MicroStrategy ports BI platform to HP-UX 11i

MicroStrategy announced Tuesday plans to port its business intelligence platform to the HP-UX 11i operating system on Itanium 2-based HP Integrity servers. This latest port, which is expected to be complete in the second half of 2005, means that MicroStrategy"s product line will be available on Unix platforms from HP, IBM, and Sun, significantly expanding the company"s Unix presence in the BI market.

SOA Software offers registry-based Web services dashboard

SOA Software Inc. (formerly Digital Evolution) has added a registry-based dashboard to its Service Manager. The registry-based dashboard uses real-time alerts to improve Web services performance by securing, monitoring, and managing XML and Web services and providing centralized management of service-oriented architectures (SOAs). The dashboard offers an easy-to-use graphical interface with visual indicators such as live charts and color-coded graphs that enable customers to monitor service-level agreements, security thresholds, and performance metrics. The registry-based dashboard will be included in the SOA Software Service Manager 3.0, which is slated to ship in May.  Service Manager pricing starts at US$5,000 per CPU.

BlueCatNetworks unveils Meridius 500 security gateway

BlueCat Networks Inc. announced Monday at the InfoSec World Conference & Expo the Meridius 500 Security Gateway. The Meridius 500, a dedicated mail relay appliance, enables small and medium-size businesses to extend their network security by protecting their mail systems from Internet threats such as hackers and spammers and also increases mail-processing performance. The plug-and-play appliance is easy to configure and offers system administrators high quality reporting and end-user preferences. Pricing starts at $4,995 for the new Meridius 500 Security Gateway, which will be available in May.

Open source group goes international with new board

The Open Source Initiative (OSI) has expanded the size of its board from five to nine members and added representatives from the Netherlands, Brazil, Sri Lanka, and Taiwan. Former president Eric Raymond has stepped down from the board, but will remain involved with the organization. The OSI has been struggling lately with the task of reducing the number of different and often incompatible open source licenses it has approved. To date, the OSI has determined more than 50 software licenses to be open source compatible, and critics have said that this large number of open source licenses has left some users confused as to whether or not they are following the licensing terms of their software. The volunteer group is now forming a committee to find ways to address this issue, and plans to make it more difficult to add licenses to the OSI"s approved list. The names of the new board members can be found on Cooper"s Web log.

Xirrus introduces wireless LAN array

Xirrus Inc. has launched the next-generation Wireless LAN Array for enterprise Wi-Fi networks. The WLAN Array integrates the functionality of a WLAN switch and up to 16 integrated access points into a single device that delivers Gigabit-class RF bandwidth. The WLAN architecture"s array controller features a 2Gbps switching fabric that controls the packet flows of the integrated access points and provides complete spectrum management. The WLAN"s directionalized antenna system offers increased rate and range in all directions. The architecture also features tri-mode 802.11 a/b/g support for existing and emerging mobile devices.

Xamlon opens Flash to .Net developers

Xamlon will unveil the preview of Xamlon Pro, Flash Edition on April 6 at Flashforward in San Francisco. The product opens the door to an enormous community of previously excluded developers by letting developers use C# or Visual Basic.Net with XAML, Microsoft new XML-based markup language, to write Flash apps and directly deploy them to almost any device or computer. The preview of Xamlon Pro, Flash Edition will be available for download on April 6. The final version will be priced at $499 per developer and will be available on May 3.