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The article presents a mapping service for mobile users. Skyhook Wireless Inc. located in Boston, Massachusetts released a beta version of their Loki mapping. This is a free Loki toolbar added to the Web browser. It can register the location of laptops in a company's database of 5 million Wi-Fi access points in the U.S. Commercial users and security managers can use the tool for tracking equipment and machines that are equipped with laptops. A total of 100 Skyhook employees man a 15 to 20 miles of major urban areas to help pinpoint the locations of access points.

The article introduces Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) storage technology as a viable and cheaper alternative to Fiber Channel when it comes to data-transfer speed. The latest specification for 10 Gigabit Ethernet, also known as the 10Gbase-T standard for unshielded twisted pair category 6 copper cabling, is expected to be ratified this summer. There are three factors which could help IP based-storage using iSCSI an attractive low-cost alternative to Fiber Channel in storage area networks. These are the plummeting cost of 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports on both servers and storage arrays, the fact that IP-based storage is less complex than Fiber Channel, and an abundance of on-staff expertise in IP and Ethernet in IT departments.

This article discusses developments and news briefs in information technology, computer industry, computer software industry, and computer service industry in the U.S. A strategic alliance between Microsoft Corp. and Radvision Inc. allows the development of computer software that interoperate with non-Windows systems compliant with the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). RSA Security Inc.'s RSA Federated Identity Manager 3.0 application software allows the use of trusted identities for digital communications.

This article presents a viewpoint regarding the International Standards Organization's (ISO) rejection of the WLAN Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure (WAPI) security protocol as a proposed international standard for wireless local area networks (WLANs). WAPI was submitted by a Chinese industry group. The ISO favored the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' IEEE 802.11i submission that has the backing of microprocessor maker Intel Corp. The standard setting procedure is a demonstration of institutionalized political lobbying by business interests.

The article discusses the evolution of information technology (IT) in relation to connectivity in the U.S. During the earliest days of mobile computing, connectivity required carrying a set of acoustic couplers and attaching a handset at 300 baud. The technology was followed by the integration of modems into the laptop, later on boost productivity on the road by providing support for Wi-Fi from IT departments. However, the author recommends the use of 3G services, a collective term for all the next-generation wireless technologies that deliver broadband speeds to specific computer-generated devices.

This article reports that Microsoft Corp. promised to license the source code for information technology (IT) communication and computer network protocols in the Windows server operating system after the European Commission (EC) threatened to impose daily fines of 2.4 million dollars for inadequate compliance with an EC antitrust ruling against Microsoft. EC believes licensing the protocols would enable the development of computer software that interoperates smoothly with Windows. The compliance deadline was extended to 15 February 2006.

The article predicts the performance of the Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) for 2006. In this period, trust levels in this Ethernet-based networking standard will be increased. Although iSCSI was used mainly for Wintel server consolidations in 2005, in 2006, more users will deploy iSCSI as their primary storage network. This decision of the users is due to the technology's offerings of big savings and ease of use. With iSCSI, information technology managers do not need to install costly and complex Fibre Channel switches.

The article provides some insights into the development and applications of the Ethernet, which was designed to interconnect computer networks together. It was in 1976, that Robert Metcalfe and his assistant David Boggs published a paper titled "Ethernet Distributed Packet-Switching for Local Computer Networks." It was highlighted that Ethernet is a frame-based computer networking technology for local area networks that defines wiring and signaling for the physical layer, frame formats and protocols for the media access control/data link layer of the Open Systems Inter-connection model.

This article reports that Robert E. Kahn and Vinton Cerf, developers of transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (IP), received the President's Medal of Freedom award. The two men made the Internet Age possible by creating the software protocols that tie together all the networks that make up the Internet. The IP suite had its origins in work done by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the early 1970's. After building the pioneering Arpanet, DARPA started work on a number of other data-transmission technologies, including packet radio and satellite links.

This article highlights a conference on Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. This conference is aimed at convincing information technology (IT) managers that the next-generation technology is ready for enterprise use and is not just applicable for service providers and research organizations. The native security features and large-numbering scheme in IPv6 make it a new way of doing things for IT operations.

