To ensure system security, set priorities
"It was always my intention to be an artist," Van Dyke said. Then a job with Rand Corp. spinoff Systems Development Corp. showed him that art, logic and music skills worked in programming, too. Later he joined Informatix Inc., since acquired by Sterling Software Inc. of Dallas, and in 1978 he founded J.G. Van Dyke & Associates Inc. of Bethesda, Md., where he is president. The company assists prime contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. in developing the
LAB NOTES
Novell's novel ways. As Microsoft Corp. promotes Windows 98's out-of-the-box 2000 readiness and patches Windows NT for the century change, Novell Inc. is taking a more low-key approach on date code preparations. The LAN software vendor expects to complete testing all its products by mid-1999 as part of its own audit of internal infrastructures, computer-related and otherwise.
Oracle sees the future of client-server in an Internet architecture
Agencies that rely heavily on Oracle Corp. databases can kiss their client-server architectures goodbye. Oracle is moving to a strictly Internet architecture, using a Web browser as the single interface to all data. "We will never again build for client-server," Oracle chairman Larry Ellison said at the Planet '98 supply chain conference in Dallas recently. "It was a bad idea."
Microsoft seeks certification for cryptographic module
Microsoft Corp. has submitted a cryptographic services module for federal certification as part of an ongoing drive to fit its Microsoft Windows NT into agency network environments. Certification under the Federal Information Processing Standard 140-1 Cryptographic Module Validation Program could be completed late this year, said Karan Khanna, Microsoft lead product manager on the Windows NT security team in Redmond, Wash.
Optical jukeboxes
Optical technologies have cut deeply into the M-O jukebox market. Sidebars The measure of a jukebox varies with type of data and how it is used Difference between M-O and CD-ROM is in the details Magneto-optical disk jukeboxes, once the darlings of big-time mass storage, have fallen on hard times. Network managers in search of large-capacity data storage are instead turning in droves to tape libraries and CD-ROM jukeboxes.
Portables deliver noteworthy flexibility
After checking them for shipping damage, the staff categorized them by processor and speed, weighed them and examined components. The lab staff powered up each system with AC current, installed an operating system if necessary and looked for conflicts. The GCN Lab then loaded test applications and files and ran them in the same sequence: Symantec Norton Utilities 3.0 for Microsoft Windows 9x with appropriate updates, GCNdex32TM benchmark suite, year 2000-readiness tests, multimedia files and an
Leasing options offered for Aviion servers sold on the IT Schedule
Data General Corp. offers leasing options for all Aviion servers listed on its General Services Administration Information Technology Schedule contract. The AV 3700 and AV 3700R departmental servers each have four 400-MHz Pentium II Xeon processors. The AV 8600 enterprise server has up to eight 200-MHz Pentium Pros. All run Microsoft Windows NT. The largest Aviion, the AV 20000, has up to 32 200-MHz Pentium Pro processors running DG-UX.
ThinkPads replace astronauts' proprietary computers
Astronauts on four space station flights will use space-ready notebook PCs for command and control beginning this December. On the first of a series of missions during which astronauts will construct a space station, they will carry two IBM ThinkPad 760ED notebooks running SunSoft Solaris 2.5, said Linda Uljon, office chief for portable computer systems at Johnson Space Center's Mission Operations Directorate in Houston. NASA tested ThinkPads on a shuttle flight this summer.
Tax agency selects a standard messaging system
The IRS last week chose Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 and Outlook 98 as its standard messaging products and awarded a $4.3 million installation contract to Telos Corp. The tax agency selected Exchange and Outlook because they best matched its requirements and offered the most value, IRS chief information officer Paul Cosgrave said.
Agencies need to ponder Web's long-term role
This is not an easy question. Just identifying all the legal requirements is a significant challenge. The need isn't in dispute. Several long-standing laws, including the Paperwork Reduction Act and the Freedom of Information Act, call for proactive dissemination of federal information. Printing laws direct agencies to make information products available to federal depository libraries. The Federal Records Act imposes requirements for preservation of agency records. Agency-specific laws regulate other aspects of dissemination.
