Non-savvy investors who got sucked into Vonage's disastrous IPO may have help on the way --- a class-action suit. Legal eagles (or is that vultures?) are circling the IPO, looking for grounds for a suit.

Apple has always managed to keep itself financially strong despite its propensity for locking consumers into its peculiar view of the world. But this probably goes just a bit too far...

It's the battle of the "E"s in the technology ring as Enterprise Mashup Services (EMS) start intruding on the Enterprise Information Integration (EII) space.

Here's one more reason to worry about federal intrusions into your Internet activities: The FBI and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales are both urging ISPs to keep records about customer Internet activities for two years, so that the feds can get their hands on it when they want.

Barbara Darrow reports today that Microsoft will finally clarify its plans next month to turn Live Communications Server (LCS) into a next-generation telephony server. Details are to be released at Microsoft's unified communications event in June.

Ahh, encryption. There are few security-related topics that manage to combine complexity, minutiae, and critical needs quite as thoroughly as does encryption. Government agencies simultaneously require and fear encryption, an attitude that is also common among business leaders. Ultimately, there are plenty of reasons to encrypt data (does stolen personal data ring a bell?) and very few reasons to fear it. While relatively few of us might ultimately be the ones implementing encryption, it's important to understand the major issues so we can discuss its implementation and the policies governing its use intelligently. I recently had a phone call with a team of folks from WinMagic, and we discussed encryption as part of a full security program. You can listen to the podcast here.

(Originally posted by Mike Fratto on SecureEnterprise Magazine's Website on 02/06/06)

Newbury Networks wants a chance to respond to a blog entry where I opined about their over the top marketing and fear mongering in a white paper they published. I also pointed out what I thought, and still think, are technical inaccuracies. Their unedited response is below.

(Originally posted by Mike Fratto on SecureEnterprise Magazine's Website on 02/01/06)

Newbury Networks has been pushing extremely hard the idea that Wi-Fi is broken and can't be trusted unless you deploy their products. They are pushing over the top marketing in webinars and white papers. This white paper is one of the most blatant cases of fear mongering I have seen in a long time. Let's take this apart point by point.

Competitors of DataPower in the SOA management, security, and integration spaces have been wondering what became of the hardware SOA company snatched up by the WebSphere division of software-powerhouse IBM.

Six months after the acquisition, IBM announced the new IBM WebSphere DataPower SOA appliances and SOA security consulting services.

Happy Friday!

Today I have three freebies for you: a desktop skinner, a web-based bookmark repository, and a really cool JVM clustering technology from Terracotta.

An Open Letter to Mr. Michael F. Snyder, Director and CEO of Vonage
Dear Mr. Snyder,

Congratulations on your new position, though in the wake of the yesterday's catastrophe of an IPO I'm not sure anybody's going to be envious of the challenges ahead.

The AT&T launch yesterday of a satellite Internet broadband service points the way to the company's future. It sees the handwriting on the wall -- there's no way to make money by selling voice, and broadband competition is fierce. So it's betting that broadband wireless and VoIP will help it survive in increasingly competitive times.

As I watched the Live 8 concerts last fall (and later the DVD from the worldwide broadcasts), I was struck by a sign being held by a fan in London's Hyde Park site as Pink Floyd played its historic reunion set: "Pigs have flown."

This weekend as I came through the midtown tunnel into NYC, I spotted several interesting posters adorning the side of a building. One had a sheep wearing what appeared to be iPod earbuds, with the challenge "Don't be an iSheep" or something to that extent. A similar bill bore a primate listening to music with his iPod and the statement "Don't be an iChimp." There was a donkey labeled an "iFollower" for trying to grab a dangling carrot and a guy in a suite with his arms strung up like an "iPuppet." At the bottom of each of these posters was an ominous link -- to iDont.com.

Two interesting developments on the security front last week: Cisco is flirting with the database security business while Microsoft declared its love for SSL-based remote access.

Vonage's IPO went off as planned today, and even though shares have been plummeting, the fact that it raised over a half billion dollars shows that in the stock market, there's always a sucker waiting to be had.

