Prepare for cyber war, says Gartner

The Gartner research firm says the rate of adoption of Internet-based technology means that cyber warfare could be a reality by next year.

TechWeb News reports that Gartner says cyber warfare is a potential catastrophe that the US and other nations must be prepared to combat.

The report says the ever-increasing use of IP networking technology to connect critical infrastructure, as well as the movement in voice communications from a circuit- to packet-switched architecture, is increasing the risk of cyber warfare because IP networks are susceptible to traditional Internet threats.

Intel has announced its first 802.11g wireless chip for notebooks bearing the Centrino banner.

PC World says the Intel Pro/Wireless 2200BG chip allows users to connect to either 802.11b or 802.11g wireless networks. Intel is shipping the chip to its notebook customers with systems expected worldwide during the first quarter.

The Centrino package of the mobile Pentium M processor and the Intel Pro/Wireless 2100 chip was introduced in March last year with only 802.11b capability. The 802.11b standard is the most widely used for wireless LAN connections, but the 802.11g and 802.11a standards offer greater bandwidth in real-world conditions.

ZDNet reports that Nokia is changing the way it deals with software developers, in what is seen as an effort to counteract competition from Microsoft.

Nokia is to introduce a tier process by which developers will get faster and wider access to its proprietary cellphone operating software, the more they pay.

Nokia says the tier system is to answer the most-heard complaints from the 1.3 million developers that have downloaded the software tools needed to create software applications on Nokia phones, but some analysts say the move is to counter a challenge from a cellphone operating system from Microsoft.