Test Center Daily | InfoWorld Staff | September 2007

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September 2007

September 27, 2007 | Comments: (0)

OpenLogic is now offering free Web access to its certified library of open source software.

With the launch of OpenLogic Exchange (OLEX) this week, the company is providing a Web site where companies can find and download enterprise-ready open source packages. The site is designed for enterprises that want to use open source software but without having to comb through massive repositories to find a short list of open source products.

More than 300 open source software packages are accessible on OLEX. OpenLogic is selling support and indemnification services for software packages available on OLEX.

Previously, OpenLogic limited access to its library to OpenLogic customers.

OpenLogic features a 42-point certification process for applications in the library. A knowledge base for each package features information on certification scores as well as licenses and dependencies between open source packages. Also, OLEX features source and binary downloads for Linux, Solaris and Windows.

Posted by Paul Krill on September 27, 2007 03:54 PM

September 27, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: Don't pass the buck

Does a brake shop say that you don't need new brakes? Architectural device from vendors turns out to be risky business, as David Linthicum points out in his latest blog on Vendor Designed Architecture. Just the phrase makes me shudder. It's comfy, David points out, to pass the buck to vendors who are only too happy to solve your problems for you. It's also expensive, and big surprise, vendors don't always have your business interests in mind when they lend a hand. I say, this is what happens when you hire inexperienced IT staff or "streamline" technical management. Lousy decisions based on vendor guidance end up costing more than the salary for an employee paid to make good decisions.

Uncle Sam is enforcing carbon limits. Uncle Sam Walton, that is. Sustainable IT blogger Ted Samson describes a Wal-Mart initiative to push environmental responsibility down to its suppliers. Wal-Mart, the 800-pound gorilla of retailing with a lackluster pedigree of leadership in matters related to the public good, put key suppliers on notice that it's tallying and disclosing their environmental impact. When America's go-to outlet for $6 DVDs and Dustbusters steps up to do what the politically hamstrung EPA won't do, it sets an example for all corporations: What evil your suppliers and subcontractors do is your responsibility.

You just can't refuse those automatic Windows updates. Literally. Automatic software updates are grand, but vendors are getting sloppy about disclosing what's in them. Apple is burying fresh firmware for iPhone inside iTunes updates, but Microsoft does Apple one better with its program to ship "silent updates" for Windows to users who have turned automatic updates off. In a story from sister publication Computerworld, we learn that these secret updates block efforts to recover Windows XP client systems using Microsoft's own mechanism of non-destructive reinstallation. Thanks, guys. Perhaps IT needs to consult with pirates about tattletale firewalls that thwart systems' efforts to phone home without permission. Short of this, don't let updates come to you. Go get them, and find out what's in them.

Posted by Tom Yager on September 27, 2007 11:03 AM

September 26, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: What not to do with backups - Got Macs?

Label me moron? I can't resist taking a shot at the latest "Off The Record" story where the anonymous (keep it that way, pal) writer narrates of a trouble with Monday backups. What put me off is not as much that person using scotch tape to keep tape labels in place, although that warranted the "Label me moron" award from one of the comments.

What calls for immediate expulsion from the IT community, is that this individual responds to a tape full message during a Monday backup starting to delete files. Now that's more than moronic, that's dangerous behavior, like playing Russian roulette with company data, that apparently went on for a year or so. Read the full story and feel free to comment.

Got Macs? For you Mac lovers out there David Marshall has some interesting news on how to use desktop virtualizatiom to reach those "can't do without" Linux or Windows apps.

If more Mac-ego boost is Mac-needed, Tom Yager is unveiling another episode of his friend's (and his own) journey toward Mac-perfection. Well, sort of an ego boost, considering that the sub-title is: "Mac Sense and Nonsense", nevertheless always informative and entertaining.

Posted by Mario Apicella on September 26, 2007 08:48 AM

September 25, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: Virtually Productive

The wheels on the I.T. model go round and round, and they're turning back around to centrally-managed, fully-hosted environments. Manageability, security, and economics all play into the push for a re-imagined virtual data center.

