IBM has opened the public beta program for the next version of its Informix database server and announced plans for a bundled Linux package for smaller businesses. The upgrade to IBM’s Informix Dynamic Server is code-named Cheetah. The final version is due out sometime later this year and will offer new features for application developers, better support for hierarchical data structures and improved query capabilities across multiple instances of the database, IBM announced Thursday.

Nationwide Building Society, a U.K. financial services provider, has been fined $1.9 million after a laptop containing sensitive customer data was stolen from an employee. The Financial Services Authority hit Nationwide with the fine on Wednesday, following an investigation into the theft, which occurred in November 2006 at the employee’s house. According to the FSA, Nationwide was guilty of failing to have effective systems and controls in place to manage its information security risks.

Residents of New York, Detroit and Los Angeles are the most at risk of having their identity stolen, according to new research. By contrast, people in Wyoming run the lowest risk of identity fraud, according to ID Analytics, a company that provides fraud intelligence services to businesses. Other states with low rates of identity related fraud are Vermont and Montana, ID Analytics said. Its new research report is slated to be published Wednesday.

Xandros introduced BridgeWays, a new software suite for IT administrators that enables Windows-to-Linux server and desktop integration and management, and deployment of systems that mix Linux, Unix and Windows platforms, according to the company.

Gary McKinnon, the U.K. citizen accused of breaking into and damaging NASA’s computers, has begun an appeal against extradition to the U.S. Edmund Lawson, who is defending McKinnon, told a hearing at London’s High Court that McKinnon faced up to 60 years’ imprisonment if he was convicted in the U.S., where he could be tried under its anti-terrorism legislation.

Microsoft is accusing rival IBM of orchestrating a campaign to block efforts to standardize Office document formats. In an open letter released Wednesday, Microsoft executives contend that IBM is trying to influence the standards process to limit choice. It also said that IBM is encouraging governments to mandate a document format that IBM favors.

WebMethods and ZapThink have partnered to offer educational services for IT staff looking to become proficient in service-oriented architecture. ZapThink, based in Baltimore, and WebMethods, based in Fairfax, Va., have banded together to launch the SOA Master Class Online, a comprehensive educational resource that is designed to foster mastery of SOA concepts, techniques and skills.

This is the second of four articles Senior Technical Editor Mick Moignard has written on Lotusphere 2007 and all the new Lotus announcements. In the last article, "The buzz is back at Lotusphere 2007", he talked about the event itself, and provided some of the broad strokes of what was announced. In this article, he takes an in-depth look at the Notes 8 announcements. In the next two articles, he’ll go further in-depth on each of the key announcements and provide you with some perspective and analysis.

Read this DominoPower article.

IBM announced its Internet Security Systems X-Force research and development team is helping to protect customers from several critical vulnerabilities announced by Microsoft. The vulnerabilities include a flaw discovered by IBM X-Force in Microsoft’s core antivirus engine, which is a default component of various Microsoft offerings such as Windows Live OneCare and Windows Defender, including Windows Defender for Vista.

IBM announced it has completed its acquisition of Vallent Corporation, a privately held software company based in Bellevue, Washington with more than 400 employees. IBM announced a definitive agreement to acquire Vallent on November 28, 2006. Vallent’s operations will be integrated into the IBM Software Group’s Tivoli Software unit.