Intel Taps Linux Developer for IA-64 . . .

Computerworld - . . . software partitioning capabilities that the microprocessor giant needs for its high-performance chips to compete against powerful Unix-based RISC systems. SWsoft Inc. in San Francisco has inked a deal with Intel Corp. to develop a version of its Virtuozzo partitioning technology for IA-64 processors. The agreement, which will be announced in mid-October, calls for SWsoft to deliver multiprocessor partitioning software in the first half of 2003. Last week, the company demonstrated Virtuozzo 2.5, its current release, running 2,500
instances of Red Hat Linux on an eight-processor Dell server, something that clearly impressed the chipheads at Intel. • The livelihood of search engine giants depends on selling keywords to retailers and e-commerce sites that crave Web traffic in bulk. "It's a $1 billion industry," claims Steve O'Brien - an industry that currently bills keyword buyers on "cost per click." That may change in the coming months. O'Brien's the vice president of marketing at Los Altos, Calif.-based Fireclick Inc., which is, along with other vendors of analytic tools, readying software to potentially change the pricing model to "cost per dollar," giving users an advantage in the keyword bidding war. In the fourth quarter, Fireclick's hosted analytic service, Netflame, will add a feature - now in beta - that measures the dollar value of keyword visitors delivered by the search engine companies. • Most network users once flocked to popular brand names for their managed IP infrastructure. That was before the mess at WorldCom Inc. Since then, buyers of IP capacity have been looking more carefully at a provider's balance sheet than, say, its Super Bowl ads, says Bob McCormick, CEO of Savvis Communications Corp. Although not profitable yet, the $250 million Herndon, Va.-based networking company has raised $178 million in preferred equities since March, giving it deep pockets at a time when others are in deep debt. Part of that nest egg will go into upgrading by year's end Savvis' network security to the latest version of IPsec. • Notoriously insecure instant messaging systems from the likes of Microsoft Corp., America Online Inc. and Yahoo Inc. have a friend in Omnipod Inc. in New York. The 3.0 version of the company's eponymous server-based software, which will ship next month, can keep corporate networks secure even if users, such as help desk staff, need to work with outsiders who use public IM clients. The upgrade improves on Omnipod's client user interface and makes it simple to import contact information, such as AOL's "buddy list," from the major IM clients. It also