Virtual Desktops: Randall Kennedy has looked at three of the latest desktop as a service offerings and finds that we're farther down the road to a virtual Shangri-la than you might think. The three products he tested, from Microsoft, Symantec, and Thinstall, are aimed at an enterprise rather than a service provider, but each could provide a starting point if you're ready to begin stepping into a virtual future.

VMWare Extended: Speaking of virtualization, David Marshall has posted a new podcast on Veeam and Vizioncore, two products that add to VMWare's already impressive virtual server capabilities.

Demand Meets Capacity: Finally Ted Samson addressed a serious economic question in Sustainable IT: if processors keep adding cores, won't customers buy fewer processors? The answer is no--customers will find ways to use as much processing power as the chip manufacturers can provide. That simple (and not surprising) fact is a bit reason why providing that processing power in as ecologically-friendly packaging as possible makes sense to everyone's bottom line.

Posted by Curt Franklin on September 25, 2007 11:58 AM

September 24, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Sun bolsters Solaris Developer Edition

Sun Microsystems is announcing Monday new support subscriptions and enhanced graphical user interfaces for its Solaris Express developer Edition, as part of version 9/07.

The changes are intended to make it easier to install and use the product.

"At zero acquisition cost, and featuring easy installation on most x86 computers, Solaris Express Developer Edition is the modern, integrated platform for developing Solaris applications," said Marc Hamilton, vice president of Solaris Marketing for Sun Microsystems, in a statement released by the company.

"With the new installer, we're offering developers a significantly streamlined installation experience. The new service offering extends the value of that offering by now including install/configuration assistance for Solaris Express Developer Edition, just as we do for Solaris 10."

Also new is D-Light, a GUI front end tool for the Solaris dynamic tracing capability, known as DTrace, which measures system level performance.

Also, customers can get installation and configuration support for Solaris Express Developer Edition and Solaris 10 n a single subscription, at the Basic level of support for Solaris subscriptions with no additional cost.

An improved development environment for laptops n the product features wireless drivers and support for Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology, which provides a power management infrastructure.

Solaris Express Developer Edition is downloadable here.

Posted by Paul Krill on September 24, 2007 06:00 AM

September 24, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: Let the virtualization begin

Virtualization and the City: Greetings from New York! Wish you were here -- especially if you're organization is contemplating adopting virtualization to get more bang from your servers and platforms. But if you weren't able to make it out here, fear not: We've got plenty of coverage on InfoWorld.com, including five case studies plus a spiffy round up of virtual desktop solutions.

What's your network security IQ? School's in session across the country. You may not be a student, but that doesn't mean you can't test your knowledge on weighty subjects such as, oh, network security. So put your books under your desk and give our Network Security IQ Test a try. No No. 2 pencils required. If you're hungry for another challenge when you're done, give our Geek IQ Test a go.

Know thy carbon footprint: As InfoWorld's "go-to green guy," I was interested to learn about Sun's effort to help organizations measure their greenhouse gas emissions. Today the company has launched an online community called OpenEco.org where companies will find tools for measuring and tracking their GHG emissions, as well as ways to compare their emissions to those of other companies. There's also a forum component through which participants can swap ideas.

Posted by Ted Samson on September 24, 2007 05:01 AM

September 20, 2007 | Comments: (0)

BluePhoenix assists with Cobol migrations

BluePhoenix Solutions this week announced a solution for migrating mainframe customers from outdated or unsupported versions of Cobol to Cobol Language Environment (LE).

Older Cobol compilers are no longer supported for DB2 V8 and CICS TS V3.1, BluePhoenix said. Only the Cobol LE runtime is supported for these environments. DB2 V8 only supports Enterprise Cobol V3.4 and starting with CICS TS V3.1, transactions compiled with OS/VS Cobol or earlier must be converted and re-compiled to an LE environment.

With IBM's withdrawal of support for older Cobol versions, mainframe customers must migrate to LE environments to receive full support for mission-critical systems and implement new technologies and architectures such as SOA, BluePhoenix said.

