- Test Center Tracker: 2007, here we come
- Test Center Tracker: Mac file security and phone fun
- Lotus Notes 7.0 meets the Mac
- Test Center Tracker: Search the wiki way?
- Test Center Tracker: 2006 in pics
- Test Center Tracker: Windows gets Xserved?
- Recursion upgrades ESB
- Test Center Tracker: Apple security in the spotlight
- Ipedo boosts Web services capabilities
- Review: HP and Cingular connect on iPAQ hw6920
December 29, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: 2007, here we come
Microsoft, Version 2007: Enterprise Windows columnist Oliver Rist dons his stylish prophet robes and puts forth some predictions of what to expect out of Redmond in the year to come. Among them: Crossbow, the next version of Windows Mobile, is going to have an impact, plus Microsoft will unleash something of interest in the virtualization space.
Linux resolution: Speaking of the new year, Security Adviser Roger A. Grimes has made a new year's resolution -- for you: Give OpenBSD a try. Why? "There is no better secure, popular OS than OpenBSD. ... To date, only one remote vulnerability has been found in the OpenBSD kernel."
Kickin' NAS: Over in the InfoWorld Virtualization Report podcast, David Marshall explores the storage side of virtualization, examining some recent moves from Hitachi and BlueArc. Don your headphones and take a listen.
Farewell, 2006:With 2007 just around the corner, I'd like to you all a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year on behalf of the InfoWorld Test Center. We're proud of the work we've done in 2006, and we look forward to bringing you more in-depth product reviews and analysis in 2007. If there are products you'd like for us to look at in the coming year, please feel free to comment below.
Posted by Ted Samson on December 29, 2006 09:30 AM
December 28, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Mac file security and phone fun
Mac attack: Brian Chee and the Hawaii lab staff kicked around a copy of PocketMac SecureNotes, and found it's not half bad for protecting sensitive, valuable information at the file level. Find out more about the UIs and other details on the Geeks in Paradise blog.
Phoning home: Paul Venezia is another step closer to completing his Asterisk system, thanks to a Linksys SPA-3102 FXO/FXS SIP ATA, "which will be the bridge between Asterisk and one of the incoming POTS lines to the lab." Learn more about this telecom project in progress on Paul's blog, from its start to current state.
Posted by Stephanie McLoughlin on December 28, 2006 01:57 PM
December 28, 2006 | Comments: (0)
IBM delivered some holiday cheers to Mac users today, announcing the availability of the Lotus Notes 7.0.2 client for Mac OS X.
Lotus Notes comes with a pile of collaboration features, such as groupware and strong Mail and iCal apps, that competitors like Microsoft Entourage lack, according to Big Blue.
The Notes 7.0.2 client provides Mac users, running either Intel-based or Power PC machines, with instant messaging, presence awareness and "Web 2.0 features," such embedded RSS technology and an easy-to-use blogging template, according to IBM.
Notes also comes with full calendaring features, such as group scheduling and meeting delegation.
Lotus Notes 7.0.2 for the Macintosh is available immediately, starting at $101 per seat.
Posted by Ted Samson on December 28, 2006 01:18 PM
December 27, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Search the wiki way?
Search with human smarts: With search powerhouses like Google and Yahoo in the way, it could be tough for a new engine to get up and running. But the founder of Wikipedia has plans to launch a new search engine, called Wikisari, early next year, with the hopes of making search smarter through human-power, as well as more open and thus more trustworthy. Will it be a success?
A look ahead: The new year means time for a fresh start, something Chief Technologist Tom Yager plans to make. Among them, he wants to take a new look "at long-forgotten PC UNIX, the simple beauty that, but for in-fighting and litigiousness, would have given us a slender, mature, inviolable operating system core." He'd also like to spend more time getting to know the newly open-sourced language of Java. What else is up his 2007 sleeve?
SMB techs for 2007: Test Center Analyst Oliver Rist is dispensing some of his SMB technology wisdom in his Emerging Enterprise podcast, sharing some tips on what to look for in a backup solution, as well as what technologies you should be watching for in the new year. Oh, and speaking of new technology, he has a new microphone!
Posted by Ted Samson on December 27, 2006 07:58 AM
December 26, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: 2006 in pics
What a year: We at InfoWorld have had an amazingly busy year as we've cranked out 50 print issues while keeping the Web site freshly updated with news, reviews, and analyses. Online Editor Mike Barton has put together a nifty slideshow highlighting some of the top articles we've done, featuring some of the ever-impressive art done by our talented art department.
VMware Fusion meets Mac: Apple fans, rejoice: Mac OS X has been added to the VMware Fusion Beta program, reports David Marshall in the InfoWorld Virtualization Report. The product has a nifty features list, including the ability to leverage virtual SMP capabilities to gain additional performance improvements.
Posted by Ted Samson on December 26, 2006 11:13 AM
December 22, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Windows gets Xserved?
Kill two Windows servers with one Xserve: Mac enthusiast Tom Yager looks at the potency of virtualization on Apple's Xserve. He notes that the Mac platform won't virtualize in the traditional sense of hosting a virtual instance of itself. "That's a real pity, especially for those of us holding last rites for PowerPC servers. But there is a silver lining: Xserve is now an x86 rack server. It can't take on the distinct personalities of two OS X Server machines, but it can show Windows and Linux servers the door."
Longhorn on the mooove: With all the excitement surrounding Vista's release, surely you haven't forgotten Longhorn, the next version of Windows Server. Microsoft clearly hasn't, having just released a new build of the OS, available only to participants of the Longhorn beta program. The final OS isn't due out until the second half of 2007. In the meantime, check out some of our previous coverage of Longhorn, including Tom Yager's look at Beta 2 from earlier this year.
Posted by Ted Samson on December 22, 2006 08:21 AM
December 21, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Recursion Software on Thursday announced a new version of its enterprise service bus, Cinergi 2.1
The ESB serves as a multi-language application integration platform supporting SOA and Web services. Featured in version 2.1 are enhancements in security, reliability and performance.
Bidirectional communication is offered for C++, Java and .Net clients and servers. The same port for communication from the client to the server is used for server-to-client links, thus strengthening network security by eliminating the need to open two ports. One port is sufficient for data, transactions and processes.
The Cinergi runtime environment for C++ supports 64-bit processing for the AIX 5.3 and Red Hat Linux platforms. An Architect Console included with Cinergi leverages 64-bit CPUs for performance; software engineers can use the console to select business logic to expose as a service.
A failsafe feature in version 3.1 protects against server failure once a runtime application starts. Clients and servers will continue to communicate regareless of the ability to hook up with the license server. A client application will check license availability through the server application first, bypassing the license server if it is unavailable.
Posted by Paul Krill on December 21, 2006 02:16 PM
December 21, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Apple security in the spotlight
Worms (and bugs) in your Apple: Two security researchers, disappointed by negative reactions to their alarms about Apple security flaws, are unleashing a "month of bugs" in January to disclose flaws in OSX, QuickTime, and iTunes (hide your iPod!). A few more details are on Brian Krebs' Washington Post blog and MacRumors.com. Happy New Year!
