28-06-2004 • VOLUME 7 • NUMBER 25 • £2.60
WWW.ITWEEK.CO.UK
26 CLIENT Sun Java Desktop
System 2 makes admin easy
29 NETWORK Kit to boost
WAN efficiency
36 MANAGEMENT Top tips
for corporate governance
CONTENTS
ENTERPRISEWEEK
Giants beef up utility computing 17
Servers to run 64bit technology 18
Monitoring Windows networks 19
INTERNETWEEK
All change for business messaging 21
Windows XP SP2 and the pirates 22
Better location-based e-services 22
CLIENTWEEK
Pentium 4 core for Intel Celeron 25
Easier control for Apple’s OS X 25
Do corporates really need PDAs? 26
NETWORKWEEK
Corporate governance systems 30
Intelligent LANs protect systems 30
Scanner maps out wireless LANs 33
MANAGEMENTWEEK
IT managers build HR expertise 35
Campaigning to fight net threats 36
Will NT 4 gain extra time?
Peter Williams
K enterprises are intensifying efforts to secure continued support
for Windows NT 4 Server, buoyed
by a new maintenance deal agreed between
Microsoft and a group of US financial companies last week.
Under the agreement, Microsoft said it
would supply security updates for NT 4 to
the Bits consortium, which represents the
100 largest US financial institutions, for an
extended period as they migrate systems to
more recent versions of Windows. Although
prices were not revealed, Microsoft said the
large number of users involved could keep
down the cost per company.
David Roberts, chief executive of UK
blue-chip user group The Corporate IT
Forum (TIF), said he had been pursuing a
similar deal in the UK, as many large UK
firms have business-critical systems on NT 4.
“Migrating those systems is very costly because it took years to make them work and
even more to make them robust,” he said.
Roberts said UK firms have so far been
U
Comdex off
Vegas stage
Comdex in Las Vegas, the world’s
largest IT show, has been dropped for
2004, following years of falling attendance. Robert Priest-Heck, chief executive of organiser MediaLive, said,
“While we could still run a profitable
Comdex this year, it does not benefit
the industry to do so.” Last year the
UK’s Networks For Business show, previously known as Networks Telecom,
was canned for similar reasons. Comdex was due to begin on 14 November.
Leader, p12 www.comdex.com
SUPPORT RUNS OUT FOR NT 4
Mainstream
editions pulled
by resellers
NT4
Workstation
support ends
Non-security
hotfixes
stopped
Security
hotfixes
to end
unable to convince Microsoft to extend support.“[TIF] has tried to put as persuasive an
argument as possible to Microsoft. We’ve
had discussions and reinforced this very
strongly at every opportunity. But I am not
aware of any change,” Roberts said. However, he said he was hopeful as Microsoft had
adopted a generally more moderate stance.
Microsoft insisted the US deal did not
constitute a change in its support policies.
“When support is running out, large enterprises come to us and say, this doesn’t really
sit with our plan. We say, let’s talk about it,
and so we come to custom agreements,” said
Lars Ahlgren, senior marketing manager for
Microsoft corporate global support.
Security updates for NT 4 are due to
stop at the end of this year. In May, Microsoft announced a change in its business
and developer software support policy, providing five years of mainstream or full support; increased online support, up from
eight to 10 years; and increased extended or
chargeable support, up from two to five
years. But NT 4 was excluded from this.
At a recent IT Week debate, Roberts said
NT 4 was “too young to kill off”. But Nick
McGrath, head of platform strategy at
Microsoft UK, said NT 4, launched in 1996,
was showing signs of its age. “NT 4 Service
Pack 7 was an exceptionally stable release but
it didn’t have directory services, it didn’t have
DNS built in, it was still using broadcast protocols for things like name resolution.”
Other experts noted that NT 4 was not
affected by high-profile worms like Sasser,
and had roughly the same number of security alerts as Windows Server 2003 last year.
Win 2003 HPC, p4 Microsoft ERP, p8
Open Debate, p14 Windows monitor,p19
Linux returns to school
R
ed Hat will this year introduce a new
high-end enterprise qualification, even
though some observers question whether
such certificates are the best way to demonstrate open-source skills.
Red Hat’s move is an attempt to catch up
with proprietary commercial rivals. However, experts fear that multiple certification
schemes for Linux could lead to the same
fragmentation that inhibited Unix adoption.
The Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA)
qualification is aimed at veteran Linux
administrators who already have Red Hat
Certified Engineer (RHCE) status – a qualification launched over five years ago. The
new curriculum supports datacentre sys-
tems and software management skills for
Red Hat Enterprise Linux deployment and
other open-source technologies.
Although it is widely recognised that
Linux qualifications are necessary, some
experts believe an open approach is needed.
“These qualifications are
very important for corporates and you’ve seen the
strength of the Microsoft
and Novell programmes,”
said John Spiers, IT director
at online recruitment firm
Salazar: Red Hat
skills are welcome
CE 5.0 puts
security first
Windows CE 5.0, released to manufacturing today, will power a new generation of devices.The latest version of
Microsoft’s embedded platform for
products such as thin clients offers better security and includes drivers for
common hardware. Also, developers
can now modify source code and ship
it in commercial products without
licensing the changes back to Microsoft.
The new version will ship with software components set for highest security by default. Microsoft has worked
with partners to include drivers for
many common hardware items and to
improve voice over IP support.
Microsoft is making more source
code available for developers to
encourage growth of Windows CE in
the embedded market.The next versions of Microsoft’s Pocket PC and
Smartphone platforms will be based on
Windows CE 5.0, the firm said.
Win XP security, p22 Win CE, p25
StepStone. “Red Hat wants a more direct,
almost proprietary, relationship with its
customers. Most people would say that’s
neither necessary or desirable in Linux.”
Phil Soffe of Spring Technology Staffing
Services, said, “Demand for RHCE on a
contract basis is pretty much non-existent.
Overall, Linux certification is a good thing
but I can’t see too much value at present.”
Red Hat denied the qualification locks
users in to its technology, saying all its code
is available on an open-source basis. In May,
MySQL began offering certification for its
open-source database. “Anybody welltrained in Red Hat certification shouldn’t
have big problems in a mixed environment,”
said Red Hat marketing director Paul Salazar.
MySQL seeks UK progress, p4
Dot-Net Linux, p8 www.tinyurl.com/2l9nw
INSIDE: THE OPEN DEBATE A panel of experts discusses the relative merits of Windows and open source as platforms for enterprise IT, pp14-15