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News

• New Apple MacBook Pro rumors swirl

  Apple may be plotting a big MacBook Pro announcement as soon as next week, speculation fueled in part by an Intel ad.

• Princeton student discovers university LDAP server leaves personal data exposed

  A Princeton University student who discovered the school's LDAP server exposed private student information to the public has shut down access to that information on his Web site after the school tightened security.

• Yahoo to open-source cloud-serving engine

  Yahoo is developing an internal cloud-serving engine to boost its own productivity, and intends to release the code as an open source this year.

• IT execs at RSA extol virtues of cloud computing, with familiar caveats

  Deciding to move enterprise data into cloud-computing environments is still a decision fraught with anxiety over security, as well as operational and legal issues, say IT managers, but the prospect of cost savings and ability to "burst" data into the cloud during peak periods is proving irresistible.

• Microsoft builds speedy flash bridge between RAM and hard disk

  Microsoft researchers are trying to improve the efficiency of flash memory by building software that uses solid-state storage in conjunction with RAM and hard disk, and eliminates random writes and other wasted operations.

• Motorola Xoom tablet pricing not as crazy as first feared

  The Google Android-based Motorola Mobility Xoom tablet will start at about $600 for a Wi-Fi only version – a price that should be much more competitive with Apple iPad pricing than was initially thought.

• Obama banks on cloud, consolidation, to hold down IT costs

  WASHINGTON - With Congress in the mood to cut spending, the federal budget proposed by President Barack Obama relies heavily on cloud computing and data center consolidation to keep IT costs under control.

• CA cloud service measures security risk, keeps out riff-raff

  CA Technologies today announced its cloud-authentication service now features advanced controls to let customers more effectively control who gets into corporate applications.

• Juniper up next with cloud switches

  Juniper's <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/topics/data-center.html">data center</a> announcement next week is expected to include switches based on new silicon that allows them to establish a flat fabric for <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/supp/2009/ndc3/051809-cloud-faq.html">cloud computing</a>.

• IBM makes its zEnterprise 196 mainframe friendlier

  IBM's latest mainframe, the zEnterprise 196, was released last summer as a cross-platform management system that could work in mixed processor and operating system environments. In pursuit of that goal, the company continues to roll out new components.

• Wicked cool man vs. machine moments

  As IBM's <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/71385">Watson computer digs in</a> for its <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/71433?hpg1=bn">competition on "Jeopardy!"</a> this week, we are reminded that this is the first in a long series of classic man vs. machine moments. Here we have a look at some of the famous real and not so real man vs. machine action.

• First internal clouds likely to fail, Forrester says

  Forrester analysts have some less-than-encouraging news for IT shops building their first <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/supp/2009/ndc3/051809-cloud-faq.html">internal cloud</a> networks: You're likely to fail.

• What makes IBM Watson so smart?

  If you have seen any of the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12rNbGf2Wwo">video</a> of its preliminary bouts on "Jeopardy!" you know that IBM's Watson computer is pretty amazing. One of the main reasons it turns out is that IBM enlisted the intelligence of eight of the country's top universities to make sure Watson has superb question answering ability.

• Q&A: Netezza to focus on workload optimized systems, CEO says

  IBM's $1.7 billion purchase of Netezza last year has given Big Blue a company widely regarded as one of the most disruptive in the data warehouse market.

• iPads storm the enterprise

  As global accounts director at Altus, Inc., Michelle Klatt's job is to visit Fortune 500 companies and demonstrate her firm's video management software. When the <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/111910-apple-ipad-resources.html">iPad</a> came out a year ago, she was all over it.