27th August 2003 Archive

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McData: buying its way into SAN niches

Roll-up, roll-up

McData is at last set to spend the $150 million cash pile it raised in February, with knockdown purchases of both Nishan Systems and Sanera Systems. The acquisitions will help McData build up its business in potentially important areas of SAN technology that have already attracted the interest of rivals Cisco and Brocade. The …

Storage 27 Aug 2003, 06:29
Standalone PDA days ‘are numbered’

The way of the Comptometer?

The standalone PDA's days are numbered, says IDC, which forecasts a bright future for converged handheld computers. In coming years, consumers and businesses will begin to demand advanced handheld devices, such as PDAs and handheld PCs, with voice communication functions that enable users to make mobile phone calls, a new IDC …

Mobile 27 Aug 2003, 07:38
NEC cedes Hiroshima fab control to Elpida

Retains ownership

Elpida has taken control of NEC's Hiroshima fab and will spin the management operation off as a subsidiary company, Hiroshima Elpida, on 1 September. The central facility of the Hiroshima plant is its 200mm wafer production lines, which Elpida will lease from NEC - which, with Hitachi, is one of Elpida's parent companies. …

Channel 27 Aug 2003, 08:56
Intel adds $375m to Asia-Pacific investment tally

This time for an assembly plant in China

Intel is investing $375 million in a chip assembly and testing plant to be constructed in China's Sichuan province, the chip giant said yesterday. The facility, Intel's second such plant in China, will employ 675 people and begin operation in 2005. Construction work on the plant will start around the middle of next year. The …

Channel 27 Aug 2003, 09:02
Amazon.com cracks down on spoofers

Files multi-million dollar lawsuits

Amazon.com is demanding millions of dollars in punitive damages from 11 'spoofers' accused of sending forged Amazon emails, according to lawsuits filed against the alleged forgers. The lawsuits, which target operators based in the US and Canada, are part of a wider crackdown by the online retailer against email forgeries, a …

Music and Media 27 Aug 2003, 09:09
China to form anti-spam task force

No more blocklisting?

China may soon cease to be a haven for spammers or rogue Internet pharmacies. The China Internet Association has said it is going to set up a special anti-spam task force to deal with such email abusers. The Association warned that an explosion of "reactionary spam" forms a threat to political and social stability and that " …

Music and Media 27 Aug 2003, 09:11
Intel ‘may be guilty’ of over hyping Wi-Fi

Company president confesses

Intel has admitted it has contributed to the vast volume of hot air being used to inflate the Wi-Fi bubble, thanks to its multi-million dollar Unwired advertising campaign. Speaking at the annual Telecosm conference, held in Squaw Valley, California yesterday, Intel president Paul Otellini warned: "Wi-Fi is in danger of being …

Wireless 27 Aug 2003, 09:26
Cellphones will sport Wi-Fi, say industry execs

Carriers want to drive mobile data business

Will Wi-Fi prove to be a key technology integrated into future cellphones? Panellists speaking yesterday at the annual Telecosm conference in Squaw Valley, California believe so. "I believe Wi-Fi will become a standard component of cellphones in the future," said Sky Dayton, CEO of Wi-Fi network provider Boingo Wireless, …

Mobile 27 Aug 2003, 10:08
Silicon Valley to get US' first Wi-Fi train

Commuter computing

Travellers on Silicon Valley's Altamont Commuter Express (ACE) rail service will be able to hook their Wi-Fi enabled notebook PCs and PDAs to the Internet next month when each train will be fitted with WLAN base-stations. The service will be offered free of charge for the next three months while ACE officials measure the level …

Wireless 27 Aug 2003, 10:51
HP beefs up low-end iPaq

Reg Kit Watch Faster CPU, SDIO support

PDA HP yesterday launched the iPaq h1935, the successor to the h1910, which will soon be phased out, the company said. The new model improves upon the older one with a faster processor - a 203MHz Samsung S3C2410 in place of a 200MHz Intel XScale PXA255 - and an SDIO slot ready for the emerging crop of Wi-Fi add-in cards, such …

Personal 27 Aug 2003, 11:36
UK corporates unconvinced by Wi-Fi

More than half have no plans to roll out WLANs

UK IT managers have given wireless networking the thumbs-down. More than half of UK companies with a turnover of £50 million or more have said they have no plans to implement WLANs, according a survey of Britain's biggest companies. The survey, conducted by market research agency Vanson Bourne on behalf of Cable & Wireless' …

Wireless 27 Aug 2003, 11:40
Symantec takes the Hilgraeve hit

Doing the Right Thing

When Symantec announced last week that it had done the decent thing, albeit six years late, and purchased a key virus scanning technology patent from Hilgraeve, it put an end to speculation that the company was open to a massive charge, writes John McIntosh of Bloor Research. As it was, the settlement of $62.5 million is just a …

Security 27 Aug 2003, 12:24
Zippo extinguishes flaming trick Web site

Got burnt

Zippo - the lighter people, not the clown - has extinguished a Web site that promoted tricks using its cigarette lighters. The company had come under increasing pressure over recent months to pull the site, which featured more than 570 different tricks that can be done with a flaming Zippo. In July, the US' National Fire …

Music and Media 27 Aug 2003, 12:26
Why Sobig is bad for privacy and AV vendors

The drugs don't work

Eight years ago when I first used the Internet, while doing support work in a Manchester cyber café, email was a joy. I could contact my friends, even when they were on the other side of the world, on the click of a mouse. It was so much easier and cheaper than the alternatives - snail mail or the phone. Email is still …