The recent loss of data from the Veterans Administration highlites the need to know who has what data, and what they're doing with it. The VA has thus far handled this event wonderfully, and as a Veteran from a family of Veterans, I am pleased that they're doing what they have to in regards to the lost data.

But there is one thing that worries me, and I think now is as good a time as any to address it. Public outcry and the media frenzy created by sensationalism is going to cost this employee their job. I am pretty positive that the VA will look at the circumstances, correlate facts, and then fire the employee.

Here's a PC casemod that's sure to please any evil mastermind -- and give heart palpatations to secret agents, superheroes and planet-saving astronauts everywhere. This computer's case has been made to look like a Hollywood-esque 'Doomsday device,' the kind that have the good guys sweating as they try to figure out which colored wire to cut before the countdown hits zero. Click on the image for more on how it was made.

RightNow has announced its intention to acquire Salesnet for its workflow automation capabilities and, in a surprising show of honesty, its customer base in all all-cash merger of the two companies.

Open Source software tends to be one of those religious topics, where people have strong opinions and feelings that are informed by more than simple facts. It's the kind of topic that is fun to cover because it often brings far more reader and listener response than other, less emotionally-charged areas. In this podcast we wade in with both feet, talking with Mike Ferris, Redhat's Director of Solutions Strategy. He had some interesting things to say, and you can hear them here.

As Vonage prepares for its IPO, possibly as early as next week, it's being hit with even more bad news. A Wall Street Journal article savages the service, quoting one subscriber as saying, "If you have to choose between two cans and a string and Vonage, take the cans and string. You'll be happier with the service."

Happy Friday!

Today I have two freebies for you - one for you fellow developers and one for the videophiles who just have to share their latest reel with the world.

Two weeks ago, I noted the trend toward technology alliances and suggested that you all view each one carefully to see how it worked for you and your company. I was also expecting a heads-up on news from Qlusters, the open-source systems management outfit.

More trouble for the Vonage IPO: It's being undercut on prices by so many competitors that it's hard to believe many people think the company has a long-term future, much less be willing to buy the stock.

While reading Gartner's analysis of Kraft's $1.7 billion outsourcing deal to EDS, I was struck again by the importance of IT competitiveness in today's market place.

I just couldn't pass this up -- spotted on Boingboing:

"Is that old Bob Ross wannabe on the wall being neglected? Are your laptop-bearing-house guests begging to use your WiFi? Kill two birds by sprucing up the oiled spruces just by transforming that ol' landscape into a wireless LAN-scape password sign."

Lost in the controversy over the National Security Agency getting phone records of hundreds of millions of people may be a very dangerous fact: The information it requested is useless for tracking down terrorists. So says a science fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford.

That wacky master of the Nunchakus -- the Ninja from "Ask a Ninja" is back, and this time around he's here to help you better understand all the confusion surrounding Net Neutrality -- and probably add to it as well.

Opting for a hosted or on-demand software application is gaining in popularity. There are plenty of reasons it’s a good choice, but also reasons that software as a service may not be the best choice for your company.

The big telcos may have agreed to turn over hundreds of millions of phone records to the NSA, but Comcast has a message for the feds' super snooper: It will refuse to turn over customer records if asked. And other cable companies stand with Comcast.

Happy Friday!

Today we've got two freebies for you: one for Linux fans and one for the gamers.

Should the government be restricting the Web sites we surf? Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick thinks so. According to a news report yesterday, he and fellow Republicans want to extend federal laws that will prevent minors from accessing social-networking sites, such as LiveJournal.com and Myspace.com, from schools and libraries.

How badly does Vonage want its IPO to go through the roof? Apparently, it's turned to VoIP spam as a way to stir up interest. Subscribers are receiving unsolicited spam VoIP messages from Vonage, telling them to buy the stock. Beyond that, there are reports that the SEC has been unhappy with Vonage founder Jeff Citron over a previous alleged stock scam.

Typically at this week of the year, I'd be in Los Angeles, where I step into a phone booth and emerge as my heretofore-unknown alter ego, Video Games Reporter. (Don't give away my secret, OK?)

