HCFA is 'fully focused' on year 2000 repairs, HHS IT chief says
After a poor start on year 2000 work and with much still to be done, the Health Care Financing Administration acknowledges that it is unlikely that all HCFA systems will be ready in time. Despite the setbacks, HCFA is making progress, said Neil J. Stillman, deputy assistant secretary for IRM at the Health and Human Services Department.
First of two FTS 2000 contracts goes to Sprint
The multibillion-dollar FTS 2001 first-round contract that the General Services Administration awarded last month to Sprint Corp. promises voice and data savings of up to 60 percent, or $3.8 billion, over eight years. Under the decade-old FTS 2000 contract, Sprint has had 24 percent of federal voice and data business. AT&T Corp. has had 76 percent.
RealPort Ethernet hits high note on quality scale
Some products you want for their glamour or status: a Louis Vuitton suitcase, a Tiffany & Co. diamond ring, a Patek Philippe watch. Other products have a reputation for reliability and durability: Levi Strauss & Co. jeans, for example, or Maytag washers. Then there are products whose cachet is based on their quality.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR | GCN
I find I'm not satisfied with your conclusion that Microsoft Windows NT bore no fault in the failure aboard the Yorktown ("Navy: Calibration flaw crashed Yorktown LAN" [GCN, Nov. 9, Page 6]). While these days the statement that NT was not the cause of the failure may be true, using some strict definition of the word cause, NT certainly failed to provide protection from a simple application error.
GSA recommends setting fees for shared Web services
What type of fee should your agency charge for Web services? Any agency that offers centrally organized Web services needs to establish a fee-for-services policy, the General Services Administration recommends. Cost-sharing will promote efficient use of Web services, GSA's Office of Governmentwide Policy said in a recently released draft version of a Web site management policy.
GCN reviewer finds himself awed by power of new PC
Making the switch from a mainstream office computer to the ultimate workstation-class PC can be a bit daunting, even for an enthusiast. As soon as I knew the huge box had been shipped, I began to track it via the Web. I wondered how the truck driver was doing and hoped that he would not hit many potholes.
BUYERS GUIDE
To take arms against a sea of computer troubles—power outages, hard drive failures, server crashes—you can choose from a veritable arsenal of weapons. To tame a virus, however, software is your best choice. And of the threats to federal systems, the computer virus is one of the most pervasive.
Service Pack 4 for NT fixes a swarm of bugs
TEST DRIVE Service Pack 4 for Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 is a cornucopia of patches and fixes, plus enhancements from the Windows NT Resource Kit and Windows NT Enterprise Edition. NT users can download the 76M pack for free or buy it on CD-ROM. As with installing any Microsoft service pack, proceed with caution. Many sites running NT had systems failures from Service Pack 2, so don't neglect the obvious first step: Back up your systems.
LAB NOTES
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. The timeworn phrase pretty much sums up this year in information technology. The industry failed to score a blockbuster success in 1998, although plenty of companies tried. Microsoft Corp. topped the field by releasing service packs in volume for Office, Exchange 5.5, Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, Systems Network Architecture Server and Visual Studio, in addition to dozens of patches and fixes.
Navy keeps its options open in deal with Lotus
Capitalizing on Lotus Development Corp.'s eagerness to make a big enterprise sale in the government market, the Navy has signed a multiyear contract to deploy Lotus groupware widely without an up-front commitment. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command is conducting a 4,220-user pilot to determine whether Lotus' Domino Server 5.0 and Notes 5.0 client products—including a Defense Message System client—work well and can foster a good business relationship between Lotus and the
Utilities ride on NT coattails
Every Microsoft Exchange Server license bought by the federal government is good news for NetIQ Corp. The 3-year-old Santa Clara, Calif., software developer sells its Microsoft BackOffice and Windows NT operations management software on the General Services Administration Information Technology Schedule. Because agencies in recent months have bought thousands of Microsoft Exchange Server licenses, NetIQ has in a relatively short time sold its NetIQ AppManager suite to some of the largest federal NT users, including the
TECH REFRESH
Federal enterprise switching infrastructures are getting faster and more sophisticated, judging by additions to two General Services Administration Information Technology Schedule contracts. Force 3 Inc. has put Cabletron Systems Inc. switching products on its GSA schedule. A five-slot SmartSwitch 6000 chassis goes for $2,018 with a removable fan tray and two slots for power supplies, which Force 3 of Crofton, Md., does not include.
She'll verify: 'We aren't missing anything
Name: Mary Powers-King Agency: Federal Aviation Administration Title: Deputy director, Year 2000 Program Length of service: 20 years Age: 47 Education: Bachelor's degree in liberal studies, Thomas Edison State College, Trenton, N.J.; numerous computer science and management courses at technical and academic institutions Responsibilities: Primary backup to the Year 2000 program director. Provide briefings on program status to internal FAA organizations and management and to airlines, industry and government. Help manage program office staff and activities. In conjunction
FAA deflects criticism about its contingency plans
The agency will spend $142.2 million in fiscal 1999, according to figures it submitted to the Office of Management and Budget last month. Both the air traffic controllers union and the Transportation Department inspector general have criticized the Federal Aviation Administration's plans for responding to possible computer-related service disruptions around Jan. 1, 2000.
Switch is on at NAVOCEANO
After many centuries on the seas, you might think the world's navies would have finished charting the oceans, but the job just keeps getting bigger. The Naval Oceanographic Office operates eight survey stations and gathers information from hundreds more remote sites around the world to track tides, temperatures and shifting shorelines.
1999: the year of computer security—maybe
What was hot in 1998? Security products. What will be hot in 1999? Security policies. Spending on network security worldwide this year will likely jump 53 percent from last year to $1.85 billion, according to DataQuest Inc. of San Jose, Calif. It is expected to grow to $2.98 billion next year and reach $5.18 billion by 2000.
HP lobbyist helped Capitol Hill define IT policies
Tisdale had been a lobbyist in Sacramento before coming to Washington. He was a skilled trade association hand, having worked for the Chamber of Commerce, the American Electronics Association and the Scientific Apparatus Makers Association before starting up Hewlett-Packard Co.'s Washington government relations office. Although HP now has $40 billion in annual sales, it was a much smaller company 14 years ago. The high-technology industry itself mattered a lot less to lawmakers then. Now lots of
PROFESSIONAL CALENDAR
4-8 MacWorld Expo Conference. San Francisco. Contact IDG Expo Management Co., P.O. Box 9127, Norwood, Mass. 02062; tel. 800-645-3976. 11-14 SpaceComm '98 Conference. Colorado Springs, Colo. Contact Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, 4400 Fair Lakes Court, Fairfax, Va. 22033; tel. 719-554-1147. 14 DOD Growth Markets Conference. Falls Church, Va. Contact the Electronic Industries Alliance, P.O. Box 75023, Baltimore, Md. 21275; tel. 703-907-7571.
EPA lauds 12 workers for superior systems development, management
The Environmental Protection Agency and GCN honored 12 employees for excellence in systems development management and implementation. The EPA employees received their awards at a recent GCN Forum luncheon in Washington. Honored were:
IRS issues strategy to stimulate electronic tax filing
The IRS this month announced 45 initiatives to encourage taxpayers to file electronically. Congress this year mandated that by 2007 the IRS receive at least 80 percent of income tax returns electronically. A major barrier is cultural, said Robert Barr, assistant commissioner for electronic tax administration. The IRS has to make the public feel comfortable with electronic filing, he said. To do that, it will begin running television commercials promoting electronic filing.
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