At conference, 23 feds win IT honors
RICHMOND, Va.—G. Martin Wagner of the General Services Administration and Nada D. Harris, formerly with the Veterans Affairs Department, took home the top leadership awards last week at the Industry Advisory Council's Executive Leadership Conference. Wagner and Harris were among 23 federal employees honored by the Government Information Technology Services Board and IAC, a member of the Federation of Government Information Processing Councils.
Service personnel join forces overseas for smart card field test
The Defense Department sent smart cards into the field for the first time this spring during joint exercises in Thailand. About 8,000 Army, Navy and Air Force personnel and Thai military personnel used the cards to automate transportation manifests during the Cobra Gold '98 exercise. It was the first large-scale military operational test of the programmable cards, and Lt. Col. Steve Cameron, the Marine Corps provost marshal, called it an absolute success.
U.S., four nations agree on security evaluation criteria
Say goodbye to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Federal Information Processing Standard 140-1 and the National Security Agency's Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria. Five countries last week signed a new international agreement covering the evaluation of computer security products and systems that will ultimately replace NIST's FIPS 140-1 and NSA's Orange Book.
Army Corps sets IT strategy
The new architecture will show how to conduct more business online. In drafting a new computer and communications architecture for the 21st century, the Army Corps of Engineers is trying to avoid what Architecture 2000 project manager Laurens Kennedy called "the engineered solution." New generations of information technology are replacing earlier ones every 18 to 48 months, Kennedy said, and the days of drafting strictly technical architectures are over. "Not only is technology not
Sate visual appetite with Studio Max
3D Studio Max pros and cons: + NURBS support, keyframe animation and multiprocessor support + Excellent mapping and editing + Auto backup and auto filename increment – Too many hardware locks – Ray-trace rendering requires Radi Ray package 3D Studio Viz pros and cons: + Excellent, easy-to-use features in limited applications + Integrates with AutoCAD files
Unclear contracts can spell trouble down the road
The challenges are even greater when the acquisition and payment methods are complex. Creative techniques such as seat management and asset management call for careful attention to the contract terms and conditions. A recent Court of Federal Claims decision in Cray Research Inc. vs. United States shows what can happen when the contract isn't clear.
Dell maintains place atop list of vendors selling PCs on schedule
Which companies round out the Top 20? 11. GE Capital IT Solutions $74.3 12. BTG Inc.* $74.0 13. Edgemark Systems Inc. $65.0 14. Science Applications International Corp. $63.3 15. Pulsar Data Systems Inc. $58.6 16. Telos Corp. $49.1 17. PRC Inc. $44.1 18. Silicon Graphics Inc. $42.4 19. Compaq Computer Corp. $40.8 20. Computer Sciences Corp. $39.6 (Sales in millions from July
ENTERPRISE COMPUTING | Beat the Clock
| Beat the Clock Make that a Whopper. Thomas Soeder, chairman of startup RMM Inc., thinks he has a tool for the times. Soeder's Columbia, Md., company, a relative latecomer to the year 2000 tools market, has a low-priced, mass-market programmer's workbench that he calls the software equivalent of Burger King.
NASA develops software to assist nation's air traffic controllers
NASA has developed two applications to help air traffic controllers at busy airports. The agency estimates that the software can save $800 million a year in air traffic control management costs. The NASA software, Traffic Management Adviser and Final Approach Spacing Tool, will make it easier for air traffic controllers to track and direct aircraft, said Heinz Erzberger, senior scientist for air traffic management at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.
DOD retreats on Web
In hastening to pull down information posted on the Internet, the Defense Department appears to be reacting to threats not to information security but to the physical security of assets and people. The brass fears that bad guys will tap into the aggregate of information—base maps, building layouts, weapons locations and personnel addresses—to attack people and places. It reminds me of the oft-stated speculation that sufficient information is available online to build a nuclear bomb.
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