A picture is worth a thousand words - if you can get Flash downloaded and installed so you can see the pictures...

While testing SOA Management products I discovered that it isn't always that easy to get Flash downloaded, let alone installed.

Yesterday, Verizon warned financial service companies that they may not receive Internet connections with the necessary service quality if the government implements Network Neutrality legislation. Pundits have taken this to be a dire warning. Watch out. Evil Verizon is out to get you! Think McCarthy and the Communists. Nixon and those liberals. You get the idea.

Bad news for federal snoopers: A panel of judges practically laughed them out of court for trying to extend existing wiretapping laws to VoIP and broadband services. The panel call their legal logic "ridiculous," "gobbledygook" and "nonsense."

In keeping with my habit, here is my usual post-show post about Interop.

This time though, there will be less about vendors and more about press and analysts, because I've picked on vendors enough through the years. Though one or two did make my list for this show. As usual, most specific names have been filtered out to protect the guilty.

Podcast from Interop - Day 3 report (download here). It's a sound seeing tour of the Interop show floor. We'll wander around the floor early in the morning, get lost in Korea, interview FaceTime, get sick of The Beatles, burn through startup city by meeting Kaidea, get a sound bite from Samsung, interview the always insightful Bob Moskowitz, get some info on the new Dark Reading website, woof it up with Blue Coat, chomp down on some M&M's with Tarari and finally cruise around with Barricuda.

You didn't see it on the show-floor, but in backrooms at Interop, VoIP vendors were quite candid about how they intend to solve telephony's scaling problem. I'm sure you know what I mean. You deploy a small IP PBX or key system, save on upfront costs, but end up getting slammed with having to purchase a new IP PBX (and throw out the old one) once the system outgrows the old switch's capacity.

CMP's Stephanie Stahl sat down at Interop with Cisco CEO John Chambers for a wide-ranging interview covering the idea of the "network as a platform" and more.

Click on the video below to see the whole story. (.wmv)

Happy Friday after Interop!

Today I have a couple of freebies for you, both focused on sharing content on the web.

So many vendors were shouting about Network Admission Control (NAC) at this year’s Interop that they nearly drowned out the ‘ding-ding’ of the slot machines. That means enterprises investigating NAC first have to tune out high levels of marketing B.S., vendor obfuscation and bandwagon-jumping before they hear of anything with actual business value.

To help save your eardrums, I’ll point you toward two interesting NAC architectures that emerged from the noise at Interop: peer-based enforcement and SSL VPNs on the LAN.

It should have been a great match up. The Interop folk paired Juniper CEO Scott Kriens and Google's enterprise general manager, Dave Girourd, in back-to-back keynotes. Yet as I listened to both speakers I couldn't get over as just how much of their own cool-aid some vendors can drink.

Take a sneak-peak into the Best of Interop awards ceremony, hosted by NWC editors, in this video report.

Click on the video below for your virtual front-row-seat. (.wmv)

We talked with Internet Security Systems CEO Thomas Noonan about the changing nature of security attacks -- and what IT needs to do to keep one step ahead of the bad guys. Check out this video Q&A.

Click on the video below to see the whole story. (.wmv)

It's not exactly like dotcom-boom-days, but Interop's "Startup City" area featured some intriguing IT startups trying to make their mark. Check out our latest video blog segment as we look at companies looking to take the startup leap.

Click on the video below to see the whole story. (.wmv)

The feds know no limits when it comes to Internet snooping: It now appears that they want to require that colleges provide them with backdoors so that they can spy on students, professors, and staff on university networks.

Originally Published on CRN By KDan Neel

Telepresence blends high-bandwidth IP communications into a high-resolution video- and voice-conferencing system. Such solutions will be so refined that users will be able to detect subtle nuances in the responses of other participants and follow them around a room, according to Chambers.

Continue reading "Cisco's Chambers Predicts Dawn Of 'Telepresence'"

Posted here at 05:04 PM in Interop 2006 Video Blog

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Originally Published on CRN By Kevin McLaughlin

Security vendors Borderware and Elemental Security used Interop Las Vegas 2006 as a backdrop to unveil their new wares.

