--Fritz Nelson

October 15, 1995: "The Network Management Trap"

We were one of the first to tackle the major network-management platforms. And when we did, we didn't just tackle them, we pummeled them hard and did a little sack dance for good measure.

We wrote that the products were "big, complex and expensive, yet don't come close to delivering on their promises." And those were our kind words.

These products were built, we wrote, to let Cabletron, HP, IBM, Sun and other companies sell more hardware. We wrote this not because we were geniuses, but because we actually tested these products in the real world, with real traffic, over real networks. Some of these products evolved to include systems-management components, and we tested them again--over a distributed WAN; the vendors had improved the products' capabilities, but they hadn't solved the problems.

You told us you were more interested in down-to-earth, inexpensive, useful network management, and that's what we've been evaluating ever since. This year alone we've tested site-monitoring tools, performance-management products, application monitors and root-cause analysis tools. Even the traditional management vendors--CA, HP, Tivoli--have worked to make their products more useful right out of the box.


October 1990: "Distributed Databases"

In our very first issue, 10 years ago this month, we had the audacity to make distributed databases our cover topic. You see, Network Computing has never been about just the physical stuff with which to build a network. More important, the magazine is about the stuff that runs on the network.

It's so easy--too easy --to think about the infrastructure, but the applications have such significant impact on the infrastructure, and vice versa, that the pair cannot be uncoupled.

Network Computing made that statement from the get-go. In this original cover package, we talked not only about the need for IS managers to have a system that distributed data the way the company is structured, but about the most important criteria for evaluating distributed database management systems.

And we went even further than that: We evaluated only those offerings that supported multiple platforms (namely, a PC OS, Sun Microsystems/Unix, Digital Equipment Corp. VAX and IBM MVS). For our tests, Information Builders gave us Focus, and Oracle gave us its database--something the company refuses to do today. And finally, we depicted how one company, Texas Eastern Products Pipeline Co., was able to modernize its inventory system using a distributed database architecture.


June 1, 1994: "Go Wireless"

While today wireless looks as if it's for real, wireless seems to get hot just about every year and Network Computing's been on top of the subject forever, including pieces in the early 1990s on radio-frequency technology, wide area wireless services, the RAM mobile network and the Mobidem wireless device -- technology we had used to wake each other out of our stupor during meetings.

In 1994, we made a big bang with this cover story, and real-world testing that reported speeds of 900 Kbps, an indoor range of 100 feet and performance interference from microwave ovens; back then, Aironet was an up-and-comer, AT&T's WaveLAN was the stalwart and the 802.11 standard was just emerging.

But Cisco Systems has since purchased Aironet, Lucent Technologies has bought WaveLAN and renamed it Orinoco, and we're now up to 802.11b.

And in our latest tests, we saw speeds approaching 6 Mbps and twice the range. We're back to cooking with gas.

July 1991: "Network Security"

We've done more cover stories on security in the past three years than on any other topic--that's how important we think it is. Want more evidence? We did our first major feature on security with our famous "Spy vs. Spy" cover story. Of course, back then, we were all more concerned with system-level security, especially internal threats from password access and user mistakes, in addition to the omnipresent virus threat.

But even then, we talked of assessing network vulnerability and setting security policies, subjects that are now all the rage. The tools and techniques were rather simple then--we used an early Etherpeek on a Macintosh to sniff out clear-text passwords, and talked about the common practice of "walking the network" to find vulnerabilities.

Dial-up and remote control were also a concern, as was BBS access. We examined the tools designed to protect your systems on the network, and provided war stories from security managers at big companies, including Hewlett-Packard Co. and Eastman Kodak. By the time we wrote our cover story of January 15, 1997, "State of Security," the Internet had created new vulnerabilities and generated new concerns. Not only that, but the world had recently undergone a large wave of corporate mergers, and companies were using more contractors and had flatter organizational structures, so the entryways for external intruders had increased. Companies like ISS, with its RealSecure intrusion detection, came to be. Public key infrastructures, using certificate authorities, became the hot topic, though we've yet to see them deployed in any massive way. And access control, auditing and accounting became crucial.

December 15, 1998: "E-Commerce"

Almost two years ago -- quite early in the game -- we devoted an entire issue of the magazine to the topic of e-commerce ... but our coverage was far different from that of other publications.

Back then, many of you were early adopters, building your commerce sites with the future in mind. So we helped you with some of your tougher decisions. Those of you who wanted to outsource the project could read our evaluation of 15 leading service providers, including a look at how each handled the crucial topic of security.

Those of you who wanted to build your own site could find our review of four B2B e-commerce solutions. Those of you who wanted to create that virtual storefront might have found our evaluation of seven dynamic content-management tools helpful.

And for those of you who are still looking to seize the opportunity, we've continued our coverage of these topics over the past two years, including this year's January 24 cover story, "The Great 8," on commerce host providers and an upcoming evaluation of several content-management systems.