NEWS&ANALYSIS
the
buzz
The Silex ComboMini interfaces
with a USB
port.
SECURITY
Silex adds biometric
devices, software
SILEX TECHNOLOGY THIS WEEK WILL
launch new biometric fingerprint
readers and authentication software to help safeguard data on
PCs, laptops and PDAs.
The new devices are designed
to help users secure data without
passwords. The devices use silicon sensors developed by Fujitsu
Microelectronics and scan at 500dpi resolution. Instead of recording
a copy of the entire fingerprint, the
readers capture a unique collection of data points from a user.
One new device designed for
mobile users, the $179 ComboMini, about the size of a key
chain, connects to a computer’s
USB (Universal Serial Bus) port,
and fingerprint data is stored on
the card. Silex’s other new devices include the $199 FIC-200
fingerprint reader card for notebooks, which slides into a PC
Card slot. For desktop users,
Silex is rolling out the $149 FUS200N fingerprint reader with a
USB interface. —Shelley Solheim
Many phishing attacks,
but few perpetrators
RESEARCH FROM E-MAIL SECURITY
provider CipherTrust suggests
that only a handful of people are
responsible for the majority of the
phishing attacks on the Internet
and that the perpetrators are
using a rotating series of zombie
networks to launch them.
Researchers analyzed more
than 4 million e-mail messages
collected from the company’s customers in the first two weeks of
October and found nearly onethird of all the zombie machines
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
The whole world was blasting along in the
gigahertz war. But the industry as a whole
has recognized that with Moore’s Law, you
can’t continue to run more transistors faster.
sending the phishing messages
are based in the United States.
However, these findings do not
mean that these attacks are originating from inside this country.
Many experts believe that most
phishers are associated with organized crime groups in Russia
or Eastern Europe and that most
such attacks begin there.
—Dennis Fisher
PCS
Unit shipments on rise
THE GLOBAL PC MARKET GREW IN
the third quarter, by how much
depends on reports from market
researchers IDC and Gartner
released last week.
IDC reported total shipments
jumped almost 12 percent, to
44.2 million units. That was
about 0.5 percent ahead of IDC
forecasts. Gartner said the market grew 9.7 percent, to almost
47 million units, slightly below
what the company forecast.
Gartner cited weakness in the
U.S. market, which saw 5 percent
growth in shipments. Gartner had
predicted 8 percent growth.
Both companies said that Dell
continued to hold the top spot,
with Hewlett-Packard coming in
at No. 2. IDC had Dell’s share at
18.2 percent, and HP’s at 16.2
percent. Gartner had Dell at 16.8
percent and HP at 15 percent.
IBM, Fujitsu and Toshiba rounded
out the top five slots on each list.
—Jeffrey Burt
DEVELOPMENT
Sun, SeeBeyond alliance
takes aim at SOAs
SUN AND SEEBEYOND TECHNOLOGY
last week announced a partnership aimed at tying the Sun
Java Enterprise System to SeeBeyond’s product suite to drive
service-oriented architecture
development for customers.
SeeBeyond will port some of its
SeeBeyond ICAN 5 Suite to Sun’s
JES, beginning with SeeBeyond’s
eGate Integrator 5 platform being
ported to Sun Java System Application Server 8. Initial targets
will be RFID (radio-frequency
identification) and portal applications, with a joint solution being
sold by both companies. The solution includes Sun’s Java System
RFID software and SeeBeyond’s
RFID Composite Application Network product. —Darryl K. Taft
BY THE NUMBERS
Quarterly earnings update
COMPANY
NOTABLE NUMBERS
Motorola
Third-quarter net income of $479 million, more
than four times the previous year’s quarter
Lucent
Net income more than tripled in its fiscal fourth
quarter, to $348 million
EMC
Reported strong revenue (34%) and net income
(37%) growth for the third quarter
Sun
Reported a narrowed first-quarter loss, of $174
million, on a slight rise in revenue, to $2.63 billion
Lexmark
Third-quarter earnings rose 50%, to $156.1 million,
but company expects fourth-quarter results will slow
IBM
CEO Sam Palmisano called it “one of our strongest
third quarters in recent years”
Texas
Reported increase in third-quarter revenue of 26%,
Instruments to $563 million; expects slower fourth quarter
Craig Barrett, Intel CEO
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