function sets, and confused vendor product messaging that seems to be more a definition of chaos than a specific functionality set. Some ESB vendors include a message bus infrastructure, while others don’t. Some ESB vendors provide business-process modeling and runtime capabilities, while others simply provide an event-driven runtime infrastructure. More gravely, some vendors are distancing themselves from the idea that ESB is even a product category – but rather an architectural framework for SOA.
As a result, ESB has now come to mean "any technology that is required to implement an SOA." As such, without a more concrete definition of the capabilities and functionality that an ESB provides, the term will either become meaningless, or will be given a more narrowly defined and concise definition. So, in 2005, the ESB term will either shift to a realistic, understandable, and meaningful meaning, or disappear from the SOA lexicon forever.
The bottom line is that the thus far ballyhooed and acronym'd terms and technologies need to move out of the abstract and into the concrete during 2005.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on December 23, 2004 05:35 AM
December 22, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Google acts fast to stop Santy worm
Google is quickly responding to security threats, as befits a search site that is rapidly becoming indispensable for IT users of all kinds.
Google said Wednesday that it is blocking searches launched by Santy.A, a new Internet worm that targets servers running phpBB, a popular electronic bulletin board software package, according IDG News Service. Without any native ability to scan for vulnerable computers, Google's action halted Santy.A's spread.
The company is finding that its enormous success is making it a target. Earlier this week, a handful of researchers at Rice University uncovered a security flaw in Google's Desktop Search offering that could allow attackers to view small portions of personal search results.
Cathleen Moore, of InfoWorld, said that although Google Desktop Search is a beta product and is not specifically designed for enterprise use, many corporate users have jumped at the promise to easily search PC files, e-mail messages, and chat logs.
Forrester Research warned against potential privacy issues that could result if sensitive corporate content is indexed by the desktop search tool, Moore said.
Posted by Jack McCarthy on December 22, 2004 04:43 PM
December 22, 2004 | Comments: (0)
RSA CEO's take on the biggest security threat in 2005
I had lunch with Art Coviello, the CEO of RSA Security, recently and I asked him what he expects to be the single biggest security threat facing IT shops in 2005.
Coviello: I think it will be an increase in spyware attacks that can be used for mining identity information. Ultimately, it's to compromise identities.
Coviello, a self-described optimist, was cautious not to engage in doomsday predictions, and said that security technology will improve to help companies and users combat ID theft.
Then again, the techniques used by attackers will get trickier.
The bigger threat, according to Coviello, is not just stolen identities but the impact identity theft could potentially have on the level of confidence companies and consumers have in e-commerce.
Coviello: If some of these identity attacks escalate, then we'll see a diminishment of confidence in the Internet. I think it's the diminishment of confidence that might be more worrisome here.
Coviello explained that security is akin to the brakes on a car. Brakes help you slow the vehicle, thus making driving safe. But the other effect brakes have is to instill confidence in drivers that they can move fast enough to make the vehicle a worthwhile mode of transport.
Secure computing transactions, like brakes, give companies the confidence to make their information, products and services available online. Likewise, partners and customers know they can transact with those suppliers safely.
Thus, the diminishment of confidence Coviello referred to could have ramifications on e-commerce.
Coviello: It could be two-fold. That companies scale back on their offerings using the Internet is one possible ramification. Or that consumers decide to do less or stop engaging in Internet commerce. But this is not a prediction; I'm saying that those could be the ramifications.
Coviello was steadfast that he was not saying this would happen, only that it could happen, if IT does not figure out a way to eradicate identity theft.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on December 22, 2004 11:38 AM
December 22, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Time Magazine has an article this week about the growing importance of blogs, with a particular focus on Power Line, the blog that sniffed out Rathergate.
The story includes a sidebar with 10 things that have been learned about blogs:
1 Blogging can get you fired
2 Bloggers get scoops, too
3 Bloggers can be fakers
4 Bloggers keep news alive
5 Bloggers can be titillating
6 Bloggers make money
7 Most bloggers are women
8 Candidates love blogs
9 Pets have blogs, too
10 Anyone can do it
Posted by Tom Sullivan on December 22, 2004 11:00 AM
December 22, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Gates on patience, R&D and innovation
Fast Company has a Q&A with Bill Gates this month.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on December 22, 2004 10:49 AM
December 22, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Please say "Yes" if you find voice activation systems annoying
Often, we in the high-tech world are shown demos of things that we're told will make our lives better, even if we're sitting there wondering if the opposite will be true.
Take voice activation apps. I've witnessed a demo where the computer asks questions and the person doing the demo happily, willingly speaks the answers and everything works out fine and dandy.
If this were only the case in the real world.
First of all, the notion of being ordered around by a piece of software and an X86 chip is a bit degrading in and of itself. But is the artificial intelligence of these applications up to snuff? While I certainly can't speak for all these systems, I can cite a personal example from earlier this week.
Due to pick up some family members from the San Jose airport, I called the airline's help line to get a prognosis on the flight's arrival. I already knew the flight was delayed because the airport was fogged in for several hours that morning.
So, the system asks, "What is the departure City?" With teeth gritting, I respond, "Austin."
It then asks, "What is the arrival city?" I then respond, "San Jose."
I hear back, "You are looking for flights from Boston, Mass. to San Jose. Is that correct?"
After a few seconds more of frustrating attempts to make this thing work, I gave up and sought out real live, human help - somebody with an actual pulse and heartbeat.
I suppose someday these systems will get the kinks out of them so the computer can figure out the difference between Austin and Boston without the customer having to shout loud enough to drown out airplanes flying overhead. The issue of people being instructed by a computerized voice is one that shall remain, however.
Perhaps customers should be greeted with an apology: "We realize you may find these systems annoying, but they are helping to keep your costs down. We apologize for any inconvenience and frustration this system may cause as we introduce it, and we seek your feedback to improve it."
Funny thing, an hour before all this, I was using one of those self-serve checkout stands at the supermarket, where you run your items over the scanner and bag the merchandise yourself. I think those are actually kind of fun.
Putting aside the issue of job losses from these types of systems, which is a another matter altogether, it is inevitable that people are going to increasingly have to interact with computers in situations where they dealt with humans in the past. (Come to think of it, human customer service agents aren't always the easiest to deal with, either.)
It will be up to technology vendors and companies deploying these systems to make sure user experiences are seamless and pleasant, rather than demeaning and frustrating.
Posted by Paul Krill on December 22, 2004 09:23 AM
December 21, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Wal-Mart breaks price barrier with Linspire Linux laptop
Wal-Mart is offering a laptop that dives below the $500 pricepoint, and it's no accident the machine, from Linspire, runs a Linux-based operating system.