"Mainframe customers are facing a major challenge with IBM's withdrawal of support for older versions of COBOL," said Arik Kilman, CEO of BluePhoenix Solutions, in a statement released by the company. "Especially now, as SOA projects continue to proliferate, mainframe customers are looking for ways to leverage their existing DB2 and CICS application components as reusable resources in SOA environments. Our enhanced solution provides an excellent means for these customers to rapidly and safely migrate their existing systems to LE conforming environments upon which they can build for the future."

The Blue Phoenix offering features a service that identifies, upgrades and recompiles non-LE-compliant modules. Source code and executables are analyzed. A report is provided on code and modules that need to be modified. The BluePhoenix Cobol LE enabler tool modifies selected source code, compiles impacted modules and promotes development of cost-effective test plans before migrating the LE code.

IBM declined to comment on the BluePhoenix announcement.

Posted by Paul Krill on September 20, 2007 02:41 PM

September 20, 2007 | Comments: (0)

TC Tracker: Lights on (we hope) on data protection

Progress with data protection
Mike Heck takes for a ride Vontu version 7 and finds significant improvements over previous versions. If the name Vontu doesn't ring a bell, think of a modular suite of applications to help corporations preventing disclosure of sensitive data. Locking the door that lets data flow to external devices is a feature still to come, but

Vontu 7 is a near-total solution for guarding confidential customer and company information

, Mike says.

Someone didn't get the memo Seems to be the only logical explanation for some disturbing data points reported by our Ted Samson in the latest Sustainable IT. Would you believe that many companies are only six months away from exhausting the resources of their data center? Well these are the smart ones, others ran into a wall without any anticipation. Chilling report, but not to miss.

Posted by Mario Apicella on September 20, 2007 11:49 AM

September 18, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: Keeping it Green

The Green Scene: Yesterday, the Daily pointed you to 7 Reasons Your Software is So Slow. Proving that we read our own stuff, Ted Samson has looked at the environmental impact of slow apps in his Sustainable IT column. The longer we're at this business of information processes, the harder it becomes to justify putting up with poor performance from any process or system.

Bad Guys Get Better: It would be really nice if the information thieves were really stupid, or just very bad at what they do. Unfortunately, some of them are quite good, and they're changing malware behavior to make their exploits more effective. Matt Hines takes an in-depth look at one of the new trends over in the Zero Day security blog.

More App News: IBM is taking aim at Microsoft Office with Lotus Symphony products -- a word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation program designed to compete with Word, Excel, and Powerpoint at a price point that will be pretty difficult to under-cut. Savio Rodrigues looks at the possible implications of the move in Open Sources.

Posted by Curt Franklin on September 18, 2007 11:58 AM

September 17, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: All aboard the Adaptec SAN that can

Small format, big features: Senior Test Center Analyst Mario Apicella got yet another exclusive look at a shnazzy, features-packed pieces of entry-level storage hardware, this time Adaptec's Snap Server 720i. The machine "combines good administration tools, easy iSCSI connectivity, tight integration with Windows, a mirroring capability that larger arrays will envy, and scalability that should match even the fastest growing repositories," writes Mario.

7 reasons your software is slow: If you're like me, you don't like to wait, and high on my list of pet peeves is waiting for a slow application to respond so I can get on with my work. But why, oh why, are so many apps out there such slow performers? Contributor Neil McCallister delivers not one but seven reasons, ranging from code bloat to security sapping system performance.

Posted by Ted Samson on September 17, 2007 11:57 AM

September 17, 2007 | Comments: (0)

StrikeIron, IBM partner on enterprise mashups

StrikeIron and IBM are partnering to deliver more than 100 data services from StrikeIron to IBM's enterprise mashup maker, QEDWiki,

Also, StrikeIron has developed seven widgets allowing users to drag and drop data directly onto the mashup maker, for users to leverage Web 2.0 and SOA, StrikeIron said.