Anti-Virus 27 Aug 2003, 12:40
Blades cut wireless and mobile enterprise costs

Mix and match

Flexible office, hot-desking, hotelling. At the end of the day they all mean the same thing, writes Rob Bamforth of Bloor Research. You've lost your prestigious office, your decorated cubicle or your desktop covered with personal memorabilia. Your company has gained from space saving, and can move staff between teams more easily …

Wireless 27 Aug 2003, 12:43
Small.biz gets flogging online

Toe dipping

Small businesses plan to increase their use of ecommerce over the next year despite widespread fears over viruses and unsolicited emails, according to a new study. The State of the eNation survey, commissioned by web hosting firm NetBenefit, reveals that a further 12 per cent of small business websites are set to include …

Small Biz 27 Aug 2003, 12:59
Softline agrees Sage bid

Sage Brush

Softline, the South African-owned accountancy software firm has agreed an offer from Sage valuing the company at £66m (including its cash reserves of £11.1m). Sage tabled the bid last month, when it became clear that a proposed management buyout had failed to get off the ground. Dutch rival Exact also expressed an interest in …

Channel 27 Aug 2003, 13:35
Passport biometric trials point way for ID cards

Shadow pilot

A trial of technology underpinning the next generation of biometric passports could also be used to lay the groundwork for the introduction of identity cards in the UK. Today's Guardian reports that the Home Office wants to complete a six-month trial of fingerprint and iris-scanning technology by next April. The pilot will also …

Security 27 Aug 2003, 15:32
The incredible shrinking IT industry

Opinion Out of Business proposition

It's taken me ages to get it. The IT industry, at least as I knew it, is fast disappearing before my very eyes. It took the speculation that Sun and Apple would team up to jog me out of my IT industry's trance. When I thought about the real business logic of such a relationship, the idea was just silly. Forget all that …

Channel 27 Aug 2003, 15:36
Apple to refund disappointed OS X buyers

But only if you tried to run it on old G3 kit

Apple will refund owners of PowerPC G3-based Macs who bought Mac OS X but found elements of the operating system didn't work on their computers. The company's decision appears in documents filed with the Los Angeles Superior Court, MacCentral reports. The filing marks the latest stage in a class action lawsuit brought against …

Mac Channel 27 Aug 2003, 15:46
US forces to target enemy mobiles with P2P WLANs

CDMA vs GSM debate goes ballistic?

The US military is developing a weapon based on peer-to-peer technology to take out mobile phone communications, the US Department of Defence has revealed. The system also has the capability to covertly monitor cellular traffic. Codenamed 'WolfPack', the device is intended to prevent an enemy from using its communications …

Mobile 27 Aug 2003, 15:47
GNU servers ‘owned’ by crackers for months

Source code believed safe

Crackers owned the primary file servers of the GNU Project from mid-March until two weeks ago, the Free Software Foundation admitted this week. The attack raises concerns about whether malicious code could have been inserted in the software available for download, including some Linux applications. However, evidence suggests …

Security 27 Aug 2003, 15:48
WindowsUpdate on Linux – an urban legend is born

Unexpected effects of the Big Red Switch...

Somewhere in Redmond a highly-skilled network technician flips the Big Red Switch (BRS) marked 'Do not touch this switch,' the Blaster attack is foiled, and the 'Linux to the rescue' urban legend is born. As all you paranoid conspiracy-theorists can see here, on the eve of the onslaught windowsupdate.microsoft.com ceased to be a …

Software 27 Aug 2003, 15:50
Want to visit Britain? Join the fingerprint queue

Biometric visas stamped

The Government today announced plans to extend the use of biometric technology throughout the UK visa system in a crackdown against abuse of the immigration system. Visitors seeking a UK visa will, in due course, be required to provide a biometric - fingerprints, iris or facial recognition scans - at point of application. The …

Security 27 Aug 2003, 15:58
Deutsche Telekom: increased mobility in Poland

Buying out partners

Deutsche Telekom has made its first acquisition in more than two years, after offering €1 billion to win control of Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa. Although investors seem to be concerned about the possible impact on Deutsche Telekom's debt reduction program, the Polish mobile operator looks like an attractive investment. Deutsche …

Mobile 27 Aug 2003, 16:38
TI dribbles out UltraSPARC IV details

Sun's other big bet

Texas Instruments has disclosed fresh details on the upcoming UltraSPARC IV chip it's building for Sun Microsystems, showing a processor with added kick and low power consumption. The UltraSPARC IV will be Sun's first mainstream dual-core processor, combining two UltraSPARC IIIs on one piece of silicon. Sun plans to roll out …

Hardware 27 Aug 2003, 16:51
Oklahoma AG takes aim at WorldCom, Ebbers

Southern justice

Call it WorldCom, MCI or whatever you like. It appears no amount of name changing will help the bankrupt telecommunications company shake its tainted past. Oklahoma's Attorney General Drew Edmondson has become the latest member of the WorldCom bashing brigade, levying some serious charges against the company and its former …

Business 27 Aug 2003, 18:32
Intel wants to tune your cluster

Buys Pallas for grid and HPC know-how

Intel has signed on to acquire German software maker Pallas, hoping the company's performance tools can give it an edge in the compute cluster arena. Come September, Intel expects to close the deal that will have 23 Pallas engineers join the chip king, an Intel spokesman confirmed. Pallas makes a wide variety of products, but …

Software 27 Aug 2003, 21:02