Colin C. Haley

BOSTON — For executives at DigitalNet, a Dulles, Va., systems integrator, there were two reasons to install wireless local area network: to improve the productivity of its workers and to gain experience to perform similar projects for its clients. “We wanted to do it to ourselves first,” Bob Martin, vice president of wireless and digital […]

The federal government’s new business-like approach to IT offers “unlimited opportunity” for companies of all sizes, Norman Lorentz, the federal government’s chief technology officer told Silicon Valley leaders during a forum sponsored by the technology trade association AeA. “We need (the private sector) to provide solutions that solve business problems,” said Lorentz, whose day job […]

Several prominent execs say without a concerted effort by business, political and educational leaders, Massachusetts won’t have enough engineers to fill jobs in the future. The words of caution come in response to a new study from the Engineering in Massachusetts Collaborative (EiMC), a statewide public-private partnership led by Krishna Vedula, Dean of the College […]

IBM and Akamai are teaming to help customers boost IT infrastructure capacity on a pay-as-you-go basis. A joint offering ties IBM’s WebSphere middleware to Akamai’s edge server network. It can be hosted by a customer, business partner or IBM Global Services, the company’s integration and consulting arm. Pricing will be announced later this quarter. The […]

Enhancing its Internet protocol technology, networking giant Cisco Systems will pay $13.5 million in stock to buy telecom software specialist SignalWorks.The deal, which already has the blessing of both boards, should close by the fourth quarter of Cisco’s Fiscal Year 2003. “Ultimately, this acquisition will allow Cisco to attract new small business, enterprise and service […]

A new study from IT researcher IDC holds some welcome conclusions for long-suffering telecommunications equipment vendors. According to the Framingham, Mass., firm, Internet traffic will nearly double annually over the next five years. Volume generated by end users is expected to jump from 180 petabits per day in 2002, to 5,175 petabits per day by […]

BOSTON — IT managers are enthusiastic about instant messaging in the enterprise, but they still must do their homework before implementing a system, experts say. Matthew Hunt, CTO of Omnipod, a maker of a communications platform that combines IM and file sharing technology, said the technical due dilligence should be similar to that of other […]

BOSTON — Despite their enormous clout, the Big 3 of instant messaging service providers (Microsoft, AOL and Yahoo!) can’t make the technology a success among enterprise customers on their own. Systems integrators, software developers and consultants, need to help convince corporate decision makers that the technology is compelling and workable. “Currently, there is no ecosystem […]

BOSTON — At Instant Messaging Planet Conference and Expolast year, speakers hammered on a common theme: While IM started as a consumer phenomenon, it is destined to be a powerful enterprise tool. Apparently, the corporate world got the message, because this year, sales pitches have given way to detailed discussions of the remaining technical and […]

Like its peers, Cisco Systems embarked on an optical networking binge in the late 1990s, leveraging its mushrooming market value to acquire startups in the promising field.When the market faltered in mid-2000, the San Jose, Calif., telecom equipment giant stood pat, carving out a small, but respectable, business among communications service providers. “Over the last […]