This article examines the use of the Internet SCSI (iSCSI) technology to add a second storage-area network at Coppin State University in Baltimore, Maryland. In early 2005, the university found itself facing a data explosion that had overwhelmed its two Fibre Channel storage arrays. Thus, the school's information technology operation was forced to find a way to supply users with an easy-to-manage online storage system that would not break its budget. Gartner Inc. analyst James Opfer said that iSCSI will not replace Fibre Channel in the data center because of performance issues, but it will continue to grow substantially as a server consolidation technology, especially for low-end systems.

This article reports on the need for better Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) traffic due to the growing interest in SIP-enabled communications as of October 2005. SIP is a signaling protocol used to establish connectivity between two session end points. Covergence will provide its answer to the SIP security question at Gartner Symposium/ITExpo this week by unveiling Eclipse, a Linux-based appliance that manages the connectivity and performance of SIP services and applications. Acting as both perimeter and internal defense system. Eclipse secures access to SIP applications and SIP-enabled PBXes and phones, making it a natural fit in VoIP security plans. Beyond VoIP, it can apply security policies to SIP traffic, monitor network capacity, and log and record application traffic to comply with industry regulations.

This article defines and describes protocols in the computer industry. A protocol is a set of formal rules that describe how devices or software can exchange information with one another across a computer or communications network. As first applied to technology in the 1950s, protocols were rules governing communication between electronic devices such as radios and telephones. As electronic communication grew and computers came into widespread use, computing protocols were created to control the design of and interaction among various types of networks. INSET: The Internet Protocol Stack.

The United States-based Krystal Co. hamburger chain has expanded free wireless Internet service to customers across the country. The free Wi-Fi service is bringing in new customers and has improved internal communications for Krystal's own mobile workers. Records of Internet protocol and media access control addresses that have accessed the network show that about 1,000 wireless computers have used the free Wi-Fi network. Krystal HotSpots use a broadband Internet connection that allows up to 32 users to simultaneously access the 802.11b network.

This article features the Veritas Enterprise Vault (EV) 6.0 application software from Symantec. Fully integrated with Microsoft Exchange and hooking into Veritas NetBackup on the back end, EV also supports any simple mail transfer protocol mail product. It can even archive the Microsoft New Technology File System and SharePoint Portal Server repositories. EV provides a flexible and easy-to-use set of tools, leveraging both Active Directory and the native capabilities of Exchange, as well as adding more of its own. Administrators have control over when e-mail is archived, how much is archived, and to which storage tier it is archived. INSET: Veritas Enterprise Vault 6.0.

The article presents information on various events related to information technology. The "VoIP Developer Conference," sponsored by Technology Marketing Corp. is scheduled during August 2-4, 2005 at San Francisco, California. The conference includes tracks covering essential issues, hardware, Session Initiation Protocol development, and software and wireless development. The "2005 Share User Event," sponsored by Share Inc. is scheduled during August 22-26, 2005 at Boston, Massachusetts. Tracks for this user group event include sessions on 64-bit, application trends and issues for managers, APPN/HPR/EE networks, autonomic and grid computing, basic Assembler, building a service-oriented architecture road map, the business impact of SOA transformation, disaster recovery and business continuity, change and configuration management, Fiber Connectivity, the latest version of z/OS; and an introduction to TCP/IP.

The article reports on an increase in sniffing activity on a communications port associated with a software vulnerability disclosed by Microsoft Corp. The remote code-execution vulnerability affects the Windows Server Message Block (SMB) file-sharing protocol. In its monthly patch release two weeks ago, Microsoft gave the SMB hole a critical severity rating because attackers could use it to take control of unprotected systems. Increased sniffing detected on TCP Port 445 poses a serious concern for enterprise security managers, because it may indicate an impending mass malicious-code attack. The sniffing activity indicates that attackers may have reverse-engineered Microsoft's SMB patch, developed exploit code and circulated it on the Internet. Monitors at Symantec Corp. also spotted the increased activity on Port 445, but they downplayed any immediate threat to corporate systems. Companies that have installed Windows XP Service Pack 2 should already be protected because that version of the operating system closes off access to Port 445 by default.