The Balance laptop, at $498, enters a mass market at a price that will undoubtedly accelerate Linux adoption.
The laptop comes with the OS, Internet suite, and Microsoft-file compatible office suite and can be used with both dial-up modems and broadband connections. The machine comes with a VIA C3, 1.0 GHz processor, 128 MB of RAM, which is expandable up to 512 MB with SODIMM (Small Outline Dual In-line Memory Modules). It includes a CD-ROM drive and a 14.1-inch LCD screen.
Mass marketing Linux with a Balance laptop is one more brick in the wall being erected to support open source, as opposed to proprietary and more expensive software.
Earlier this month, IDC underlined the trend in a report that showed the Linux market reaching $38 billion by 2008.
"When all manifestations of Linux operating systems are counted, Linux is clearly a mainstream solution," said Vernon Turner, IDC's group vice president and general manager of enterprise computing research.
The laptop's included Mozilla Internet suite comes with a fast-functioning browser and email program that can display Web-based forms, PDF documents, images, and multimedia files. The suite's included instant messenger program works with AOL, MSN and Yahoo logins.
Coincidentally, InfoWorld's Tom Sullivan discussed the natural benefits of Mozilla and the Linux desktop earlier this month.
Posted by Jack McCarthy on December 21, 2004 11:12 AM
December 21, 2004 | Comments: (0)
An upcoming conference about RSS Content Syndication
IDG World Expo today announced a new conference focusing on content syndication. The theme of the inaugural show will be RSS: Risk, Reward and Revolution.
The B2B conference is billed as executive-level, and created for content owners and producers, media execs, corporate marketers, advertisers and public relations professionals.
Syndicate will take place May 17-18, 2005 at New York City’s Marriott Marquis Times Square. For more information please visit www.syndicateconference.com.
Full Disclosure: IDG World Expo is a part of IDG, the parent company of InfoWorld.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on December 21, 2004 08:55 AM
December 21, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Meta Expects Packaged Software Prices to Drop
Consider it an early Christmas gift for CTOs and IT shops. Meta Group this morning issued a statement detailing its prediction that for the first time in a decade the prices of overall packaged software will actually decrease throughout the next 3-5 years.
The analyst firm wrote that it anticipates continued market consolidation to result in lower prices. Furthermore, Meta listed several additional reasons that back up its estimate:
Traditional software providers will be squeezed by emerging software and application infrastructure alternatives entering the marketplace. Solutions from open source providers, infrastructure services vendors, offshore developers, Web services, business process outsourcers, etc., will supply customers with bargaining chips that will pressure vendors to deliver flexible solutions at prices below traditional pricing thresholds.
The firm also said that these factors will shift the balance of power toward IT customers who, in turn, will be able to apply pressure on vendors to improve reliability and performance while demanding lower prices.
CTO's, however, will need some extra cash as Meta predicted in October that IT salaries will rise by as much as 15 percent in the next three years.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on December 21, 2004 07:07 AM
December 21, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft architects are not typically considered poets, and don't expect this to convince anyone otherwise: Don Box and Chris Anderson penned a work titled 'Twas the Year Before Longhorn.
It's set to the rhythm of a famous Christmas poem with a similar title and is good for a few chuckles.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on December 21, 2004 06:07 AM
December 20, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Google mends security flaw in Desktop Search
A handful of researchers at Rice University uncovered a security flaw in Google's Desktop Search offering that could allow attackers to view small portions of personal search results.
The researchers reported the glitch to Google last month, and Google has since fixed the problem with an update that is being distributed through an auto-update feature, according to Google officials.
According to an IDG News Service report, the flaw was discovered by Rice computer sciences professor Dan Wallach and two graduate students, and was posted on the university's Computer Security Lab Web site late Sunday. The researchers described the flaw as "serious" and said it could allow an attacker to read snippets of files embedded in Google's normal Web searches by the Desktop Search offering.
Google issued the following statement in response to the flaw discovery:
"We were made aware of this vulnerability with the Google Desktop Search software and have since fixed the problem so that all current and future users are secure."
The Google spokesperson also noted that the team of researchers at Rice worked with Google to report and help fix the problem.
The Rice researchers said users can check if they have the updated version by selecting the "about" icon in their Google Desktop Search task bar. If it says version number 121004, indicating Dec. 10, 2004, or later, they are safe, the researchers said.
A description of the research and the flaw was included in the Rice report posted on the Web:
In our research, we searched for a vulnerability that would release private local data to an unauthorized remote entity. Our focus was on the small snippets of local data that the integration feature handled. We realized that this feature was combining local private data with remote public data in an inherently unsafe environment. We present two different attacks that exploit this vulnerability.
Although Google Desktop Search is a beta product and is not specifically designed for enterprise use, many corporate users have jumped at the promise to easily search PC files, e-mail messages, and chat logs.
Forrester Research warned against potential privacy issues that could result if sensitive corporate content is indexed by the desktop search tool.
Another research firm, Meta Group, cautions enterprises to institute formal policies about the use of desktop search products.
"Organizations must develop policies to guide end-users concerning the installation of personal search tools offered by commercial search companies…" according to a report by Timothy Hickernell, Vice President of Technology Research Services at Meta Group.
Google officials have indicated that the company is currently developing an enterprise version of its desktop search tool that will give greater control to IT administrators, by letting IT designate what content is allowed to be indexed by Google Desktop Search. A release date has not been announced. The enterprise Desktop Search offering also will integrate with the Google Search Appliance. Features will include password protection and support for multiple instances of desktop search on one system, according to Google.
Posted by Cathleen Moore on December 20, 2004 03:00 PM
December 20, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Cisco purchase of Protego for $65 million extends security strategy
By buying Protego Networks Monday, Cisco Systems bolstered its growing portfolio of security products, an increasingly important piece of its networking strategy.
Protego makes hardware and software that can spot and respond to threats on computer networks. Cisco plans to use Protego's technology to boost its Self-Defending Networking initiative, a program to use Cisco technology to help administrators spot, isolate and fix network security problems, including viruses and worms, IDG News Service said.
The move is in line with Cisco's belief in the development of more self-managing, self-configuring networks, David Passmore, research director at the Burton Group, said.
"Cisco's focus is on the network itself being self-defending so switches and routers themselves can detect if they are under attack," said Passmore.
Security management is increasingly becoming part of enterprise management strategies rather than as standalone product.