Mashups are quickly-developed new applications pieced together from parts of other applications. To build enterprise mashups, users need data sources and the StrikeIron-IBM parternship provides access to business services such as business intelligence, address verification, e-mail verification, currency rates and more.

QEDWiki is a browser-based assembly canvas to build mashups. Web users and developers gain a wiki foundation with a single framework for hosting and developing a range of Web 2.0 applications.

StrikeIron is publishing seven data access widgets for public use on IBM's alphaWorks Web 2.0 content repository server and feed generator, called Mashup Hub. Widgets include:

* D&B (Dun and Bradstreet) Business Prospect, providing information on business prospects.
* Global SMS (Short Message Service), for communication to contacts on mobile phones via text messaging.
* Reverse Phone Residential Intel, providing address information in conjunction with any residential phone number.
* Reverse Phone Business Intel, providing address information connected with a business phone number.
* Sales and use Tax Rates Complete, offering tax data for shopping cart applications.
* US Address Verification, to improve deliverability and save on shipping costs.

StrikeIron Web services also are available via the IBM SOA Business Catalog.

Posted by Paul Krill on September 17, 2007 10:44 AM

September 14, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: Barcelona seems nice, this time of year...

Weather in Barcelona: Turns out the climate in Barcelona is pretty much the same as that in Hammer's Rev F, according to AMD. Ted Samson has taken a close look at Barcelona from an energy perspective, and the results are exciting if you want top performance that won't lead to immediate ice-cap melting. In further Barcelona news, Tom Yager has been comparing the AMD and Intel processors, and he's reaching conclusions that will matter to you if new servers are in your future.

Building a better Internet: There's a lot to like about the Internet as it stands: information is widely available, you can work from pretty much anywhere, and it's become much, much easier to follow your favorite sports team. With all that, there are still some things that could be better, and most of them have to do with security. Roger Grimes has been thinking about the needs of the next Internet, and he has ideas that could make things much better--and that you could use today to make significant parts of your network applications more secure.

Virtual systems, real event: Our third Virtualization Executive Forum is coming to New York City on September 24 and 25, and this one will be the broadest and deepest yet. Our theme is, "Mastering virtualization from the datacenter to the desktop," and we're taking it seriously. We'll have sterling keynotes from Burton Group analyst Chris Wolf and USi CTO Toby Ford, who is pushing virtualization as far as it can go. We've got more case studies than ever before -- three cases studies apiece to be presented in sessions on server virtualization, desktop virtualization, application virtualization, storage virtualization, and file system virtualization. And Deep Ender Paul Venezia's technical track on server virtualization is back, with sessions on planning, p2V migration, monitoring and management, and scaling and DR. We're aiming to make the tech track as interactive as possible; feed the discussion, and get Paul's panels of experts working on your problem by submitting it to State Your Case. See you in New York!

Posted by Doug Dineley on September 14, 2007 08:52 AM

September 13, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Koders assists with code search

Koders released this week Koders Pro Edition, for individuals and teams to search private code bases.

Koders Pro Edition lets developers find, reuse and share source code on their computers and in networked version control systems. Development teams get access to existing code assets and visibility into distributed code repositories, Koders said.

Once deployed, Koders Pro can be shared using email or instant messaging.

Specifically, developers can search multiple version control systems from Eclipse, Visual Studio or a Web browser and generate source code metrics across repositories. Opportunities for reuse can be identified through reporting and analysis.

Featured in Koders Pro are APIs and Web services to integrate with existing application lifecycle management tools and enterprise content search products, such as Google appliances and Microsoft SharePoint. Koders Pro is preconfigured to index CVS (Concurrent Versions System) and Subversion as well as code in a file system.

After a 30-day trial period, Koders Pro users can upgrade to annual support subscriptions, priced at $99 per year. The product is available for download by clicking here.

Posted by Paul Krill on September 13, 2007 04:42 PM

September 12, 2007 | Comments: (0)

JBoss touts AJAX in RichFaces developer platform

JBoss.org is releasing Thursday JBoss RichFaces 3.1, an upgrade to the company's JavaServer Faces (JSF) component library boasting AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) capabilities.

