New & Improved - 31 Aug 2004

L7 Enterprise

http://www.akonix.com, [email protected]

Instant Messaging (IM) is taking the enterprise environment by storm. Once considered a rogue application, IM is now a vital part of many companies' messaging approach. Akonix released L7 Enterprise, an enterprise-class software proxy gateway that you deploy at the network perimeter to manage access to IM while protecting against various IM vulnerabilities. The software provides security, management, reporting, and regulatory compliance to unsupervised and uncontrolled enterprise IM. The solution provides the gateway to proxy IM traffic, enforce policies on access, stop IM-borne viruses, and monitor and log all IM conversations.

Peter Shaw, Akonix CEO, said, "Organizations are realizing that IM is becoming a critical communications resource, and progressive businesses are looking for solutions that will allow them to take control and manage their use of IM. No other product can match the IM security, compliance, and management features that Akonix L7 Enterprise provides."

L7 Enterprise protocol support includes AOL, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo!, with optional connectors for integrating enterprise IM traffic from IBM Lotus Messaging, Microsoft Office Live Communications Server, and Reuters. The software protects you from attacks against worms, viruses, and other malicious software (malware) through its automatically updated Spim and Malware Filter. You can cluster L7 Enterprise gateways to provide true enterprise scalability, redundancy, increased throughput, and centralized setup and management. You can use L7 Enterprise's content-filtering capability to prevent inappropriate and noncompliant communications. You can also integrate the solution with email archiving and enterprise IM systems.

DEVELOPER TOOLS

Create Patch Packages

http://www.agensoft.com, [email protected]

AgenSoft released PatchFactory 2.1, a program that can help software developers create instant patch packages for software and file updating. Features include integrated compression technology, an adjustable multilingual user-friendly interface, and the ability to view the update program and open structure of output patch files. Using PatchFactory 2.1, a developer with any level of experience can build an update package with the help of the step-by-step Patch Building Wizard. Generated patch packages are small, self-extracting executable update programs. Patches can modify or replace installed software files to add features, fix bugs, or add support for new hardware. Unlike setup files, which contain all files necessary to run the software, the update program contains only modification information (including changes in file and folder structure) to apply to earlier software files. PatchFactory 2.1 runs on Windows XP/2000/NT/Me/9x systems and costs $98 for a single-user license.

INTERNET/INTRANET

Accelerate Web-Content Retrieval

http://www.venation.com, [email protected]

Venation released V-WEB and V-SERVE, software that improves the performance of an existing WAN infrastructure by letting users access Web content at LAN speed and by increasing productivity in remote offices through Internet and intranet activity management. V-WEB is caching and managed content­delivery software that accelerates Web-content retrieval while reducing WAN bandwidth traffic. V-SERVE software accelerates the delivery and provision of Web content. Designed to sit in front of a Web or intranet server, V-SERVE removes the bottlenecks associated with Web and application servers by handling all incoming content requests and compressing and caching outgoing responses. V-WEB and V-SERVE were built on Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server. Pricing starts at $15,000 for a 5-site, 500-user installation.

SECURITY

Prevent File Tampering

http://www.pkware.com, 414-354-8699

PKWARE released SecureZIP for Windows, software designed to help organizations comply with the increasing number of regulations related to data privacy. The software helps you better manage and protect proprietary information by providing certificate- or password-based encryption capability, the ability to combine encryption and digital-signature capability with Zip compression, smart card compatibility, and a Policy Lockdown feature that lets you transparently enforce enterprise storage, document transmission, and file-security policies. Integration with Microsoft Outlook and IBM Lotus Notes lets users zip and secure files directly from their email client by using the standard file-attachment process. SecureZIP seamlessly integrates with Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)­compatible public key certificate directories so that users can send certificate-encrypted files to anyone within their trusted community. PKWARE provides a free tool—the ZIP Reader—for viewing any zipped files and files encrypted or digitally signed with SecureZIP. The ZIP Reader lets senders have confidence that any Windows user will be able to open the files, even if the recipient doesn't currently own a SecureZIP product. For pricing, contact PKWARE.

SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT

Monitor Your Network Status

http://www.networkconsole.com, 303-904-1920, 800-364-3048

PAC Software released Network Console, software that constantly monitors your network, graphically displays network failures in the console window, and sends alarm messages to a pager, a cell phone, or another device. The software lets you draw a chart of the nodes in your network and how they're connected. The chart shows a real-time view of node status; failing nodes appear in yellow or red. Network Console can test network node status by pinging or by opening sockets to test such services as FTP, HTTP, and SMTP. You can customize the frequency of testing for each node and how long the software will give a failed node to recover before it sends you an alarm. Although the software runs only on Windows, you can test non-Windows nodes. Pricing varies from $300 to $1500, depending on the size of network you want to monitor.

SYSTEMS UTILITY

Monitor Hard Disk Temperature

http://www.hddtemp.com, [email protected]

PalickSoft released HDD Temperature, a freeware program that uses technology to monitor the temperature of hard disks and prevent overheating. The program can send warning messages to a specified email address or a certain computer in the network to warn about overheating. HDD Temperature can also automatically force an overheated system to hibernate, protecting both the hard disk and unsaved data. You can run the program as a network service. HDD Temperature supports a multilingual interface and is available in more than five languages. The program runs on Windows XP/2000/NT/Me/9x systems and requires 16MB of RAM and a hard disk with 1MB of free space.

SYSTEMS UTILITY

Quickly Recover Deleted Files

http://www.winrecovery.com, [email protected]

WinRecovery Software released WinUndelete 2.1, software that lets you recover deleted files and lost data from hard disks, 3.5" disks, Zip drives, USB external flash drives, digital camera cards, and other devices. The program can recover data from FAT and NTFS file systems. The software can recover deleted files under almost all situations, unless the original data was completely overwritten. WinUndelete can also recover files from the Recycle Bin. The software's Scan Wizard and UI let users automatically bypass Internet temporary files and other valueless files on the hard disk, which significantly decreases scan time. To help you identify needed files and their condition, the built-in file viewer lets you preview most common file types (e.g., Microsoft Office documents, pictures, plain-text files) before restoration. WinUndelete costs $49.95 for a single-user license. Site and multiuser licenses are also available.