This article presents news clippings related to IT companies. Kinpo Electronics Inc., a Taipei, Taiwan-based maker of electronic calculators, has deployed a converged voice, data and multimedia IP network for its 10,000 employees, Nortel Networks Corp. announced. The network, based on Nortel switches and routers, connects facilities in Taiwan, China and Thailand. European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. said it has formed an alliance with Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) to market BlackBenry devices to government agencies across Europe. Amsterdam-based EADS and Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM announced that they will attempt to get the devices certified for government use, starting with a security certification that's required by the French government. Dexit Inc., a Toronto-based electronic payments service, named David Lloyd CIO.

The article reports that one of the largest rural wireless networks in Australia was officially launched at the University of Queensland's (UQ) Gatton campus. The UQ connect wireless network is designed to provide round-the-clock Internet access to make it possible for teachers and students to move beyond the traditional classroom and do outside research. The university, located 100 kilometers from Brisbane, has invested more than 50,000 Australian dollars to develop the Wi-Fi network, which has 20 access points, said Nick Tate, the school's director of IT services.

This article presents the author's views on the first Start of Authority (SOA) Executive Forum conducted by Infoworld in San Jose, California and in New York, both in May 2005. The juxtaposition of the two events helped me reconcile a deep schism between two factions, which I will call the WS and Web 2.0 camps. The argument, which revolves around pairs of opposing and overloaded words--simplicity versus complexity, decentralization versus centralization, agility versus stability--has been going on for years, but it is gotten really loud in recent months. Like a pair of bookends, our two keynote speakers neatly bracketed the debate. In San Jose, Motorola CIO Toby Redshaw sketched out a SOA deployment that was music to the ears of WS-aligned vendors and standards makers. For Redshaw, the key to success is shared infrastructure: a central directory based on the oft-maligned UDDI standard, and an enterprisewide WS management system. At our New York event, though, Harvard Medical School CIO John Halamka told a very different story. His task was to streamline financial and clinical data exchange across New England's network of physicians, hospitals, and insurers. The solution relies on techniques that Web 2.0 advocates know and love: XML across HTTP, secured with Secure Sockets Layer. Simple Object Access Protocol and WS-Security are part of the mix now, but the system was up and running before those standards were done. And to this day, for political and logistical reasons, it remains a loose federation with little shared infrastructure or central control.

This article presents information on Web application frameworks that complies with the Web protocol's rules as of May 2005. According to the author, when he discussed the proper use of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) verbs POST and GET, the benefits and hazards seemed abstract. Recently, though, two compellingly concrete examples emerged. The first involved a collision between Google's new Web Accelerator and an application called Backpack, which is built with Ruby on Rails, a Web application framework for the Ruby programming language. This was an unfortunate but timely demonstration of what can go wrong when HTTP-based software fails to distinguish between requests that alter resources and requests that do not. The second example involved Coral, an open content distribution network, and underscored what can go right when the rules of the road are respected. The proxying and caching features of HTTP do much more than usually imagined.

This article presents tales of real-life experience and complaints of several persons about their computer systems. One of the persons says that pilot fish has already been through a detailed data security audit for all 100 of the Windows servers in his care. Then the Sarbanes-Oxley auditor asks for a list of network protocols installed on the servers. He is irritated with all these audits. A new employee calls support pilot fish the first time he tries to work from home. His complaint is that he can't see anything on the company's network. Developer pilot fish's team is working on a large financial system, so they decide to do a use-case study. The idea was that users could give the inside scoop on what they're inputting and what it means. A frustrated user calls the help desk about a monitor that's flickering badly. He complains that it's impossible to work with this flicker, especially on sunny days.

