News


Microsoft Changes CAL Options

As Microsoft puts the finishing touches on Release Candidate 2 of Windows .NET Server 2003 for posting later this week, the software giant also previewed new options for Client Access Licenses that should give customers a little more power to match CALs to their needs.

RC2 of Windows .NET Server 2003 Coming This Week

Microsoft will post Release Candidate 2 of Windows .NET Server 2003 this week, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. RC2 will probably be the last widely distributed test version of the server operating system before it is released to manufacturing sometime in the first quarter of 2003. General availability of Windows .NET Server 2003 is scheduled for April.

West Virginia, Massachusetts Appeal Antitrust Ruling

Two of the nine states that sought tougher antitrust remedies for Microsoft will appeal a federal judge's decision last month to accept Microsoft's settlement with the Justice Department and reject the harsher penalties.

HP Unveils Three ProLiant Rack Servers

HP updated its line of ProLiant-branded, Intel-based servers this week by making available a rack-dense, four-processor system and announcing a pair of 1U servers that will ship later this month. All three servers feature remote management and fault resilient technologies.

Netcraft: MDAC Vulnerability Affects Small Number of IIS Servers

Netcraft is trying to correct a misimpression surrounding Microsoft's two-week-old security bulletin involving Microsoft Data Access Components.

Security Firm: Digital Attacks Against U.S. Rise in November

The number of digital attacks in the United States rose by 13 percent in November despite an 8 percent decline worldwide, according to a London-based security firm.

HP to Ship 2nd-Generation Profusion Systems in Early 2003

In early 2003, HP plans to roll out eight-processor servers based on a second-generation Profusion chipset that supports the newer Intel Xeon MP processors.

IBM Releases WebSphere 5.0

IBM Corp. this week officially released version 5.0 of WebSphere Application Server (WAS). With full support for existing Web services standards, compliance with J2EE 1.3, a new workflow engine, and a bevy of Web-to-host connectivity options, Big Blue says that WAS 5.0 marks a major upgrade of its Web application server platform.

IDC: Linux Servers Grow Faster Than Windows in Q3

Linux servers gained market share much faster than Windows servers did in the third quarter, according to research released Wednesday by market analysts at IDC. The analysts note that the Linux growth comes from a much smaller base than Windows enjoys. The Standard Intel Architecture Servers that underpin both OS platforms, meanwhile, continue to make up a growing share of the overall market as Unix servers decline in market share. In other developments, IBM assumed the lead among eight-processor server Intel architecture sellers.

Microsoft Updates Collaboration Solution

Microsoft unveiled a minor upgrade this week to its Microsoft Solution for Intranets (MSI) package that offers consulting on setting up enterprise intranets based on Microsoft technologies. The new 1.5 version of MSI also integrates an upcoming technology offering from Groove Networks that provides users with a way to work on MSI-based collaboration projects while offline or outside the firewall.

IDC: 2002 Worst Year in History of IT

The IT industry is having its worst year ever in 2002, market researchers at IDC concluded. Some of the hardest hit sectors were storage, systems, network equipment and services.

Dell Gets Into Blade Game

Dell this week delivered on an earlier promise to begin shipping blade servers. It is immediately offering a 3U enclosure that packs as many as 12 processors.

Aberdeen Report Points Out Open Source Vulnerabilities

Analysts at Aberdeen Group say the evidence of the last 10 months shows that the popular wisdom about Microsoft security -- that it's the worst -- may be outdated.

IBM DB2 Version 8 Available

Version 8 of IBM DB2 became generally available on Thursday. The version sports a new pricing structure and enhanced management features that make the database more attractive for smaller companies that have traditionally leaned toward SQL Server.

Unisys Tests 64-bit Windows System on SAP Benchmark

Unisys used 64-bit Itanium 2 processors and a 16-processor server to push the performance envelope of Windows-based systems on SAP's Sales and Distribution benchmark by 250 percent, the company announced this week. When compared against larger Unix/RISC systems, however, the result ranks 10th overall and is 17 percent as scalable as the best result.

NEC to Ship 32-way Itanium 2 Servers in U.S. Next Month

NEC Solutions America will introduce three new Itanium 2 servers in the United States by the end of the year. All based on a unified chipset and architecture, the systems are a 32-processor capable server, a 16-way capable server and an 8-way capable server. The systems will be available immediately with Linux, but they will support Windows in April as soon as Windows .NET Server 2003 ships.

Critical Vulnerability Affects Most Windows Systems

Microsoft warned users late Wednesday of a critical new vulnerability involving the Microsoft Data Access Components, a ubiquitous technology present on most Windows systems. Especially vulnerable are Web servers in the middle of three-tier architectures with a SQL Server database at the back end and most Internet Explorer users. Microsoft also issued an unrelated cumulative patch for Internet Explorer.

SQL Betas Out for SP3, 64-bit

Microsoft on Wednesday introduced two beta programs for SQL Server 2000 customers, one for Service Pack 3 and the other for 64-bit SQL Server. Company officials also discussed for the first time a Hotfix Installer tool for SQL Server to be available near the end of this year.

Note-Taking App Joins Office Family

Bill Gates introduced a new Office application for taking notes and organizing them during his Comdex keynote this week. The application, called Microsoft OneNote, is scheduled for a mid-2003 release.

AMD Demos Prototype System Running 64-bit Windows

AMD is demonstrating systems at Comdex and Supercomputing 2002 this week running prototypes of its 64-bit AMD Opteron processors on 64-bit Windows servers.