"To a large extent (security) it is tied to network infrastructure," Passmore said. "Historically, network people are not he security people. However, a lot of the security functionality is migrating into the networks as higher performance is required. You can monitor attacks more efficiently because right there in the middle of the (data) flow."
Posted by Jack McCarthy on December 20, 2004 02:47 PM
December 20, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Beware of credit card companies with a good idea
But then you probably knew that already.
MasterCard International has a great solution for all those people who hate filling out expense reports. It is called MasterCard Expenses. It leverages Oracles iExpense application.
If your company signs up for their new service every time your corporate MasterCard card is swiped it automatically populates your expense report. Hotels, airports and rental cars are just the tip of the iceberg.
Trouble is it also goes to MasterCard's central repository. Philip Philliou, vice present of Global eBusiness at MasterCard, tells me MasterCard can also use the data to up-sell, cross-sell and I suppose out-sell everybody else.
Your company can also customize it by plugging in its own do's and don'ts. For example, if your hotel bill itemizes the mini-bar charges it won't populate the expense report with that data if its not corporate policy to pay for snacks or drinks.
Of course, you still might get a personal email from MasterCard asking if you would like to join the candy of the month, or perhaps the mini-bottle of booze of the month club.
Ain't computers grand?
Posted by Ephraim. Schwartz on December 20, 2004 11:39 AM
December 20, 2004 | Comments: (0)
The New York Times has a story about the personal privacy issues associated with blogging.
Accompanying the story is an informal poll asking visitors whether they think that blogs pose a problem for individual privacy issues.
So far, the poll said 67 percent of respondents answered that blogs do create such a problem, while 33 said they do not.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on December 20, 2004 10:35 AM
December 20, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Forrester estimates increase in IT spending during 2005
This morning, Forrester Research released new numbers from a spending report that indicate IT decision makers are planning to spend 3.9 percent more in 2005.
The most significant change from last year was that nearly 60 percent of respondents said that they plan to upgrade major packaged applications, thereby replacing security as the top priority, the analyst firm said.
Other findings include:
-- IT shops plan to spend 15 percent more than last year on content management software
-- Demand for Business Intelligence will increase 9 percent
-- Systems integration services spending is projected to be boosted 10 percent over last year
-- Application outsourcing could grow 9 percent, while outsourcing for applications maintenance could increase 27 percent
While Forrester looked at North America and Europe, IDC earlier this month predicted that worldwide spending would increase by 6 percent.
Forrester in its statement pointed out that past analysis indicates that CIOs and technology decision-makers tend to be conservative when predicting future spending.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on December 20, 2004 08:24 AM
December 20, 2004 | Comments: (0)
"I, BI, take thee EII…"
This morning Cognos and Composite Software unveiled an arranged marriage of the former's business intelligence reporting tool with the latter's enterprise information integration software.
The dynamic duo will form the basis of what several people called next-generation reporting. Executives from Composite, meanwhile, said that next generation reporting is the killer app for EII.
In speaking with analysts about this newfound dynamic duo, it seems that next-generation reporting maybe the app that kills EII -- not as a technology, but as a market with standalone products.
Ted Friedman, a principal analyst at Gartner said that the industry will see more relationships like this one.
But, in time, EII is likely to become a piece of the bigger picture, as opposed to best-of-breed tools.
"I'd be surprised if EII is a standalone market over time," Friedman said.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on December 20, 2004 07:51 AM
December 17, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft moves against spyware with Giant acquisition
Microsoft has purchased Giant Company Software, a small anti-spyware software company it hopes will shore up its security defenses.
Microsoft declined to say how much it paid for the 10-person company. However, the company plans to use Giant's technology to give Windows customers a new tool to detect spyware running on Windows systems, said Gordon Mangione, corporate vice president of security products, according to IDG News Service.
Microsoft plans to release a free evaluation version of the software within a month that will run on Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 systems, Mangione said. The company will use that beta software release to collect and evaluate customer feedback on the product, and make decisions about how it wants to distribute Giant AntiSpyware in the future, he said.
Microsoft will take over support of Giant's AntiSpyware and Giant's other products, including Spam Inspector and Popup Inspector.
The company has not decided how much, or even if, it will charge for Giant An-tiSpyware, or whether the software will be bundled with future versions of Win-dows, Mangione said. "We're still figuring out what to do and how to make the technology available to customers. There are lots of options," he said.
Rob Enderle, principal analyst with the Enderle Group, said he expected Giant's anti-spyware to bundled with Longhorn, a forthcoming version of Windows.
Microsoft has had serious difficulties enforcing security, said Jonathan Eunice, principal analyst with Illuminata.
"Their problems have to do with fundamental architecture points about the way Windows is designed," he said. "Fundamentally, Microsoft is chasing the problem instead of out in front of it."
As pests, spyware, and other malicious applications infiltrate corporate com-puters with greater frequency, some vendors, including McAfee and Computer Associates are bundling anti-spyware into security management suites, giving IT more tools to control the hazard.
Legal questions were raised late Thursday about the deal as Sunbelt Software, a part-owner of Giant's AntiSpyware software, said it has exclusive rights over elements of the technology, including the ability to offer SDKs (software devel-oper's kits) for Giant AntiSpyware technology. That could make it difficult for Microsoft to integrate Giant technology with other products.
However, Microsoft said in a statement: "We understand that Giant granted a co-ownership right to Sunbelt concerning an earlier version of Giant’s anti-spyware software product. However, the granting of that right to Sunbelt does not constrain either party from innovating and developing new products that are based on that earlier version."
Posted by Jack McCarthy on December 17, 2004 02:23 PM
December 17, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Cisco to open Tokyo R&D center
Cisco Systems plans to set up a research and development center in Tokyo, focusing on Internet software and routing technologies, a move that follows a growing number of major companies seeking R&D abroad.
The opening of the center in Japan, set for February 2005, comes after Cisco won several major contracts for its software and equipment based on the CRS-1 system from Japanese customers, IDG News Service said.
The company will initially invest $12 million over five years in the center, which will employ 10 engineers working on development of the company's Internetwork Operating System (IOS) and IOS XR software, routers, IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6), and wireless technologies.
IOS is the software made by Cisco that supports Cisco-built networks. IOS XR is a newer version that supports the company's recently developed Cisco Carrier Routing System (CRS-1), IDG News Service said. This a system of routers and other equipment that push data along networks and the Internet.
Companies are increasingly turning their gaze abroad. In November, Intel said it would invest $40 million to expand its development center in Bangalore, India, and earlier this monrth Microsoft said it would open its own lab in Bangalore, one of several it has worldwide, including operations in Cambridge, England, and in Beijing.