This article discusses how a service layer makes service-oriented architectures (SOA) easier to manage and update. Most companies looking seriously at SOA do so in hopes of making a mishmash of existing hardware and software play together more smoothly. Such companies have much to gain from SOA. But they face a key challenge in that heterogeneous environments bring together a plethora of brands, platforms, protocols, security systems and more, making SOA standardization more difficult to achieve. Even if the chief architect of a company solves the problem by dictating, the Web services policy--the set of requirements for using any given service--must be abstracted from the services themselves in order for the SOA to scale. This is exactly the type of practical concern for which the InfoWorld SOA Executive Forum was created, to be held in San Jose, California, on May 5, 2005 and in New York on May 17, 2005. Eric Pulier, executive chairman of SOA Software, said that if an individual has exposed his or her applications as Web services but the security procedures and other policies are hard-coded into the applications, then every change requires him or her to re-code the applications. That is equivalent to an old-style tightly coupled application-to-application interface. The smart solution is to handle such complexities in a service layer, integral to the SOA. Some companies write this layer themselves, others seek a prepackaged solution such as the one offered by SOA Software. In either case, the service layer knows where each service resides, what it knows, and what it needs. It then acts as a nexus for communication, security and so forth. Upgrading a protocol, then, requires you to change the service layer rather than several applications.

This article reports that the Vancouver International Airport Authority in British Columbia has just completed a four-year project in which a single IP network was built to support voice, data and video airport communications systems that used to run on 30 networks. The most recent additions to the airport's IP network were 1,100 IP phones, all installed in January 2005, that are used by ticket agents and airport workers. The airport authority and several airlines created the common kiosks by following an international standard used by several kiosk manufacturers.

This article explains that the first pilot projects testing the Secure Access for Everyone (SAFE) digital signature standard in the pharmaceutical industry are due to be launched. SAFE is designed to enable the use of legally enforceable electronic signatures over public key infrastructure (PKI) networks. Backers envision the signatures being used in business-to-business transactions and in communication with government regulators. SAFE credentials are expected to make it faster and more cost-efficient for pharmaceutical companies and researchers to submit applications and get approval for drug trials than with current paper-based processes. Pilot projects will involve the United States National Cancer Institute and the European data processing network EudraVigilance.

This article explains that companies that have successfully deployed Web services for point-to-point integration projects are eyeing emerging systems software that let developers and other users reuse the services. Vendors Systinet Corp. and Infravio Inc. are ramping up work on updating registry products, centralized metadata describing the location of services and policies governing their use. The idea of registries, commonly built on Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) standard, surfaced with the arrival of Web services standards several years ago. Registries can store service-level agreement information, such as required response times for services.

The article presents information about latest technology trends and products. Most suppliers of voice over IP technology acknowledge the perception that it has security holes. But many feel that the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), currently winding its way through the Internet Engineering Task Force's standards process, can help put IT managers' minds at ease. SIP'S virtues include simple administration and the ability to handle any media, says Thom O'Connor, a solutions architect at Stalker Software Inc., a messaging technology vendor in Mill Valley, California. According to Juan Proaño, president of New York-based Plus Three LP, his company's Arcos 4.0 integrated stack of opensource Web, database and messaging technologies will become available this week to more than liberal politicians. Arcos includes tools to conduct and manage massive e-mail campaigns, and Proaño says the new release improves workflow processes and boosts performance to handle spikes in Web traffic.

The article focuses on CTIA Wireless 2005 conference, in which a panel of government officials and vendor executives said that the wireless technologies available to police, fire and other emergency workers have improved since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But they said during the panel discussion and in later interviews that much work remains to be done to improve the interoperability of wireless devices for emergency responders and to set up effective warning systems in the event of another terrorist attack or a natural disaster. Some police and fire personnel are forced to carry several wireless radios or have to yell through bullhorns at emergency scenes, said Jim Dailey, director of the office of homeland security at the Federal Communications Commission. Metropolitan regions might be able to increase cooperation among cities and towns by developing Wi-Fi mesh networks for transmitting information, said Ron Sege, president of Tropos Networks Inc., which has installed outdoor Wi-Fi routers in more than 125 cities nationwide.

This article reports the planned release of Opsware Inc.'s Network Automation System 4.0. Among other improvements, the upgrade can be configured to report on security violations as they relate to government regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. It also manages network administration workflows and automates the approval process for any changes to network gear.

Presents a correction to the review "HyperIP Streamlines Remote Replication," that was published in a previous issue of "InfoWorld."

