Spotlight Features

As spammers dream up new strategies for slithering into e-mail inboxes, their counterparts, anti-spam software developers, are on the lookout for new ways to stop them cold. The latest tactic, called challenge-response, requires an e-mailer to verify his or her identity before being added to a "whit...

Perhaps no industry was as blindsided by the power of the Internet as the music business. The sudden rise of Napster pitted content owners against customers, and now, with the RIAA suing individual file swappers in an effort to stop rampant music piracy, a crisis is in full swing. Enter DRM, or digi...

In the world of computer security break-ins, the focus has shifted from alleged hacker masterminds to enterprise shortfalls -- unpatched software, poorly secured firewalls and weak computer passwords. However, vulnerability assessment tools are educating IT admins about how to close holes in network...

The Microsoft-versus-Linux skirmish has heated up discussions about how much a company should pay for servers, software and operating systems. In addition, the harsh economic climate has forced many companies to cut costs, so they are taking a long, hard look at licensing agreements. How much impact...

Although ciphers long have been a staple of spy thrillers and mysteries, data encryption now has gained a real -- and critical -- foothold in the business world. Without this technology, data packets can be easily captured and viewed by unauthorized users. Right now, most enterprises and government ...

2003 was supposed to be the year of the PC upgrade. More than halfway through the year, however, a jump in PC sales is nowhere in sight. Fortunately, IT departments are likely to buck the overall enterprise trend, because new PC purchases can more easily be justified for the people who manage and ma...

In an effort to trim costs, U.S. companies increasingly have been shipping work overseas, especially to India, China, Eastern Europe and South America. While this practice boosts the bottom line in the accounting office, it also raises the anxiety level of U.S.-based employees. However, not all IT j...

Buzz about WiFi has swelled to a dull roar this year. Ads for laptops highlight Intel's Centrino technology, which gives users wireless networking capabilities without requiring them to buy a separate PCI card. Across the United States, Starbucks enables customers to check e-mail wirelessly, and McD...

Gorging on enterprise infrastructure was de rigueur in the go-go 1990s, but a drop in capital spending has heralded the arrival of new methods of building out networks in small increments. In the storage networking arena, budget-conscious CIOs are focusing on such cost-cutting measures as utility co...

Part 1 of this article discussed the relative advantages and disadvantages of IBM's DB2 and Oracle's 9i software. However, IBM and Oracle are not the only vendors in the database race. Microsoft has seen tremendous growth in the last few years for its Windows-only SQL Server. "Microsoft leads all ve...

Although databases have been a fundamental component of the enterprise IT stable for decades, they now seem to be multiplying faster than ever before, both in number and in importance. Many enterprises now rely on hundreds or thousands of databases, and administering them has become a major challeng...

Recently, a new value-added tax (VAT) law was enacted to level the playing field between Europe-based and U.S.-based companies in the European e-commerce market. Previously, U.S. e-commerce companies doing business in Europe had not been required to charge value-added tax, putting their European cou...

On paper, the allure of no-name PCs, or "white boxes," may seem almost irresistible. Today's typical white boxes are equipped with industry-standard Intel motherboards and processors and are usually cheaper than their branded counterparts. But if no-name hardware is such a bargain, why are so many b...

Macromedia Flash technology garnered a shaky reputation at the height of dot-com mania in the 1990s, when it was often associated with Web site splash pages that effectively barred users from accessing a site's useful content. But things have changed: Flash is now a nearly ubiquitous environment for...

Apple's new server OS, known as Panther, is slated to launch before year's end with new capabilities that will be "awesome solutions for an awful lot of customers," according to Apple server software director Tom Goguen. While it is not surprising to hear Apple referring to its products as "awesome"...