Network Security & Web Enablement

Much of the CIO's concerns around communications now centre aroundhaving the right firewalls and intrusion detection systems in place,and having reliable network infrastructure.

"Clearly security is top of mind and that's probably where it shouldbe," says Gartner's Mark Fabbi. "What do I do in case of terroristattack? We get tons of those kinds of questions. The answers revolvearound building redundancy into network designs, designing datacentres properly, and so on."

Longer term, intrusion detection systems should begin to give way tointrusion prevention systems, according to Gartner. "Are there systemsout there? No, not now. We're just at the brink of a new technologythat will allow us to take the next step in security," Fabbi says.

The current preoccupation with Web enablement - converting enterpriseclient-server applications to work over the Web and making morecorporate content available online - also has medium- and long-termimplications for network infrastructure design.