Posted by Jack McCarthy on December 17, 2004 11:46 AM
December 17, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Google pact with libraries is not a revolution just yet
Google's agreement with several libraries has gotten a lot of attention this week and I have even seen it called 'revolutionary.' That is an awfully big word, albeit an overused one, to be throwing around during the week that Google has merely announced its intentions.
In an impressive business move, Google aligned with one of my favorite places The New York Public Library, as well as with academic institutions Stanford, Oxford, Harvard and the University of Michigan, to digitize volumes the libraries possess.
That means I could look something up that is in a book at Oxford without leaving my desk in The States. Presumably.
Gartner said that Google's efforts are an important first step because it removes one of three "daunting obstacles" to creating a virtual library of this scale.
The other two major obstacles are actually digitizing the tomes and protecting copyrights.
InfoWorld editor at large Ephraim Schwartz yesterday blogged about the error rate that is inevitable when scanning such a large number of books.
Copyright protection is not a trivial issue and to judge its impact on the effectiveness of text searching within books, consider Amazon.com.
When it was first introduced, I thought Amazon.com's technology for searching books would become my personal killer feature for using Amazon. After all, I still like physical bookstores and buy them from, rather than online, to help preserve the species.
The Amazon technology is pretty nifty, particularly the box that pops up containing the first line, which I always read before buying a book. But I have not come to rely on Amazon's text search because more often than not the books I have wanted to search are not searchable due to copyright laws. Maybe that's just me.
Granted, Google is one of the world's programming superpowers right now, and I don't doubt that whatever they come up with, when they come up with it, will be spectacular but, thus far, the revolution is more conceptual than it is concrete.
For a perspective on what the Google pact means for smaller libraries see InfoWorld Associate Editor Jack McCarthy's blog post.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on December 17, 2004 10:56 AM
December 17, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Linux can gain from the Firefox ad
The Linux desktop community could learn something from the Firefox constituency.
Mozilla took out an ostensibly dual-purpose ad in the New York Times yesterday. One reason was to thank everyone who contributed to the open source browser project and, as such, the ad included some 10,000 names, in small print of course.
Mozilla's other objective in placing the ad was to attract the browsing masses and, no, I don't mean holiday shoppers.
Prior to the ad, Firefox had garnered more than 11 million downloads, a noteworthy stride given that Microsoft already dominates the browser space, and the advertisement should only help expand the number of people experimenting with or using Firefox full time.
The Linux desktop cadre, for its part, would do well to follow Mozilla's efforts to attract consumers because those consumers, in turn, could ask IT for Linux desktops.
I know, I know. You, Mr. or Mrs. Administrator, don't simply let users dictate what desktop OS to use. Of course not, you've got more than their simple desires on your plate -- like managing a corporate armada of PCs, notebooks and handhelds, along with several different versions of Windows and a handful of Macs, and making sure those are in working order. Even if consumers don't understand, you know the management and cost values achieved by standardizing on one PC platform.
Then again, since you could begin decreasing the number of Microsoft Office and Windows XP licenses you pay for, desktop Linux might actually be worth considering.
With most of the pieces in place for an open source desktop, including Firefox, OpenOffice, GNOME, and Novell Linux Desktop 9, among others, now would be a good time for Linux desktop distributors to dig in their heels and begin trying to spread the message that, much like Firefox, desktop Linux is a possibility for consumers and not just the average anarchist geek.
Winning over consumers alone might not drive Linux into the corporate desktop. But the thing is that most of those consumers spend their weekdays living double lives as what IT likes to call 'end-users.'
Posted by Tom Sullivan on December 17, 2004 07:46 AM
December 16, 2004 | Comments: (0)
What's all the fuss about desktop search?
Unless you live under a rock the size of Canada you've heard or read something this week about desktop search. Google sparked considerable interest with its Desktop Search launch in October, and the past few weeks has seen a flurry of PC indexing product announcements from the likes of Microsoft, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, and Autonomy. Did I miss anyone?
So why the sudden flood of vendor development and, so it seems, end-user love for desktop search?
This technology isn't exactly brand new. Smaller vendors such as X1 Technologies, Enfish, dtSearch, Copernic, ISYS Search Software, Lycos and others have been at desktop search awhile.
If all this were just about improving the user's ability to find files on their system, maybe Microsoft long ago would have bettered its paltry search functions in Windows.
But when Google and Microsoft get itchy about something at the same time there has to be more to it.
Microsoft has won the browser battle, and owns most of the operating system and productivity software landscape. But Google has emerged as king of Web search, which has proved lucrative for contextual advertising and fertile ground for other services. Turns out those keywords we use to search on Google are great for selling ads.
The newest battleground is taking shape at the desktop. Today most people fire up their Microsoft Internet Explorer browser and search the Web through Google. But, if Google Web search is available from your desktop, why open IE at all? If access to the web is now at desktop Microsoft wants at least some of those millions of Web searches to go through MSN.
According to Timothy Hickernell, Vice President of Technology Research Services at Meta Group, commercial search vendors such as Google and Microsoft are likely at some point to try link indexed personal files to their ad-serving networks, in an attempt to further increase the contextual relevance of ads and paid search listings.
Obviously this could pose problems for enterprise users of desktop search systems. But corporate workers are clamoring for easy and effective ways to find files and documents on their PCs.
Furthermore, the benefits of tying desktop search to larger enterprise search infrastructure include letting remote users conduct offline searching of content that is synchronized with enterprise repositories, according to Hickernell.
According to David Burns, CEO of desktop search vendor Copernic, the Web keyword search business is exploding, and some of that overflowing to the desktop.
"People view the desktop as next big source of keyword inventory. Web keyword inventory has been wrung out over past five years," Burns said. "Now we have powerful PCs and high bandwidth. This could be the next great place second to the browser or desktop applications where people spend a lot of time."
Posted by Cathleen Moore on December 16, 2004 04:00 PM
December 16, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Boiling down Gartner's CIO resolutions for 2005
Gartner this morning held a panel discussion in which analysts laid out ten New Year's resolutions for CIO's in 2005.
Several of these are tactics that CIOs should be taking every year, such as creating alternative plans for an unpredictable year, deciding whether to be technology managers or business managers with IT know-how, and battling complexity with simpler policies.
I won't go down the whole list because it is in the story that IDG News Service correspondent Scarlet Pruitt wrote today, and Gartner is planning to make the list available next week.
