eWEEK EDITORS

The IEEE 802.15.3a task group has failed again to break the deadlock between two competing ultrawideband proposals. The discussions ended in such rancor that an agreement may be out of reach this week, according to Kursat Kimyacioglu, director of Wireless Business Development and Connectivity, at Philips. This raises the likelihood that one of the groups […]

Cisco Systems Inc. has launched its first line of 802.11g devices. The companys new Aironet 1100 and 1200 access points are backwards compatible with Cisco Aironet and Cisco Compatible 802.11b clients and the Cisco Wireless IP Phone 7920. Cisco also released its new 802.11 a/b/g-enabled client adapters for notebooks and desktops. Read the full story […]

Ricochet Networks Inc. is evaluating a number of options to operate and expand its wireless network, the company said. Ricochet allows users to connect wirelessly to the Internet at up to 176K bps at $45 per month for unlimited service. The company provides wireless service in Denver and San Diego. Read the full story at […]

The Internet Engineering Task Force is expected to review the latest draft for the Lightweight Access Point Protocol (LWAPP) at their meeting next week in Minneapolis. The protocol would let network administrators mix different brands of access points and switches on their networks. The protocol also creates a standard framework for centralized management of access […]

Aligning IT with corporate strategy is tough, and the results of this years CIO Insight survey on the issue show why. More than 80 percent of the 745 IT executives and 543 business executives surveyed say alignment at their companies has improved over the past three years—yet less than 30 percent say their IT organizations […]

Encryption A quantum-key distribution and encryption system developed by Magiq Technologies Inc. promises unbreakable encryption over existing fiber-optic lines. The Navajo Security Gateway system will initially be available only to U.S. companies and agencies, the company said. In quantum-key distribution, an “uncrackably” secure key is transmitted, after which a normal encryption/decryption technique is used over […]

IT professionals who use Solaris or Linux to control storage will see a boost in native management tools next year, as Sun Microsystems Inc. and Red Hat Inc. build them into their respective operating environments. By getting more storage tools inside the popular operating systems, users will have fewer parts to buy when assembling or […]

Responding to enterprise users increasing data recovery needs, several new technologies for cleaning and inspecting storage tapes will debut next year, officials at Bow Industries Inc. said last week. For 40 years, users have invented ways to clean and monitor a tapes health. “Unfortunately, almost nobody obeys the rules” regarding how long tapes should be […]

Network Appliance Inc. next year will give users drastically improved clustering features, based on the $300 million acquisition of Spinnaker Networks Inc., officials said last week. NetApps current high-end storage series blends NAS (network-attached storage) and SAN (storage area network) capabilities in one device, but it can cluster only two nodes at once, said Suresh […]

The H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute is in the business of saving human lives, but in its data centers, its the life cycle of information that needs the ongoing care. The Tampa, Fla., hospital, like many enterprises, mixes storage hardware and software technologies: 20 terabytes of StorageWorks XP 9900- and 9500-series disk […]

Following are eWEEK Labs answers to questions posed by attendees of the Oct. 29 eSeminar, “Instant messaging: Extending your platform.” For more information on Ziff Davis Media Inc. eSeminars, go to www.webseminarslive.com. Why would I implement this whole new technology when e-mail can do all that IM can? Instant messaging works well for situations when […]

Military historians have long looked to carthage for examples of the power of decisive action and unconventional methods. So its fitting that the Tunisian city was the site of what Internet pioneer Vinton Cerf called an overdue move to “substantive issues” for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. But while the agenda for […]