Outsourcing
Computerworld, 9/5/03: John Hancock outsources IT to IBM for savings, better service
The six-year deal is worth $254M
Story by Juan Carlos Perez
SEPTEMBER 05, 2003 ( IDG NEWS SERVICE ) - John Hancock Financial Services Inc. has handed over the management of its IT infrastructure to IBM, a move the insurance and investment company expects will yield better IT services at a lower cost.
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IT Management
Internetnews, 9/5/03: Does 'IT' Not Matter? It So Does!
By Erin Joyce
Nicholas Carr may have started the debate with his Harvard Business Review article last May called "IT Doesn't Matter." But the article's thesis -- and the resulting arguments it attracted -- have taken on a life of their own.
Even today, after months and boatloads of ink that rode the wave of impassioned rebukes that followed the piece, "IT Doesn't Matter" has seemingly become a fixture in the IT ecosystem. The article has become a starting point in a debate over how "commoditized" the IT industry has really become. And over what's in store for its future.
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Security
The Register, 9/8/03: The trouble with anti-virus
By John Leyden
Traditional techniques aimed at stemming the flood of viruses and worms are failing to keep pace with the rise in malicious code.
Users have known this for years - at least intuitively. Even vendors admit - at least privately - that there's an issue. Now, for the first time, there's research to back up this gut instinct.
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The New York Times, 9/7/03: In Computer Security, a Bigger Reason to Squirm
By BRENDAN I. KOERNER
LKE prison wardens marveling at an escapee's spoon-dug tunnel, computer-security professionals acknowledge grudging admiration for the author of SoBig.F, the virus that deluged e-mail In boxes last month. At the epidemic's peak in mid-August, according to the antivirus company Central Command, SoBig.F-related messages accounted for 73 percent of e-mail traffic worldwide, making it history's most aggressive online contagion.
"You have to think the person who did this has some awareness of the Internet's infrastructure," said Mark Carey, an independent computer security consultant in Columbus, Ohio, who has analyzed SoBig's code. "It's a little more sophisticated than what we've previously seen."
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eWeek, 9/8/03: Anti-Virus Options on the Rise
By Dennis Fisher
The enterprise anti-virus market is on the verge of a major shake-up, as Symantec Corp. and Computer Associates International Inc., two of the industry's largest players, are set to introduce significant new products and perhaps permanently shift the balance of power in the anti-virus industry. The result: a bigger variety of more robust anti-virus options to choose from.
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Computerworld, 9/8/03: Security Breach at Web Host Leaves Sites at Risk
Visitors to thousands of sites left vulnerable to infection; provider says flaw has been fixed
Story by Jaikumar Vijayan
SEPTEMBER 08, 2003 ( COMPUTERWORLD ) - An administrative error at Web hosting provider Interland Inc. may have caused thousands of hosted sites to become infected with malicious code.
Visitors to those infected Interland-hosted sites were in turn vulnerable to having their systems compromised by code that could allow them to be turned into proxy servers, a security expert said last week.
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Microsoft
Microsoft Watch, 9/5/03: Redmond Readies Update to Windows Update
By Mary Jo Foley
A security fixes and patches continue to pour out of Microsoft, Redmond is attempting to get its patch-management house in order. The latest: Microsoft is soliciting beta testers soliciting beta testers for a new release (version 5) of its Windows Update service. Meanwhile, the software giant is beta testing Windows Installer 3.0, Software Update Services 2.0 and prepping more patching tools to try to lessen patch pandemonium.
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Internetnews, 9/3/03: Microsoft: Hated Because It's Misunderstood (Opinion)
By Rob Enderle, the Enderle Group
Prejudices and misconceptions about Microsoft make it hard to evalute the company's merits. The biggest myths about Microsoft are that its desktop products are overpriced, it doesn't respect its customers, and reliability and security are poor. And some think the company is downright evil.
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The Economy
Press Release, 9/5/03: The Entire U.S. Workforce is Being Downsized in a Jobless Recovery - How Come? 'It's not the economy, stupid, it's the chip,' Says Report From EraNova
MOUNTAIN LAKES, N.J., Sept. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The economy picks up and employment stays down. What's up? On the heels of soaring productivity, "The American middle class is being sold out in a decades-long process," says Richard W. Samson, author of a report from think tank EraNova Institute
( http://www.eranova.com ). First America's farmers got the axe. Then blue-collar workers found themselves on the streets. Now white-collar employees are getting the heave-ho. Though perfectly legal, the process is displacing far more wealth than Worldcom or Enron.
The report shows why jobs are being cut even as business recovers. "The real problem isn't vague economic forces or cheap foreign labor," says Samson. "It's invisible chips and code." The report documents how today's technology lets executives create more wealth with fewer and fewer people, all below the radar of public awareness.
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