Support salve: There may be another side benefit of open source, at least from some developers' perspective: more helpful and useful support when something goes wrong. Rather than wading through phone banks and automated systems to (hopefully) find a real person who can crack open that black-box tech and fix your problem, open source puts the entire project at your feet - and usually has a community of knowledgeable sources willing to help. What do you think? Is this true or not? Drop a comment on the IT Troubleshooter blog.
Into the lab, part III: Paul Venezia introduces you to the workstations and apps that toil behind the scenes in his testing lab.
Posted by Stephanie McLoughlin on December 21, 2006 10:14 AM
December 20, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Ipedo boosts Web services capabilities
Ipedo is bolstering Web services capabilities in its XIP (eXtensible Integration Platform) enterprise integration software.
Additions to Ipedo XIP for release 4.2 are intended to enable easier deployment of data services in an SOA. XIP allows users to make data available as Web services.
New features include:
* One-click publishing, featuring a wizard for publishing of Web services. Security profiles in Web services and WSDL generation are supported.
* Dual caching, for caching of a Web services natively as XML or in relational form. This improves performance.
* Web services table metadata, to display lineage and dependency information.
* A tuning of the Ipedo XQuery engine for SOA, offering more insight and performance.
* Join hints, which minimize the number of Web services calls to fulfill a query request.
Ipedo also has joined the Web Services Interoperability Organization, which promotes Web services interoperability across platforms.
Posted by Paul Krill on December 20, 2006 11:13 AM
December 20, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Review: HP and Cingular connect on iPAQ hw6920
For many years HP's iPAQ line offered stiff competition to Palm's line of PDAs. However, as Treos, BlackBerry handhelds, and a flood of other converged smartphones hit, HP didn't stay at the forefront of this technology. The new iPAQ hw6920 and hw6925 (currently offered exclusively by Cingular Wireless) get HP back into the game -- though it's not an MVP. Nevertheless, enterprises should consider these Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PCs because their built-in cellular phone is surrounded with quad-band GSM wireless data networking, corporate e-mail solutions, and enterprise manageability.
The hw6925 model I evaluated (the 6920 is the same, except it lacks a 1.3 megapixel camera) features a 3-inch (240 x 240 pixel resolution) TFT color screen, making it a tad wider compared to a Palm Treo 700w or BlackBerry Pearl. Like the BlackBerry and Palm Treo 680, the hw6925 doesn't have a stubby antenna so the rounded design fits comfortably in your hand. Measured against Motorola's Q or Cingular's 3125 (developed by HTC), the hw6925 is about 33 percent deeper -- and at 6.3 ounces, it's one of the heaviest handhelds out there. Yet I think the larger size and weight is a fair compromise to accommodate the additional radios plus a bigger, replaceable battery; one charge lasted about 7 days in standby (with GPS and Wi-Fi turned off) and gave me almost 4 hours of talk time.
Connectivity is clearly important to business users, and this unit generally delivers on its Mobile Messenger title -- with GSM/GPRS/EDGE, Wi-Fi, GPS, infrared, and Bluetooth wireless connections. Most of my testing was on Cingular's EDGE data network in Eastern Pennsylvania. My test hw6925 delivered the best voice quality of all the cellular phones I've used. Digital signal quality was consistently very good, with expected speed (about 100 – 150 kbps), which proved very acceptable for retrieving my e-mail and remote access to mobile-enabled enterprise applications. One disappointment: HP didn't include HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) which is the evolution of GSM/EDGE technology; Cingular's 3G network is one of the first to use HSDPA.
For e-mail, HP supports several push technologies. I connected to a corporate Microsoft Exchange 2003 server (over EDGE and Wi-Fi) and accessed my messages with Window Mobile's built-in Outlook application. Other options include Good Technologies (now part of Motorola) GoodLink for connecting to Exchange and IBM Lotus Domino servers. Cingular's Xpress Mail service ($4.99 per month) let me easily configure and use my Comcast POP e-mail account.
The built-in QWERTY keyboard worked well for composing messages. I also liked HP's 5-way navigation button located right above the keyboard because it let me quickly navigate menus and make selections without touching the screen.
GPS is a useful tool for business travelers and the hw6920 series' built-in high-sensitivity GPS receiver gives you several options. I tested the optional TeleNav GPS Navigator service ($5.99 to $9.99 a month), and I found that it quickly acquired a GPS signal and continuously updated the map display. As alternatives, HP bundles Microsoft Pocket Streets, or you can purchase HP Navigation Maps software ($129.00). The built-in photo software let me attach GPS coordinates to pictures, which would be important feature for insurance investigators or field service employees.
The standard parts of Windows Mobile 5.0 are what you'd get with other PPC products, including mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Internet Explorer. Microsoft hasn't changed these applications in a while, though they ran quickly on the hw6920 series' 416 MHz Intel PXA270 processor. Further, these devices ship with Microsoft Messaging and Security Feature Pack for Windows Mobile 5.0.
As I've experienced with other manufacturers' Windows Mobile 5.0 handhelds, I did have to reset the hw6925 a couple of times during my testing when it locked up. While HP representatives wouldn't comment on any upgrade for this device, they have indicated some other iPAQs may have a firmware upgrade to what's likely a Service Pack 2 for Windows Mobile 5.0 (code-named Crossbow). I'd certainly encourage the company to consider this for the hw6920 series in the hope of better stability.
Enterprises should also look at the overall security and manageability of a mobile solution – areas that HP addresses with several optional services. For example, HP ProtectTools for Windows Mobile lets administrators remotely wipe devices if they're lost or stolen and enforce corporate polices, such as strong passwords. (Admittedly, enterprises running Exchange may already have access to many of these features since mobility security is standard with Exchange Server 2003 SP2).
HP iPAQ hw6920 series Mobile Messenger
Availability: Now
Pricing: Starts at $359.99 with two-year Cingular Wireless contract and qualifying voice and data plan.
Verdict: While the iPAQ hw6920 series Mobile Messenger has a few blemishes, and various HP and Cingular services can get pricey, it still represents a sound enterprise mobile solution. The hardware isn't a svelte as you'll find, but its quality construction and multiple connectivity features should meet requirements of many organizations. And don't ignore HP's optional mobile services, including security and manageability. The most glaring omission is a HSDPA radio.
Posted by Mike Heck on December 20, 2006 10:31 AM
December 20, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Firefox bugs get squashed
Firefox fix: Version 2.0 of Firefox emerged from its hole last October, but not without some bugs. Mozilla yesterday released an update to the open source browser, fixing eight security vulnerabilities, including "flaws in memory corruption as well as the way the browser executes RSS (really simple syndication), Javascript, and CSS (cascading style sheets) code," the IDG News Service reports.
