Stories by: Denise Dubie

Freeware applications and open source software that provide IT managers with great tools at no cost.

Venture capitalists have showered open source companies with cash so far this year, marking a record high of US$203.75 million in funding for vendors developing flexible, low-cost wares.

IBM on Wednesday launched a collaborative research initiative with two US universities Big Blue says could ultimately deliver software applications that enable self-managing virtual data centers and automation in cloud computing environments.

Few reports have surfaced of security breaches in virtual-server environments, but the potential looms large.

Linux systems management start-up LinMin launched this week by making its first software product designed to ease the provisioning of Linux systems available for download.

One person's trash is another's treasure, and this weekend open source vendors and community members plan to join forces with a Northern Californian recycling organization to transform hundreds of desktop and laptops into PCs loaded with Ubuntu, Firefox, OpenOffice and more to be donated to needy area schools.

A majority of organizations are in need of IT workers with security, firewall and data privacy skills, but more than 40 per cent surveyed by the Computing Technology Industry Association in the US said their IT employees are not proficient in such skills.

Mobile phones running low on battery power could be a thing of the past if new chip technology co-developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Texas Instruments lives up to its promise.

Open source management software has become a viable alternative to commercial products, and a recent rash of partnerships proves it, analyst says.

Systems management software maker FiveRuns announced Monday that it had garnered US$6.2 million in funding from Austin Ventures.

Data center automation software maker Stratavia this week announced it had upgraded its flagship product to be able to make decisions based on past actions and further lessen the amount of manual intervention needed in managing data center operations.