Features

On Location: Growing Gains By David Joachim When last we visited Life Time Fitness, its IT staff was tasked with powering growth on a standstill budget. The approach: New data centers for flexibility and VoIP for PBX savings.

Control the Keys to the Kingdom By Mike Fratto A comprehensive security policy is critical in protecting corporate resources. But to enforce that policy, you need a unified authentication management application that combines user authentication, access control and accounting features.

Online Only: Password Woes? Look to the User

Review: PremierAccess Heads a Pedestrian Pack By Mike Fratto We tested three unified authentication management packages in our Real-World Labs(R) and found that each required intense integration work to ensure seamless control.

Review: PatchLink Helps Keep Windows Closed By Patrick Mueller Keeping up with patches on your Windows systems is time-consuming, but vital. We tested five tools that can help you ease the burden.

Workshops

Workshop: Deploying Point-to-Point Wireless Links By Dave Molta Fixed wireless connections can be as reliable and secure as terrestrial links -- if you understand the technology and use smart engineering tactics. We'll help you to get a grip.

Buyer's Guide: Gigabit Ethernet NICs Toe the Line By Sean Doherty Got an overburdened network? Take a load off using a combination of NICs and TCP/IP offload engines.

Online Only: Interactive Buyers Guide: Gigabit Ethernet NICs We compare products from Alacritech, D-Link Systems, SysKonnect, 3Com and others. Customize the guide to look for precisely the features you need.

Sneak Previews

Intel Hits the Ground Running With Integrated 11a-11b Access Point By Jesse Lindeman The first of its kind in a WLAN environment, Intel's dual-mode 11a-11b access point impressed us with its breadth of features and flexibility. Still, we have to ask ourselves whether simply integrating 802.11a and 802.11b radios is the best approach?

A Picture from AppDancer Is Worth a Thousand Decodes By Bruce Boardman A Network Computing Exclusive: We tested AppDancer/FA, created to diagnose application traffic, and found it to be an analyzer and performance monitor like no other. It lets you view any transaction between client and server in any amount of detail.

Gomez Performance Network Service 3.5: Web Monitoring with a Smile By Lori MacVittie The snazziest new feature of the Gomez Performance Network Service is its ability to send SNMP-based alerts that your network management system can process.

Departments

Letters "Poor procedures are not resolved by throwing new software or technological 'fixes' at them." --Bob Fately, Third Wave

Quick Takes We take a look at these top products: * UPS: Hewlett-Packard Co. R12000 XR * File-Recovery Utility: Executive Software International Undelete 3.0 * Novasoft Handy Backup 3.5 for Microsoft Windows * Reserve Power: Net Optics GigaBit TX Fail-Safe Tap

Columns

Security Watch: Of No Small Concern By Robert Moskowitz "IT managers charged with securing their business's Internet connections from intruders and viruses can't afford to get caught with a bad investment.... We need effective guidelines and tools for securing small enterprises."

The Inside Story: Enough About Us... By James Hutchinson "We take your comments seriously and consider them when making strategic decisions on what we cover and how we do it."

BuzzCut: New Worries About WLAN Security By Dave Molta Engineers from purveyor AirDefense at a Defcon convention reported detecting 807 attacks -- some unique to WLANs -- in a matter of two hours. Among them are those that use wireless management frames to launch attacks.

BuzzCut: Database, Heal Thyself! By Mike Lee Despite the addition of some useful features, not everything about DB2 version 8 is quite what IBM wants you to believe. In fact, much of the functionality was available in earlier versions of DB2.

BuzzCut: The Microsoft Shared Source Debate By Don MacVittie and Lori MacVittie Don MacVittie says: If there's any good coming out of Microsoft's new open licensing policies, it's that the giant is moving in a positive direction. Lori MacVittie, on the other hand, believes: It's PR without substance -- to make Microsoft appear as though it's playing nice -- that's all it is.

Down to Business: Gut Check By Rob Preston "Accountability, and its cousin fiscal conservatism, needn't preclude innovation.... The Big IT Project may be dead or on hold, but the Big Idea needn't be -- so long as it's implemented in measurable, manageable chunks."