Take a tour of Tech Treks: InfoWorld.com has a new member to its esteemed blog family: Tech Treks, penned keyboarded by veteran technology journalist Stephanie Bruzzese. In her first posting, she examines the rugged qualities that notebook vendors are claiming of their systems. Are laptops really as durable as companies would like for us to think?
Who should do DB auditing? Database maven Sean McCown weighs the question of who should be responsible for auditing a company's database: the database administrator, the company's compliance officer -- or both? "In the end, I'm hoping that everyone will just learn to work together and the CO will become a customer of the DBA instead of a logical reporting structure. Perhaps the CO will analyze the audit data along with the DBA who will proactively remit the outstanding access issues so the CO doesn't have to call and bug him about it."
Posted by Ted Samson on December 20, 2006 06:00 AM
December 19, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Virtualization benchmarks on the way?
Bench pressed: You know you've made it when people start talking about wanting formal benchmarks. Virtualization is hot enough to spark the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation to form a group to explore whether there's a need for virtualization benchmarks and if so, how to form those benchmarks. IBM and Intel, meanwhile, are already on their own path toward better measuring the effects of virutalization: The jointly-developed vConsolidate tool simulates a real-world environment. Read more about it on the Virtualization Report blog, and check out InfoWorld's virtualization analysis for all the background you'll need.
Nifty gifty: Oliver Rist offers up a few gift ideas for all on your holiday shopping list, non-techies included. Hurry, and you'll still make it on time with expediated shipping. Clint Eastwood DVD gift set, anyone?
Posted by Stephanie McLoughlin on December 19, 2006 09:45 AM
December 18, 2006 | Comments: (0)
ChainBuilder ESB moves to beta stage
Bostech has released a beta version of its open source ChainBuilder ESB v1.0 at ChainForge.net, positioning the enterprise service bus for SOA.
The ESB complies with the Java Business Integration specification. Usability and feature enhancements are highlighted in the beta release, along with the initial version of ChainBuilder ESB for Linux.
Improvements in the beta release include source code availability, FTP communication support and dynamic content-based routing. IDE testing capabilities linked to the Eclipse platform also are featured. Graphics have been improved in the ESB's Component Flow Editor.
Developers can download the open source software under the common GPL license or purchase a subscription that features training, support and intellectual property indemnification. A commercial license is available for users who do not want to release source code under the GPL.
The general release of ChainBuilder ESB is planned for January 15.
Bostech had discussed the ChainBuilder project in October.
Posted by Paul Krill on December 18, 2006 12:37 PM
December 18, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Preview: Spotfire DXP turbocharges interactive BA
When I last reviewed Spotfire's Decision Site, I noted that its originality derived from its
structure. Spotfire divides the design and analysis cycle into a model that provides a separate, user-appropriate interface for each of three kinds of user: analyst, domain expert, and end-user.
The trend continues in the company’s newest offering, Spotfire DXP. DXP is a highly-interactive Windows client that appears on its way to joining Tableau as a way to successfully push BI/BA efforts out of IT and closer to a largely self-service system.
But where Tableau pushes its drag-and-drop interface toward a graphical model, Spotfire is building out its graphics strength with drag-and-drop interface. The result is surprising...in a good way.
Put DXP out as a client for Spotfire's Analytics Server, and one can deploy a versatile BI system based on views pre-built by user role. Even better, authors can design robust in-window narrative help and definition systems that provide sequenced instructions and hints ("guided analyses") for users playing with interactive graphical output. This helpful feature (shown at right; click to see full screen) makes delivering instructions and explanations to less-sophisticated users simple.
And perhaps best of all, you can export non-interactive slide shows for free or for a fee, use an optional runtime "player" that supports the delivery of polished models to users who now don't need the client to get 
clear and graphically-rich business intelligence. The filter panel (shown at left; click to see full screen), with its ability to interact through selection or area definition, makes Spotfire DXP analysis quicker and easier for both experienced and novice users.
Spotfire DXP advances the product line's already muscular graphical abilities with slider controls on variables, region selects for drill-down, and a boatload of other intuitive (if not always well-documented by the interface) methods of interacting with the data. I'm very impressed.
Spotfire DXP
Cost: Starts at $3,000
Platforms: Analytics Server requires Oracle, IBM DB2, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Access, MySQL, SAS/SHARE, PostregSQL, Sybase, or Informix database; DXP client requires 32-bit Windows
Verdict: Spotfire DXP is a very impressive graphical client for interactive BI/BA. If the firm can figure out a way to distribute a free or almost-free version of their player that pushes non-interactive results using dynamic data to a wide mass of users, it might make their offering tops in the field.
Posted by Jeff Angus on December 18, 2006 09:52 AM
December 18, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Reviews, reviews, reviews
Year in reviews: Sometimes in life, it's all too easy to keep your eyes focused on the future and thus ignore where you've been. But we in the InfoWorld Test Center are pretty fortunate: Once a year, we get to compile brief summaries of every single product review and preview we've done throughout the year (220-plus this year) and present them to you in one nice, neat, portable package. If you don't receive InfoWorld print, fear not: You can download the InfoWorld 2006 Year in Reviews as a handy PDF right here via InfoWorld IT Exec-Connect. (Fear not: If you don't have an account, registration is free and easy.)
Open source prophecies: What does 2007 hold for the world of open source? Ultimately, only time will tell, but Open Enterprise columnist Neil McAllister has some predictions. Among them: In the wake of the Microsoft-Novell partnership, "Expect numerous new product announcements from Novell -- particularly in the Windows/Linux interoperability area -- and furthermore, expect much of that code to be GPL-licensed."
Farewell Jon Udell: As many of you may have read, Test Center lead analyst and InfoWorld.com Blogger-in-Chief Jon Udell is starting a new chapter in his career at Microsoft. Friday the 15th was his last day here. His role at Big Red: Evangelist. Jon's contribution to InfoWorld and the Test Center has been invaluable throughout his time here, and we're certainly going to miss him. Best wishes, Jon. We'll definitely stay tuned to your writings.
Posted by Ted Samson on December 18, 2006 06:00 AM
December 15, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft readies AJAX technology
Microsoft on Friday began shipping a Release Candidate - the precursor to the general release - of its AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) technology.
The company's ASP.Net team shipped the Release Candidate of ASP.Net AJAX 1.0, which enables Web developers to build pages with a rich UI and more efficient client-server communication. The general release of ASP.Net AJAX 1.0 is expected to ship around the end of this year.
New features in the Release Candidate include a built-in Visual Studio Web Application Project template for building ASP.Net AJAX applications, said Microsoft's Scott Guthrie, general manager within the company's Developer Division, in his blog. Additional globalization support for AJAX applications also is featured, along with new script resource handler features to improve substitution logic, compression and caching.
Also featured is dynamic invocation of Web service proxies from JavaScript.
ASP.Net AJAX will be part of the core .Net Framework going forward. It also will be part of the upcoming Orcas release of the Visual Studio development platform.
The Release Candidate is accessible here.