Borderware introduced a platform for protecting companies from inbound and outbound threats through multiple protocols, while Elemental Security rolled out a network access control (NAC) solution that uses a policy-based approach to safeguard networks. Continue reading "Security Vendors Take Aim At Multiprotocol Threats, NAC, Compliance"

Posted here at 04:57 PM in Interop 2006 Video Blog

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Best of Interop Winners
By Rich Karpinski at 04:32 PM

Tuesday afternoon, Network Computing editors officially announced the Best of Interop winners. NWC's tech editors spent two days vetting the BOI entries to come up with this year's award winners:

Best of Interop Grand Prize Winner Crescendo Networks - Crescendo ALP (Application Layer Processing)

Best Startup Product
Kaidea Innovation, Inc - NASVault

Application Networks and Performance
Crescendo Networks - Crescendo ALP (Application Layer Processing)

Data Center and Storage
D-Link - D-Link xStack Storage iSCSI SAN Arrays (ISN-3000 Series)

Infrastructure
ConSentry Networks - CS4048X, Secure LAN Switch

Network Software and Services
eTelemetry, Inc. - Locate

Security
Application Security, Inc. - AppRadar 3.0

VoIP and Collaboration
Sipera Systems - Sipera IPCS 310

Wireless and Mobility
Reva Systems - Tag Acquisition Processor - Platform Edition

Check out BestofInterop.com for more details.

Posted here at 04:32 PM in Interop 2006 Video Blog

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Allies
By Don St. John at 02:37 PM

Technology alliances around certain products--processors, blade servers, software platforms--seem to be all the rage these days. You have your Itanium Solutions Alliance, your Blade.org, any one of seemingly a zillion Microsoft-related groups, and so on.

Continue reading "Allies"

Posted here at 02:37 PM in Storage and Servers

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Podcast from Interop - Day 2
By Mike DeMaria at 11:09 AM

Podcast from Interop - Day 2 report (download here). Tuesday was a busy day. All morning was spent picking the Best of Interop. Last episode I talked about the finalists in VoIP/Collaboration; find out who won in today's podcast. I also had a chance to sit down with Raritan. They announced a server monitoring product at the show. That's quite interesting, considering Avocent's latest move (see previous blog entry). If you were curious what it sounds like when a Network Computing editor is briefed by a vendor, here's your chance to listen in.

Posted here at 11:09 AM in Interop 2006 Video Blog | Messaging and Collaboration | Podcasts

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Q&A: Cisco Systems (VIDEO)
By Rich Karpinski at 03:28 AM

We talked with several Cisco execs about the vendor's vision of "application-oriented networking" -- the move of more and more services into the network infrastructure to support next-generation service-oriented applications. Learn what this big-picture vision means for your network today -- and in the future.

Click on the video below to see the whole story. (.wmv)

Posted here at 03:28 AM in Interop 2006 Video Blog

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Day 2: Chambers Keynote and the Return of IT (VIDEO)
By Rich Karpinski at 03:01 AM

From John Chambers' keynote to the buzz in the conference hallways, the story at Interop 2006 was the re-emergence of IT as a key driver of business strategy -- not just corporate cost-cutting. Check out our latest video blog segment direct from Las Vegas.

Click on the video below to see the whole story. (.wmv)

Posted here at 03:01 AM in Interop 2006 Video Blog

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May 02, 2006
Opsware Adds VoIP Support
By Tom LaSusa at 04:30 PM

Originally Published on CRN by Dan Neel

Opsware on Monday rolled out a new version of its data center automation software at Interop Las Vegas 2006.

Continue reading "Opsware Adds VoIP Support"

Posted here at 04:30 PM in Interop 2006 Video Blog

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Big Money Boys: AT&T Doesn't Own The Net
By Preston Gralla at 03:26 PM

AT&T may not be able to hijack the Internet after all: The big money boys -- the country's biggest financial firms -- are putting their muscle and cash behind bills that would ban AT&T and other telcos from charging sites extortion-type fees for adequate bandwidth.