The article informs that an opportune time for installing IP telephony is when legacy PBXs need replacing or data networks get overhauled. Liz Claiborne Inc. found itself in both situations in 2003 and quickly got busy. With a significant presence in the New York/New Jersey area, the apparel and accessories giant has been preoccupied with disaster recovery since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11,2001, says John Kovac, vice president of IT. That's one reason Liz Claiborne now runs a four-server Cisco Systems Call- Manager IP PBX cluster in the region. "I could lose three Call-Managers and still deliver phone service to everyone," he explains. The new network connects seven buildings in the New York/New Jersey area, plus offices in Atlanta and California. By converging data and voice networks onto a routed IP network, Liz Claiborne has reduced its long-distance calling charges and the number of dedicated T1 lines. The company is also moving from a mix of many other vendors' circuit-switched PBX systems in several sites throughout the U.S. Because IP telephony has the advantage of a feature called extension mobility, Liz Claiborne saves on professional services to support moving employees (and sometimes whole departments) from one location to another.

The article informs that four years ago, a Company investing in voice-over-IP technology was taking a huge, bleeding-edge risk. Poor voice quality and reliability were all-too-common complaints. But today, many of those technical problems have been ironed out, and VoIP is moving into the mainstream. Companies are now using VoIP technology to combine voice and data networks and introduce powerful applications, such as the ability to dial a voice call by clicking on a co-worker's name in a company directory instead of looking up the number and dialing it. Companies can save money by converging separate voice and data networks into a single IP network. Plus, calls made between remote sites are free, and moving or adding employees costs less. The obstacles of the technology's early days have been largely overcome. Several VoIP vendors now sell software that can create quality-of-service (QoS) capabilities so networks can be tuned to give preference to voice calls over data calls. But that can be a tricky process.

The article informs that McData Corp. today will unveil a director-class switch that offers 256 ports, multiple network protocols and hard-partitioning capabilities. Analysts said the switch will allow consolidation of a storage network infrastructure and intelligent routing services. The 10Gbit/sec. links can also be used to replicate data between data centers for disaster recovery purposes, said Patrick Harr, vice president of director platforms at McData. McData is looking to promote tiered networks through use of the il0K as a backbone switch. For example, companies could use existing McData Intrepid 6000 series directors, which have 64 ports, and low-end 24-port Sphereon switches, all connected into and managed by a single il0K. The il0K also supports multiple protocols, including iSCSl, Fibre Channel and Ficon connectivity. It offers Layer 2 network switching, or the ability to crack open data packets, read the information inside and route the data. Its price tag will be about 20% higher than that of the Intrepid 6140, which costs roughly $1,747 per port, according to McData.

This article provides information on the two collaboration offerings: Linktivity WebDemo 4.0 software for real-time Web conferencing and collaboration, and Weblnteractive 4.0 collaboration software for support and online sales, released by Inter-Tel in December 2004. New features in Linktivity WebDemo include Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) support; 128-bit encryption; authentication through Windows, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, or Radius; and improved search and query capabilities. Weblnteractive 4.0 also includes SSL support and 128-bit encryption, an enhanced user interface, and integration application program interfaces.

The article discusses on SanRamon, California based SmartLine Inc. is roiling out Version 5.7 of DeviceLock, a tool that lets systems administrators control end-user access to PC devices and ports, including USB and FireWire ports and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth adapters. The new version adds an audit function that provides a record of port and device activity, such as uploads and downloads, by user and file name or URL, in the standard Windows Event log. It integrates into Windows Active Directory and includes a snapin for the Microsoft Management Console.

The article discusses on various news related to business development in the sector of computer industry. Microsoft Corp. in January will open a research laboratory in Bangalore, India, that will focus on computing technologies for emerging markets, as well as sensors, multilingual systems and geographic information systems. Microsoft's other research labs are in Redmond, Washington. London-based last week said it had won a contract to supply secure IP network services to 15 European Union institutions. The deal could be worth up to $215 million over eight years.

This article offers a look at Nokia's Preminet service, which extends a vendor's wireless application platform. Even with shareware, the secure delivery of software to buyers is the developer's problem, and not just for small shops. Large independent software vendors that target new markets face the same problem. There is little difference between the distribution and payment process for Garden Weasels and commercial software. Using the service is easy. The vendor develops the application, get it validated by Nokia, and they will take care of cataloging, distributing and receiving of payment. This is not a Yahoo storefront approach, which would be useless for selling software. Preminet takes the considerable complexity of the wireless distribution and payment network into consideration. Upon uploading the application, it is then added to the Preminet master catalog. Wireless operators choose applications from the larger catalog to offer to their subscribers. The subscriber searches for applications directly from his or her phone. When a purchase is made, the operator creates a secure link to the device, sends the software along with a signature guaranteeing its origin, and posts the amount of the purchase to the subscriber's wireless services bill.

