It is still out there.

Like a ghost ship, a rogue software program that glided onto the Internet last November has confounded the efforts of top security experts to eradicate the program and trace its origins and purpose, exposing serious weaknesses in the world’s digital infrastructure.

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On 18 July 2001, a freight train derailed in the Howard Street tunnel running beneath downtown Baltimore, spilling 20,000 litres of hydrochloric acid. The resulting chemical fire destroyed fibre-optic cables owned by eight major US internet carriers. Moments later, Verizon Communications (VZ), which operates key portions of the internet’s physical infrastructure in the US, lost links to two operations buildings and several other carriers’ networks.

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Now that President Obama has signed the $787 billion economic stimulus package into law, the real hard work begins: using that money to create jobs. If spent wisely, this package has a chance at fundamentally reforming the U.S. health-care system, making our economy energy efficient and providing Americans with the training and skills required to succeed in a 21st century global marketplace.

But the country can’t accomplish these goals unless it has the infrastructure to support them. That’s why the funding for broadband was so vital. Broadband is the ticket for entry to participate in the world economy. It is a fundamental technology upon which other things are built. It enables collaboration, innovation and operational excellence, and positions the U.S. to compete on a global basis.

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No part of the tech sector has been harder hit than the semiconductor equipment stocks. Makes you wonder how many of the players will simply disappear.

Carl Johnson, who runs the industry research boutique, Infrastructure, points out that there’s a host of smaller players in trouble:

IBIS Technology holders on Monday announced that the company’s holders have voted to liquidate. The stock on Tuesday closed at five cents. IBIS, which made implantation equipment, once traded as high as $125 a share.

Axcelis (ACLS) missed paying $85 million in notes in mid-January; it is holding talks with its lenders. An ion implant company, Johnson suggests it might be the next to go. Unless someone else files bankruptcy first. ACLS, which in 2000 traded north of $25, is now at 27 cents.

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After infrastructure software vendor Tibco (TIBX) this afternoon beat profit estimates for its fiscal fourth quarter, company management held a conference call with analysts and offered a fiscal first-quarter forecast, and the profit outlook may not be as bad as some might have worried.

The company anticipates sales for the three months ending in February of $140 million to $144 million, well below analysts’ average estimate of $154 million and a decline from $146 million a year earlier. The company’s gross profit margin is expected to decline from last quarter’s 76 percent or so to 74 percent, the company forecast, while non-GAAP operating profit will be 13.5 to 15 percent of sales. That adds up to profit per share, excluding some costs, of seven cents to eight cents per quarter, the company said.

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Up until recently, economies around the globe were on a fairly steady upward trajectory, a growth that put pricing pressure on some of the raw materials needed for both production and infrastructure. That pricing pressure has, in some cases, led to a bit of a black market where the materials are forcibly recycled through various forms of theft. Copper is one of these materials, and a variety of anecdotal news reports suggests that theft of copper from various places it’s in use has been an ongoing nuisance in the U.S. Now, the FBI has performed an analysis of the situation that suggests copper theft actually poses a serious risk to the national infrastructure.

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You know what would be cool? If you could stream Sirius (SIRI) or XM satellite radio
on your Apple (AAPL) iPhone.

As it happens, Citigroup’s Tony Wible this morning writes in a research note that there are “reports” of a new Internet streaming application that would allow SIRI users to listen on portable devices. Wible says the idea highlights that SIRI’s value “lies in its content and not its hardware or infrastructure.”

Wible notes that as the seller of iPods, Apple is often seen as a competitor to satellite radio. But he says the new streaming application suggests the two companies may complement each other.

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