Sun Disputes Claim That Java Handhelds ...

Computerworld - ... lack the security of other Java systems . Tim Lindholm, CTO of Sun's consumer and mobile systems group, acknowledges that a Java-ready cell phone doesn't have everything in your desktop's Java virtual machine. But to imply that a mobile device's JVM is less secure, "is something we think is an oversimplification," he argues. He says the famous Java "sandbox" that refuses to execute code outside of its domain, thus ensuring software security, remains in force. There are more than 100 million Java devices on the market, and "we've never had anyone break the basic sandbox," he claims. Some class libraries that handle cryptographic functions were the only things removed from a handheld's JVM. Those are important features, but Lindholm suggests that the move isn't so much a security problem for users as it is "an inconvenience for programmers" who want to encrypt data to and from the handset. And Java mobile units will get even more secure next quarter when device vendors start shipping Java handhelds with secure HTTP, which will handle encryption via Secure Sockets Layer.

• Part of the problem that faces Web developers using Java, claims Hollis Tibbetts, vice president of marketing at M7 Corp. in Cupertino, Calif., is that "as you start adding multiple back-end systems and packaged applications along with business processes, Java becomes difficult to maintain." To the rescue in three weeks will be the release of the company's upgraded Java developer suites, M7 Enterprise 4.0 and M7 Professional 4.0. Both are designed to permit the rapid prototyping of Java applications. Probably more important will be the ability to revise the code of live Web pages. The enterprise version also adds compatibility with webMethods Inc.'s application connectors, and both versions will be ready to support the Struts framework for Java developers.
  

• If your Web application is intended to generate business—and whose isn't?—you'd better know what visitors are doing on your site. But if you rely on analytical tools that depend on a Web site's log files, as so many do, you're using technology that has "inherent miscalculations." So claims Geoff Simon, president of Acclivity LLC, a start-up in Northridge, Calif. His $99-a-month Precision Tracking service will analyze your site's traffic in real time using the internal session cache. Data from it, he purports, can help you "optimize your site to get users to do what you want them to do." You can sign up for a free 15-day trial of the service at www.acclivitymarketing.com. What's more, the service can link its visitor-tracking data to opt-in customer communications, thus improving the effectiveness of your spam, er, e-mail marketing campaigns.
  

• If they truly are opt-in messages, the spam-filtering technology from FrontBridge Technologies Inc. is designed to let them pass through. That's because the Marina Del Rey, Calif., company is building a reputation as an ace spam fighter that eliminates false positives. Most spam filters regularly snag a few e-mails that you really want, forcing you to dig through long lists of porn come-ons and scams from central Africa so as not to miss an important missive. San Francisco-based Ferris Research estimates that false positives cost U.S. companies about $50 per employee, or $3.5 billion per year. Dan Nadir, FrontBridge's vice president of marketing, says most spam filters depend on e-mail users creating their own whitelists, which specify given domains or correspondents whose messages you want to receive. He dismisses that approach as "ceding responsibility to the user." In addition to blacklists and other techniques, FrontBridge's TruProtect Message Management Suite service uses a powerful rules-based engine that runs through 10,000 rules to determine whether a message is spam or legitimate. The result: The company "guarantees" only one false positive per 1 million messages while eliminating virtually all spam. Because spammers continue to improve their techniques, however, FrontBridge intends to add technology by month's end that will track spammers to their source servers and block all messages from them. Almost makes you pity the poor spammer.
  

Get in the Chain Midsize companies linked to a giant corporation's supply chain will get more help by the end of Q4 when GridNode Inc. in Redwood City, Calif., ships GridTalk 2.2, its real-time supply chain tool. It will come with features like RFQ management, Web services and enhancements for the vertical retail market.

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