IBM plans to unveil a scaled-down version of its federated security software in a move to reach out to small businesses. IBM’s new Tivoli Federated Identity Manager Business Gateway, a version of Tivoli Federated Identity Manager, aims to allow small companies of up to 5,000 employees to connect like spokes of a large company–or hub–to share information securely via a single sign-on.

It’s not just James Bond who gets to play with all the cool gadgets. More and more business executives are investing in secret agent-style hardware to make sure their top-secret company plans stay under wraps. Bug-detectors disguised as fountain pens, keyboards that can secretly record everything typed on them, and clock radios with hidden cameras–devices once only of interest to spies–are now being bought by company chiefs who fear they are being spied on. "The majority of the customers are buying counter surveillance equipment," said Julia Adams, director of surveillance gadget store Spymaster. "The majority are concerned with what is being leaked. They want to make sure they aren’t being bugged and that the competition isn’t listening."

A new, independent research report found that WebSphere Application Server (WAS) Community Edition–IBM’s open source application server software based on Apache Geronimo–is gaining share nearly three times as fast as rival JBoss. According to Evans Data Corporation, in a single year WebSphere Application Server Community Edition gained 16 points of market share with Eclipse developers, versus only a 6.6 share gain for JBoss. The 2nd Annual Eclipse Global Enterprise Report from Evans Data Corporation surveyed software developers on their attitudes, awareness, perceptions and concerns of developers regarding Eclipse and Eclipse-related products. Eclipse is an open source, platform independent frame work for developing software applications.

Among many IT professionals the ultimate career goal is to become the boss man, the main guy, the CIO. But how many CIOs knew this was what they wanted to be even 10 or 20 years ago, when they landed their first jobs as coders, data center operators, or even accountants? eWEEK asked 13 CIOs to talk about how they’ve gotten where they are today. We asked how many job titles and positions they’d held in IT before becoming CIO, if they changed jobs as a result of a predestined career path or because their previous jobs no longer interested them, and if they’d always dreamed of being CIOs.

Business software maker CA Inc. is suing convicted former Chief Executive Sanjay Kumar, seeking repayment of $14.9 million it says it fronted for his legal defense, according to court documents. A court agreed to lay claim to his house, sports cars, yacht and other assets as security that he would be able to repay the sum if he lost the suit. Kumar was sentenced on November 2 to 12 years in federal prison over criminal charges stemming from his role in a $2.2 billion accounting fraud at the computer software maker, formerly known as Computer Associates International.

While dissing Asian subcontinent call centers is standard fare for funny men such as Albert Brooks and Garrison Keillor, it turns out the economics of phone-based customer service is changing faster than even the comedians can keep up with. New foreign capitals are vying for the offshore customer phone service dollar. Dell recently opened a call center in Alberta, Canada, while Alienware Corporation and Hewlett-Packard are both boasting new centers in Costa Rica. And two consumer companies, calling themselves the Consumer Loyalty Group, opened yet another call center in Costa Rica earlier this month.

Gmail’s popularity may be viral, but the email software is not a virus–despite a Microsoft alert. From late last week until Sunday night, the Windows Live OneCare security software incorrectly flagged the Google email service as a threat. A warning popped up when OneCare users opened the Gmail Web site, telling them that their systems were infected with a virus called "BAT/BWG.A."

Online encyclopedia Wikipedia was accessible again in China on Thursday after being blocked for more than a year, a move hailed by free media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders. The main page of the Chinese-language version of Wikipedia (zh.wikipedia.org) could be displayed and searches for apolitical terms turned up results, but searches for subjects taboo to China’s Communist leadership, such as "June 4," remained blocked.

The recent surge in email spam hawking penny stocks and penis enlargement pills is the handiwork of Russian hackers running a botnet powered by tens of thousands of hijacked computers. Internet security researchers and law enforcement authorities have traced the operation to a well-organized hacking gang controlling a 70,000-strong peer-to-peer botnet seeded with the SpamThru Trojan. According to Joe Stewart, senior security researcher at SecureWorks, in Atlanta, the gang functions with a level of sophistication rarely seen in the hacking underworld.

As more people subscribe to cell phone services–nearly 220 million in the U.S as of June, according to the CTIA Wireless Association–marketers see the mobile market as a ripe opportunity. According to research firm Informa, marketers will spend more than $11 billion on mobile advertising by 2011. Some of the marketing is being done through legitimate channels. Companies such as eBay and Orbitz allow customers to sign up for services that send text message alerts. Cell phone operators are also starting to experiment with sending text messages promoting new services. But if mobile operators want to exploit this marketing opportunity, they must tread lightly so as not to annoy customers with messages they don’t want, experts say. And a recent rise in text message spam could jeopardize these efforts.