the PipeLine

You'll manage

Altiris Inc. has released a major upgrade of its self-branded management infrastructure suite, which provides tight integration for several components, along with greatly increased scalability and language translation features.

Altiris 6 combines point solutions — including migration management, asset identification, contract management, patch management and application distribution — into a single package. The underlying architecture is also shipping with products from Hewlett-Packard Development Co., Dell Inc., Fujitsu Ltd. and other Altiris partners to power the management products.

The product mix comes as Altiris officials are launching a new push into the federal market, company officials said. "This is a hot market," said Steve Morton, Altiris' vice president of product management.

Officials say most of their competition comes from companies that sell a single color from the management palette, but lack the whole spectrum. Still, point solutions do sell, and other vendors are painting their own pictures for the government market.

Migration management is one such point. Migrations are always infuriating, whether it's upgrading hardware or distributing software patches to large workgroups. Over the years, technology companies have offered numerous products in an effort to simplify the process for information technology

managers.

OnDemand Software Inc. has released WinInstall Version 8, which integrates several functions into a single product. The software includes PC migration, data migration, drag-and-drop configuration management, centralized reporting, patch management and native integration with Microsoft Corp. Active Directory.

Earlier versions of the software are used to manage more than 45 million desktops at both government and commercial customer sites, according to company officials.

TECSys Development Inc. officials recently launched Version 2.0 of the ConsoleWorks remote management tool. The software allows network managers to automate some management functions. It can be configured to execute certain instructions when it detects predefined events, and can reboot servers, start software, close applications or reconfigure settings automatically. When triggered, it also sends alerts to key employees via e-mail or other devices.

Managers can access the system via the Web, providing for remote management.

Another piece of the network management puzzle is monitoring. Network Associates Inc. has released a 10 Gigabit Ethernet Analyzer, a high-performance network monitoring and troubleshooting tool designed specifically for 10 Gigabit Ethernet

installations.

Insecurity blues

IBM Corp., fondly called Big Blue by industry old-timers, has added multilevel security technology to its mainframe operating system, z/OS 1.5, providing a single point of control for managing a multilevel security environment.

When combined with IBM's DB2 Universal Database for

z/OS Version 8, the new features help agencies meet security requirements, according to IBM officials.

Multilevel security means that IT administrators give users access to information based on their need to know or clearance level. Because it can prevent users from declassifying information they are not authorized to have, IBM is positioning the technology as a good choice for agencies.

Entrust Inc. has added features to its Entrust Entelligence Verification Plug-In to allow Adobe Systems Inc. Acrobat 6.0 users to use digital signatures and encryption capabilities. The plug-in makes it easier for users at agencies to verify the origin and integrity of PDF files signed by someone at another agency. Officials at these agencies can also sign and encrypt these files when required, according to Entrust officials.

Putting it to the test

Ixia has released a virtual private local-area network services (VPLS) test suite that company officials say will simplify the setup and administration of VPLS testing. VPLS-based networks use a MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS) network infrastructure with Ethernet to connect to the service provider, which eliminates the need for the customer to configure wide-area network interfaces and routers. The downside of the arrangement is that it creates complex and resource-eating demands on the switches and routers of the service provider's VPLS network.

Ixia's new suite creates an automated environment that both service providers and network equipment manufacturers can use to put stress on VPLS devices and systems to test their ability to handle the demand.

The testing suite comes as part of Ixia's IxScriptMate application, a graphical test automation platform that includes tests for routing, switching, quality of service, multicast, MPLS and IP Version 6 tunneling.

Working without wires

Wireless vendor Defywire Inc. has launched the Government Application Suite, a wireless product designed specifically for agencies. The suite provides access to agency information systems via wireless phones, handheld computers, tablets and laptops. It is compliant with the Federal Information Processing Standard for cryptography, FIPS 140-2.