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Cover Story
CMDBs: An IT Goldmine? By Andrew Conry-Murray
Configuration management databases promise to transform IT with the next generation of automation and analytics. But complex proprietary designs could turn real rewards into fools' gold. Here's how to mine
the riches of a CMDB without mortgaging future flexibility.
Features
Strategic Security: Privacy Compliance Suites By Patrick Mueller
Inadvertently exposing customers' personally identifiable information is a sure way to land your company in hot water. On tap to help: enterprise-ready privacy compliance systems, or PCSs, the next evolutionary step in protecting personally identifiable customer and employee information.
Longhorn: Long on Security? By Tyler Lawton
When Windows Server Longhorn moseys by, should you saddle up? We took Microsoft's next-generation server OS for a ride in our Real-World Labs to see whether Redmond is making good on its promise to better protect our networks.
Federated Identity Management By Gerry Gebel
Federation is making it easier to maintain authority across multiple domains. But essential security standards are maturing at an uneven rate. We weigh the risks and rewards of federated ID management.
The NWC Interview: Citrix Systems' Mark Templeton By Robert Hertzberg
Citrix Systems' chief executive Mark Templeton talks about the capabilities he's been adding at a time when his company has passed the $1 billion sales mark.
Reviews
Rollout: Netreo's OmniCenter OnDemand By Michael Biddick
This network management solution takes the burden of maintaining an enterprise management solution off your IT organization's back, but it's marred by a high price and limited features.
Rollout: Applied Identity's Identiforce By John H. Sawyer
Identiforce does an excellent job ensuring that properly authenticated and authorized users can access the correct resources.
Rollout: McAfee's Foundstone FS1000 5.0 By Greg Shipley
Foundstone does a better job than most in identifying known host- and network-based vulnerabilities. It also provides good tools to help with the entire vulnerability management process.
Tech Tracker
TechTracker: W3C's XQuery Language Standard By David Stodder and Ben Dupont
The W3C's pending XQuery 1.0 standard brings XML processing deeper into relational database management systems. But XQuery is still both immature and limited. Here's what you need to know.
TechTracker: SpeechSC and MRCPv2 By Michael J DeMaria
This vendor-neutral standard will allow any voice application to control network-based media resources like speech synthesizers and recognizers. But it's getting the cold shoulder from some significant players.
Columns
Strategy Session: A Requiem For Open Standards By Art Wittmann
The goodness of truly open standards is universal, and CMDBs and ID management would benefit greatly from them. But sadly, our industry has almost universally given up on them.
Air Time: IT Support: Who You Gonna Call? By Dave Molta
How do you prevent system providers from becoming totally disengaged from the people who rely on their services? Here are several steps that can be taken to improve the status quo.
BuzzCuts
Mirage and the USPTO: Patently Ridiculous By Jordan Wiens
Mirage's patent for its description of techniques such as ARP poisoning is further evidence that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is seriously flawed.
Kontron's Tough-Guy Laptop By Sharon Gaudin
Kontron's new NotePAC laptop can operate in rain and survive a three-foot drop onto concrete. But does a 13-pound machine actually qualify as a laptop?
Measuring the PC Power Bill By Andrew Conry-Murray
Have you been concerned about how much it's costing your company to power all those desktops and laptops? Intel suggests you relax.
Are Digital Gangsters on the Rise? By Sharon Gaudin
Goodfellas these ain't. Organized criminals are realizing that the Internet has been largely untapped in terms of generating real profit--until now.
BuzzBite: Spam Goes to War By Andrew Conry-Murray
British intelligence is utilizing spam in the form of demoralizing text messages sent to Taliban fighter's cell phone numbers.
BuzzBite: Japan's Robot of the Year Sucks By Andrew Conry-Murray
An automated vacuum cleaner has received the Japanese Ministry of Economy's "Robot of the Year" award for 2006.
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