Within the list, though, I found three resolutions that are worth pointing out. The ones that really matter are:
-- Use regulatory compliance demands to invest in related, strategic areas
-- Get hands-on experience on some new key technologies
-- Drop "on time and on budget" as a key performance indicator for IT staff, noting that this a basic requirement. Set new performance indicators above and beyond those
The first two are reasonably self-evident, but I would add to the last one because it reminds me of our cover story earlier this year on The 6 Great Myths of IT, in which we dissected the so-called common wisdom that most IT projects fail. In that piece, InfoWorld editor at large Ephraim Schwartz concluded that while many IT projects come in over budget and after the original deadline, these are not the best ways to measure success vs. failure. Instead, gauging returns such as productivity and cost-savings are more important to determining the success rate of a project than the precise date on which it is finished.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on December 16, 2004 01:54 PM
December 16, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Linux continues its march through the enterprise data center, with overall revenue for Linux desktops, servers, and packaged software expected to reach $35 billion by 2008, research company IDC said.
The study reflects a measurement of shipments and the installed base of servers and PCs running Linux, reported InfoWorld's Ed Scannell.
With this new view, the server market for shipments and redeployments with Linux increases by 36 percent over net new shipments in 2004, according to IDC.
When all manifestations of Linux operating systems are counted, Linux is clearly a mainstream solution," said Vernon Turner, IDC's group vice president and general manager of enterprise computing research.
"We see a shift where Linux server operating environment deployments are moving to favor the use of enterprise server hardware. This transition is being driven by the increasing robustness of Linux and the increasingly critical nature of the applications deployed on Linux," he said.
The Linux surge was aided by the delivery of the long-awaited 2.6 version of the Linux kernel first by Novell Suse and then Red Hat.
The new kernel gives distributors such as Novell Suse and Red Hat the ability to compete more effectively against Unix competitors such as Sun Microsystems and Hewlett-Packard. It allows versions of Linux to handle significantly larger workloads, greater amounts of memory and storage, and more processors in a single box.
In mid-November, in response to Linux' growing strength Sun delivered Version 10 of its Unix-based Solaris operating system and announced the much anticipated update would be free of charge.
Posted by Jack McCarthy on December 16, 2004 11:46 AM
December 16, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Google's library plan has Achilles heel
Google's promise to digitize or scan in thousands of books from some of the major libraries in the world leaves me with one simple question.
Who's going to do the proofreading?
I realize there are high speed scanners available but I wonder how accurate they are?
If the average printed page has 550 words on it and a scanner is 99 percent accurate that means there would be 5.5 errors or misreads of letters and or words per page. That's a lot of errors to find.
Of course you could put it through a file matching program. But then, you'd have to scan in the text to match it against the scanned in text wouldn't you?
According to Reuters "Google's partners on the project, which is an expansion of its Google Print program that allows users to search inside books, are Harvard University, Stanford University, Oxford University, the University of Michigan and the New York Public Library."
I know from first hand experience scanning can be somewhat problematic. lower case h's and n's can look awfully similar to a non-human scanner.
Imagine a first time online reader of Hamlet puzzling over the line, "to be or hot to be"?
If you want to read about other issues being raised over Google's ambitious plans take a look at my colleague Jon Udell's blog Libraries and the Internet.
Udell also references Paul Kedrosky's blog which is worth reading.
Posted by Ephraim. Schwartz on December 16, 2004 09:52 AM
December 15, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Sun Microsystems this week launched an admirable upgrade to its NetBeans open source tools platform, adding prominent features such as J2SE 5.0 and Apache Ant backing, a Java technology performance profiler, refactoring capabilities and additional mobile development support.
NetBeans, of course, is viewed as a rival to the IBM-led, open source Eclipse platform. There had been talks a year ago to merge the two platforms, but nothing came of it, with Sun saying it was not offered "an equitable share in mutual development."
So today, we stand with the two separate, competing efforts. But in looking at the numbers, I have to wonder if a clear winner hasn't already emerged.
Sun this week said NetBeans, launched in 2000, has an installed base in the hundreds of thousands. This sounds impressive, until learning that Eclipse has had 39 million download requests since 2001. So the volumes sound lopsided in favor of Eclipse.
Given these figures, it would be easy to say that it's time for Sun and IBM to renew talks to merge the platforms. But I think the industry can do just fine with the two competing technologies and that keeping the status quo here might be the best thing for developers.
The competition should keep both camps alert and eager to please, even if one appears to have a distinct advantage in the size of its installed base.
Posted by Paul Krill on December 15, 2004 02:21 PM
December 15, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Sprint and Nextel make this the month of the merger
With 2004 winding down, it's tempting to call it the year of the merger. More accurate, perhaps, would be to say that December 2004 is the month of the merger.
Consider that in the first 15 days, we have seen IBM sell its PC arm to Lenovo, a move that Big Blue has said is as much partnership as sale, Oracle finally succeeded in its hostile takeover of PeopleSoft, and Symantec all but confirmed intentions to purchase Veritas.
This morning, Sprint and Nextel agreed to what the companies are calling a "merger of equals."
That wording sounds akin to marital stubbornness, if you ask me. After all, Sprint's CEO Gary Forsee will take the helm of the new company, and the merger included a $35 billion dowry.
Regardless of the marketing speak, though, the newlyweds are now the third largest competitor in the wireless market, even if they had to merge to survive.
The New York Times has a story online this morning, Software Sector Finally Enters A Merger Phase, that quotes a professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management who wrote in a book that the software industry has too many companies by a factor of three or more.
Clearly we can expect more mergers and acquisitions in the tech industry, so the more pertinent question is whether we will see any more this month.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on December 15, 2004 06:44 AM
December 14, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Google partners with libraries
Google's plan to digitally scan books so that users can access them from its Internet search engine is being greeted with delight at the tiny library in my hometown of Half Moon Bay, Calif.
Google said Tuesday that it is working with the libraries of Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan, and the University of Oxford as well as The New York Public Library to scan books from their collections.
You might think some libraries would feel threatened at the prospect of virtual books. You would be wrong. At Half Moon Bay Public Library, Manager Maya Kennedy said the plan offers a potentially great service for her readers.
Half Moon Bay Public Library has struggled valiantly to serve its community in the face of overcrowding and underfunding. And with fewer than 70,000 items, including books, CDs and periodicals, Half Moon Bay is simply too small to provide a comprehensive collection.
"There's no way we can hold all the products users would need," she said. "This could be very exciting to have greater access to these libraries, certainly more than we could ever have at our small library. People could eventually be able to access this from their homes, work and from the libraries."
