Messaging

New software tool ensures compliance for wireless messaging

Brad Reed — 2008-10-09T00:00:00Z

Onset Technology, which specializes in developing wireless enterprise products, has released a new software tool that gives IT departments the ability to scan, block or archive all wireless email communications sent over their enterprise networks.

You need to encrypt your e-mail

Michael Osterman — 2008-10-09T00:00:00Z

On Oct. 1, a new Nevada law went into effect that requires organizations operating in the state to encrypt personal information sent outside of the organization. A similar, but more restrictive, law will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2009 in Massachusetts. What this means is that if you operate a business in either state, you will have to encrypt certain types of sensitive information if you send it past your corporate firewall or else face legal consequences.

Cisco IronPort unveils e-mail security appliances

Jim Duffy — 2008-10-08T00:00:00Z

Cisco's IronPort Systems unit this week unveiled hardware extensions to its e-mail security appliances (compare messaging security products) that more than double the performance of the company's previous-generation platforms.

Younger workers and the demise of e-mail

Michael Osterman — 2008-10-07T00:00:00Z

We've heard for some time that young people don't use e-mail, but instead use Facebook, MySpace, instant messaging and other social networking and real-time communications tools, and that they just don't use e-mail anymore. Further, we're told that young people entering the workforce just won't use e-mail, and that real-time communications will become the workplace norm as a result.

CAN-SPAM: What went wrong?

Carolyn Duffy Marsan — 2008-10-06T00:00:00Z

In 2003, the U.S. tech industry, politicians and Internet users were wringing their hands over the escalating problem of spam. They passed the CAN-SPAM Act in an attempt to put an end to it. Five years later, spam has grown more than 10-fold, and 83% of it contains a URL for a Web site that is trying to infect computers with malicious software.

Engineer may have texted seconds before train crash

Stephen Lawson — 2008-10-03T00:00:00Z

Federal investigators have found evidence that an engineer involved in a fatal Los Angeles-area commuter train crash was texting on his cell phone close to the time of the accident.

Nokia buys mobile messaging company

2008-09-30T00:00:00Z

Nokia on Tuesday said it plans to acquire Canadian mobile messaging company Oz Communications in a deal that is in line with the number-one phone maker's recent announcement it will renew focus on consumer Internet services.

Nokia drops enterprise e-mail platform to focus on consumers

2008-09-30T00:00:00Z

Nokia will stop developing its enterprise mobile e-mail platform Intellisync: its future enterprise e-mail systems will be based on platforms from Cisco, Microsoft and IBM, among others.

Cisco buys Jabber

Michael Osterman — 2008-09-30T00:00:00Z

Cisco's latest acquisition is Jabber, a leading developer of enterprise-grade presence-enablement capabilities. Jabber's offerings include its Extensible Communications Platform, JabberNow (an enterprise instant messaging appliance), and instant messaging clients (a thick client for Windows, a browser-based client and mobile clients). Jabber has, for years, been a leading proponent of the XMPP protocol for presence-enabled applications.

Free BlackBerry apps: 5 can't-miss downloads

2008-09-24T00:00:00Z

BlackBerry users have no shortage of free application for their smartphones. A Google search for the terms "Free BlackBerry Apps" turns up pages and pages of possibilities. But who wants to sift through all the garbage to find the good stuff? Lucky for you, we already weeded through the pile to identify the software that's worth installing and using.