Posted by Paul Krill on December 15, 2006 12:36 PM
December 15, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: The backup blues
Backing up is hard to do: Has the stress of the holiday season gotten to Security Adviser Roger A. Grimes? Actually, his gripes about the inadequacies of backup software are downright perennial; the timing is merely a coincidence. So what's his beef? Well, it's complex, for starters, and demands far too many clicks for what should be such a simple process. Plus it's not always reliable. And don't get him started on the security shortcomings. Yet despite all the trials and tribulations, backing up data is absolutely essential -- a lesson you don't want to learn when you come to work one day and find your data is missing.
VMware surprises Microsoft? Back in November, Microsoft launched a Test Drive program through which you could try out some of its software as a demo. The idea was, you could download it as a "virtual appliance type package," notes David Marshall in the InfoWorld Virtualization Report. Well, he says that "those same 'test drive' Microsoft virtual machines are now making their way over to the VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace." Seems VMware is claiming that these demos are also quite handy as VMware Virtual Appliances.
Peek into Liferay's portal: Matt Asay over in the Open Sources blog celebrates the big 4-point-2 for Liferay, a "super-slick" open source portal product. Liferay has added some back-end enhancements to workflow and content management, as well as features like chat.
Posted by Ted Samson on December 15, 2006 06:00 AM
December 14, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft readies Visual Studio service packs
updated| Microsoft on Friday will release Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Visual Studio 2005 SP1 Update for Windows Vista Beta.
A Microsoft representative said the service packs should be accessible from this link by 9 am Pacific time on Friday, December 15.
Visual Studio Service Pack 1 (SP1) features bug fixes as well as improvements in a number of areas. A company official emphasized community participation in the Visual Studio service pack.
"For some of the product areas within Visual Studio, more than 50 percent of the bugs that we fixed were reported by customers," said Jay Roxe, Microsoft group product manager for Visual Studio.
Bug fixes cover a variety of issues, including an issue with syntax coloring for key words in programs. Some bugs pertained to crashing issues.
Feature improvements include code generation and profling support for the Intel Core Duo processor. Scaling and performance are boosted for the Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server collaboration server as well. Team Foundation Server also now can be integrated with Microsoft's Excel 2007 and Project 2007 products.
The service pack adds support for the Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition database and Windows Embedded 6.0.
Microsoft's ClickOnce deployment technology, for updating to the most recent versions of applications, has been extended to Visual Studio 2005 applications running on devices.
SP1 features more than 70 improvements for common development scenarios, Microsoft said.
The Vista service pack beta for Visual Studio 2005, meanwhile, is intended to provide the same full-fledged develpoper experience on Vista as developers have with Windows XP. There have been issues in areas such as debugging that Microsoft has been addressing. The general release of this service pack is planned for the first quarter of next year, after consumer availability of Windows Vista.
Posted by Paul Krill on December 14, 2006 09:48 AM
December 13, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Review: IBM and Yahoo give the gift of free search
Enterprise search often defines massive projects that federate information from the Web, portals, legacy databases, and business intelligence systems. Yet many organizations thrive on finding information on the Web and within their intranets or file shares -- without a lot of fuss or expense. 
Today, IBM and Yahoo formally delivered an early holiday present to do just that. I unwrapped IBM OmniFind Yahoo Edition last week for testing. My conclusion: Thank-you cards are definitely in order.
This search application, available for Linux or Windows servers, installs in under five minutes using a Java GUI. From here, an admin-friendly Web console let me define Web sites and files shares to crawl.
As with other search applications, IBM OmniFind Yahoo Edition permitted me to specify a starting URL and offered other controls, such as blocking the crawler from parts of a site. What's more, I specified login credentials for password-protected sites.
IBM and Yahoo provide very good control over the search experience. For instance, I easily adjusted the look of search and results pages. Furthermore, I effortlessly defined featured links, created synonyms lists, and adjusted rankings.
Performance all around was impressive. On my low-end Dell PowerEdge 1650 Pentium III server OmniFind indexed about 125 pages per minute and delivered results to users in under one-tenth of a second. On a larger server (a 3GHz Xeon processor with 2GB RAM is recommended), the software supports 500,000 documents. In any configuration, OmniFind recognizes more than 200 file types and documents in more than 30 languages.
End-users should be equally pleased. Search results default to your enterprise index. But here's the important Yahoo connection: The same query automatically applies to a Yahoo Web search (plus images, video, audio, directory, local, or news). While the search interface doesn't offer any advanced settings, they likely won't be missed. For instance, I experienced the expected automatic spell correction and entered queries with wildcard characters. The only feature I missed was that my search term wasn't highlighted in results.
IBM also documents how to use the open-source REST APIs to embed search results into other applications.
Some may argue that IBM and Yahoo just surround the underlying open source Lucene indexing core with a nice interface -- and want to hook you into upgrading to the advanced IBM OmniFind Enterprise products (which start at $18,750). I believe this perception doesn't credit the significant work that obviously went into developing the finished Yahoo Edition, which adapts a lot of features from IBM's other OmniFind engines. And it discounts the important benefit these companies are providing with a solid, simple (and supported) search solution that runs on enterprises' existing hardware.
IBM OmniFind Yahoo Edition
Availability: Now
Pricing: Free download; optional enterprise support is $1,999 per server, per year.
Verdict: This entry-level enterprise search product eclipses the usability and delivers the highly relevant results of products costing thousands of dollars. Additionally, it integrates IBM enterprise search with Yahoo Internet results. Searching 500,000 documents per server (in 30 languages), plus providing easy administration, it's sure to find a home in many departmental and even larger enterprise search projects.
Posted by Mike Heck on December 13, 2006 12:10 PM
December 13, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Big Blue and Yahoo give away search
Has Google Mini met its match? : InfoWorld has looked at Google's search appliances in the past, and Test Center Contributing Analyst Mike Heck has liked what he's seen, from the nifty yellow casing down to the overall performance. Well, IBM and Yahoo are now giving Google a run for its search money, offering a free enterprise search tool, IBM OmniFind Yahoo Edition. Mike even got to take it for a spin, and he was really quite impressed. Google may very well need to retool its search boxes.
Advantage: Novell: InfoWorld Chief Technologist Tom Yager observes that as SCO's legal action flounders and the Microvell partnership blossoms, Novell holds the biggest advantage. Among other things, "Microsoft is handing 70,000 copies of a primary competitor's operating system to existing Windows customers, introducing Windows-only shops to the advantages of the heterogeneous enterprise."
How much is that robot in the Window? Are you harried Windows admin in need of an assistant, yet facing a budget crunch that makes it impossible to hire one? Well, perhaps you can program your own using Microsoft's new Robotics Studio software. IDG News Service reports that the application "includes programming tools intended to make it easier to write robot applications, and a runtime environment that allows them to be used and reused on different types of hardware."
Posted by Ted Samson on December 13, 2006 11:38 AM
December 13, 2006 | Comments: (0)
JBoss updates Web 2.0 framework
JBoss has updated its Web 2.0 application framework, JBoss Seam, the company announced on Wednesday.
