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IT News Review - Week ending August 4, 2000

IDG staff, Information Age

08/04/2000 17:10:45

Australian exchange seeks cash burn data The Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) has contacted about 20 technology companies with only enough cash in the bank to last about two quarters, asking them to detail their future plans. The crackdown comes in the wake of the latest quarterly earnings reports which showed many firms are going through their cash like wildfire, and reserves are rapidly dwindling.

Click on the link below for the full story http://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/C23D1F0EF0DBF3A9CA2569310009DF2D!OpenDocument Australia's eNTITy1 to raise $A5 mln, list on ASX Information technology services firm eNTITy1 said on Thursday it planned to raise up to A$5 million and list on the Australian Stock Exchange. The Darwin, Northern Territory-based firm said it would issue 10 million shares at 25 cents each with an oversubscription facility for another 10 million shares.

Click on the link below for the full story http://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/DE7808B19DB277A6CA2569310009DA53!OpenDocument IP over Ethernet toutedAs the debate continues to rage over the viability of a single IP network vs. a combined IP/Fibre Channel network, server network technology company Giganet on Monday will announce the industry's first VI (virtual interface) intended to double IP traffic over Ethernet networks.A hardware solution in the form of a standard Ethernet networking card, the Giganet VI makes it possible for applications to bypass the operating system and send data directly to other devices located in the same data centre, such as NAS (network attached storage), according to Gareth Taube, vice president of marketing at Giganet, based in Concord, Mass.Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://www2.idg.com.au/nwwdb.NSF/nwtoday/NT000069AENEC to unveil prototype IEEE1394 switchNEC next week will unveil a prototype switch for use on home digital networks based on the IEEE1394 standard.The switch will allow multiple IEEE1394 networks to be interconnected and also offer more sophisticated routing functions than are possible on basic IEEE1394 networks, which do not have such switches.Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://www2.idg.com.au/nwwdb.NSF/nwtoday/NT000069AAMicrosoft re-tests databaseMicrosoft this week released benchmark numbers that put its SQL Server database back into the top five best performing databases. But this time around, despite hardware and software improvements, Microsoft didn't capture the top spot.In the four weeks since the TPC (Transaction Processing Performance Council) in San Jose, Calif., forced Microsoft to withdraw its numbers, the company has been working with Compaq Computer in Houston, Texas to retest its configurations so that the results will be acceptable to the council.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/E73B8B09C0382461CA2569290078047C!OpenDocumentSecurity Experts Warn of Holes in Domino Dutch engineers have found a pair of holes in Lotus Development Corp.'s Notes and Domino's password encryption and the security on public versions of the address list.

User passwords are encrypted as they are entered on both Domino and Notes servers, but the alphanumeric strings (or hashes) to which they are converted can be matched against a master password encryption key and used as a live password by users on the same server, warned Trust Factory B.V., a Netherlands-based security consulting firm, at the Defcon-8 conference in Las Vegas this weekend.

Click on the link below for the full story http://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/8B8CBA139E3B698ECA25692E00020146!OpenDocument Publisher Random House starts e-books unit.

Random House, the biggest English-language book publisher, said on Monday it has launched a unit for electronic books, joining other publishers exploring the new digital medium. The company, part of Germany's Bertelsmann AG media powerhouse, said in a statement that it has set up a 20-book list of original electronic fiction and non-fiction. The titles include the memoirs of a New York dominatrix and a writer's search for a baldness cure.

Click on the link below for the full story http://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/E98AC8806C847C2DCA25692E0001D6FD!OpenDocument Microsoft ships first set of patches for Win 2000 In what is expected to be a major step toward increased corporate adoption of Windows 2000, Microsoft has released the first service pack containing bug fixes for the new version of its operating system that debuted earlier this year.

Microsoft also said it's preparing to ship the first beta-test release of the promised successor to Windows 2000 in the next few months. Code-named Whistler, that upgrade will be the first version of Windows to include some of the next-generation computing technologies that are part of the Internet-based .Net strategy announced by Microsoft last month.

