GSA's terms for Microsoft site licenses include upgrades of OSes andapplications
The General Services Administration has bought a three-year site license for Microsoft Corp. products for its 13,000 users. The $3.3 million delivery order, under Unisys Corp.'s GSA Systems contract, covers Microsoft Windows 9x, Windows NT Workstation and Server 4.0, Office Professional and Standard, and client access licenses for Microsoft SQL Server and Systems Management Server, said Mark Miller, the team leader for GSA's Acquisition Management Team.
Study pegs federal PC ownership cost at a cool $8,400/year
A study to calculate the total cost of ownership of desktop PCs at one General Services Administration office, conducted as the agency is developing a task order for the Seat Management Program contracts, found the GSA office spends an average of $8,400 per computer a year. The study is not completely representative because it looked at only a small portion of GSA—just 300 PC users, the agency's Seat program manager Wanda Smith said.
BREAKING NEWS
The seven-year, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract covers software support agencywide, including application development, data administration, database support and software engineering, SSA contracting officer Wayne McDonald said. Most of the code for SSA's administrative systems, such as payroll, travel and training, is written by agency programmers, but it is difficult to keep the code up-to-date, McDonald said.
As SBA finishes date code work, OMB lauds federal 2000 progress
The Small Business Administration crossed the year 2000 finish line first, the Office of Management and Budget reported last week as it released agencies' latest date code status reports. The Social Security Administration is right on SBA's heels and will finish a close second, OMB said. After reviewing the quarterly reports, the administration has an optimistic view of the government's year 2000 status, senior OMB officials said.
For PC-3, Army officials choose IDIQ contract method over BPA
The Army will award PC-3 contracts by mid-February, said Lee Harvey, a division chief at the Communications-Electronics Command Acquisition Center-Washington. The current PC-2 contracts expire at the end of January. Army officials surveyed vendors about pricing differences before deciding to stay with an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract instead of negotiating blanket purchasing agreements.
PDAs let many users hit the road without excess PC baggage
For accessing the Internet via handheld computers, smaller is smarter. In these days of processor envy and browsers fatter than Bill Gates' wallet, it might seem silly to keep harping on thin clients and low-power CPUs. But the handheld market continues to drive the development of simplicity in TCP/IP connectivity.
New year, old problems
I remember as a child seeing a pad of memos or business forms that contained a date space partially filled in with a 19, leaving just enough space to put in the last two digits for the year. I wondered what people would do if such forms lasted until 2000.
EC is a hot topic with Commerce
Before he came to Commerce, Baker was vice president of marketing and product development for Visa International's Interactive subsidiary in Herndon, Va. He helped build an online system for Visa's member banks. Baker has a bachelor's degree in computer science and a master's in business from the University of Michigan. He talked with GCN about Commerce's Digital Department initiative and how electronic commerce will help the department carry out its mission.
CellCase2 increases Secant's range of ATM encryption speeds
With the release of CellCase2, Secant Network Technologies Inc. of Research Triangle Park, N.C., says its line of virtual private networking products can now encrypt asynchronous transfer mode traffic at wire rates all the way from 1.5 Mbps to 155 Mbps. Earlier CellCase products secured WAN communications at T3 and OC-3 rates of 45 Mbps and 155 Mbps. The newest entry, introduced last month, covers T1 rates at the low end of the range.
Computers, bodies warm up DOD's cold mountain
The Cheyenne Mountain complex near Colorado Springs, Colo., the Defense Department's underground nerve center for detecting missile launches around the world, has a novel way of keeping its staff warm in the subterranean environment. Nestled in a cavern fortress safe from earthquakes and nuclear explosions, the 1,500 or so military and civilian employees who work in this hardened bunker are warmed by the heat generated by the complex's computers.
