BT - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Cloud security vendor Crossbeam bought by private equity firm

  Crossbeam has been bought by private equity firm Thoma Bravo, opening up the door for the security company to expand its product line both in-house and via acquisitions.

• F5 boosts capacity, transaction capabilities of its application delivery hardware

  F5 Networks this week debuted the 4200v version of its BIG-IP line of application delivery controllers -- specialized hardware designed to help lessen the load imposed on network-based services -- significantly bolstering the transaction handling and capacity over its current high-end box.

• Hard drive prices slide as Thai flood aftermath subsides

  The price of the most popular hard disk drives are beginning to drop as inventories climb out of a deep hole that began in October after massive flooding <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9221717/PC_makers_should_brace_for_drive_shortages">shut down major production sites in Thailand</a> .

• HP confirms layoffs at Palm unit

  HP has started laying off workers associated with last year's billion-dollar acquisition of Palm, as it closes down the mobile device business it planned to base on Palm's webOS. The news comes almost exactly a month after HP announced a sweeping reorganization and refocusing of its business.

• How RIM is getting left behind

  Research in Motion hasn't exactly had the best year so far.

• Facebook, Twitter need corporate security policies

  Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter open threats to sensitive corporate data that businesses need to deal with aggressively, Interop attendees were told.

• Privacy activist to challenge BT, Phorm decision

  A privacy activist plans to ask for a judicial review of British prosecutors' decision not to bring a case against BT and the online advertising company Phorm for running secret trials of a system that monitored peoples' Internet use without their consent.

• UK declines to prosecute BT, Phorm over spying software

  After a more than two-year investigation, U.K. prosecutors will not bring a case against BT and an online advertising software company for running secret trials of software that monitored people's Web browsing without their consent.

• Fake GSM base station trick targets iPhones

  While his Black Hat DC Conference demonstration was not flawless, a University of Luxembourg student on Wednesday did show that it's possible to trick iPhone users into joining a fake GSM network.

• BT plans growth with new showcase, cloud services

  British Telecommunications has opened a customer showcase in Sydney in an effort to woo more enterprises to its new cloud infrastructure and services portfolio as the company celebrates 25 years in Australia.

• UK superfast broadband connections to hit 600,000

  The number of superfast broadband connections in the UK looks set to exceed 600,000 by the end of 2011, says <a href="http://www.point-topic.com">Point Topic</a>.

• BT Tech guru JP Rangaswami joins Salesforce.com

  BT tech guru and former CIO JP Rangaswami has been appointed as chief scientist at Salesforce.com, a similar role he held at the UK telecoms provider for the last four years.

• Porn sites should be filtered by age, demands British MP

  A conservative MP has called for UK Internet service providers to protect youngsters by introducing an age-rated opt-in system for online porn.

• EMC stock rises on Oracle buyout rumor

  Speculation that <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/100510-oracle-to-buy-sso-vendor.html?source=nww_rss">Oracle might buy EMC</a> pushed EMC's <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/101310-emc-tackles-big-data-with.html">stock price</a> up about 5% on Thursday, even as several analysts called such an acquisition unlikely.

• Leading EU broadband providers commit to energy saving

  An additional 16 broadband providers and data center companies have signed up to the European Commission's initiative to reduce electricity consumption.