Click on the link below for the full story http://arn.idg.com.au/arndb.nsf/tibco_stories/NT0000FD4A Rambus offers first DRAM to break 1GHz Rambus has announced a design breakthrough that allows dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips to transfer data at speeds higher than 1GHz. Rambus said the chip will be marketed for "leading-edge applications", like communications and graphics systems, along with consumer products like High Definition Television and video game consoles. The chip is also designed to increase performance speed for high-end processors like the upcoming Pentium 4, formerly dubbed the Willamette chip.

Click on the link below for the full story http://arn.idg.com.au/arndb.nsf/tibco_stories/NT0000FD4E Intel unveils 1.13-GHz Pentium III Intel has announced its latest addition to the Pentium III line, a 1.13-GHz model that makes it - for now - the fastest CPU available for desktop PCs.

Initially, the new chips will be available only to select manufacturers, then will come into wider availability in the next few months. Intel expects the high-end chips to appeal to PC enthusiasts and those who need top processing power for advanced applications such as video editing, complex scientific computation, and power gaming.

Click on the link below for the full story http://arn.idg.com.au/arndb.nsf/tibco_stories/NT0000FD52 Oracle embraces ASPs Oracle's applications are now available through application service providers and Larry Ellison is still breathing.

Oracle's chairman and CEO had said that ASPs would be able to offer his firm's business software suite only "over my dead body" because he wanted to force Web-based users through Oracle's own Business OnLine hosting service. That promise notwithstanding, the company has said it has approved Agilera, BlueMeteor, Center 7, GlobalCenter, Hostcentric, Interliant, Nupremis, Sallie Mae Solutions and Winstar Communications to host its applications.

Click on the link below for the full story http://arn.idg.com.au/arndb.nsf/tibco_stories/NT0000FD46 Govt forks out $12 million to fund wireless technology development Melbourne-based Advanced Communications Technologies (ACT) has received a $12 million grant from the Federal Government's Industry Research and Development Board to develop wireless communication network technology. Called SpectruCell, the technology will enable mobile telecommunications base stations to process and transmit all current mobile telecommunication protocols including AMPS, CDMA, TDMA, GSM, UMTS, Mobile IP and Voice IP. It will also be compatible with new wireless Internet applications, according to ACT.

Click on the link below for the full story http://www2.idg.com.au/nwwdb.NSF/nwtoday/NT000069DA NZ Forced to Revamp Tax E-Filing System New Zealand's Inland Revenue Department (IRD) is to ditch its controversial electronic ir-file tax filing system after 16 months of operation, although it characterises the move as an "enhancement" to the system. "We're not willing to go out and market that to any more users because of the problems," says Bryre Patchell, national manager for IRD's business direct unit, referring to the system built by Electronic Data Systems Corp.(EDS).

Click on the link below for the full story http://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/719AF24496DC7EB8CA25692A001467BA!OpenDocument Intel/SAP joint venture collapses Pandesic LLC is going out of business and will start phasing out its operations due to slow sales and lackluster demand for busines-to-consumer e-commerce services, the company has announced. Pandesic, a joint venture between Intel and German software firm SAP AG, was founded in 1997 to provide a wide variety of e-commerce services to businesses. Over the past three years, the firm set up offices in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, where it has about 100 clients.

Click on the link below for the full story http://www2.idg.com.au/nwwdb.NSF/nwtoday/NT000069C6 Well at least we've got more computer crime Australia's internet economy suffers from more hacker attacks per website than its US counterpart, according to Simon Perry, vice president of business software company Computer Associates. Perry said that although Australia's corporate "domain count" was around one-fiftieth of the Americans, Australia received more hacks per business.

Click on the link below for the full story http://www2.idg.com.au/nwwdb.NSF/nwtoday/NT000069CA