06-09-2004 • VOLUME 7 • NUMBER 33 • £2.60
WWW.ITWEEK.CO.UK
22 INTERNET How do web
content controls compare?
30 NETWORK Voice
over wireless LANs
36 MANAGEMENT The path
to superior CRM systems
CONTENTS
ENTERPRISEWEEK
Oracle ships first monthly patch 13
Will IT vendors back safe email? 14
Linux desktops and patent laws 16
INTERNETWEEK
E-shopping versus the fraudsters 19
Will power corrupt search giants? 20
CLIENTWEEK
AMD shows off dual-core chips 25
Security questions dog XP SP2 26
Can Tablet PCs go mainstream? 26
NETWORKWEEK
Will Intel chipset boost 802.11a? 29
Cisco VoIP joins Microsoft CRM 30
WAN accelerators save big bucks 31
MANAGEMENTWEEK
New audit rules cause IT changes 35
Better tools for content control 35
How to prevent insider crimes 36
Slim iMacs
go quicker
Apple’s new iMacs, due
this month, pack all their
components into a 2in
thick screen. The 17in
display 1.6GHz and
1.8GHz models have
256MB RAM and an New iMacs
80GB Sata hard drive. cost from £783
A 1.8GHz model with
a 20in display has a DVD-R/CD-RW
SuperDrive and a 160GB hard drive.
Full details inside, p25
Spending picks up steam
Martin Courtney
G
rowing sales of network kit and rising
staff recruitment rates suggest firms
are finally loosening the IT purse strings.
Sales of Ethernet switches in the first
half of 2004 were up 26 percent on the previous six months, according to research
firm IDC. And figures from analyst Infonetics suggest shipments of Layer 2-3 Ethernet switches in the last quarter were four
percent up on the same period in 2003.
Analysts and vendors attributed better
sales to firms buying Gigabit Ethernet kit
that now costs the same as 10/100Mbit/s
devices on a price per port basis. “There is
definitely an upturn. Organisations have a
renewed interest in upgrading [the LAN]
but we also see LAN switches going to
smaller offices and homes to share broadband and for gaming,” said
Peter Hulleman of IDC.
Shaun Paice, director of workgroup product management for
3Com, said companies
are buying 10/100Mbit/s
Paice: switches
offer good value
Longhorn plans cut short
Steve Ranger
M
icrosoft last week faced accusations of short-changing its Software Assurance customers following its decision to strip core features from
the next major Windows client operating
system, codenamed Longhorn.
The software giant said it would remove
a new file storage system, WinFS, from
Longhorn, so the client operating system
could be delivered by its 2006 deadline. But
the Longhorn server operating system is
expected to stay on the previous schedule
and arrive in 2007.
In a research note, analyst Ovum said
that the removal of WinFS would reduce
the significance of the 2006 Longhorn client
release. Experts added that the move could
delay related technologies such as Microsoft
Business Framework (MBF), a set of developer tools to build on the .Net Framework.
Microsoft said Longhorn’s two other core
technologies, the new feature-rich 3D user
interface codenamed Avalon, and the new
communications system codenamed Indigo,
will be available for Windows XP and Win-
dows Server 2003 in 2006. As a result Longhorn’s main attractions will be the WinFX
API and new security features such as the
Next Generation Secure Computing Base.
Analyst firm Gartner accused Microsoft
of reducing the value of the product in
order to hit the 2006 deadline. “Microsoft
wishes to release a new version of Windows
by year-end 2006 to shore up revenue and
appease customers that paid for Software
Assurance on the client OS under Enterprise, Open or Select agreements,” said
Gartner in a research note.
David Weeks, Microsoft Windows XP
marketing manager, said firms wanted better
CARVED UP: LONGHORN DIVIDED
Indigo
comms
on XP
Avalon
graphics
on XP
WinFS
storage
removed
user productivity, easier deployment, increased reliability and enhanced security.“Of
the three major parts of Longhorn – Avalon,
Indigo and WinFS – [WinFS] is very complicated, and so we had to make the decision
not to release it in Longhorn,” he said.
But Ovum analyst Philip Carnelley said
that many of the new features being promoted for Longhorn involved the WinFS file
system in some way. “What is Longhorn
going to be if you take out this major plank?”
he asked.“If you are a large firm with staff on
XP this is not going to make you think of
being an early adopter.”
Microsoft product groups and software
partners are working to build a number of
new products on top of the MBF layer,
including the Microsoft Business Portal,
future releases of Visual Studio .Net and
Microsoft’s Code Green suite of business
applications. WinFS is now due in 2007,
according to Weeks, although a first beta
version will be available to testers in 2006.
Comment, p5 XP and 64bit drivers, p6
Microsoft MOM, p9 Leader, p10
Microsoft mulls open-source moves, p13
Longhorn 2006, p25 SP2 security, p26
and Gigabit Ethernet switches. “The downturn over the last couple of years meant
firms put off upgrades, but budgets appear
to have opened up a little bit now and
aggressive pricing makes these switches
good value for money,” he said.
Last week Intel reported strong corporate demand, despite weak consumer sales.
Rising IT spending mirrors jobs growth.
A survey of 500 IT managers by recruitment
firm Computer People suggests 56 percent
of IT departments will take on extra staff
this year, double the number in 2003.
“We’ve seen the highest number of IT
vacancies since the 1990s. Firms hiring eight
to nine people in 2003 are now taking on 15
to 16,” said Jane Binner of Computer People.
PoE-enabled Fast Ethernet switch, p29
3G services
target cities
Orange will extend its 3G mobile data
network to nine more cities this
month. By the end of September, firms
in Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle should come
within range of Orange’s data-only 3G
service. It can support email, internet
access and business application traffic
at speeds of up to 100kbit/s.
London has had 3G services since
19 July, according to Orange, though
coverage and data rates vary according to the number of subscribers using
the network at any one time.
However, potential subscribers
may be deterred by the high cost of
3G services from both Orange and
Vodafone, according to analysts.
Orange’s 3G Mobile Office PC
Card costs between £85 and £250,
and monthly subscriptions cost
between £10 and £75 depending on
the number of megabytes transmitted.
www.orange.co.uk
NEWS INSIDE: BT Prices, p4 • LINUX Thin clients, p4 • INTEL Latest, p5 • XP 64bit, p6 • STORAGE NAS, p6 • LAPTOPS Speed, p8 • EMAIL Archiving, p9