This article presents a security manager's experiences with the evolution of the corporate virtual private network (VPN) from Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) to Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). The company decided to deploy VPN concentrators from Cisco Systems Inc. at all core points of presence. One problem is that customers block the ports necessary for the VPN clients to communicate with VPN gateways. There have been numerous requests for access to corporate mail from kiosks. A VPN over SSL is almost guaranteed to solve the problems employees have been having at customer sites, since almost every company lets its employees make outbound Port 80 and Port 443 connections. SSL VPN will also let the company extend Outlook Web Access to remote users.

The article reports that Cisco Systems Inc. last week added two Wi-Fi access points that support new security standards and can handle more users than its previous devices. It also announced a partnership for integrating its wireless networking products with AirDefense Inc.'s intrusion- detection technology. The Aironet 1130AG and 1230AG series of access points provide dual-band 802.11a/b/g connectivity and comply with the 802.11i and WPA2 security protocols, said Ron Seide, Cisco's senior product line manager for wireless networking. The 1130AG is designed for office use and starts at $699; the 1230AG is a more ruggedized device that costs $999. Both products can operate on 15 nonoverlapping channels and deliver data rates of up to 108Mbit/sec., Seide said. He added that future upgrade plans call for increasing the number of supported channels to 26, which should mean less interference for end users. AirDefense's server appliances can read data from Cisco's access points, and they can be accessed through the CiscoWorks Wireless LAN Solution Engine.

The article reflects on voice recognition software. I could never convinced myself to make dictation part of my routine working life but with each generation of hardware and with each version of the program, the gap between desire and reality has narrowed. For me, typing remains the most efficient way to produce error-free copy. Because recognition accuracy is such a difficult problem, dictation software has to pay very close attention to me. It has to learn everything it can about my speech pattens, vocabulary and writing style. Perhaps because people imagine that other application domains are not as challenging, other programs pay strikingly little attention that the people do. When I organize my E-mail or conduct research on the Web, I exhibit predictable pattens of behavior. People have long expected but rarely experienced personal productivity software that absorbs those patterns, automated repetitive chores and can be taught to improve its performance. Thin-client rich Internet applications cannot easily collect or exploit interaction data, with open protocols and plenty of bandwidth, anything is possible. Intelligent assistance in its most intimate form will initially be delivered on the desktop and will be closely bound to it.

The article deals with the IQ1500 intelligent media gateway from Versatel Networks Inc. The IQ1500 can act as a security gateway using topology hiding which works in much the same way as network address translation. The IQ1500 can choose to send local calls out via the public switched telephone network (PSTN) in every case and its able to route long distance through a wide-area network, it can discern if the Ethernet connection to the outside world goes down, and it will seamlessly transition calls to the PSTN, it also has its own conferencing bridge which means that the users do not have to buy the feature for the private branch exchanges. IQ1500 allows a great deal of flexibility in handling calls. Users can restrict some types of calls such as long distance or international to only certain users. A customer can even require the use of numeric codes such as PIN numbers or project codes before users are allowed to use services such as long distance. IQ1500 sets itself apart from other gateways because it runs applications that supplement the gateway functionality. The IQ1500 can be a media server, it can control SoftSwitch connections and it can run in a distributed environment. Versatel plans to offer IQroute, an edge routing application that allows the media gateway to choose the proper network for a call, either as a way to bypass bad connections or choose the lowest cost of best quality.

Access points are proliferating but despite this growth in wireless use there are still no formal policies or standards in place. This article focuses on the deployment of Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol (PEAP) for wireless communications. The deployment of PEAP is considered to be the only way to the only way to make use of existing deployment of RSA SecureID tokens while getting two-factor authentication. With PEAP, the authentication data is transmitted after the encrypted tunnel is created.