Half Moon Bay is not alone. A $350 million bond issue to fund new library construction across the state prompted scores of community libraries to come forward to ask for help. Only a fraction succeeded in obtaining funding.
In comparison, Google is offering to put technology to use in a truly transformative way.
The announcement expands the Google Print program, which assists publishers in making books and other offline information searchable online. For more information and examples, please visit http://print.google.com/googleprint/library.html.
"Even before we started Google, we dreamed of making the incredible breadth of information that librarians so lovingly organize searchable online," Larry Page, Google co-founder and president of Products, said in a statement. "Today we're pleased to announce this program to digitize the collections of these amazing libraries so that every Google user can search them instantly."
Posted by Jack McCarthy on December 14, 2004 02:57 PM
December 14, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Here's a way to determine how important the industry views backup and archiving software as a future technology: Take a drink of the office party eggnog each time a new suitor is mentioned for Veritas Software. Right now the big bidder is Symantec, which is reportedly offering $13 billion for Veritas which sells backup, archiving and file system software.
Acquiring Veritas would allow Symantec to extend protection of corporate information systems to the data they contain. But, Symantec is not alone: There are reportedly several other companies interested in Veritas.
If you play the game right, you will likely be sent home from the office party in a cab. According to Merrill Lynch, other potential suitors include Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, EMC and Hitachi.
Microsoft has a product coming next year called the Data Protection Server that will perform some similar functions to Veritas in the Windows environment. EMC has been moving toward a more software focus, so they would be a good fit for Veritas.
Oracle has a product that competes with Veritas on clustering, so they too, would make a good fit. IBM, of course, is one of the ultimate enterprise companies and offers plenty of enterprise software. They too, would be a good fit.
Really a case could be made that the software components Veritas offers is an important component of any enterprise software company. If that is the case, then the list of potential suitors could go on and on and the eggnog bowl could be looking pretty empty.
Posted by Bob Francis on December 14, 2004 12:39 PM
December 13, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft plunges into desktop search race
As expected, Microsoft threw its hat in the desktop search ring on Monday with the announcement of a beta version of its MSN Toolbar Suite.
The software giant's entry comes amid a flurry of desktop search product launches from big Web search players such as Google and Yahoo as well as corporate software vendors such as Autonomy and ISYS Search Software. Web portal Ask Jeeves is expected to roll out its offering later this week.
The desktop has emerged as hot real-estate for search technology, and vendors are fighting it out to control users' ability to find and access the reams of data located on PCs.
The MSN Toolbar Suite can index and retrieve calendar entries, Outlook e-mail and contacts, Microsoft Word and PowerPoint files and Adobe PDF files. The offering currently doesn't index IBM Lotus Notes e-mail.
Microsoft is banking on tight integration between the MSN Toolbar Suite and its Windows applications to gain an edge in the competitive desktop search arena. According to Microsoft officials the MSN Toolbar lets users search and view query results without leaving familiar Windows applications such as Outlook and Internet Explorer.
In addition, through its use of authentication tools in Windows, Microsoft is claiming better privacy than competing tools.
The MSN Toolbar Suite is free and can be downloaded here.
Posted by Cathleen Moore on December 13, 2004 02:03 PM
December 13, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Computer virus Netsky's day off
Remember Ferris Buller's Day Off, where plucky Matthew Broderick bedevils his principal, played to a slow-burn perfection by Jeffrey Jones? The movie is a pretty funny example of the 80's teen movie where teenagers run circles around befuddled, clueless adults.
The modern day Ferris Buller is apparently a German teenager who created the Netsky-P computer worm. Netsky-P has disrupted tens of thousands of PCs worldwide, accounting for nearly one-fourth of all virus incidents reported, according to Sophos.
In a report looking at 2004 virus incidents reported through November, Netsky-P remained the world's most widely reported virus, 8 months after its discovery. Sasser, a worm that spreads through the Internet, not email.
Sophos said it was also seeing a new type of "phishing" attack in 2004. Instead of luring computer users to a fake Web site to steal their banking and credit-card details as in a traditional "phishing" attack, the new wave of phishers use Trojan Horses to lie in wait for users to visit real banking Websites and then secretly record login processes.
Computer companies have been making a lot of moves to make computer networks immune from intrusion, but obviously there are still plenty of issues. Likewise, law enforcement has been busy. They have arrested the 18-year-old German who has confessed to the Sasser worm and is accused of creating the pesky Netsky.
But it is pretty obvious that it is not time to drop your guard. And the difference between computer security and Ferris Buller's Day Off? Ferris Buller was funny. Anyone who has tried to get rid of the Netsky worm knows funny is the last thing you think about.
Posted by Bob Francis on December 13, 2004 01:56 PM
December 13, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Oracle acquisition of PeopleSoft brings customers into focus
Oracle's agreement to buy PeopleSoft for $26.50 per share, or approximately $10.3 billion, means a new era for users of PeopleSoft's enterprise applications.
It looks like that for at least for the next year or so, there will be little significant change for PeopleSoft users.
Larry Ellison, Oracle founder and CEO said Monday a merged product of applications from Oracle, PeopleSoft and JD Edwards (owned by PeopleSoft) is on the drawing board.
But he also reassured PeopleSoft's customers that applications such as PeopleSoft 8 and JD Edwards 5 will be supported and upgraded, according to IDG News Service. "Customers should think of upgrading before they get the idea of moving to a merged product. It is some ways away," Ellison said.
A goal now for Oracle is to retain these customers, said Evan Quinn, group vice president of applications research for IDC.
"By being so stubborn, the PeopleSoft board of directors really forced Oracle to be very customer-friendly to PeopleSoft," Quinn said. "They will not force PeopleSoft customers to migrate.
"The main reason Oracle wanted PeopleSoft was market share," Quinn added. "What benefit is there for Oracle to get these customers and then lose them? I think Oracle will be very patient and not force upgrades onto customers.
The future is less clear for the long term, as Oracle, IBM, and SAP and others are offering platforms that run these human resources, accounting and supply chain applications.
"All concerned, including systems integrators like IBM and applications vendors like SAP and Siebel Systems, will all have to sit down and figure out the partnership lines," Quinn said. "To some extent they are like chess pieces thrown up in the air.
Posted by Jack McCarthy on December 13, 2004 11:33 AM
December 13, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Gartner predicts significant drop in IT jobs
Analyst house Gartner this morning "warned" that a "significant job loss" in IT is coming.
In the press release Gartner did not quantify how extensive the losses would be by listing how many jobs it estimates will be eliminated, or what percentage, or what types of jobs, other than to say that the pinch will be felt both within enterprise IT shops and among external service providers. A query to the firm requesting those numbers was not immediately returned.