Control-system designers say newer version could have prevented LAN crash
If the USS Yorktown had been running the most recent version of an engineering control system, the Smart Ship probably would not have suffered a LAN failure that left it dead in the water for three hours last year, according to the system's designer. An early version of the Standard Monitoring and Control System (SMCS), developed by Canadian Aviation Electronics (CAE) Inc. of Toronto, is running aboard the Yorktown Smart Ship and the Navy's MHC-51 Osprey
Old lion has advice for new cats at FTS
As FTS commissioner, Woods negotiated multibillion-dollar contracts for federal long-distance and local telephone services from 1994 to 1997. Under his leadership, FTS offered global voice, data and video communications for both local and long-distance government telecom users, and such advanced telecom products and services as federal calling cards, wireless equipment and services, network applications, acquisitions services for IT and telecom systems, risk analysis and security support.
CSC wins IRS' Prime contract
Following more than a decade of frustrated modernization efforts, the IRS last week recommitted itself to upgrading its antiquated tax systems by awarding the 15-year Prime contract—potentially worth $5 billion—to Computer Sciences Corp. The award kicks off the latest chapter of what has been one of the federal government's most expensive and drawn-out information technology efforts. It is an early victory for IRS commissioner Charles Rossotti and his new chief information officer, Paul J. Cosgrave.
'Tis the season when hyped product claims get wrap they deserve
Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of holidays that give you a day off and gifts, too. But I seem to remember that our jolly, white-bearded Santa in the Coca-Cola-red suit was originally an advertising gimmick for the soft drink giant. The same sort of pesky memory kicked into gear when I read about the new wonder products announced at the Comdex show last month in Las Vegas. Whenever a vendor promotes a product
Lancast's Redundant Twister can keep LAN traffic flowing
A new addition to Lancast Inc.'s Twister family of media translators is capable of making redundant links to switches on Fast Ethernet LANs. The Redundant Twister has nearly instantaneous failover from primary to secondary links for mission-critical networks. John Temple, director of government sales for Lancast of Nashua, N.H., said the Defense Department, Federal Aviation Administration and intelligence agencies would be the primary markets.
Conference hashes out supercomputers, Next Generation Net
ORLANDO, Fla.—The Next Generation Internet will connect at least 100 federal and university research facilities at rates 100 times faster than are now possible, according to the National Science and Technology Council. NGI will bring benefits in supercomputing collaboration, digital libraries, remote access and simulation, NSTC members said last month at the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers Computer Society's High-Performance Networking and Computing conference. The price, officials said, could run as high as $2 billion
GCN Lab revisits 1998's hits and misses
1998 has been a good year for computer hardware. Processor speed jumped impressively from 333 MHz to 450 MHz. But software suffered from the upgrade syndrome. Most upgrades fell a little flat or required a host of patches and fixes. Lotus Development Corp. released the year's only software suite, SmartSuite Millennium Edition [GCN, Sept. 28, Page 37], and Microsoft Corp. sent Microsoft Windows 98 on its way [GCN, June 29, Page 31]. But neither one made
OMB exec: Feds need to finalize year 2000 contingency plans now
The Office of Management and Budget will increasingly focus on year 2000 contingency plans as agencies enter the final stretch for making their date codes ready, a senior administration official said. "Contingency plans are extremely important," said G. Edward DeSeve, OMB's deputy director of management and chairman of the Chief Information Officers Council.
Advanced tool package administers complete physical to PC
Pros and cons: + Nice collection of PC diagnostic tools + Comprehensive testing for most components – Needs better documentation Master the esoteric art of PC troubleshooting, and awe the users who benefit from your skill. The secret is perseverance and patience. When PC technicians stand beside a dead or frozen machine, they run through a checklist that differs slightly from machine to machine. But it always involves painstaking checks of cables, settings
Norton Utilities 4.0 brings PC safeguards to Macs
Norton Utilities 4.0 for the Apple Macintosh is the latest incarnation of a disk utility set that has been around almost as long as personal computers. I suspect Symantec Corp. is airbrushing Peter Norton's face a bit on the box, though his on-screen icon looks as good as ever.
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