QuikNews March 2003 E-Mail Newsletter




Quality Technology Solutions, Inc. QTS QuikNews – March 2003 – Issue 2003.3 March 26, 2003 ************************************************************************ Welcome to the March edition of QTS QuikNews, our Monthly E-Mail newsletter. In this monthly e-mail, you will receive an update of what's new at QTS - new products we support, new patches and upgrades, solution ideas and promotions to save you money, and information about our company and our clients. As a QTS client, a prospective client we have had discussions with, or a “friend of QTS,” you have been automatically added to our newsletter distribution list. To unsubscribe from this mailing please see the instructions at the bottom of this page, or call your QTS Account Manager. Please do not respond to this e-mail. This is an unmonitored account. ********************************************************************** IN THIS ISSUE ********************************************************************** 1. QTS News 2. Events 3. Patches & Upgrades 4. President’s Corner 5. Special Offers & Featured Solutions ********************************************************************** QTS NEWS ********************************************************************** +++ FROM THE WEB +++ QTS RENEWS CISCO PREMIER PARTNER STATUS WITH SECURITY SPECIALIZATION 3/17/2003: QTS today announced that it has renewed its Premier Certified Partner status with Cisco Systems, Inc., by meeting the requirements for the Security Specialization. Read more at http://www.QTSnet.com/stayinformed/l3_stay_pr39.htm ********************************************************************** EVENTS ********************************************************************** CITRIX INFORMATION EXCHANGE QTS customers and prospective customers are invited to the Citrix Information Exchange event, being held on April 3^rd from 1-4PM at the Grand Hyatt in NYC. To register, please visit http://www.venueadv.com/citrix_folder/cie/cie_chance_customer_NYC.html ********************************************************************** PATCHES & UPGRADES ********************************************************************** Call the Customer Support Center to have us apply QTS-standard patches and keep your systems current. The following patches have been recently released and are generally recommended by QTS: No Major Service Packs/Patches this Month Also, please check http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/current.asp for applicability of Microsoft Security Bulletins to the products in use at your environment. Contact your QTS Account Manager if you would like our Customer Support Center to monitor these bulletins for you and advise with recommendations for your environment upon release of new bulletins. Symantec (formerly Norton) Antivirus Corporate Edition signature files are currently at version 50325c (3/25/2003). CA InoculateIT 4.x signature files are currently at version 42.29 (3/25/2003) and 6.x signature files are currently at version 23.60.29 (3/25/2003). McAfee VirusScan/NetShield signature files are currently at version 4253 (3/19/2003). Please keep your antivirus signatures, and your scan engines, current! If you do not have your system set up to automatically distribute updates from your server to your PCs, please call your QTS Account Manager or the Customer Support Center. Some patches can cause problems, especially in combination with other software programs or patch levels. Please talk to us to verify whether we see any possible problems in your environment before patching your systems independently. We make best efforts to test patch combinations but cannot guarantee compatibility between software and hardware manufacturers’ products. ********************************************************************** PRESIDENT’S CORNER ********************************************************************** When one reflects back on the pace of change in the technology industry, it is actually pretty amazing. Looking back a mere 5 years, to 1998, many businesses were just beginning to connect to the Internet, and dial-up and ISDN solutions were fairly normal for small and medium businesses. A fast PC had a 150MHz processor, and a server with 4GB of disk space was normal and adequate. Although these changes revolve around capacity and bandwidth, other changes have occurred as well. However, there have been relatively few “paradigm shifts” – items that are so new and revolutionary that one must challenge assumptions and re-think fundamental approaches. One area where this is now occurring is in what is known as “Web Services” – the development of software applications that run from a browser, with the executable code strictly based on one, or many, servers. Web Services represent “snippets” of functionality, rather than a singular monolithic application. The advantage of this is that Web Services can be called, or subscribed to, by a person through a browser, or by other servers or services. One of the main reasons that Web Services have taken off is the use of industry standards such as XML (Extended Mark up Language), SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) and UDDI (Universal Data and Discovery Interface). By adhering to these standards, all software manufacturers and developers can insure that their code behaves in a predictable, repeatable manner, and their Web Services components can easily interact with other software that adheres to these standards. However, one of the main benefits of this approach is elimination of code on individual PCs – in a Web Services world, the programs all reside on servers – some of which may be obvious, and some of which may be in locations you would not expect. For example, a program, run from a web site, may leverage code to do calculations, or provide other services, running from a server in another location, or even another company. The key is eliminating the need for code on the computer or device running the program. This makes the programs platform-independent, allowing them to run from Windows PCs, other platform PCs, dumb terminals, mobile devices or other devices. However, this also eliminates complexity on the client side, and significantly simplifies application troubleshooting, deployment and management. Programs can be developed, tested and then distributed quickly from a centralized code base. The ongoing management of application code becomes a major consideration, and problem area, for many businesses once programs have been deployed and changes are necessary. Web Services provide a way to write code that can be centrally managed, and easily updated in modular components. Microsoft has adopted this approach with its .Net services strategy and development tools, to the point where Windows 2003 Server was almost released as “.Net Server” to stake out a branding and drive market awareness. These development tools allow organizations to rapidly develop applications, often at a fraction of the time and cost that developing traditional Windows applications would cost. Other Web Services platforms offer some of the same benefits. This introduces a wide range of concerns around information security, but these concerns are not insurmountable. With properly secured server infrastructure, and properly secured communications links, it is possible to securely deliver Web Services code, on an Intranet, over the Internet or on an Extranet. Industry leaders including Microsoft, IBM and others have recognized how compelling Web Services can be, in terms of business value both as an empowering agent and a cost reducer, and are working with other leading organizations to develop standards for Web Services security. In an upcoming column, I will describe some of these standards and what is involved in successfully deploying and securing Web Services. By the way, special thanks to Ken Winell, President of Econium, for contributing to this article. As always, feel free to email me your comments or thoughts at nrosenberg@QTSnet.com. Thank you. Neil Rosenberg President & CEO Quality Technology Solutions ********************************************************************** SPECIAL OFFERS & FEATURED SOLUTIONS ********************************************************************** SYMANTEC SECURITY SOFTWARE Symantec is offering a 10% discount on many of its security software programs (Intrusion Detection, Vulnerability Management, etc.) to customers who purchase a Vulnerability Assessment utilizing Symantec’s NetRecon software, from QTS. Contact your QTS Account Manager for more details. ********************************************************************** To Comment on this newsletter, send an email to QuikNews@QTSnet.com. ********************************************************************** To Remove yourself from this mailing list please send a reply to this message with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject field. Or call or email your QTS Account Manager. ********************************************************************** To Subscribe to this Newsletter, tell your friends and colleagues to go to http://www.QTSnet.com/QuikNews. ********************************************************************** To View an archive of all QTS QuikNews editions, please visit http://www.QTSnet.com/stayinformed/QuikNews/QuikNews_Index.htm. ************************************************************************ ^{ã 2003 Quality Technology Solutions, Inc.} This site last updated 03/26/03 © 1999 Quality Technology Solutions, Inc. 201 Littleton Road, Morris Plains, New Jersey 07950 telephone: 973.984.7600 fax: 973.984.7650 email: info@qtsnet.com