Vendors inch closer to agreement on common standards for rewritable DVDs
Competing specifications for rewritable digital video disks could converge soon if drive makers adopt a new interoperability standard that the Optical Storage Technology Association has pledged to develop. OSTA of Santa Barbara, Calif., intervened after the DVD Forum, an industry group, failed to reach consensus on a standard rewritable format. "OSTA is trying to be the white horse," Ray Freeman of OSTA said. OSTA's 1997 MultiRead specification and logo, which nearly all CD-ROM drive makers have
Postal wants to put its stamp on .us domain
The Postal Service is eyeing the Internet's .us domain as an address space it could administer on behalf of U.S. citizens and organizations. USPS could provide universal, private and secure electronic addresses for all residents in the United States, the agency said in a written response to a Commerce Department request for comments about the .us domain. "The Postal Service could enhance electronic addresses by linking them to physical delivery
Test your OS first then worry about applications, drivers
In the last issue, I discussed updating PC BIOSes. This time, let's talk about operating systems—a necessary first step before you start worrying about database and spreadsheet applications. The best place to find information about Microsoft Windows, Windows NT and MS-DOS OSes is on Microsoft Corp.'s TechNet site at www.microsoft.com/technet/default.htm. It has five categories: compliant, compliant with minor issues, not compliant, not yet tested or not to be tested.
Latitude notebook, NetWare 5 win FOSE Best of Show honors
Two products tied for Best of Show honors among the winners of GCN's Best New Product Awards at FOSE this month. The Latitude LT M266ST notebook from Dell Computer Corp. and the NetWare 5 network operating system from Novell Inc. both received Best of Show honors. "We felt we had to make both a hardware and software award this year," said GCN editorial director Thomas R. Temin, one of the 14 members of the product judging panel.
Adobe art package lets users tap library of images for Web design
A new kind of art, not quite clip art or homegrown illustration, is emerging to fill the demand for fast, professional-looking Web graphics. Adobe Systems Inc.'s ImageStyler is the first serious art tool in this category. Microsoft Corp.'s PhotoDraw 2000 package, now in beta form, will come out late this year.
DOD ComputingBriefing Book
Personnel trainer. The Army this month negotiated a $1 million software license with CBT Systems of Redwood City, Calif., to give 500,000 users servicewide access to online computer training. Through the project, Army users will be able to tap CBT's library of 750 titles via the Web using CBTWeb deployment software.
Marine Corps lays the groundwork for shift to BPAs for buying PCs and servers
Following close on the Air Force's switch from requirements buys to blanket purchasing agreements, the Marine Corps Systems Command will issue a request for quotations for one or more mandatory BPAs for servers, PCs and notebook computers. The Corps could release the RFQ as early as this week, Marine officials said. Marine Corps buyers until now have used the Navy's Tactical Advanced Computer contracts to buy most PCs.
Reno kicks off cybercrime awareness campaign
Although security experts applaud a new government-industry partnership to promote cybercitizenship and fight cybercrime, several said the program's effectiveness hinges on whether it can help strengthen the nation's critical information infrastructure. The Justice Department and the Information Technology Association of America formed the Cybercitizen Partnership to prevent cybercrime, Attorney General Janet Reno announced this month at an ITAA meeting in Washington.
NSA reduces its IT staff by outsourcing legacy applications
After a couple of months' work, the National Security Agency is touting its program to outsource legacy applications as a success. Under the five-year, $20 million Breakthrough Program contract awarded to Computer Sciences Corp. last summer, NSA is outsourcing 20 legacy applications [GCN, Aug. 31, 1998, Page 3]. NSA is using savings from the reduction in personnel costs to pay for the contract. Under the contract, CSC is paid based on the number of NSA employees
FTS 2001 transition presents telecom upgrade opportunities
The government's move from decade-old FTS 2000 long-distance contracts to a new set of nonmandatory contracts will give agencies a chance to upgrade their telecommunications systems and still have enough money for new services, said Sandra Bates, deputy commissioner of the General Services Administration's Federal Technology Service. But vendors will have to move fast because the money for upgrades won't last, said FTS Commissioner Dennis J. Fischer. None of the proposals for using the federal budget
Get in the game
The ban on the federal government competing with industry is a well-established and generally sensible policy. But as the Internet revolutionizes service after service, the ban is producing fresh points of contention between agencies and vendors. Electronic tax filing is moving toward a showdown on the issue of public vs. private work. As the IRS strives to modernize both its internal systems and its service offerings, online filing is a natural growth area. The agency defaults,
FAA plan for modernizing en route centers has Greek flavor
When Federal Aviation Administration officials had to choose a name for their five-year, $450 million en route modernization program, they wanted an ambiguous one. Then they learned about Eunomia, the goddess warden of the sky in Greek mythology. "Eunomia moved all the clouds and directed the chariots," said Cindy Skiles, FAA's Eunomia team leader. "Her name also means harmony in the sky. We thought it was a perfect fit."