The framework integrates SOA technologies such as AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), JavaServer Faces, Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) 3.0 and business process management. A standard programming model requiring less coding is featured for Web 2.0 development.
New in Seam 1.1 are enhancements for Web development and AJAX as well as more supported application servers. A new POJO (Plain Old Java Objects) model serves as an alternative to EJB3, letting developers use containers like Hibernate or Apache Tomcat.
Tooling for data-driven applications is offered, combining a data access framework built around Java Persistence and Hibernate. Integration with IceFaces and AJAX4jsf is featured for building rich client applications.
Atomic conversations support boosts object persistence. A new concurrency model, meanwhile, was built with AJAX in mind. AJAX clients require that a server cope with many asynchronous, concurrent requests, which taxes the database, JBoss said.
Seam 1.1 is in beta release now with general availability targeted for Friday. It also is part of the JBoss Application Server 5.0 beta release.
Seam 1.1 is accessible here.
Posted by Paul Krill on December 13, 2006 07:04 AM
December 13, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Getting a bead on Windows Server 2003 SP2
SP2 unwrapped: Oliver Rist plied some Microsoftie tongues with liquor and got a few details on the forthcoming Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2. According to Oliver, SP2 shouldn't be as much of an installation nightmare as SP1... in fact, Microsoft's "painless" label may be appropriate. We'll drink to that!
Free search for everyone: IBM and Yahoo have teamed up on a new, free enterprise search app. Contributing Editor Mike Heck's verdict, after putting it through its paces? It's a keeper. Read the rest of the review here.
Fa-la-la-la-unified-storage: Mario Apicella's wrapping up the year with the latest on unified storage, including an interesting Dell-Microsoft partnership. Get the whole story in this week's Storage Insider column.
Posted by Stephanie McLoughlin on December 13, 2006 06:00 AM
December 12, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Analysis: Networking vendors aim at cross-platform visibility
"Geek in Paradise" and Test Center Contributing Analyst Brian Chee is my go-to guy when I'm looking for expert insight on anything networking-related. Earlier today, I wrote about EMC's latest version of its Smarts Service Assurance Manager (SAM) and IP Availability Manager (IPAM). Among other things, the company touted the products' support for MPLS networks, as well as the implementation of higher security, such as SNMPv3.
I tapped Brian for his comments about the product announcement. Here's what he told me:
"Considering how few enterprises have widespread deployment of MPLS, this is an announcement aimed at trying to lure future buyers. It starts off sounding EMC is promising the world, but it has some key features that are most likely being driven by Department of Defense (DoD) requirements."
"Network General's NetVigil product has a small number of common features, but is going in a similar direction. The goal for this segment is to better tie together disparate IP resources and provide a way to correlate events in a cross-platform, cross-site manner. Too much is being missed due to the needle in a haystack effect and this and a few others in the product category are trying to be the glue that enterprises will adopt to provide that cross-platform correlation."
"We saw a glimpse in the SEM (security event management) shootout where one of the vendors showed off how a card-swipe was correlated with a remote VPN connection. By themselves, each event is legal, but together, they spell break-in."
"I think it's about time vendors start working towards multiplatform, multi-event correlations. The folks in the IETF have definitely made headway with a common XML replacement for SNMP. So while that bakes in the IETF ovens, it only makes sense to get a product to market with SNMP v3 to make the DoD happy, while taking a first stab at trying to aggregate the NOC."
Brian, by the way, is the founder and directors the Univ. of Hawaii School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology's Advanced Network Computing Laboratory. Whenever we do a large-scale networking test, you can bet that Brian and his lab are involved.
Posted by Ted Samson on December 12, 2006 08:51 PM
December 12, 2006 | Comments: (0)
EMC boost its network management Smarts
Aiming to equip network admins with deeper insight and more secure control over large-scale, complex networks, EMC this week announced Version 7.0 of its EMC Smarts Service Assurance Manager (SAM) and IP Availability Manager (IPAM).
Smarts SAM, an integral part of EMC's EMC Smarts management suite (picked up in 2004), integrates and correlates topology, events, and analysis from multiple network sources, delivering a real-time, end-to-end perspective on the IT environment and its health, according to EMC.
IPAM automates real-time, root-cause analysis of network connectivity layers, including NAS, by analyzing thousands of simultaneous events, according to the company.
Improvements to the products include enhancements aimed at highly secure networks. Among them is SNMPv3 authentication support for traps, "which is a key requirement for government agencies and managed service providers." This support gives users two layers of security, providing full encryption of packets as well as full encryption and authentication for polling and discovery, EMC says.
Also new is an IP Tagging feature, which helps admins get a handle on overlapping IP addresses in MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching ) and IP environments. Specifically, it can now tag and monitor multiple links with the same address, allowing it to deal with duplicate addresses across disparate domains - useful for companies with various business partners, for example.
Additionally, EMC has added a capability for isolating MPLS service down to the LSP (Label Switch Path) connection, which the company says can reduce the amount of time it takes to uncover the root cause of a network service problem.
Further, EMC has added SAN Mercury SiteScope support, as well as increased support for OSes, including VMware.
"One of the key success drivers of the EMC Smarts suite has always been its ability to automatically manage highly distributed, complex IT environments spanning a variety of domains," said Chris Gahagan, EMC’s senior vice president of resource management software. "[This] announcement takes this capability even further – better enabling customers to bridge management gaps to enhance reliability of their core business services, which are built atop of these complex IT infrastructures."
Pricing starts at $30,000 for the Express Pack, which includes Smarts SAM, IP-AM with a 50 device license, an SNMP Trap Adapter, SYSLOG, and one Global Console.
For more information about EMC Smarts, go here.
Posted by Ted Samson on December 12, 2006 02:18 PM
December 12, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Google open-sources Web toolkit
Google has made its Google Web Toolkit available via open source under an Apache 2.0 license, the company said on Tuesday.
The toolkit features a free development framework for writing AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) Web applications in Java. A release candidate for version 1.3 of the toolkit features debugging and a Java-to-JavaScript compiler.
Discussions on further development of the toolkit will take place in an open Google group, the company said. Notes from internal meetings on the toolkit will be posted as well.
Google Web Toolkit was launched in May. The company has used the toolkit to build products such as Google Checkout, for online shopping.
Posted by Paul Krill on December 12, 2006 01:57 PM
December 12, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Welcome to the test lab
Behind the curtain: Senior Contributing Editor Paul Venezia is wrapping up the year by offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse into his testing laboratory. Meet the servers, storage, and operating systems in Part One, and the racks, networking gear, and more in Part Two. Also, check out his "latest little bit of geekery" involving a Cisco IP phone, Asterisk, and VMware.
More holiday goodies: Check out the gift guide for gearheads slideshow and get all the details on some snazzy gadgets that could help finish off those gift-shopping duties -- or require some updates to your own wish list. (The HP Compaq nc6400 notebook with global wireless gets kudos, too.)
