The folks running the annual RSA Conference this week will tell you that the show is bigger than ever and security is at the top of every CIO’s list of concerns. But if heavyweights such as Sun Microsystems, Cisco Systems, and Microsoft have their way, enterprises soon will have little use for the wares that most of the security vendors are hawking. It’s rare that those three vendors would all agree on anything, but in speeches and interviews this week, executives from all of them have said that it’s time to build security into hardware and software from the ground up and stop trying to fix problems after the fact. The underlying idea is: Make security an integral part of the network, and not an add-on.

Cisco Systems Chief Executive John Chambers says he’s taking a "holistic" approach to security and that corporations should view the network as an integrated system. The network has evolved from using "pinpoint" security technology to one that integrates a broad range of tools that communicate with each other, Chambers said Wednesday during a keynote speech at the RSA Conference 2006. That means security can be coordinated across the entire network, from the worker at a desk to the guts of the system.

Oracle tried to acquire open-source database maker MySQL, an indication of the profound changes the software giant is willing to make as it adapts to the increasingly significant collaborative programming philosophy. MySQL Chief Executive Marten Mickos confirmed the acquisition attempt in an interview at the Open Source Business Conference, but wouldn’t provide details such as when the approach was made or how much money Oracle offered.

Nearly every U.S. company with a Web site located in China will have to move it elsewhere or its executives would face prison terms of up to a year, according to proposed legislation expected to be introduced this week in the U.S. Congress. A draft version of the bill reviewed by CNET News.com represents the first serious attempt to rewrite the ground rules controlling how U.S. Internet companies may interact with foreign governments. If enacted, it would dramatically change the business practices of corporations with operations in China, Iran, Vietnam and other nations deemed to be overly "Internet-restricting."

IBM announced it has completed its acquisition of Micromuse, a publicly held company based in San Francisco, Calif. IBM announced a definitive agreement to acquire Micromuse on December 21, 2005. Micromuse’s operations will be integrated into IBM’s Tivoli software business. Micromuse is a leading provider of network management software used by banks, telecommunications carriers, governments, retailers and other organizations to monitor and manage their sophisticated technology infrastructures. The software helps customers manage increasingly complex IT systems that support the proliferation of voice, data and video traffic due to the growing adoption of voice over IP-based audio and video services delivered over the Internet.

Part two of this article series explains how you can build views that are optimized for performance in your Notes/Domino applications. "Lotus Notes/Domino 7 Application Performance, Part 1," examined how you can improve the performance of Lotus Notes/Domino 7 applications through the efficient use of database properties and document collections. Part 2 explains how you can build high-performing views. As in part 1, this article provides many code snippets that you can re-use and adapt to your own requirements.

While XML, SOA and Asynchronous JavaScript and XML generate the buzz, oldies but goodies such as CORBA on Unix aren’t going to disappear any time soon. Why not modernize? "Older systems often represent significant investments, and it’s often difficult, if not impossible, to justify the cost of rewriting older applications, since a technical refresh by itself may not add business value," said Eric Newcomer, chief technology officer of Iona Technologies.

Jeff Barr, a Web services evangelist at Amazon.com, says as technologies converge–including the alphabet soup that is AJAX, XML, and SOA–software architects need to change their ways of operating. Analysts said this shift will allow for converged services where enterprises can provide their technology users and customers with a variety of loosely coupled services using Web 2.0 tools–a term referring to using the Web as a platform for developing applications–and AJAX, a style of development that creates Web-based applications with the performance of desktop software.

IBM arguably made more money than anyone by selling proprietary computing technology. But one executive at the company is now offering advice on how to get ahead in a world of interchangeable parts. Linda Sanford is the senior vice president who runs IBM’s on-demand transformation business. In English, that means it’s her job to advise IBM and its clients about what parts of the business are worth keeping and what should be handed off to a specialist. In Sanford’s view, the increased use of interchangeable commodity components–whether call centers in India or memory chips for PCs–is a trend to be embraced, not rejected. Outsourcing lets a company whittle away nonessential work.

I apologize for the lack of news yesterday, some morning dental work put me a bit under the weather and zonked me out.–Ed.