HP rolls out a 32-ppm LaserJet printer, three other new printers and a Mopier
In its largest-ever printer rollout, Hewlett-Packard Co. has released two new color laser printers and one color ink-jet printer, plus a monochrome LaserJet and a Mopier. The $2,499 HP Color LaserJet 4500, which replaces the Color LaserJet 5, can print four color pages per minute and 16 ppm in monochrome. It has a 133-MHz processor and HP's JetDirect 600N internal print server to work with leading network operating systems.
Transportation bureau awards
The Transportation Statistics Bureau recently awarded a $50 million contract to Vistronix Inc. of Vienna, Va., for systems services. The agency will issue task orders under the indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract, said Walter Manning, the bureau's assistant director for IT and contracting. Vistronix will provide a variety of services, including software and database design, product research, geographic information systems support and training.
Coming UP March 29
What does your network look like from the inside? Network diagramming tools work automatically to put it all in perspective. In Product Reviews, the GCN Lab examines three such software tools. And check out what else is happening in information technology around the government. In Desktop Computing, for example, see how three agencies are working with small businesses to customize mapping applications without spending much money.
Enterprise Computing
ComTeq Federal Inc. has listed Hewlett-Packard Co. PCs, servers and printers on its General Services Administration Information Technology Schedule contract. ComTeq prices the HP LaserJet 4000 workgroup monochrome printer, successor to the LaserJet 5, at $1,065. The printer has a 100-MHz RISC processor and prints 17 pages per minute at either 600- or 1,200-dot-per-inch resolution, through Hewlett-Packard's FastRes. Adobe PostScript Level 2 and HP Printer Control Language 5e and 6 print drivers are included.
Microtek touts scanners for image rerouting, push-button formatting
Priced from $99, the Microtek International Inc. SlimScan C6 36-bit color scanner claims 600- by 1,200-dot-per-inch maximum resolution. Users can rout scanned images or documents to optical character recognition, e-mail, fax or image editing programs. The Redondo Beach, Calif., company bundles Adobe PhotoDeluxe and Ulead PhotoImpact image editing software as well as Caere OmniPage Limited Edition OCR software and Caere PageKeeper Standard document management software.
Notebooks' faults weigh heavy on feds
—Gene Mercer, unit LAN manager, Air Education and Training Command, Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., on his Micron GoBook "I'd like it to be about half the weight.'' —Robert Allan, integrated logistics support manager, Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command, Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., on his Hewlett-Packard notebook
Viking 56K External Modem stands tall, works at near-maximum rates
Pros and cons: + Space-saving design + Fast and automatically compatible with different protocols – Cord plug-in area cramped Real-life requirements: Windows 9x, Windows NT, or Mac OS 7 or 8; 3.5 inch floppy drive for driver installation I've never been a big fan of external modems. They take up too much desktop space. But an external unit can travel, and its active LCD status monitor gives more information than an internal device.
Geostationary satellites offer virtual networks
For about a year, Celso Azevedo has been briefing potential government users, mostly military ones, about instant broadband networking via forthcoming geostationary satellites. Azevedo is president and chief executive officer of Astrolink International Ltd. of Bethesda, Md., a venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. that expects to begin launching new geostationary satellites in 2002.
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.
Manage Consent Preferences
Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies
Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link
If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.
Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.
If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.
Cookie List
A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:
Strictly Necessary Cookies
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Functional Cookies
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Performance Cookies
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Sale of Personal Data
We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.
Social Media Cookies
We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.
Targeting Cookies
We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.