JSF provides capabilities for building user interfaces for JavaServer applications. Version 3.1 of RichFaces supports AJAX through JBoss Ajax4jsf, an AJAX framework. With this inclusion, developers do not need to write JavaScript to gain AJAX functionality, JBoss said.

RichFaces and Ajax4jsf were contributed to JBoss.org by Exadel; the projects have been merged. Also featured in RichFaces 3.1 is integration with the JBoss Seam application framework for Web 2.0. This enhances the RichFaces user experience by simplifying set up and "plumbing code," JBoss said. State and concurrency management are provided for AJAX.

"With RichFaces, we're providing a powerful and simple way for developers to build robust AJAX and Web 2.0 applications while leveraging the power of Java EE," said Gavin King, lead architect at JBoss owner Red Hat, in a statement released by the company. "Version 3.1 marks an important milestone for RichFaces. We will continue to build upon this foundation with more components and features to make developers more productive in their Web 2.0 development projects."

Also included in version 3.1 is a rich calendar component, for inclusion of an AJAX calendar component in Web applications.

RichFaces is licensed under the Lesser GNU Public License. RichFaces 3.1 will be available as a technology preview in the upcoming Red Hat Developer Studio Release. It also will be integrated into the JBoss Enterprise Platform.

RichFaces currently is available as a community release.

Posted by Paul Krill on September 12, 2007 03:24 PM

September 12, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: Taking the north bridge to Redmond

Project Server 2007: Installing it is a project in itself. The Brian Chee - Oliver Rist duo tackles quite a big job with the review of Microsoft Project Server 2007.

If you ever thought that the folks in Redmond sometimes over-analyze and over-program their solutions, this a review you shouldn't miss. Be sure to allow plenty of time, because three pages were barely enough for our duo to start scratching the surface of this software behemoth and to show how it fits in the Microsoft software galaxy.

What's in your socket? If what processors keep your servers running is the last of your concerns, this week's Ahead of the Curve is not for you. Why would you want to know what makes the latest Intel CPU more power efficient? Why should you be interested in learning why north bridge congestions are bad news? Well, read Tom Yager's column for answers, and find out WHY you should be concerned.

Posted by Mario Apicella on September 12, 2007 08:45 AM

September 12, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Amazon Web Services seeks start-ups

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is launching Wednesday the Amazon Web Services Start-Up Challenge, a contest in which start-up ventures leveraging Amazon's in-the-cloud services compete based on originality and promise.

Contestants also will be evaluated on the degree to which the business leverages pay-as-you-go technology solutions offered by AWS. The contest is for entrepreneurs and software developers, with the winner to receive $50,000 in cash, $50,000 in AWS credits, mentoring sessions and an investment offer from Amazon.com. Four second-place winners will receive $5,000 in AWS credits.

AWS provides businesses access to services based on Amazon technology infrastructure, including Amazon Simple Storage Service and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, which enable businesses to scale to the level of major Internet players without having to provide their own infrastructure, AWS said. Web services technology such as SOAP is used.

"We provide a suite of infrastructure services like storage in the cloud and compute capacity in the cloud enabling developers and startups to build their businesses without worrying about a lot of the back-end infrastructure," said Adam Selipsky, vice president of product development and developer relations at AWS.

More about the contest can be found on this Web page. Entries are due by October 28, with winners to be announced in December.

Amazon also is producing its Startup Project, which is a traveling seminar to bring hundreds of startups and venture capitalists together to hear about what is happening at AWS, Selipsky said.

Participants in the Startup Project have included companies such as Blingee, which boosts online presence for MySpace users. Another AWS customer has been SmugMug, a photo-sharing and photo management site.

Posted by Paul Krill on September 12, 2007 08:38 AM

September 11, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: Speedy Storage

Partnerships, confusing acronyms (or, at least, confusing usage), and high-speed disk arrays get the day started here in the InfoWorld Test Center.