Continue reading "Big Money Boys: AT&T Doesn't Own The Net"

Posted here at 03:26 PM in Network Infrastructure

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No Sea Of Tranquility Here
By at 10:48 AM

Just over a year ago we were reminded that the infrastructure behind your Internet operations matters, in a big way, by well-publicized crashes at sites such as Delta.com. If you recall, that one was crippled by traffic following its launch of a revamped web site that encouraged customers to purchase tickets online.

Continue reading "No Sea Of Tranquility Here"

Posted here at 10:48 AM in Interop 2006 Video Blog

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Podcast from Interop - Day 1
By Mike DeMaria at 10:26 AM

Podcast from Interop - Day 1 report (download here). The show floor officially opens in just a few hours. However before the show, the editors of Network Computing (as well as our freelance writers and other CMP publications) interview and interrogate vendors to determine which product is considered the Best of Interop. In today's podcast, I talk about the three finalists I met with for Best of Show in the category "VoIP and Collaboration". The winner will be announced at 4:00pm today.

Posted here at 10:26 AM in Interop 2006 Video Blog | Messaging and Collaboration | Podcasts

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WAFS, a little additional info, a misconception correction.
By Don MacVittie at 04:50 AM

Well, my WAFS review went online and to print this week, there are a couple of minor things that I'd like to set straight.

Continue reading "WAFS, a little additional info, a misconception correction."

Posted here at 04:50 AM in Storage and Servers

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Day 1: Behind The Scenes at Interop (VIDEO)
By Rich Karpinski at 04:19 AM

The show floor might not have been open on Monday, but there was plenty to see behind the scenes at Interop 2006 in Las Vegas. Check out our latest video blog segment as we go behind closed-doors to provide a sneak preview of NWC's Best of Interop judging and get the scoop on the latest iteration of the InteropNet show network.

Click on the video below to see the whole story. (.wmv)

Posted here at 04:19 AM in Interop 2006 Video Blog

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Internap Q&A: Inside InteropNet (VIDEO)
By Rich Karpinski at 04:11 AM

Internap's Brandon Ross is an InteropNet veteran. In this video Q&A, Brandon gives Network Computing's Jenny Zaino the inside scoop on the what makes the show network hum.

Click on the video below to get the full story.

Posted here at 04:11 AM in Interop 2006 Video Blog

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WCA: Steven Hill on Storage and Servers Winners (VIDEO)
By Rich Karpinski at 04:00 AM

Steven Hill covers Storage and Servers for Network Computing. You can find NWC's choices for Well-Connected Award winners in the storage and servers area here, including Cisco Systems, EMC, Symantec, VMware, EqualLogic, NeoScale Systems and EVault.

Click on the video below and hear Steven talk about the storage and server trends that mattered and the best products of 2005. (.wmv)

Posted here at 04:00 AM in Interop 2006 Video Blog

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May 01, 2006
Will Export Laws Cripple VoIP?
By Dave Greenfield at 10:50 PM

A recent news article says that obscure regulations may prevent VoIP companies from exporting their wares.

Continue reading "Will Export Laws Cripple VoIP?"

Posted here at 10:50 PM in Network Infrastructure

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When It Comes To USB, Will Enterprises Follow Where Consumers Lead?
By at 08:53 PM

Pick-up of USB drives in the consumer world has been rapid, but not so much in the business arena—at least, not on an official basis. We all know plenty of these come creeping onto the network on an unofficial basis—heck, just think how many you might pick up as a souvenir from Interop alone.

Continue reading "When It Comes To USB, Will Enterprises Follow Where Consumers Lead?"

Posted here at 08:53 PM in Interop 2006 Video Blog

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Cell Phone Malware Growing Fast
By Andrew Conry-Murray at 08:29 PM

The number of cell phone viruses and Trojans has doubled in the past seven months, leaping from 100 to 200 since October of 2005, according to researchers at F-Secure.

Continue reading "Cell Phone Malware Growing Fast"

Posted here at 08:29 PM in Security

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Health Concerns Shouldn't Block Wireless Auction
By Preston Gralla at 06:22 PM

The feds are about to auction off huge chunks of unused wireless spectrum, which is good news for