The reality of job reduction in the United States is not a shock to anyone paying attention in the IT industry. The surprise, Gartner noted, is that even though offshore outsourcing is the most discussed factor in the media, the utility and on-demand computing models will put even more pressure on those jobs than outsourcing does.
This glut is coming within the next two to ten years, Gartner said.
Naturally, Gartner recommended that companies and individuals hone their skills in preparation, including strengthening business and IT skills, sharpening specialized knowledge of their employer's models and processes, and focusing on how IT can drive the business strategy. The firm added that new skills increasingly in demand involve data, IT architectures, business process management and modeling, information flows and relationship management.
There is some vague but sound advice there, no question. But other people in the industry argue that on-demand software will not eliminate IT but, rather, change those workers' roles in IT.
InfoWorld's feature The End of IT As We Know It quoted Jason Maynard, senior North America software analyst at Merrill Lynch: Those IT folks and those resources are going to be reallocated to the stuff that adds value to the organization.
The same story also quoted Eric Peterson, site technology and operations analyst at JupiterResearch, on the resistance of enterprises to losing control and personnel.
Out of one side of its mouth, IT says 'We're too busy; we don't have enough people to get X and Y and Z done.' But it also says 'We don't want to give up any of the software that we already own because it reduces the size of our kingdom.'
All that said, we can definitely expect both utility computing and offshore outsourcing to eliminate IT jobs. Historically speaking the automation of processes typically does just that.
Every employee in every industry should be thinking about how future automation will impact their job role, but now is not the time for selling fear about such job reductions. Once we see actual numbers -- albeit predictions -- that back up Gartner's statement, then we can judge for ourselves how seriously to consider the firm's words.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on December 13, 2004 09:48 AM
December 13, 2004 | Comments: (0)
IBM's deal with Lenovo more than just a sale
The New York Times has a story this morning saying that IBM intended to sell its PC business to a Chinese company so it could create a global partnership with the buyer, rather than to get out of PC market entirely.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on December 13, 2004 07:19 AM
December 10, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Yahoo adds fuel to desktop search rush
Yahoo has announced it will join the fray with a new desktop product based on technology from X1 Technologies.
Yahoo said it plans to launch a beta version of a new Yahoo Desktop Search tool in the coming weeks, according to an IDG News Service story and several other reports. Ask Jeeves is releasing its desktop tool next Wednesday, and, not be forgotten, Microsoft is expected to make a desktop search announcement as soon as next week.
Unlike competitors Microsoft and Google, Yahoo chose to use a third-party tool for its desktop offering. X1 Technologies has been in the market for several years. I wrote about them last May at the Mobile Showcase in Palm Springs and in a desktop search blog.
Thus far, Google has carried the lion's share of the attention in the desktop search market since the launch of its Google Desktop search in October. But the company came under heat for security and privacy concerns with the product.
According to a source in the company, Google is currently working on an enterprise version of its desktop offering designed to give greater control to IT administrators. The new version will let IT departments designate what content is allowed to be indexed by Google Desktop Search. A release date has not been announced.
The enterprise Desktop Search offering also will be designed to integrate with the Google Search Appliance. Features will include password protection and support for multiple instances of desktop search on one system, according to the source.
Countering criticism that the current beta version of Google Desktop Search is not secure, Google officials point out that in the current offering users can set up parameters in the search tool to restrict the indexing of specific content including HTTPS pages. If needed users can remove content from the index if they find something there they don't want indexed, Google officials said.
According to Laura Ramos, vice president at Forrester Research, privacy--not security--might be the bigger risk with enterprise desktop search.
"It raises the issue of privacy. I now have an index on my machine that shows [corporate] content. The fist time someone forgets to tell Google not to index certain e-mail files and something sensitive gets exposed through the search interface, there will be a major problem," Ramos said.
Another issue with the uptake of desktop search in the enterprise is the issue of support, Ramos pointed out.
"Vendors have to figure it out how to sell it and support it, because [support] is what enterprises want. And with the price you sell it for, can you afford to support it?"
Smaller vendors have staked out territory in desktop search before Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. Autonomy, a recognized enterprise search player, a couple weeks ago launched IDOL Enterprise Desktop Search. Copernic, which was recently acquired by Mamma.com, earlier this week released Copernic Desktop Search Version 1.2, featuring faster indexing and support for Mozilla Firefox. Copernic Desktop Search features a Privacy First algorithm that prevents keywords used to search private content from being exposed over the Web, according to David Burns, CEO of Copernic.
Other vendors include ISYS Search Software, dtSearch, Enfish Software, and Kinook Software, among others.
Posted by Cathleen Moore on December 10, 2004 12:11 PM
December 10, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Cisco purchase of BCN is par for the course
Cisco Systems' acquisition of BCN Systems, a tiny networking software design company, runs true to form as Cisco continues its practice of buying key technologies to advance its product development strategy.
Cisco said BCN has developed networking software architecture for routing applications and platform development to support next-generation data, voice and video services over a converged network.
"The addition of BCN's talent to Cisco's world class engineering team will help drive continued innovation for Cisco's portfolio of routing products," Mike Volpi, senior vice president for Cisco's Routing Technology Group, said in a news release.
The purchase comes as Cisco and other networking companies are responding to accommodate the burgeoning growth of voice and video network traffic.
"As you go to more voice and video sets of traffic coming out of endpoints, (managing) the size of the traffic becomes a challenge," said Joaquin Gonzales, senior vice president of research for enterprise performance strategies with the Aberdeen Group. "Designing the network right becomes a bigger and bigger issue as the volatility associated with the traffic is going up."
Historically, Cisco buys companies that have technology ready to be integrated into its networking platforms.
"Cisco loves the acquisition of very small companies with very targeted solutions as opposed to developing internally," Gonzales said. "The reason you do something like this is to get your development cycle down. (BCN is) going to be easy to assimilate."
BCN's design is complementary to Cisco's existing OS platforms. The architec-ture will also allow additional hardware development for features such as security and quality of service.
Cisco said the BCN group will join its Routing Technology Group, under senior vice presidents Prem Jain and Volpi. BCN Systems was founded in April 2004 and has 45 employees.
Posted by Jack McCarthy on December 10, 2004 11:57 AM
December 09, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Daredevil Oracle quietly raises app server price
Given that there are now open source Java application servers available for free, such as the JBoss application server, it would seem that established commercial vendors would have to at least hold the line if not drop the price of their application servers. The spectre of open source competition would put fear into the hearts of these companies, presumably.
