Bleak Outlook for Information Security, According to Researchers
by Alex Woodie

Hackers, thieves, and malware writers continued to circumvent security measures and compromise the world's computers in creative new ways during 2007, according to security researchers at the SANS Institute, which released its seventh-annual SANS Top 20 list of the most pressing security vulnerabilities yesterday. And next year doesn't look a whole lot better, with an expected increase in parasitic crimeware, botnets, and targeted attacks on virtualization products, VoIP, and Vista, according to McAfee's Avert Labs, which released its Top 10 Threat Predictions for 2008. READ MORE >

Emerging Markets and Virtualization Drive Q3 Server Sales
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Server lines, perhaps with the exception of IBM's System z and System i servers, did pretty well in the third quarter, according to the latest market share statistics from Gartner. The upgrade cycle in data centers and departments for 64-bit, energy-efficient, and virtualization-capable servers, coupled with raw growth in processing capacity in emerging markets like China, India, and Russia, boosted both server shipments and revenues in the third quarter on a global basis. READ MORE >

New Windows Operating Systems Put to the Speed Test
by Alex Woodie

Some serious changes have been made to the TCP/IP stacks in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista, and Microsoft wants you to know about it. To that end, the software giant recently commissioned the Tolly Group to conduct speed tests comparing the new versions of the client and server operating systems with Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, and to publish its findings. The results? The new operating systems sport download speeds that are three to four times faster, according to Tolly. READ MORE >

HP Closes Out Fiscal 2007 with a Strong Finish
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

You can really tell that Hewlett-Packard is as much in the consumer IT market as it is a seller of commercial IT products, and it is also pretty obvious that HP does not have a strong dependency on the financial services industry. These facts are among the reasons why HP was able to close out its fourth quarter, ended October 31, with sales up 15 percent to $28.3 billion. Tight cost controls and lower component costs helped HP bring $2.16 billion to the bottom line, up 21.7 percent from last year's fourth quarter. READ MORE >