News
IT Weekly Roundup, Dec. 17
From the business wires this week: anti-spyware solutions, Power over Ethernet media converters, and updated virtual machine software.
Spyware.
The word was set in stone this month with its inclusion into the official
lexicon of the English language, the
Oxford
English Dictionary, along with the words Benjamin, supersize and
jihadist. Its recognition comes as spyware and other forms of malware
are increasingly spreading their irritating and sometimes crippling
effects across the Web, pushing it to the top of security concerns
for businesses and ordinary users.
Fend off spyware, viruses and other malware going around with a
host of security products now on the market this winter. From InterMute,
Inc. comes two products: CWShredder 2.12
gets rid of nasty polymorphic browser hijackers like HomeSearch
and CoolWebSearch, and is available as a standalone or as part of
InterMute’s SpySubtract anti-spyware. The newest offering
among these software products is SpySubtract
Rx, a Web-based ASP service that lets corporate and consumer
PC users scan and remove spyware. http://www.intermute.com
 |
Internet Cleanup 4.0 blocks
banner ads and pop-ups. |
Allume Systems, Inc. announced the availability
of a free update of its anti-spyware program,
Internet
Cleanup 4.0. The new update now supports Mozilla’s
FireFox Web browser in addition to Internet Explorer, AOL, MSN and
Netscape. Also from Allume is
SpamCatcher 4.0,
which boasts better Microsoft Outlook Express support and improved
anti-phishing capability and e-mail filtering. The anti-spam software
retails for $29.99.
http://www.allume.com.
For enterprise-class networks, Spy Sweeper Enterprise
2.0 from Webroot Software offers
a more substantial solution featuring a spyware threat database
to detect and remove more than 42,000 strains of spyware. The new
version has improved scalability, load balancing and bandwidth conservation,
and supports Microsoft SQL Server. http://www.webroot.com
Aladdin Knowledge Systems, Ltd. also
added spyware to its list of naughty Internet threats with spyware
protection now integrated into its eSafe
product suite of programs that defend against viruses, worms, exploits
and spam. To secure against more immediate threats, Aladdin’s
eToken Simple Sign-On (SSO) solution enables
users to securely log onto their company networks by plugging in
their eToken USB smart cards and entering a single password. eToken
SSO allows administrators to fully manage users, from deploying
and revoking access to resetting and recovering passwords and eToken
credentials. http://www.ealaddin.com
Vexira Antivirus was given the upgrade
treatment across all of its product lines to incorporate a new architecture
that includes a spam signature database. Current Central
Command customers can get the update for free for their Microsoft
Windows desktop and server environments, or any of the other server
platforms Vexira supports. http://www.centralcommand.com
Sleepycat Software released Berkeley
DB XML 2.0, which features support for XQuery 1.0, an emerging
standard for XML data access. The open source, native XML database
now also has support for XPath 2.0 and PHP API, as well as control
over storage granularity of documents and XML document streaming
into database. http://www.sleepycat.com
Transition Networks announced new additions
to its product line of Power over Ethernet
(PoE) media converters, which operate in two modes: IEEE 802.3af
compliant and Legacy. The four new product lines are available in
both AC and DC power and support either 10- or 100-Base copper-to-fiber
devices. Prices start from $450 for 10Mbps PoE converters and $695
for 100Mbps converters. http://www.transition.com
Speaking of Ethernet, Systimax Solutions
launched a 10-Gigabit Ethernet UTP cabling solution that complies
with IEEE 802.3an task force guidelines. Systimax GigaSPEED
X10D features GigaSPEED 91 Series cabling in plenum, non-plenum
and low-smoke zero-halogen versions. http://www.systimax.com
 |
VMware VirtualCenter 1.2 features
expanded support for configuration and migration of virtual
machines. |
VMware, Inc. unveiled the latest versions
of several of its virtual infrastructure enterprise products. ESX
Server 2.5 can now run virtual machines on diskless servers
and blades by booting directly from a SAN, as well as be able to
enable native SAN access from within virtual machines. VirtualCenter
1.2 supports ESX Server 2.5 and ESX Server SAN transparency,
and allows users to export virtual machine performance stats in
HTML and Excel formats. It also includes an updated version of
Virtual Infrastructure SDK 1.2. Pricing for ESX Server 2.5
starts at $3,750 for a two-CPU machine; VirtualCenter 1.2 starts
at $5,000. http://www.vmware.com