Briefs

The information security services industry continues to grow in a time when other IT service industries are feeling the pinch. IDC predicts that worldwide information security services (ISS) spending will increase to more than US$23.5 billion by 2007, representing a compound annual growth rate of 20.9 per cent. According to IDC, some of the key trends driving the increasing demand for ISS include continued popularity of services that focus on improving return on investment (ROI) and making security more manageable, and increasing demand for wireless and application security solutions including assessments, architecture design and implementation.

Walking the plank

The FSA Group, a direct marketing company in Markham, Ont., has settled out of court on a charge of having unlicensed software installed on its computers. The Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft (CAAST) and the Business Software Alliance (BSA)in Washington - both consortium groups representing software manufacturers - announced last month that The FSA Group has agreed to pay $175,000. This came after unlicensed copies of Adobe Systems Inc., Autodeck Inc., Microsoft Corp., and Symantec Corp. software programs were allegedly installed on FSA's computers. According to CAAST, 38 per cent of all business software is obtained illegally; the organization estimates that in 2000 the industry lost $457 million in revenue in Canada alone.

SCSI cooperation

Five disk drive manufacturers - Adaptec Inc., Fujitsu Inc., Hitachi Ltd., Maxtor Corp. and Seagate - announced last month that they will be working together to ensure their Serial Attached SCSI products will be interoperable. The companies will also collaborate on co-marketing activities, such as demonstrating prototypes, speaking at trade shows, writing white papers on Serial Attached SCSI solutions and holding seminars and Webcasts. Linus Wong, director of strategic marketing, storage solutions division at Adaptec in Milpitas, Calif., said Serial Attached SCSI is a natural evolution from its currently deployed counterpart, Parallel SCSI, and will be on the market in about 12 months.

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