eWEEK EDITORS

When Accruent CEO Mark Friedman was a commercial real-estate broker in the early 1990s, he regularly saw clients get cheated by landlords because someone in the accounts-payable department hadnt read the lease carefully enough. For example, a company might have received a $5,000 invoice for snow removal from one of its landlords and simply paid […]

The softswitches that route VOIP calls get caller ID info off the PSTN (public switched telephone network), but they dont play by the PSTNs FCC-mandated rules. Those rules and switching protocols make regulated telcos validate that caller ID and block it if requested. They dont apply (yet) to VOIP. Which is why, if you get […]

Microsoft Corp. soon will launch a number of IT services developed together by the MSN, Windows and Office teams that are aimed at small businesses and consumers. Or so foreshadowed the Microsoft CEO in his yearly virtual address to rally the troops. Buried in CEO Steve Ballmers annual employee memo mailed to the companys 57,000-member-strong […]

McDATA Corp. and Network Appliance Inc. will work together to offer a storage software solution to manage both IP and Fibre Channel SANs. McDATA will integrate its SANavigator network management software with NetApps DataFabric Manager software. NetApp will sell the integrated solution through its channels under the NetApp DataFabric Manager brand name. “By integrating the […]

PyX Technologies Inc. is offering complementary client and server iSCSI storage management software that the company said provides the highest possible level of data transmission reliability. PyXs Target software separates incoming iSCSI traffic from the native storage protocol–whether that be Serial ATA, SCSI or fibre channel–ensuring the integrity of all forms of storage traffic. Despite […]

Shares of Veritas Software Corp. closed down 36 percent on Tuesday after the company said it expects revenue in the second quarter to come in lower than expected. Veritas Chief Executive Officer Gary Bloom blamed the results on weak sales in the United States. Revenue from software license orders was weaker than expected at the […]

Digital Rights Management (DRM) marketplace was worth $36 million in 2003, according to a Jupiter Research survey of 800 people. Jupiter expects the DRM market to increase to $274 million by 2008. “I think theres a stigma around DRM,” said Peter Sargent, senior analyst at Jupiter Research. “Its associated with the digital audio/video entertainment space, […]

Pirated software exists in homes, schools, businesses and government offices, according to the Business Software Alliance. Software piracy costs software makers some US$13 billion annually. The Internet is a major channel for pirated software, said Ian Hameroff, security strategist at Computer Associates. “There are lots of bad choices on the Internet,” he said. “It is […]

Google last week modified its Gmail policy. Users may not “sell, trade, resell, or otherwise exploit for any unauthorized commercial purpose or transfer any Gmail account.” Bartering is still permitted as long as money doesnt change hands. This news might be a relief for a gmailswap.com poster claiming to be a 23-year-old, “hot enough” woman […]

Consumers interested in portable storage gained a new option Tuesday, when Sony Electronics unveiled a 2-Gbyte solution that takes up the space of a business card. The $249.99 Micro Vault Pro will be available later this month, Sony said. The 2-inch x 2.75-inch form factor will hold a 1-inch hard disk drive that can connect […]

Use this handy cheat-sheet to help keep straight the evolving list of storage terminology. Direct-attached storage (DAS) Storage connected directly to a server. Fibre Channel An expensive short-distance networking technology used for building SANs. ATA (AT attachment) or IDE (Integrated Device Electronics) Traditional desktop and low-end server storage technology that includes the controlling circuitry for […]

Disk drive maker Maxtor Corp. said Thursday evening that the company would trim 400 to 500 positions worldwide in a bid to cut costs, part of a lowered earnings forecast. Maxtor said second-quarter price declines would drop the average selling price for a disk drive to about $71, $4 below the first quarter and significantly […]