Posted by Stephanie McLoughlin on December 12, 2006 06:00 AM
December 11, 2006 | Comments: (0)
High Tower and PortAuthority demos coming Thursday
If you're coming here for the High Tower or PortAuthority screencasts, my sincere apologies. We expected to post them today, but they need one last wave of the magic wand and our magician won't be available until Wednesday. Please check back later in the week.
Posted by Doug Dineley on December 11, 2006 02:07 PM
December 11, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Review: Xandros 4.1 a viable Windows alternative
With the launch of Windows Vista, many companies are evaluating their upgrade options for existing PCs. Vista will run on most PCs manufactured in the last year or two, but will only run well on computers with a good graphics card and lots of RAM. Vista needs 512MB of RAM just to run, and 1 GB to run well.
Xandros wants to be your alternative to Windows Vista. It is a Linux distribution based on the Debian Sarge core, with an enhanced user interface and file manager. It can run on almost any Intel or AMD CPU with a clock of at least 450MHz. It can run in 128MB of RAM, and run well in 256MB. Enabling its new three-dimensional desktop effects requires specific graphics chipsets (which, remarkably, don't include NVidia), but these effects are not exactly a business requirement.
Xandros has gone to great lengths to make this Linux distribution look and feel familiar to Windows users. It has also gone to great lengths to achieve compatibility at many other levels: applications, disk and file formats, utility functions, and network protocols. It can even run many Windows applications, using CodeWeavers CrossOver Linux Standard. A new and welcome capability is the ability to write to NTFS partitions, making Xandros more viable than it has been in a dual-boot scenario with Windows.
Almost everything I tried worked, although not everything worked smoothly. About the only serious incompatibility that I found was in the Xandros VPN client: the only supported VPN protocol is PPTP, and not the more secure L2TP/IPSec. The VPN authentication methods are also limited; I was not able to connect to any of the VPNs to which I have access.
Xandros Professional Desktop 4.1
Cost: $99.99
Availability: Now
Verdict: Xandros is about 90% of the way towards providing a fully-functional alternative to Windows desktops. I can see companies with mixed Windows and Linux networks using it internally, especially for older computers that would not run Windows Vista well.
Posted by Martin Heller on December 11, 2006 11:24 AM
December 11, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Is Xen any match for VMware?
VMware a virtual success: By many, VMware is hailed as the king of server virtualization, and VMware Infrastructure 3 stands to extend the vendor's reign. Test Center Analyst Paul Venezia took an in-depth look at VI3 and found a host of impressive new features, like iSCSI support, plus a satisfying performance boost. Despite some rough edges and missing features such as 10-Gig support, VMware remains virtually excellent.
Xen and the art of server virtualization: Yes, VMware has long been synonymous with enterprise virtualization, but for some IT admins out there, the open-source virtualization project Xen was seen as a potentially low-cost alternative. Well, according to the aforementioned Paul Venezia's exclusive look at VirtualIron 3.1, Xen has come a long way in catching up with VMware in terms of features. VirtualIron doesn't have everything you might need, yet, but priced at just $499 per processor, it's certainly worth watching.
Open source is no silver bullet: There are some serious misconceptions out there about what it takes to develop an application successfully. Some people will argue that snazzy GUI tools will make a project a snap. Others advocate throwing more manpower at a project. And one of the biggest misconceptions is that tossing a failing software project to the open source community will miraculously turn it around and make it a success. Well, argues Open Enterprise columnist Neil McCallister: "The most important work in software development happens before a single line of code is written." If you don't have a decent design to begin with for your app dev project, you have a very tough road ahead of you.
Posted by Ted Samson on December 11, 2006 06:00 AM
December 08, 2006 | Comments: (0)
OpenLogic expands open source library
OpenLogic on Monday is announcing an upgrade to its OpenLogic Enterprise platform for deploying open source infrastructure.
Version 4.2 includes more than 200 open source products in a pre-certified library, up from 160 projects in the prior release. Among the projects added are the CruiseControl build automation tool; Subversion, for version control, and the WordPress blog tool. New versions of previously certified packages such as JBoss are featured as well.
Users of OpenLogic can pick and choose which products they want in their own stack.
Also featured in the upgrade is a Web-based management tool, OpenLogic Enterprise Manager, for updating and auditing. The tool ensures compliance with license terms and governance policies.
The 4.2 platform features APIs for integrating with existing infrastructure. A command line interface allows for scripting and automation of common installation, configuration and other tasks.
OpenLogic on Monday also is announcing a subset of the Enterprise product, called OpenLogic Enterprise Library Edition, featuring just the open source products but without the utilities featured in the Enterprise product. It is priced lower than OpenLogic Enterprise.
Prices of the two OpenLogic offerings vary based on configuration.
Posted by Paul Krill on December 8, 2006 04:35 PM
December 08, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Top 5 insider information leak prevention protectors
Call it data loss prevention, insider threat protection, information leak prevention, or whatever you like, a number of vendors have assembled entire suites of products aimed at preventing confidential information from slipping out of the enterprise via e-mail, IM, FTP, Web, and even USB stick.
These solutions have come a long way fast, they continue to evolve quickly, and more seem to arrive every day, but here's how things stand this Friday, December 8, 2006:
1. Vontu 5.0, Excellent [9.1]
2. Reconnex iGuard 2.1, Excellent [8.9]
3. Oakley Networks SureView 3.3, Excellent [8.8] and
3. PortAuthority 5.0, Excellent [8.8]
5. Tablus Content Alarm NW 4, Excellent, [8.7]
As you can see, this is a real horse race. Click the links to read the reviews. And if you come up with a label you think all the vendors should agree on, please let us know.
Posted by Doug Dineley on December 8, 2006 01:15 PM
December 08, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Tibco boards the ESB line
All aboard the Tibco Express: Test Center Analyst Andrew Binstock has been at the wheel of ESBs (enterprise service bus), so he knows what he's looking for as he travels the road toward SOA. In his latest test-drive of Tibco's BusinessWorks 5.3, he discovers an "elegant, well-thought-out ESB implementation with advanced performance features and an intuitive designer."
Coming soon: Novell vs. Apple? : Chief Technologist Tom Yager digs deep into the ongoing legal battles that pit SCO and Microsoft against IBM, Novell, and plenty of other players. One of his predictions: Novell is going to take back ownership of System V UNIX, a valuable piece of technology that stands to give the company a real edge in the IT industry -- and could transform the company into Apple's next top adversary.
Vista's security resumé: In case you've been on Saturn lately, you may have missed the news [video] that Microsoft finally released its newest OS to the business world. Redmond has made assurances that security was a priority in Vista, and according to Security Adviser Roger A. Grimes, the company delivered big-time. While he expects that the OS will eventually be hacked -- "anything super-popular gets hacked" -- he says doing the deed won't be easy.
