News


Partner Watch, August 23

Aderant announces the upcoming release of its .NET-based Back Office financial management solution.

Subscription Service Adds License Management

AssetMetrix has added software license management to the list of services it provides through its subscription-based asset management service for IT.

IT Weekly Roundup, Aug. 19

From the business wires this week: a database development suite for Windows XP, an enterprise defragmentation solution, a Windows Server security appliance and more.

Certiport Announces World Champions of Office Competition

This year’s winners in Microsoft Excel and Word Specialist exams hail from Switzerland and England.

Certiport To Head Microsoft IT Academy

Microsoft outsources its global training program to Certiport, based on its success with Microsoft Office Specialist.

Zero-Day Exploit for IE Flaw Allows Remote Code Execution

Even as a Microsoft advisory took an unnamed group of security researchers to task for releasing information about the flaw and exploit code publicly, Microsoft itself was scolded by incident handlers at the SANS Institute for providing an infrastructure with IE that allows such attacks in the first place.

MCP Exam Second-Shot Promo Nears End

The second coming of Microsoft's MCP exam retake promotion is coming to an end on August 31, 2005.

EXCLUSIVE: New Software Assurance Benefits to Include 24x7 Support, Virtual PC Express

Microsoft plans to bolster the Software Assurance component of its volume licensing program next month with several additional benefits covering deployment services, enhanced support, training and exclusive software, according to a source familiar with Microsoft's plans.

Major Late Stage Change on Tap for Visual Studio

According to a senior Microsoft executive, Microsoft is introducing what he calls a "big change" to Visual Studio 2005 in the August Community Technology Preview that is coming out shortly. Such a major change is unusual for a product this late in the development cycle.

Exchange 2003 SP2 Preview Code to Post Friday

Microsoft plans to release a Community Technology Preview of Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 on Friday.

Worms Hit High-Profile Targets

CNN, New York Times, Caterpillar and others reported serious problems from worms stemming from the Plug and Play vulnerability in Windows 2000. Microsoft continues to rate the worms a low threat.

VMware’s Multi-core Strategy: Per-CPU Pricing

VMware announced this week it will price its products per CPU and not per core, assuring users that they will not be penalized for moving to emerging multi-core processors.

Q&A: SAFLink Launches Channel Program

Biometric firm that once targeted government now looks to partners to address SMBs.

BindView to Update Compliance Tracking Tool

Houston, Texas-based BindView Corp. says this quarter it will ship an update to its regulatory compliance tracking and reporting tool, that adds support for major databases and for Microsoft Exchange.

Intel to Ship First Dual-core Xeons Early -- Cuts Some Pentium 4 Prices

As the multi-core duel heats up, Intel moved to steal some thunder from AMD this week by announcing it will ship its first dual-core Xeon CPUs earlier than promised. Additionally, over the weekend, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company slashed prices on several of its Pentium 4 desktop processors.

Quest Unveils Vintela Details

Quest Software this week revealed its initial blueprint for the integration of Vintela technology with Quest tools. Quest bought Vintela in a $57 million deal that closed last month.

Zotob Worm That Exploits Plug and Play Hole Spreading Slowly

A Microsoft official said that a dangerous new worm dubbed Zotob is spreading slowly, but Microsoft is on high alert and the company recommends that customers apply a patch for the Windows Plug and Play vulnerability the worm exploits.

Partner Watch, August 16

Hosting.com offers users a chance to test out betas of Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0 and SQL Server 2005. Also, SyncCast develops a digital music kiosk with partner Mix & Burn.

Microsoft and Federated Identities: The Road to Single Sign-On

Confused by Microsoft's jumble of directory technologies for user-account management? ENT contributing editor Stuart Johnston sorts out the differences between Microsoft's existing Microsoft Identity Integration Server and its forthcoming Active Directory Federation Services, and explains where third-party tools from Quest/Vintela and Centrify fit into the puzzle.

IT Weekly Roundup, August 12

From the business wires this week: