Celeron-powered PCs are on the money
Even if you're no power user, the latest office suites, database programs and network applications require good hardware. Until recently that meant paying $2,000 or more for a Pentium II system. The PCs with Intel Celeron processors, however, are affordable choices for users who don't need maximum power, just good performance, for most office applications.
Navy lab: 'I want my HDTV'
At the recent ComNet trade show in Washington, Fore Systems Inc. of Warrendale, Pa., and the Naval Research Laboratory transmitted live, high-definition television images via asynchronous transfer mode switches. The demonstration network that carried the images between Washington and Newport News, Va., consisted of commercial products and prototype technologies developed with federal funding.
2000 workers deserve vacation from the leave laws
Another year 2000 problem is looming, and this one will require Congress and the president to fix it. Across the federal government, thousands of computer specialists—managers and code jockeys alike—are toiling to correct computer code. After long hours and forgone vacations, these troops are in for a rude awakening. Only 240 hours of their annual leave will carry over into 2000.
White House names Peter Swire to be an adviser on privacy policy
Peter P. Swire, a specialist in privacy law, will advise the White House on policies for government and industry use of personal information. Swire will guide administration initiatives, work with states and be an international contact for privacy issues. An Office of Management and Budget official said, however, that Swire will not set policy.
Treasury to test seat management concept
The Treasury Department will be the second user of the General Services Administration's Seat Management Program. Treasury will use GSA's desktop outsourcing program for 1,600 PCs at its headquarters as a seat management pilot, Treasury chief information officer James Flyzik said. The pilot could determine whether seat management will be used elsewhere in the department, he said.
OMB issues an online deadline
OMB issues guiding principles on electronic government Agencies will offer all government services electronically within 31/2 years, or they will have to answer to the Office of Management and Budget. That is the gist of a draft OMB regulation issued this month to help agencies implement the Government Paperwork Elimination Act, which was included as part of the fiscal 1999 omnibus
Management application combines and updates data, reducing duplication
The Housing and Urban Development Department estimates it is saving more than $900,000 per year in mailing costs by streamlining records duplicated on different mailing lists. A half-dozen HUD divisions had the job of maintaining mailing list databases for members of Congress, mayors and HUD 2020 seminar participants. "Some of the databases were up to date, some weren't," said Joseph A. Duffy, project leader for HUD's Development Technology Division.
By swapping source code, Sun and Oracle want to give oomph to Internet products
Oracle Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. plan to exchange key source code and binaries to enhance their existing Internet products and develop new ones. Sun will integrate components of the Oracle8i Internet database into its operating system to support Sun middleware applications. And Oracle will license core components of SunSoft Solaris for its low-cost database server appliance, coded-named Raw Iron.
AAFES phone service contract goes to MCI WorldCom.FTS
The Army and Air Force Exchange Service has awarded a 10-year, $1.5 billion communications contract to MCI WorldCom Inc. to supply pay phones, residential and phone center service, Internet access and calling cards at Army and Air Force installations around the world. MCI WorldCom beat out incumbent AT&T Corp., Qwest Communications International Inc. of Denver and Sprint Corp. The contract award came less than a month after MCI WorldCom won a portion of the General Services
Bell Labs' high-bandwidth wireless prototype could have military uses
Improving on government satellite communications, scientists at Lucent Technologies Inc.'s Bell Labs have pushed wireless data at 10 Gbps more than two miles through the Earth's atmosphere. Bell Labs of Murray Hill, N.J., used dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) and powerful optical amplifiers to achieve the 10-Gbps rate, outstripping current commercial wireless optical systems by an order of magnitude.
Procurement reforms reduce user costs
The integration of the two vendors' federal sales groups will let Compaq offer a wider range of products than its top competitor, Dell Computer Corp. Some observers say, however, that Compaq's expanded size might make it harder to stay competitive on pricing and support, while flexible at meeting agency requirements and starting new programs.
Gateway takes E-3200 in right direction, but not far enough
Pros and cons: + Improved chassis design – Arrived without integrated Ethernet card's drivers loaded or working Gateway Inc. finally seems to be grasping the enterprise PC game. The easy-access, low-profile chassis for the E-3200 proves the South Dakota company is serious about building network clients, which account for nine out of every 10 government PCs.
Baker will move swiftly on e-commerce
The Commerce Department's chief information officer last week vowed to treat electronic commerce the same way government has dealt with the year 2000 problem—as an emergency requiring a swift response. Roger Baker said he expects Congress soon will mandate e-commerce use within government. The year 2000 problem was a good exercise in project management, he said at the GCN Forum luncheon in Washington. Government needs to reapply those skills to the development of e-commerce applications, Baker said.
Commerce seeks small businesses for GWAC
The Commerce Department next month will award a governmentwide acquisition contract that targets small, disadvantaged, minority and women-owned businesses. The Commerce Information Technology Services GWAC will likely reach $500 million and possibly up to $1.5 billion in five years, said Alan Balutis, Commerce's deputy chief information officer. "We plan to use it a lot internally," CIO Roger Baker said.
IRS' TDA-3 contract faces competition for buyers
After a lengthy evaluation, the IRS last month awarded the Treasury Department Acquisition 3 small-business set-aside contract to SMAC Data Systems. Separately, the IRS last month issued a $1.3 million delivery order for IBM Netfinity servers loaded with Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 for agencywide e-mail. SMAC of Gaithersburg, Md., will sell PCs as well as peripherals on TDA-3, IRS spokesman Ken Hubenak said. The IRS manages the contract for Treasury's 12 agencies. SMAC's two-year award
With Pentium III released, Intel readies Merced for next year
PC chip clock speeds will increase, benchmark numbers will migrate upward, and prices will gravitate downward. But dramatic changes will not happen until mid to late 2000, when Intel Corp.'s long-awaited Merced (IA-64) CPU starts shipping. When it arrives, Merced will likely give Intel an even stronger foothold in the workstation arena. Until then, Intel x86 architecture will get several performance boosts.
Shoddy shape of state, local 2000 readiness worries GAO
The readiness of state and local governments is becoming the chief source of concern for General Accounting Office officials responsible for overseeing progress with year 2000 fixes. "We're less optimistic when we look at state and local governments," said Joel Willemssen, GAO director for civilian agency information systems. Speaking at a recent year 2000 forum in Washington, Willemssen said the lack of detailed readiness data from key economic sectors also is worrisome because of potential
BMC Software touts tools to boost agency productivity
"We're focused now on making agencies more productive, not just their information technology departments," Morris said. BMC officials said multiplatform products to manage application performance, availability and recovery are the drawing cards for the Defense Department, which wants to prevent incidents such as the operator error that stalled a Navy Smart Ship [GCN, Nov. 9, 1998, Page 6].
GCN's review crew holds court at FOSE on new products, year 2000 readiness
Meet GCN's own technology gurus at Lab Live, a showcase of hot products and cool technology, every day during FOSE '99. Tuesday through Thursday this week, in the second-floor lobby of the Washington Convention Center, GCN's technology editors will interview the makers of some of today's top products. GCN has also heard rumors that our favorite cyberrodent might leave his burrow to see what's hot in government information technology.
Partition your hard drive now; there is no better time or space
Drive a hard bargain when you upgrade a hard drive. Prices are low these days, and value and capacity are high. This leads to the issue of partitioning a large drive into smaller logical drives. Some users do it to simplify filing or speed up searches, but most people do it when their operating system either can't access the entire drive or can't do so efficiently.
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