Entry-level Speed: If you've been looking for a reason to get into the network-attached storage game, NetApp may have the perfect reason to jump. Mario Apicella looks at the new FAS2020 and FAS2050 and finds them high-performance kings of entry-level NAS, with prices that might leave your CIO with a big gulp at the outset. If speed and management matter, though, the gulp will go away as the performance of the boxes wins fans from users who have to deal with power-hungry applications.

Partnerships from...: Over in Open Sources, Brad Shimmin is talking about the wild and wonderful world of technology alliances in the open source universe. He says we should get used to friends and enemies ending up in strategic alliances--and that it all might just be good for us.

SOA far, so Microsoft: Dave Rosenberg has been studying the latest Microsoft press release on SOA, and says that an acronym is not a technology--at least, when it comes to closed technology versus architectural advantage.

Posted by Curt Franklin on September 11, 2007 09:42 AM

September 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: Visiting Barcelona

AMD's quad squad: After months of anticipation and delays, AMD has finally unveiled Barcelona, its innovative quad-core processor. Just what will Barcelona mean for the enterprise? Will it be worth the wait? Over the next week (and beyond), InfoWorld Chief Technologist Tom Yager will share his insights based on the information on which he's been sitting for months, as well as his hands-on experience with the chip.

It's a storage world after all: Senior Test Center Analyst Mario Apicella has been busy of late putting some storage gear through its paces. First, he got an exclusive look at NetApp's newly unveiled crown prince of entry-level storage arrays, the FAS2020. He finds to be an impressively high-capacity, high-performance solution, boasting a "rich portfolio of applications, rock-solid reliability, plenty of bandwidth to connect FC and Ethernet networks, and an abundance of management tools."

Second, Mario got to kick the tires on Dell's MD3000i iSCSI array, which he says "promises more deployment flexibility and easier sharing across multiple servers than the MD3000, its direct-attached sibling." Though hindered by the moment by lack of available SATA drives, it's a strong competitor, delivering good management and reliability.

Posted by Ted Samson on September 10, 2007 02:21 PM

September 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)

CollabNet 5.0 ALM offered

CollabNet on Monday is announcing availability of its CollabNet Enterprise Edition 5.0 application lifecycle management platform.

The platform leverages tools such as the Eclipse IDE, software configuration management and testing platforms, which are available to internal or external project members. With version 5.0, Web 2.0 features and structured collaboration tools such as e-mail, discussion forums and Wikis have been adapted for the software development process, CollabNet said.

Features of version 5.0 include:

* ALM templates, with an enhanced version of the CollabNet Baseline Process template allowing project teams to get started more quickly in ALM.

• Subversion reporting, for code management.

• Project-level Wiki, for collaboration on project content.

• Online discussion services, with integrated communication capabilities including e-mail, mailing lists and discussion forums.

• Web services APIs, to integrate CollabNet with other solutions at the administration level.

Posted by Paul Krill on September 10, 2007 06:07 AM

September 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Serena readies mashup exchange

Serena on Monday is announcing a mashup exchange, featuring an online catalog of pre-packaged mashup applications.

The Serena Mashup Exchange features mashups that can be used as is or with the company's Mashup Composer, which can modify them.

The exchange is part of Serena's Business Mashups announcement, featuring an on-demand service for deploying mashups. With the tools being unveiled, business users can deploy "Business Mashups" for everyday use, Serena said.

Content, services, workflow and other application building blocks can be combined in these mashups. Geared for specific business needs, the mashups can be deployed on IT-managed servers or on Serena's on-demand servers.

In addition to the online exchange, components of Serena Business Mashups include:

* Serena Mashup Composer, for visually composing mashups. It is designed to look and work like an Office 2007 application.
* Serena Mashup Server, handling the technical execution of mashups including SOA-based orchestrations and BPEL processes. Mashup Server will be available as an on-demand server in early-2008, with a beta program set for this year.