Posted by Ted Samson on December 8, 2006 06:00 AM
December 07, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Wireless WANs and SMB storage
WWANs without worries: The lab folks in Hawaii have been busy with some big tests, but Brian Chee found the time to post some info about wireless WAN equipment, remote access, and the curious DIY project that turns a backpack into a mobile hotspot. Check out the Geeks in Paradise blog for more.
Smarter storage for SMBs: The week of an industry conference is always fertile ground for product announcements. HP and LSI Logic prepped for the Storage Decisions conference by unveiling a couple of products aimed at making networked storage more approachable for SMBs. What's the attraction? Mario Apicella's Storage Insider column lays out the details.
Posted by Stephanie McLoughlin on December 7, 2006 06:00 AM
December 06, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: AMD revs a powerful quad-core engine
Test driving AMD's 4-by-4: Chief Technologist Tom Yager shares his experiences with AMD's powerful new Quad FX, a dual socket, quad-core client platform that enables some serious "megatasking." "The FX-74 Quad FX platform running in a two-headed (two monitors) configuration genuinely obviates the need for a second machine," writes Yager. As for Intel, well, Yager concludes that AMD has placed itself of that adversary with this new technology.
Power of open Web architecture: Why, oh why, must switching e-mail clients be so burdensome? Test Center Lead Analyst shares an anecdote in which he helps a friend move from Outlook Express to Gmail. Creating a CSV file of contacts and moving them to Gmail is a snap. Moving her 15 distribution lists, however, proves less so, requiring capturing an HTTP transaction, doing some scripting, and leveraging an API called ibgmail. Perhaps not an ideal solution, or even a full one, "but the fact that it’s possible to discover and exploit implicit APIs in this way is a testament to the power and flexibility of the Web’s architectural style."
A Word of warning: Microsoft released a security advisory yesterday, warning of exploits for a previously unknown hole in various versions of Microsoft Word. Details were limited, indicating that "victims would have to open a malicious Word file with 'a malformed string,' that could then 'corrupt system memory in such a way that an attacker could execute arbitrary code,'" reports Paul Roberts. Stay tuned to Microsoft for forthcoming patch information.
Posted by Ted Samson on December 6, 2006 06:05 AM
December 05, 2006 | Comments: (0)
NetBeans developer tools released
Sun Microsystems and the NetBeans open source community will unveil NetBeans Visual Web Pack and the NetBeans C/C++ Development Pack on Wednesday.
Based on the Sun Java Studio Creator IDE, the Web pack offers a visual design time environment for developing Web applications. A Data Provider API is featured for binding to data sources. The pack also supports AJAX-enabled JavaServer Faces components.
The C/C++ pack, for C and C++ development projects, works with the NetBeans IDE and includes a makefile wizard. Language model features are enabled such as dynamic syntax highlighting, code completion, code folding and a class browser.
The C/C++ pack has been tested with GNU and Sun Studio compilers.
Posted by Paul Krill on December 5, 2006 09:01 PM
December 05, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Review: Twinhead Durabook built to last
I'm the kind of guy that tries to get the most out of everything he has. No matter if it's a computer or a lawnmower, I milk it for everything it's worth, sometimes long past its usefulness. This was especially true of my current faithful PIII notebook -- it still ran, so why spend money on a new one?
Well, not too long ago, I was given the opportunity to try out a Twinhead Durabook D14RA and quickly found myself wondering why I had not upgraded sooner. The Durabook I checked out had an AMD Turion 64 MT28 CPU, 1GB of RAM (max amount available), and an 80GB hard drive. The built-in 802.11 b/g WiFi adapter worked flawlessly in all situations as did the 10/100 physical network card.
While no "wide-screen," the 14.1 LCD is more than adequate for my needs in the lab or server room. The DVD-CDRW combo drive is a nice addition as are the 2 USB 2.0 ports. Battery life averaged around 3 hours -- not the best available but not terrible.
As someone who always ends up cabled up to a router or other device, I love that the Durabook comes with a serial port. So many of the notebooks on the market don't have this one little luxury that makes my (and other sys admins) life so much easier. It always bugged me that I needed to carry a USB-to-serial converter just to log in to a router.
I'd be remiss if I didn't give kudos to the feature that gives the Durabook its name: its durability. Unlike many other notebooks, the Durabook's case is made of magnesium alloy, up to 20 times stronger than ABS plastic (per Twinhead's claims - I wasn't about to intentionally trash the unit) and meets military 810F specifications. It also comes with anti-shock protection for the hard drive and the LCD screen, both of which can suffer irreparable damage if dropped. The spill-resistant keyboard is a nice touch, too.
I have to say that the Durabook D14RA turned out to be a great notebook in all aspects. Performance with Windows XP Pro was more than adequate, networking worked without a hitch and it had all the creature comforts like DVD-CDRW, USB 2.0 and a 9-pin serial port. Sorry old notebook, looks like you've been replaced.
Twinhead D14RA Durabook
Cost: $999
Verdict: Excellent performance wrapped in a chassis made to be abused. The spill-resistant keyboard keeps liquids from damaging internal electronics and the anti-shock system for the LCD and hard drive keep the delicate devices humming. All of the necessary elements are included, like USB 2.0, DVD-CDRW drive, a serial port, 802.11 b/g WiFi and 10/00 Mbps networking, stereo sound and a built in 56k modem.
Posted by Keith Schultz on December 5, 2006 02:48 PM
December 05, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Teamprise advances developer collaboration
Teamprise is shipping version 2.0 of the Teamprise Client Suite, which enables access to Microsoft's developer collaboration server from Java, Macintosh and Unix systems.
Developers can use the server, called Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server, for capabilities such as item tracking. It is accessible from the Eclipse IDE. Also featured in version 2.0 are a range of source control operations in Team Foundation Server such as Branch and Merge, Label and Shelve and Unshelve.
A Team Explorer view provides access to documents and reports.
An online demonstration of Teamprise 2.0 is available here. The product costs $499.
Posted by Paul Krill on December 5, 2006 12:36 PM
December 05, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Realities of SaaS
Reality check for SaaS?: The software as a service model seems to be slowly but surely steaming ahead; according to the Open Sources blogger Matt Asay, SaaS and open source are two steps toward a new enterprise software market focused on "simplicity and usability." On the other hand, the broad "set it and forget it" style claims of some SaaS vendors are proving to be less than true as more IT groups wrestle with SaaS admin duties. Ephraim Schwartz finds that SaaS management is often the sticking point, so it opens up a window for vendors to carve out a new niche of "Webtop" tools.
For those on the "nice" list: Sean McCown put together a handy-dandy gift guide for the database administrators in your life, from keyboard flashlights to a book suggestion. Post your suggestions for other DBA-friendly gifts to the Database Underground blog, and keep your eye on our Special Reports page for a forthcoming gift guide for other techies on your list.
Architecturally speaking: Is your enterprise's architecture up to snuff? If not, could it be that your architect is stuck in a rut? Dave Linthicum has six questions to ask that will help you decide if it's time for a change in approach or personnel.
