With the release of Notes/Domino 7 and the good benchmarking numbers it is producing, the question a lot of customers are asking is, "How much will this help me in my production environment?" This article discusses performance results observed when upgrading two of IBM’s production Domino servers on zOS for zSeries from Domino 6.5.x to Domino 7, showing the performance of the various Domino tasks that are running in these DPARs (Domino Partition Servers) to help you understand the benefits Domino 7 could have in your environment.

Symantec has started delivering product updates to users through the automatic LiveUpdate feature. Users of Norton Internet Security 2006, Norton AntiVirus 2006, Norton SystemWorks 2006, Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 10.0, and Symantec Client Security 3.0 got an update to their antivirus scanning engine through LiveUpdate in December. Users were also notified of a critical update and asked to manually download a new spyware blocking tool. LiveUpdate is a feature of many Symantec products and automatically downloads updates to protect users against the latest threats.

Gap has contracted IBM to operate parts of its information technology infrastructure, a deal worth about $1.1 billion over an initial 10-year term. As part of the agreement, Gap expects about 400 of its employees, or workers at its subsidiaries, to join IBM. The company and IBM have the option of incorporating additional services into the agreement over time.

Research by the Ponemon Institute finds that public trust in corporations is fragile. In a recent survey, more than 70 percent of respondents said that two data breaches in the same company would be sufficient grounds for them to take their business elsewhere. Another study, which examined consumers’ opinions about the trustworthiness of 14 companies that suffered data security breaches this year, found that trust in these companies dropped significantly after the breaches were reported.

Microsoft announced plans to market a number of new analytical and data transfer tools that could draw users of IBM’s Lotus Notes to purchase Microsoft email software instead. One feature of Microsoft’s new tools would allow companies to collaborate on projects via the Web; a feature focused directly on swapping the allegiance of Lotus Notes users’ to the Redmond software giant. Microsoft and IBM are currently the lead competitors in the $2.8 billion corporate messaging market, which includes tools such as email, Web publishing and project management systems, and both are looking to put their stamp on the way Web services will function in the future.

Spammers appear to have found a new target of choice for 2006–bombarding Internet message boards with unprecedented ferocity. The amount of message board spam has been escalating dramatically since mid-2005, according to experts and a search of Google shows a number of frequently recurring domains are appearing in bogus comments on message boards all over the Internet.

Pauline Nist, for years a leader of Hewlett-Packard’s high-end NonStop server group, has become senior vice president of product development at Penguin Computing. Nist led HP’s NonStop division, which built very high-end machines used for the heart of the New York Stock Exchange and other demanding tasks. She worked at the division when it was the independent Tandem Computers company, acquired in 1997 by Compaq Computer and subsumed within HP in 2002.

A Connecticut bank is notifying approximately 90,000 of its credit-line customers that a tape containing confidential data is missing, lost while being carried by UPS to TransUnion LLC, a credit reporting bureau. At this time, People’s Bank said that no immediate sign of misuse or unauthorized activity of the data has occurred. People’s Bank said the accounts affected by the missing tape are customer and bank employees’ PCL (personal credit lines) accounts, or the "overdraft protection" associated with a personal checking account. The incident does not affect any customer’s business credit lines linked to business checking accounts or to equity credit lines.

IBM said on Thursday that U.S. securities regulators were formally investigating the world’s biggest computer services company’s first-quarter earnings report and expensing of stock options. The disclosure, which sent the company’s shares down as much as 1.3 percent, follows an informal investigation that IBM revealed in June. The stepped-up investigation gives the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission the power to subpoena documents, emails, and individuals.

SolutionPlanet has released mail-e-on-air 4.5, a software solution for IBM Lotus Domino 7 that now incorporates an enhanced user experience as well as increased security and better performance. Version 4.5 of mail-e-on-air is first of all compliant with Lotus Domino 7 but will still support servers in version 6.x. Lotus Domino users will appreciate mail-e-on-air’s easy installation, close integration with Lotus Domino 6.x and 7, platform independency and flexibility. mail-e-on-air 4.5 will be premiered at Lotusphere 2006.