Business

Few things are more precious to an enterprise than information. Using it effectively -- which oftens means sharing it efficiently -- can provide a competitive edge, helping separate winners from also-rans. But data is precious in another way: It must be protected, not only against outside threats, b...

In a move to simplify its user interface, search engine Ask Jeeves has announced it will discontinue use of banner ads on all of its Web sites, instead focusing on sponsored searches, paid for by advertisers, to generate revenue. Ask Jeeves has been testing a banner-free site since last summer, acco...

As recently as a few years ago, IT personnel were trained to harden their network perimeter, barring outsiders entirely. In contrast, today's security environment is far less clear-cut -- and the role of firewalls is expanding. "A lot of new developments are going on at once," Richard Stiennon, Inte...

As 2003 dawns, several signs indicate that the U.S. economy is starting to improve. With those welcome tidings in mind, some workers in the e-commerce sector may be hoping for a reprise of the late 1990s, when jobs were plentiful, stock options were actually worth something, and the general high-tec...

Driven by convenience and efficiency, e-commerce spending most likely topped $74 billion in 2002, a 39 percent jump from 2001, according to Web traffic measurement firm comScore Media Metrix. Meanwhile, Forrester senior retail analyst Carrie Johnson told the E-Commerce Times that the research firm e...

The bad news is no secret, but it bears repeating: If you have bought anything online in the past several years, your personal information, including your home address and credit card number, is probably accessible via the Internet -- and available to people with less-than-noble intentions. Fortunat...

The Semiconductor Industry Association, a trade group that counts Intel and AMD among its members, has announced that global sales of semiconductors increased just 1.9 percent to $12.51 billion in November compared with October levels. The slow growth rate, which bucks the usual holiday spending tre...

Recognizing that more consumers than ever would take to the Internet for holiday shopping this year, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission warned consumers to be cautious. Their first piece of advice: Deal with only those companies that you know and trust. But because the Web is a blind medium, sometime...

Hoping to avoid long lines at the register and searching for bargains, holiday e-shoppers turned to books, music, videos and DVDs as the No. 1 category for their gift purchasing. Books, music and video represented 17.8 percent of all holiday spending, accounting for nearly $1.9 billion this season, ...

Storage software maker Veritas has scooped up two smaller firms in deals worth about $600 million, leading a pre-holiday buying spree by software companies that has rapidly accelerated the pace of industry consolidation. In a separate deal, business intelligence software provider Cognos said it will...

The number two software supplier Oracle said Wednesday it had beaten its own conservative quarterly estimates and indicated the company's financial downturn may be coming to an end. Oracle's quarterly revenue of $2.31 billion fell from last year's $2.38 billion. But the figure still beat out Wall St...

The speed of information delivery is continually increasing. Most people who work in office environments have had access to broadband Internet connections for years, and more home users than ever before can surf the Web at speeds that eclipse those of the fastest dial-up modems. But how many custome...

Russian software firm ElcomSoft has been acquitted of copyright infringement in the first-ever criminal prosecution under the United States' controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The decision seems likely to reopen debate on the law's future. In the case, Adobe alleged that one of E...

Trying to find anyone willing to forecast a vigorous rebound in 2003 technology spending is like searching for a nonexistent needle in a haystack. But it is nearly as hard to find someone who thinks tech spending has anywhere to go but up. "There is no technological innovation that everyone is clamo...

In a move that likely indicates companies will not return to vigorous spending on telecommunications equipment anytime soon, Cisco Systems has inked a deal with SBC Communications to offer outsourced communications services. The two giants will target small and mid-size enterprises that want to take...