Cameron Sturdevant

Ipswitch continues to polish its FTP client, making it a reliable choice for IT managers and a more secure utility for users who routinely transfer files. The new Hot Drop feature let me put an icon representing a file transfer target on the desktop. My tests showed that this was a good way to automate […]

A successful voice-over-IP implementation on what was once a data-only network requires extensive network checks. Last month, Alcatel Internetworking Inc. debuted Alcatel Assessment for VOIP Solution, a reasonably good network remediation system for this purpose. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Alcatel Assessment for VOIP Solution 1.0 AVISO uses IP phones to predict phone-call quality. The results of the […]

Work is under way at Xerox Corp.s PARC that should be vehemently opposed by IT leaders. The results of this PARC project will hurt consumer trust in corporate data privacy protections, a subject thats already ripe for a consumer backlash. Project Genisys—part of the federal governments Total Information Awareness program—is developing a “privacy appliance.” In […]

Vulnerability assessment tools are rapidly evolving, and eWEEK Labs tests of three such products show that IT managers who leverage them will stay further ahead of potential security problems than they would by manual means. Vulnerability assessment systems scan operating systems and applications for potential problems, such as the use of default passwords or configurations […]

Vulnerability assessment is just one piece of the due diligence pie. IT managers should craft a security plan only after they understand business objectives because company executives, shareholders and, ultimately, customers measure security breaches in business, not technical, terms. Before or, at least, during a vulnerability assessment, IT managers should have a complete inventory of […]

3Com is answering Dells entry into the network device market with the 3C1670108, an eight-port, unmanaged Gigabit Ethernet-capable OfficeConnect switch that shipped earlier this month. My brief test of the 3C1670108, which is priced at $150, shows the Dell-3Com switch fracas could get interesting. The 3Com entry-level switches are best suited for budget-conscious small and […]

The Computer History Museum, which opened June 2 in Mountain View, Calif., uses a collection of outdated computers and computer-related artifacts to demonstrate the breadth of developments of the information age. Even youngsters will feel like wise old sages after perusing the hardware and software in the museums 9,000-square-foot display area. The museum is housed […]

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY PCAnywhere 11.0 Symantecs venerable remote control tool, first released in 1985, is now at Version 11.0 and is outfitted with several useful new utilities. New deployment tools, user interface and configuration policy management give even more control to IT trouble-shooters than did previous versions. However, PCAnywhere faces stiff competition from the remote control […]

Avocents DSR800, released last month, is a cost-effective eight-port KVM switch that turned in good performance when I used it in the lab. In fact, I found the DSR800 a worthy companion to its big brother, the DSR2161, a 16-port KVM-over-IP product that shipped last year. KVM over IP replaces the heavy, awkward cable systems […]

Computer Associates International Inc.s Unicenter Asset Management and Unicenter Software Delivery just got a lot simpler to use, and both products are well worth a look by IT managers who need to rein in operational costs while controlling a broad array of IT chores spanning midsize and large enterprise networks. Unicenter Asset Management and Unicenter […]

My recent column criticizing CAN SPAM left many readers wondering what I would do to stop spam. Id start by expanding the definition of spam. Spam is usually defined as bulk, commercial, unsolicited e-mail. But real spam has another, ethereal quality: It is unwanted. I add “unwanted” to my definition of spam because even if […]

The IEEE 802.3af power-over-Ethernet specification is almost complete and will likely be ratified as a standard later this year. This means that IP telephones will potentially gain the always-on reliability that is a de facto requirement for practical deployment in the enterprise. eWEEK Labs is seeing switchlike network devices that add power to existing structured […]