29-11-2004 • VOLUME 7 • NUMBER 45 • £2.60
WWW.ITWEEK.CO.UK
22 INTERNET How to solve
the online identities crisis
25 CLIENT HP offers Novell
Linux on desktops
29 NETWORK Vodafone and
BT promise mobile savings
CONTENTS
ENTERPRISEWEEK
Microsoft adds value to TechNet 17
What are the pitfalls of IT buying? 18
OpenBSD version 3.6 reviewed 19
INTERNETWEEK
MSN’s client-free Web Messenger 21
Are e-sellers ready for Christmas? 21
Websense boosts access controls 22
CLIENTWEEK
Pointsec tools guard Linux clients 25
PalmOne’s big-memory T5 PDA 26
Mobilising data raises productivity 26
NETWORKWEEK
Strategies for work on the move 29
Citrix extends its VPN capability 29
Packeteer chief on traffic control 32
MANAGEMENTWEEK
Are email policies good enough? 35
Oracle patch policy welcomed 35
EU debates code patents
David Neal and Kim Thomas
A
key vote on contentious new European
patent rules was delayed last week, as
lobbying on both sides intensified. Some
experts warned that innovation in IT might
be stifled if the proposals are accepted in
their present form.
The EU Competitiveness Council had
been due to decide last week whether to
pass the controversial Patent Directive,
which would define new limits for technology patents. But the vote has been delayed
until the first half of December, to allow
CA circles
mid-market
Computer Associates looks set to
shake up the middleware market, following its appointment last week of the
former head of IBM’s WebSphere division, John Swainson, as its next chief.
Milind Govekar of analyst Gartner
said a move into the middleware market was a clear possibility, given Swainson’s background.“He might decide to
buy or partner with a company in this
space,” he said.“Or to build a new
middleware offering and use the firm’s
existing management and security
tools as competitive advantage.”
This would result in a product line
similar to IBM’s, with its WebSphere
platform and Tivoli management tools.
Govekar said it was unlikely such a
development would occur in the next
six months, however. If CA is looking
for an acquisition, one candidate is
BEA, which is struggling against large
rivals such as IBM and Oracle. BEA’s
WebLogic suite would give CA a
ready-made middleware product.
Swainson at CA, p9 www.ca.com
more time for Poland – which does not fully
support the text, according to reports – to
analyse the proposals.
Jon Collins of analyst firm Quocirca said
the delay could result in better law. “The
most important thing is
that the law is protected
from being hijacked by
big business. It’s a good
thing to have a bit more
scrutiny,” he argued. In its
Torvalds: against
software patents
current form the proposals could encourage
“patenting land grabs”, according to Collins.
“Where companies are patenting algorithms
just because nobody else has done, it [would
be] an abuse of power,” he added.
The plans have met strong opposition
from open-source proponents. Linus Torvalds, the inventor of the Linux operating
system, last week called on the EU to reject
the directive. “Copyright serves software
authors while patents potentially deprive
them of their own independent creations,”
he argued in an open letter.
Supporters of the directive argue that
software patents could foster innovation by
helping smaller firms to protect their ideas.
EC web services row, p21 Last Word, p38
Browser fits
on any screen
Future browsers from
Opera Software will render
web pages to fit any screen
size.The new ERA technology will debut in Opera
7.60 for Windows in January. The technology will
Opera
feature in all future Opera increases
browsers, including mobile flexibility
versions. ERA could also
help web content fit on printed pages.
Full story, p5 www.opera.com
App support deals cut costs
Kim Thomas
s companies brace themselves for a
predicted rise in software costs, experts say many firms may seek to
save money by buying support from thirdparty suppliers rather than product vendors.
Analyst firm Gartner warned last week
that under current software licensing models, emerging innovations such as multicore chips and virtualisation could result in
escalating software prices. To offset these
predicted increases, IT managers may try to
cut software-related spending elsewhere.
One option may be to use third parties for
software maintenance and support.
AMR Research said many companies
could greatly reduce software costs by swapping to third-party support for enterprise
applications. US-based TomorrowNow,
which offers support for PeopleSoft software at between 50 percent and 75 percent
of the PeopleSoft fees, could blaze a trail to
be followed by other cut-price providers.
TomorrowNow has almost 100 US customers, but such offerings have yet to take
off in Europe. However, Bill Swanton, vicepresident of AMR, said there was good
A
it will halt all support for the operating syspotential for this type of business to grow.
tem in the UK – but not the US.
“People have offered support on obsolete
Gartner predicts that the emergence of
systems on a consultancy basis for years,”said
multi-core chips and server virtualisation
Swanton. “The thing that’s new is [Tomwill drive up software costs. On-demand
orrowNow] is putting this on the same yearhardware systems and rapid provisioning
ly fixed-fee basis as software vendors.”
tools may also cut spending on hardware
Such offerings could be attractive to
while increasing software
firms running obsolete sysprices, said the analyst.
tems, especially if they do
Gartner’s Andy Butler
not require additional func- TAKING A HAMMERING
Innovations that may
said the move to multi-core
tionality. Swanton suggested
push up licence costs
chips poses the biggest danthat buyers should review
Multi-core chips
ger. Because most software
current maintenance conlicences charge a CPU fee for
tracts to see whether they
Server virtualisation
each core on the chip, firms
offer worthwhile upgrades,
On-demand capacity could have to pay double for
before deciding whether to
software running on dualconsider third-party supProvisioning tools
core systems, for example.
port. He said HR software
“Every
organisation will have
and supply chain functionSource: Gartner
multiple software products
ality were other areas where
that will by affected by these trends,” he said.
such support may cut costs. “It’s really an
IT chiefs agreed with Gartner’s warnattractive market,” Swanton added.
ings about virtualisation. One said: “It is a
Leading candidates for such services may
pain that if we run four virtual production
include PeopleSoft customers concerned
servers on one physical production server,
about support in light of Oracle’s takeover
we need five Windows licences for that box.”
bid. UK firms using Windows NT 4.0 may
also look into the possibility of using a US PeopleSoft users oppose takeover bid, p35
based support partner, as Microsoft has said
How to get more value from IT, p36
NEWS INSIDE: ID Biometrics, p4 • BROADBAND Wireless, p4 • 3G Prices, p4 • WEB SERVICES Tools, p5 • GOVERNANCE Costs, p6 • SANs Growth, p6