Sean Michael Kerner

Patent infringement can be a dicey affair, with parties arguing over whether intellectual property infringement occurred. Such is the case in a dispute dating back more than a year between HP’s SPI Dynamic’s security division and security vendor Cenzic. Cenzic said in a statement today that it had reached an agreement with HP that will […]

Power lines can do more than just transmit power. Broadband over powerline (BPL) technologies have been around since at least the turn of the millennium, but they still have some hurdles to overcome. However, with a new joint IEEE standards proposal submitted by two competitors — the HomePlug Powerline Alliance and consumer electronics giant Panasonic […]

Among the issues that Linux users, hardware and peripheral vendors may run into when trying to get into Linux is the issue of driver availability. Enter the Linux Driver Project. Led by Novell staffer Greg Kroah-Hartman, the group is aiming to get drivers and Linux users aligned. “This driver program is central to the continued […]

Embattled Unix vendor The SCO Group remained listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange today. For how much longer that will be the case, however, is unclear. After the markets closed today, SCO said it had received a hearing date of Nov. 8th. That’s good news for the company, since a delisting is traditionally delayed until […]

3Com wants a little more flexibility, and today it got its wish. The networking vendor announced today it will be acquired by private-equity firm Bain Capital in a deal valued at $2.2 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008 following shareholder and regulatory approvals. The all-cash deal of $5.30 […]

Perhaps the most dangerous type of online vulnerability is the one where the user doesn’t actually do anything in order to become infected. It is that type of vulnerability that security researchers claim AOL’s popular instant messaging client, AIM, was at risk from. Core Security has issued an advisory noting that AIM 6.1 (and 6.2 […]

In the battle for database supremacy, it’s not just a struggle between commercial and open source interests. The open source interests go head-to-head, too. Database vendor EnterpriseDB is raising the stakes in its fight against the likes of MySQL thanks to a new, bundled version of the popular open source PostgreSQL database. “It’s the old […]

The future of VoIP is about more than simply providing voice connectivity, it’s about realizing the dream that is unified communications. It’s a future that open source VoIP PBX vendor Digium is banking on with its acquisition of PBX vendor Switchvox. Financial terms of the deal are not being disclosed, though Digium expects to retain […]

More than 35 million devices already run MontaVista Linux, but the embedded Linux vendor isn’t resting. The company today announced Mobilinux version 5, its way of pushing Linux further into the embedded device space while staving off competitors. Based on the Real-Time Linux-enhanced 2.6.21 kernel, Mobilinux 5 promises better security, performance and power consumption over […]

For networking giant Cisco, the router is more than just a connectivity appliance. It’s a platform by which a wide range of networking services, including security, VoIP and acceleration, can be served. That is the promise of Cisco’s integrated services router (ISR) product line, which was originally launched three years ago and has shipped over […]

Linux vendor Red Hat, is re-organizing itself into three lines of business in order to better capitalize on market opportunities. If the recent quarterly results are any indication, Red Hat is doing a fine job already of cashing on its Linux business. That said, Red Hat is still aiming to make more money from its […]

A free Unix-like OS need not be feared as something that isn’t accessible or usable on a desktop. At least that’s the hope with the latest release of PC-BSD version 1.4. The release includes a long list of fixes and improvements, with a focus on making the desktop BSD OS easier to set up and […]