19-07-2004 • VOLUME 7 • NUMBER 28 • £2.60
WWW.ITWEEK.CO.UK
25 CLIENT CrossOver Office
for Windows apps on Linux
29 NETWORK Flexible
network analysis unit
32 MANAGEMENT Top tips
for overworked IT leaders
CONTENTS
ENTERPRISEWEEK
Better storage management kit 13
Windows Longhorn capabilities 14
Will Sun Java tools back Eclipse? 14
INTERNETWEEK
Firefox stalks wounded Explorer 17
Now everyone is a security risk 20
CLIENTWEEK
New date for XP Service Pack 2 23
Easy-deploy mobile email system 23
Horrors climb in via Windows 24
NETWORKWEEK
Copper wires support 10Gbit/s 27
Chips to cut wireless LAN costs 27
Firms see many options for VoIP 28
MANAGEMENTWEEK
Free project scheduling software 31
Firms act after IE browser flaws 31
Wireless tags in the supply chain 32
Secure move
for handsets
Wireless devices are set to gain better
security following chip maker ARM’s
new agreement to work with Trusted
Logic on software support for TrustZone technology in mobile chips.
TrustZone isolates security-critical
code from other applications. Such
partitioning stops malicious code from
compromising security by overwriting
encryption keys, for example.
“Trusted Logic has experience
working with secure software in the
smartcard industry, so we brought
them in to help build the TrustZone
infrastructure,” said ARM product
manager Tiago Alves.
Trusted Logic’s Security Module
will host security services within ARM’s
TrustZone, such as cryptography.
ARM is also working with handset
platform makers to put TrustZone support in Windows Mobile, Symbian and
Embedded Linux.The technology is
expected in handsets late next year.
Phone security, p23 www.arm.com
Risks rise for NT loyalists
Mark Street
WINDOWS LEADS ON CORE SERVERS
K firms that stick with Microsoft’s
NT4 operating system despite the
imminent withdrawal of support
run the risk of breaking corporate governance rules, analysts warned last week.
Under the information security standard
BS7799, which underpins many newer regulations covering operational risk, firms must
use software “maintained at a level supported by the supplier”. New IT Week research
shows that 18 percent of UK firms still rely
on Windows NT as their main server operating system, even though security updates
are due to stop at the end of the year.
“Quite clearly firms should opt for vendor-supported software, otherwise they are
exposing themselves under compliance
rules,” said Una Du Noyer, head of infrastructure and security at consultancy Capgemini. “Firms need to work out just how
serious the risk is, and weigh it up against
the cost of putting it right.”
NT4 is even more widespread when
non-core server systems are considered – 77
percent of firms use it somewhere on-site,
U
Data chief to chop spam
David Neal
D
ata watchdogs will get stronger powers
to stop spammers this year if information commissioner Richard Thomas has
his way. Thomas last week said he expects to
be able to issue “stop now” orders against
UK-based spammers from this autumn.
Thomas said, “I am talking to the DTI
about getting our ability to enforce the law
strengthened.” He added that the need for
additional powers was shown by the fact
that he had taken a year to resolve an issue
with a company sending out unsolicited
faxes. “We are looking for something like
the Office of Fair Trading’s Stop Now
orders,” Thomas explained.
Thomas said such orders could provide
a quick mechanism to halt firms that are
sending spam. “The sooner I get the power
the better,” he added.
Last month, the DTI
introduced rules to let
firms block unwanted
cold-calling from direct marketing companies. Communications
Thomas: power to
combat spammers
2000
40%
NT
18%
Server
2003
NetWare
14%
10%
Source: NOP/IT Week/Microsoft
according to the IT Week/Computing Usage of
Server Systems survey of 200 firms, carried
out by NOP, and sponsored by Microsoft.
“There is a phenomenal amount of NT
still rattling around and it would seem that
the end of support is not that much of a
worry at present,” said Du Noyer. “Most
people have had this system for years and
cannot remember the last time they have
had to contact Microsoft with an issue.”
Microsoft is increasing its efforts to
move firms to Windows Server 2003 as support for NT draws to a close. In a recent
email to Microsoft staff, chief executive Steve
Ballmer said the firm must act to change customer perceptions that “older versions of
minister Stephen Timms said, “Many firms
just don’t have the resources to cope. This
measure gives those firms the option to say
no to cold calls.” The possibility of extending this measure to business-to-business
spam is also being considered.
A spokesman for the DTI said, “If
[Thomas] says we need extra business protection then we will look at that. Stop Now
orders are an option.” However, he added,
“We are giving [the EU Directive on Privacy & Electronic Communications] time to
bed in. If we were to do anything it would
not be without some sort of consultation.”
A MessageLabs survey suggests 60 percent of firms will seek an alternative to email
within 10 years if spam keeps growing.
Spam grows, p6 Leader, p10
Office and Windows are good enough”.
Only 14 percent of firms have taken up
Windows Server 2003 as their main server
platform, while 40 percent rely on Windows
2000 Server. Nicholas McGrath, head of platform strategy at Microsoft, said there is a
steady move to Windows Server 2003 from
NT4. “The key drivers are the security and
reliability of Win Server 2003,” he added.
Elsewhere, the survey found few firms
chose Linux for their critical services – it
accounted for only two percent of principal
enterprise servers. However, 44 percent said
they use Linux in a supporting role.
Given the widespread deployment of
Microsoft systems, licensing costs remain
the biggest concern for enterprises. Twentythree percent of firms said that licensing
costs are their biggest financial headache,
followed by support costs at 21 percent.
Half of all firms said that the need to reduce
licensing costs of server operating systems is
a key objective for the next 12 months.
Microsoft HPC, p4 Comment, p5
Patching, p9 Dwindling support, p10
Windows servers, p14 XP SP2, p23
Windows danger, p24 IE flaws, p31
P900 update
adds Qwerty
Sony Ericsson last week announced its P910 smartphone with
PDA, email and web-browsing
tools.The handset, due in September, supersedes the P900.
It boasts Qwerty keys and
64MB of memory and
P910 has its email clients include
input choice one for BlackBerry.The
tri-band GSM/GPRS unit
will cost about the same as a P900 and
runs the UIQ interface on Symbian 7.0.
Controls to secure mobile phones, p23
NEWS INSIDE: IP TELEPHONY BT, p4 • IM Advances, p5 • BROADBAND ADSL, p5 • SAP Plans, p6 • LINUX Rivals, p8 • OPEN SOURCE Eclipse tools, p8