Well, it aint necessarily so.
Oracle recently raised the price of the enterprise edition of Oracle Application Server 10g, bumping it up to $30,000 per processor, from $20,000. And that was done with the existing release of the product, not the upcoming release announced this week.
The company argues that it provides much more than an application server. The product now boasts federated identity management, new system management capabilities and software provisioning, functions not there with the $20,000 pricetag.
But an analyst expressed surprise that Oracle would hike the price. "Raising prices is always tough," said John Rymer, vice president of application development and integration at Forrester Research.
Some customers may not actually have to pay the price increase, given existing licensing agreements and discounts, Rymer said. Still, any price increase is sure to raise eyebrows among customers, he said. "They have to stop and take a look," Rymer said.
Oracle is the daredevil of the computer industry lately, seeking a hostile takeover of PeopleSoft. Perhaps the price increase just falls in line with the company's growing image as a risk taker.
With users increasingly eyeing open source software alternatives, however, Oracle with its price increase is risking sending its customer base into the waiting arms of other suitors.
Posted by Paul Krill on December 9, 2004 04:15 PM
December 09, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Sprint and Nextel merger might work
A possible merger of Nextel Communications, the fifth-ranked wireless carrier in the U.S., and Sprint, the third-largest, may be winning strategy, given the ferocious competition in the telecommunications industry.
The two companies are reportedly in talks to discuss a possible merger, but are not commenting.
However, both companies could gain by a union.
"We are finding that profit margins are too low and capital requirements are too large," said Tom Nolle, president of CIMI, a technology consulting company.
"This is a big guy's game, and Sprint, like all inter-exchange carrriers, is under threat of losing its long distance business and it needs to focus on wireless.
"Nexel is too small to compete with players like (wireless giants) Verizon and Cingular," Nolle added. "The two together are large enough and differentiated enough to compete with the Verizons and the Cingulars."
Posted by Jack McCarthy on December 9, 2004 03:36 PM
December 08, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Can Thunderbird ride the Firefox wave?
The Mozilla Foundation is back at it. Following its recent launch of its Firefox 1.0 browser that ignited heavy interest, the organization this week launched the Thunderbird open-source e-mail client.
Unlike Firefox, Thunderbird doesn't have a high-profile villain to compete against. At least some of Firefox's popularity was due to growing user dissatisfaction with Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser and IE's ongoing security problems. Thunderbird competes against Microsoft's Outlook Express and Qualcomm's Eudora. You can say what you want about those applications but IE is an obvious target.
In its favor, Thunderbird sports some advanced anti-spam features, such as a user-trainable junk mail filter and the capability to block images in messages, which can be used by spammers to track valid addresses.
Furthermore, Thunderbird is taking a lead with built-in RSS support.
Thunderbird is available for Windows, Linux, and Apple's Macintosh OS X.
Posted by Cathleen Moore on December 8, 2004 05:07 PM
December 08, 2004 | Comments: (0)
BEA Systems and Sun Microsystems made "Me, too" plays this week amidst the Oracle OpenWorld conference.
Sun's Chairman/CEO Scott McNealy stressed that Sun still is the leading platform for Oracle systems, even if Oracle is hailing Linux and Intel systems. Is the writing on the wall that Oracle users will move away from Sun and onto rival Linux and Intel hardware from companies like Dell? Are Intel and Linux in and Solaris and and SPARC out? This certainly would not bode well for Sun, which nonetheless remains confident in its own technologies. Sun for its part has made a bit of an embrace of Linux and the Intel-based architecture by offering AMD-based systems.
BEA, meanwhile, must be a bit intimidated by Oracle to try to upstage the latter's big trade show this week with an event of its own a block away.
BEA unveiled its new application server on Monday night at a hotel in San Francisco just a two-minute walk from Oracle's conference at the Moscone Center, a day before Oracle rolled out its own application server upgrade. Oracle, though, did discuss its new product several hours before the BEA event.
Holding a press conference from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., after most of the reporters had undoubtely already spent the day at Oracle's show, to me shows that BEA believes it must be aggressive in taking on threats to its application server middleware market space. But is BEA really differentiating itself? Both Oracle and BEA honed in on the familiar themes of service-oriented architectures and Web services. Indeed, the casual observer must wonder just how these products actually differ, since they seem to offer the same functionality and improvements.
Both companies also are competing in spaces such as portal and integration. Oracle does have its big database and grid push as differentiators from BEA. Posing a threat to both Oracle and BEA are open source application servers from companies such as JBoss, which, for what it's worth, sought a meeting with me in the same neighborhood of the Oracle show this week. It will be up to enterprise users to continue sorting out who leads, who follows and who falls off the charts in the application server and middleware spaces. It should be an interesting battle.
BEA and Sun, of course, have different perspectives on Oracle. For BEA, Oracle is a competitor. For Sun, Oracle is a partner. But how Oracle fares with or against both companies will likely be critical to the corporate bottom lines for Sun and BEA.
- Paul Krill
Posted by Jack McCarthy on December 8, 2004 04:08 PM
December 08, 2004 | Comments: (0)
IBM's agreement with China's Lenovo Group to sell its personal computing division for $1.25 billion in cash and equity prompted Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell to attack competitors who stray from his business model.
"We have not really grown our company by acquisition," he said at Oracle's OpenWorld show in San Francisco. "We like to acquire competitors one customer at a time."
Dell addressed questions from reporters about the deal, which will make Lenovo the third largest PC maker in the world behind Dell and Hewlett-Packard. "When was the last time you saw a successful merger or acquisition in the computer industry? It hasn't happened, at least not in a long, long time," Dell said.
Dell criticized by implication his chief competitors, IBM and HP, which merged with Compaq Computer in 2002.
But Dell isn't known as a creator of innovative technology. His company succeeds because of its world famous build-to-order manufacturing model.
"Michael Dell is putting the best spin on this as possible," said Dana Gardner, analyst with The Yankee Group. "I can certainly understand that's the point he would want to make, but on the other hand, I'm not sure end users care about where their PCs are made.
"They are concerned about quality, cost and performance, Gardner added. "When was the last time you picked up a computer and looked under it to see where it was made."
Dell implies that his products somehow have more value because his company is home grown.
But, of course, it's IBM and HP that have been leaders in developing new technologies.
"Dell's business model is supreme," said Dan Kusnetsky, analyst with IT research company IDC. "They can build high value, very low price through careful cost control. But they are not into designing anything complex like operating systems or virtualization software. The one thing they can do better than anybody is custom manufacturing."
Posted by Jack McCarthy on December