Posted by Paul Krill on September 10, 2007 06:00 AM

September 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)

WPF reference app offered

Infragistics plans to release Monday a reference application for using Microsoft's Windows Presentation Framework (WPF). The company is partnering with Amazon and Microsoft in this endeavor.

WPF focuses on visual effects. Reference applications and guidance on WPF are few and far between, said Andrew Flick, product manager for rich clients at Infragistics. The reference application, called Tangerine, features a storefront browser for searching on Amazon, featuring use of Amazon Web services.

WPF is about user experience, Flick said. With the reference application, developers can see how it works.

"It gives you the ability to say, OK, this is how I would use the different features of WPF and you take that knowledge and plug it into your existing environment," said Flick.

The reference application, which leverages Infragistics NetAdvantage for WPF, is downloadable on Monday at this Web site.

Posted by Paul Krill on September 10, 2007 05:00 AM

September 06, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Adobe touts Flash streaming

Adobe Systems on Thursday unveiled features planned for the upcoming Adobe Flash Media Server 3 release.

Due in the first quarter of 2008, the upcoming release will offer traditional streaming media capabilities and an environment for building and delivering interactive social media applications. Performance will double and industry-standard H.264 video codec backing is included along with AAC+ audio codec support. A new encrypted protocol will protect streamed content.

Adobe on Thursday also announced:

* The Cisco Content Delivery System will be the first system to support Adobe Flash streaming capabilities. Cisco's service will be able to deliver Adobe Flash Player capabilities to PCs and TVs via Adobe Flash streaming.

* With the unveiling of Adobe Audition 3 software, audio professionals including sound designers, recording and mastering engineers and musicians, can develop music and radio spots and restore imperfect recordings. New features include VSTi (Virtual Studio Technology) virtual instrument support with MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) piano roll, enhanced spectral editing options, fast fade and crossfade controls and advanced multi-core processor support.

Posted by Paul Krill on September 6, 2007 04:51 PM

September 05, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: The road ahead for Oliver Rist

Business is business It's an all mobile phone week for Tom Yager, who after completing a comparative review of seven enterprise models brings up the topic of how to get a better deal when buying one. Act like a business, and not like a consumer party, is Tom's advice in his Ahead of the Curve column.

The Road Ahead? All good things come to an end. If you enjoyed Oliver Rist columns take a good reading of this one because it's his last. Oliver parting gift to his readers is a look at what's coming with Windows in the near feature and how to prepare for it. Was he trying to mimic (or mock) "The Road Ahead"? Perhaps. One never knows with Oliver.

Posted by Mario Apicella on September 5, 2007 09:13 AM

September 04, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: One Giant Leap for Laptop Security

High Performance High Security: Mario Apicella has looked under the hood of new drives from Hitachi and Seagate, and he likes what he sees. If you're looking for easy configuration and management, Seagate's the way to go: if top performance and BIOS config screens make your list of favorite things, then Hitachi has a drive for you. Either way, the security of full-disk encryption comes without a noticeable performance penalty, making the drives serious contenders for "must-have" status in new laptops.

Extreme Phones, Head to Head: Tom Yager is up to his, well, ankles in very small phones with very big capabilities. In part one of his multi-part review, Tom compares the Blackberry 8800 to the Nokia E61i and finds to very different solutions to the problems of enterprise mobile computing. Look for additional hard-working phones to pass under Tom's microscope in the coming weeks.

Sifting the Network: Signacert's ETS does several things, and all of them well. It compares your application files to the vendor's originals, and current versions of files to earlier copies, all in the service of making sure no one has been playing fast and loose with the data stored on your system. Roger Grimes has been running the Signacert through its paces, and he has come back with good news--the ETS works, and works well, though you have to keep a couple of critical limitations in mind if you want to start the cert process in your own network.

Posted by Curt Franklin on September 4, 2007 10:56 AM

September 04, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Hands-on: dotDefender 3.0 secures Web apps in ways network firewalls miss

Any Web pro worth his or her salt should be able to secure a basic site running under Apache and Microsoft ISA or IIS – especially because by default, features that might lead to hacking are typically turned off. Yet these measures do little to guard Web applications against sophisticated techniques such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, worms, and other assaults. Applicure dotDefender 3.0, an easily managed server plug-in, protects against these type of attacks.

