But Wait, There's More

Microsoft Discusses Betas of Longhorn, Whidbey, Avalon, and Indigo

Maybe Longhorn is going to ride after all. At the VSLive conference this week, Microsoft announced that next month it will ship community technology preview (CTP) releases of two Longhorn components: Avalon, the code-name for the new presentation subsystem, and Indigo, the new communications subsystem. It is also expected to have a CTP release of the second beta of Visual Studio 2005, which is codenamed Whidbey, by the end of the quarter. Microsoft showcased its Visual Studio tools at the VSLive event, including the upcoming release of Visual Studio 2005. Improvements in Visual Studio 2005 and ASP.NET 2.0 will make it much easier to write Web applications, according to S. Soma Somasgear, Microsoft vice president of development. "On an average we think that developers will have to write 70 percent less code for a lot of the common Web development scenarios with Visual Studio 2005," Somasgear says. Microsoft is reportedly planning to have the first pre-beta release of Longhorn in testers' hands by late in the second quarter. While Avalon and Indigo are key pieces of Longhorn, along with the perpetually delayed Windows File System, Avalon and Indigo should be in production before Longhorn ships in the second half of 2006.

Super Bowl Security System Based on Windows Portal Server

No news was good news for Microsoft and the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, which used a variety of Microsoft products to bring more than 50 different law enforcement agencies together to provide tight security for last Sunday's Super Bowl. A software solution developed by Convergence Communications, called E-Sponder, was brought in provide law enforcement commanders with complete visibility of all planned tasks, as well as instant identification of unplanned events. The software, based on SharePoint Portal Server 2003, Windows Server 2003, Exchange Server, and Office Professional, provides various avenues for information to flow between field agents and the control center, including video feeds, shared documents, task lists, and instant messaging. The system also used electronic forms that itemized the tasks personnel needed to complete before, during, and after particular events. Except for the usual smattering of minor arrests, there were no major security incidents at this year's Super Bowl. "This is the Pro Bowl of law enforcement," said Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford, according to First Coast News.

Improved Communication of Security Information to Governments Is Goal of New Microsoft Program

Microsoft and several nations have launched the Security Cooperation Program, to help governments respond to security incidents, prevent attacks, and get the word out to citizens. Four nations are participating in the program so far, including the United States, Canada, Chile, and Norway. Representatives of these countries will be provided with information about vulnerabilities in Microsoft's products, and any past and present fixes Microsoft has released for these vulnerabilities, as well as security incident metrics software and information on "Microsoft's approach to security, and its incident response process," Microsoft says.

ACOM Launches New Web Modules for Windows-Based Payment Software

ACOM Solutions recently launched new add-on modules for its EZPayManager for Windows software that make it easier for companies and their customers to access account information online. The new Web-Enabled Archive Option is designed for internal use and enables an employee to search the archive for the right account, to generate a PDF copy of the original check, and to then e-mail or fax the copy directly to the payee, using other components of ACOM's electronic document management suite. The second module, called the Self-Service Module, enables outside parties that need to determine the status of payments to log in and view a PDF copy of any payments that have been issued to them. The new modules cost $2,495 each.

AMR Says Companies to Spend $80 Billion on Compliance Through 2009

Think complying with new federal regulations is taking up a lot of time and money at your company? You're not alone. According to analyst firm AMR Research, compliance is going to drive more than $80 billion in spending from 2005 to 2009. For 2005, AMR expects spending on Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance initiatives to account for 40 percent of this year's $15.5 billion piece of the pie, followed by 24 percent for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, 8 percent for Securities and Exchange Commission regulations, 7 percent for FDA regulations (such as CFR 21 Part 11), and 21 percent to other regulations, such as Basel II. That's a lot of money, but does it have to be a drain on your IT operations and core business processes? "It can be," according to AMR analysts John Hagerty and Fenella Scott, "if you don't use these mandates as an opportunity to improve, or even rethink, parts of your business."

Products Based on New AS3 Protocol Are Ready to Go

The Drummond Group last week announced results of its first round of certification testing for products using Applicability Statement 3, a new communications standard that uses FTP/S to send EDI transactions over the Internet. Twelve AS3 products from 11 companies made Drummond's cut, enabling companies to begin using the AS3 protocol, which some say offers greater security than the HTTP/S-based AS2 protocol. So far, there are no large companies mandating use of AS3, as Wal-Mart did with AS2. While AS2 has been widely adopted in the consumer-processed-goods supply chain, some experts say AS3 has benefits that could lead to even wider adoption, particularly among security-conscious companies in the healthcare and financial services industries and by those who already rely heavily on FTP to send and receive transactions. "The thing exciting people about AS3 is, with AS2 infrastructure, you have to have your ports open. You may have one or more ports open, which can be against some network policies," says Rick Nucci, chief technology officer of the Pennsylvania integration software developer Boomi, one of the companies providing certified AS3 solutions. You can download the AS3 report at Drummond Group's Web page on the topic, at www.ebusinessready.org/as3.html.

Plasmon Unveils UDO Desktop Drive for Windows, Linux

Plasmon officially unveiled a new desktop version of its 30 GB Ultra Density Optical drive a couple of weeks ago at a show in Australia. The UDO Desktop Drive features (almost) all of the same features as the UDO drives found in Plasmon's G-Series Libraries (it even uses the same WORM [write once, read many] or rewriteable media and can be upgraded to be part of a G-Series library), but it stands by itself, instead of being tied into an automated library. Plasmon is targeting a different kind customer with its UDO Desktop Drive than with its G-Series library, and so it only supports Windows and Linux servers. UDO Desktop Drives will cost around 1,600 pounds in the United Kingdom, or about $3,000, a far cry from the $10,500 price tag that accompanies the entry-level G-Series library, the Gx32, which features an array of high-end features like hot-swappable components, dual-pickers, and 32 media slots.