Features

Keeping Resources on the Right Track By Ron Anderson By merging critical hardware, software, and user and policy information in a single database, a directory-integrated workstation-management tool can strengthen both your bottom line and your sanity. We examine the benefits of this approach and compare Microsoftıs IntelliMirror with Novellıs ZENworks for Desktops 3.2.

Break Free with Wireless LANs By Peter Rysavy The road to anywhere, anytime Internet access through wireless LAN technology is getting shorter, but it's still full of potholes. Our map of the wireless landscape may help you ensure a smooth shift to untethered access at your company.

Review: WaveBase: A Gateway to Wireless Heaven By Dave Molta Advice to IT managers: Avoid devices that are neither securable on nor compatible with your network. Take the bull by the horns and standardize on a SOHO wireless gateway for telecommuters and branch offices. We tested 10 vendors' products to separate the flops from the favs.

E-Poll Results: Wireless LANs In an informal Network Computing survey, 5,000 readers were asked to respond to a number of questions about wireless LANs.

MMDS Struggles to Find a Foothold By Peter Rysavy We all want broadband Internet access, the broader the better. For many customers, the service options are limited; for some, dial-in is still as good as it gets. If thatıs the case in your neck of the woods, you may gain some speed with a new wireless technology: multipoint multichannel distribution systems.

Workshops

The Law and Open-Source Software By Sean Doherty If you're not a legal eagle when it comes to open source, and your CEO wants your company to start using open-source solutions, we'll guide you through the licensing issues.

Buyer's Guide: XML DTD/Schema Editors By Lori MacVittie While schemata appear poised to replace XML document type definitions, support and use of it is not ubiquitous. We examine some feature-rich editors that support both DTDs and schemata.

Interactive Buyer's Guide: XML DTD/Schema Editors From among the products compared in our guide, you're sure to find the editor that meets your network's needs.

Sneak Previews

Online Only: Sun Microsystems' Sun Netra X1: Solar Power on the Cheap By Steven J. Schuchart Jr. Our tests showed Netra X1 easily handles what small- and medium-sized companies can throw at it. The price is right, too.

ClickArray's Array 1000 Integrated Web Device Falls Short of Corporate-Class By Lori MacVittie This one-stop-shop wanna-be for SSL acceleration, content-aware load-balancing, caching and other functions doesnıt quite make the grade.

Adtran's iQ 710 Brings Frame Relay Monitoring to Layer 7 By Darrin Woods Our exclusive peek at this CSU/DSU performance monitor reveals it can detect frame relay failures and oversubscribed PVCs all the way up to Layer 7.

XcelleNet's Afaria Helps Admins Take Control of the Mobile Masses By Cornell W. Robinson III Mobile devices that are occasionally connected to the network change the LAN model for client network management. With its Afaria mobile-device-management solution, XcelleNet aims to give network admins more control over remote users. We tested a beta version of Afaria 4.51 and liked what we saw.

Departments

Centerfold: Purina Mills Gets its Network in Shape for ERP By Kelly Jackson Higgins The response time for Purina Mills' SAP applications over a frame-relay WAN had slowed to a crawl. To attack the problem, the company chose traffic-shaping technology and installed NetReality WiseWan switches to track down application-specific network trouble spots.

New & Improved We take a look at the following products: New: Transaction Controller: Abeona Networks Abeona K-2000 WTC New: Routing Control: RouteScience Technologies PathControl

The Rant: What's in a Name? If You Give It Away, a Box of Spam and a Lot of Aggravation By Lori MacVittie The Web has become rife with marketers who want your e-mail address. The lists created by lures of free information generate millions in sales -- sales of your name, my name and anyone else who is silly enough to comply with an identity request.

Columns

Air Time: If You Build It, Will They Come? By Dave Molta "Rich media and other bandwidth-intensive applications may indeed be the wave of the future, but mapping out a compelling short-term return on investment is a daunting challenge."

Above the Net: Say Good-Bye to Privacy By Doug Barney "Until Sept. 11, anything that threatened our privacy was treated with utter disdain. Now most of us are thanking our lucky stars and stripes that our government has been spying on us."

The Inside Story: Piglet-ing Out on Technology By James Hutchinson "Sure, feasting on technology is fun. But before you amble up to the trough, ask yourself: Do you really need it?"

Security Watch: Lesson in Functionality By Robert Moskowitz "Knowing what SSIDs are about can make their public nature seem a lot less scary -- and can change your expectations."

Full Nelson: Dumb and Dumber By Fritz Nelson "I'm sorry to do this, but you leave me no choice. Stupidity has run rampant, and unless I start identifying the culprits we're all doomed to a life of underwhelming and often pointless contretemps."