Posted by Stephanie McLoughlin on December 5, 2006 10:09 AM
December 04, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Sun's "octo"-ron server
Eight is great: While some game enthusiasts out there were stoked to get their hands on the new power-packed Sony PlayStation, Analyst Paul Venezia got an exclusive look at a more powerful and impressive piece of hardware: the Sun Fire x4600 M2 octo-Opteron server. Yes, "octo," as in eight AMD Opteron dual-core CPUs. Overall, Venezia concludes that Sun engineered an excellent piece of machinery. (For the sake of comparison, check out the top five servers we looked at this year -- before reviewing the x4600.)
The art of search: Why are some people more skilled at googling than others? Test Center Lead Analyst Jon Udell asserts that innate talent plays a part, but "so does learned skill. What the learnable component of effective search may be, though, is very unclear." Jon's now on a quest to discover just what he's learned from his own search expedition.
Speaking of search ...: We usually stick to teasing our on content, but I can't resist pointing to a gem of an article in Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle: interviews with the Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page from 1999.
Some excerpts of interest:
Interviewer: How did you get the name Google?
Brin: We were thinking about very large numbers ... so we came up with the term "googol" which is the mathematical term for 10 to the hundredth (power). The correct spelling was g-o-o-g-o-l and I'm not sure that we realized that we had made a spelling error. But that was taken, anyway. There was this guy who'd already registered Googol.com, and I tried to buy it from him, but he was fond of it. So we went with Google.
Interviewer: Do you see yourself as a competitor of Yahoo?
Brin: No.
Interviewer: No?
Brin: Well not any more than we're a competitor for say Upside magazine -- to the extent that people read things on our Web sites.
Interviewer: Will you be anything besides a search engine?
Brin: No, with the exception of the kinds of things I mentioned, like navigation aids and things like that. Although we're open to develop across different axes of search engines or portals.
Posted by Ted Samson on December 4, 2006 11:19 AM
December 04, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Preview: FASTRadar 8.1 makes an EIS modern
Fast Search & Transfer's new version 8.1 of FAST Radar sells itself as BI for broad-based users. In reality, it's a lot more than that, almost a full-fledged Executive Information System (EIS) or what some newbies call a "dashboard" tool.
The company is aiming this BI tool squarely at the mid-market, trying to deliver a self-service model for non-analysts to build gauges, widgets and other visual indicators to track indicators in real-time or at intervals. From the demo I got, the building routines seem approachable for an intelligent user, and the default end products come out looking like eye candy.
Previously known as Corporate Radar, FAST Radar presents data from back-end databases: Oracle, MySQL, and SQL Server. A few of the aspects that make it uncommon are in the data store. For example, the system uses a ROLAP model.
And unlike most BI solutions that only broadcast data, not receive it, FAST Radar supports users posting updates and comments back to the data store through "writebacks." The company says IT can structure this process by designing workflows to handle control of updates. For organizations striving to apply data more broadly and quickly, it's well worth a look.
FAST Radar 8.1
Cost: $40,000 for the server application and five end-users
Platforms: FAST Radar's Application Server runs on Windows 2003, Windows 2000 or Windows NT and requires IIS 5.0 or greater. Client runs inside standard browser windows with Javascript
Verdict: FAST Radar is a promising BI offering, with its strength being increasing user interaction both through the self-service dashboard model and through the writeback ability. If your organization is looking for ways to apply data more broadly and quickly, FAST is worth your consideration.
Posted by Jeff Angus on December 4, 2006 07:00 AM
December 01, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Expert: AJAX isn't the security problem
We at InfoWorld are pretty excited about AJAX, which is why we've been looking at both the technology and specific tools for quite some time. (Our most recent roundup of tools came out just this week, in fact.)
But as with any relatively new technology, it's important to keep security in mind. (Actually, that case can be made for just about any technology, can't it?)
AJAX has gotten a bad rap by some experts and techno-pundits as being potentially insecure. For example, Billy Hoffman, lead risk researcher at SPI Dynamics said at AJAXWorld Conference and Expo last month that AJAX and Java presented a litany of potential security issues with JavaScript and AJAX, including the use of user-supplied content, cross-site scripting and rapid application development.
Presenting a counter to that argument is Jeremiah Grossman, founder and CTO of WhiteHat Security. Earlier this month, Grossman published an article titled "Myth-Busting AJAX (In)security." In it, he argues that AJAX isn't in and of itself a security risk:
"AJAX technology makes website interactivity smoother and more responsive. That’s it. Nothing changes on the Web server, where security is supposed to reside. If that’s the case, then what is everyone talking about? Word on the cyber-street is that AJAX is the harbinger of larger attack surfaces, increased complexity, fake requests, denial of service, deadly cross-site scripting (XSS), reliance on client-side security, and more. In reality, these issues existed well before AJAX. And, the recommended security best practices remain unchanged."
He makes some interesting points in his article. Developers and IT security folks: I suggest you check out his article.
What do you think? Is AJAX in and of itself a security risk?
Posted by Ted Samson on December 1, 2006 01:02 PM
December 01, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Sun's x86 servers are red hot, and I mean that in a good way. Our list of the top five scorers among the servers reviewed in 2006 includes two from Sun, both from the Opteron-based "Galaxy" series, and they're #1 and #2. HP, Dell, and IBM, watch your backs.
Sun Fire X4600 M2 Excellent [8.9] Sun Fire X4200 Excellent [8.7] Dell PowerEdge 2950 Very Good [8.5] IBM System x3550 Very Good [8.4] HP ProLiant DL380 G4 Very Good [8.2]
Just follow the links to our reviews.
Posted by Doug Dineley on December 1, 2006 12:06 PM
December 01, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: PortAuthority 5.0 protects private information
Data-leak stopper: Sensitive information has an unfortunate habit of slipping out of companies, either by accident or with intent. Fortunately, products such as PortAuthority 5.0 are out there to plug those leaks. Analyst Mike Heck tested Version 4.0 earlier this year, and in his exclusive look at v5.0, he discovered marked improvements, including even better security; a simpler Web UI; 150 pre-built policies that apply to data at rest, in motion, and in use; and more power, reliable performance.
Virtual concerns: Virtualization holds so much promise, notes Security Adviser Roger A. Grimes, but -- as noted previously by InfoWorld Chief Technologist Tom Yager -- it opens the door to some new security threats. Among them, admins are wont to treat virtual machines a bit recklessly and not take necessary security safeguards to protect them. Also, if attackers break out of a VM into the host, they can immediately impact every other supported host on the server. That's just for starters. Check out his column for more.
Tiptoeing toward terabits: Storage guru Mario Apicella shares news from Fujitsu that we may soon see some impressively fat hybrid disk drives of the terabits-per-inch persuasion. Specifically, "Fujitsu is the making of a multi-layered optical element, essentially a new recording surface to be used with thermal assisted magnetic recording." What does that mean, exactly? Mario explains it all.
Posted by Ted Samson on December 1, 2006 06:00 AM