Think of dotDefender as a Web application firewall. Installation required just a few minutes on Windows Server 2003 running IIS 6 (the software also supports Apache on a variety of Unix and Linux platforms). I found in the my testing that the out-of-box configuration then immediately starts comparing incoming requests for signs of trouble – without any noticeable performance drain on the server.

More specifically, dotDefender works by evaluating HTTP requests using a combination of three technologies: pattern recognition, session protection, and a signature knowledgebase. For example, patterns look for attacks such as cookie tampering. Similarly, the software watches sessions for header tampering, probes, remote command execution, and path traversal. Finally, there's a set of signatures that scan for known spammers, worms, and compromised servers.

Using a simple server interface, I managed each technology, such as updating a whitelist with known good servers. Next, I quickly added custom rules for other pattern or signature areas. Applicure provides automatic updates to dotDefender's security rules and signatures, so there should be little ongoing maintenance. What's more, these settings can be customized for each Website or application you run.

When I intentionally sent attacks against my server, dotDefender responded according to how rules were designed: logging an incident, sending a default (or customized) error page, or redirecting the request. I monitored the server by looking at detailed attack attempt reports, and then adjusted dotDefender rules as needed. Further, you can send alerts to existing monitoring and management systems.

This application, additionally, worked well in a simulated DoS (denial of service) attack at the application level, something that could slip by network security solutions.

dotDefender, of course, is only one of many options for enterprises to safeguard Web applications. Developers should start by checking for coding vulnerabilities using products like Watchfire's AppScan. And IT managers might consider turnkey solutions, including eEye's REM Security Management Appliance.

Still, these alternatives can be complex and costly. As such, dotDefender's reasonable price and simple management make it a good complement to network firewalls. One limitation for e-commerce sites is dotDefender doesn't currently provide HTTPS security. That said, dotDefender does find malicious code transferred in secured SSL sessions and then prevents its execution. Moreover, SSL is often provided by standard e-commerce packages.

Applicure dotDefender 3.0
Availibility: Now
Price: First two licenses are $3,995 each; the next three licenses cost $2,995 each, with additional licenses priced at $1,995.
Verdict: This rapidly deployed Web server plug-in provides HTTP security against application attacks, session attacks, and requests originating from known rogue servers. The predefined security rules are very thorough and provide best practices for Website protection, yet can be easily edited. Additionally, enterprises received automatic security updates against new threats.

Posted by Mike Heck on September 4, 2007 07:32 AM

September 04, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Open source ESB maker starts developer site

MuleSource, makers of the open source Mule ESB, are launching a collaborative development site Tuesday for Mule extensions and applications built by the Mule community and partners.

Called MuleForge, the site provides a platform where developers can download, test and contribute to a range of re-usable Mule extensions, MuleSource said. Also featured are tips, documentation and other resources, MuleForge automates the building and compiling of code, collecting dependencies needed in the process to save developers time.

"We're seeing an explosion of developer interest around using Mule to solve major integration challenges and it makes sense for us to provide a central repository to host these conversations and code contributions," said Ross Mason, CTO and co-founder of MuleSource, in a statement released by the company. "Developers get access to a community of peers who can test and give feedback on code as well as help each other solve technical problems."

More than 40 projects are hosted on MuleForge, including a Salesforce.com connector allowing developers to enable real-time communications between Salesforce.com and internal data. Also featured are a Mule plug-in for AS/400 queuing support, a JavaSpaces integration package and a SIP (session initiation protocol) connector for using Mule to integrate data and services in VOIP and other telco applications.

MuleForge also features source code control through Subversion, continuous builds via Bamboo and issue-tracking through Jira. Users also get access to many developers and thousands of users to develop and test code.

Posted by Paul Krill on September 4, 2007 07:17 AM