This article analyzes the Internet protocol switching gear being installed by the Burlington Northern and Sante Fe Railway Co. (BNSF) along its railroad tracks in the Seattle area. The BNSF considered how the switching gear would handle vibrations from nearby trains, especially since the hardware is primarily designed for use in offices. But the extra ruggedization was not deemed necessary. Thus far, the networking devices that are in place has withstood all environmental hazards.

This article reports on the near completion of the Internet protocol network by the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. along a heavily traveled rail corridor in the Seattle area. The Sound Transit Telecom project is expected to increase the reliability of the technology it uses to control signals and track switches. The project involves the installation of a triple-redundant network of fiber-optic cables and T1 lines.

The article presents statistical data related to data storage. Information technology (IT) managers categorize the storage topics which will be extremely important over the next three months, they are--Disaster recovery/business continuity, Storage-area networks, iRegulatorv compliance. IT managers categorize the top three storage headaches--Data growth, insufficient IT staff and cost. IT managers rated Internet protocol storage, as neutral or unimportant for the next six months.

The article focuses on data storage over Internet protocol (IP) as a cheaper and faster alternative for data backup. Storage over IP, or the replication of block-level data over leased virtual private networks, allows users to select the type of widearea service that best meets their budget and application requirements. The three main long-distance transmission protocols--Internet SCSI (iSCSI), Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) and Internet Fibre Channel Protocol, are all significantly different, but they provide a common function: transporting block-level storage over an IP network. New vendors are now offering arrays that use iSCSI as a tunneling protocol to transmit over long distances. The greatest savings in using IP to transport data between data centers comes from reduced bandwidth. Edward Jones & Co. has begun to reap the rewards of three years of work and an $80 million investment in a storageover, IP network. Oracle databases are replicated nationwide in under five seconds. File services are replicated every four minutes, and mainframe databases are typically replicated in 30 minutes.

This article presents a personal opinion of using Internet Protocol telephony. The year 1994 was the year in which Byte Magazine's computer telephony cover story -- which 1 wrote -- proclaimed that integrated voice/data applications were right around the corner. Here we are in 2004, and they're still right around the corner. I'm having much fun with this year's Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) vogue, Skype. It's great to make free and encrypted long-distance phone calls using a wireless-fidelity-connected laptop and a Universal Serial Bus headset -- just like it was great last year to do the same kind of thing with iChat AV or with various predecessors dating back to the mid-1990s. Every time one of these solutions comes along, I give it a try. And every time so far, including Skype, the novelty soon fades. It's really, really hard to match the quality and consistent reliability of a nailed-up circuit. We'll get there eventually, I'm sure. There are dozens of ways in which personal computers can add value to the Public Switched Telephone Network. Caller ID screen pops, conference call setup, call logging, voice archiving, and user-programmable interactive voice response are just some of the productivity aids that we should all take for granted by now -- but that almost nobody can.

Reports on developments involving the computer industry in the U.S. as of September 2004. Availability of the book, The Tao of Network Security Monitoring: Beyond Intrusion Detection, which offers a comprehensive review of intrusion detection and network monitoring; Development of a product called TCS Trusted Linux, a multilevel-secure version of the Linux operating system from Trusted Computer Solutions Inc.

Reports on developments involving the computer industry in the U.S. as of September 2004. Introduction of the first network gateway e-mail appliance product line called SurfControl RiskFilter by antispam software vendor SurfControl PLC; Launch of Xten Networks Inc.'s eyeBeam, a video softphone based on the Session Initiation Protocol and the H.263 video coder/decoder standard; Availability of 3am Labs Inc.'s products LogMeln, LogMeln Pro and LogMeln Scout, which are designed to improve security and simplify remote access.

This article relates an author's experience with IP telephony infrastructure. In an effort to cut costs, his company has decided to migrate from private branch exchanges to IP telephony. By routing calls over the existing IP network and using voice-over-IP links, the company can significantly cut telecommunications cost. The bottom line, however, is that the phones are connected to the network, which means that securing the telephone network is a problem. The author of this article provides insights on some of the main components of the IP telephony infrastructure. He further relates the possibility of deploying IP telephony in a secure manner with a proper architecture and planning.