Navy sets course to manage its human resource data
The Navy is developing an integrated system based on human resources software from PeopleSoft Inc. of Pleasanton, Calif., that will serve as the single point of data entry for all the service's pay and personnel records. Using PCs, clerks will access personnel and disbursing functions now performed by separate systems and offices. The Navy Standard Integrated Personnel System is designed to collect, collate and analyze data on the service's active, Reserve and retired
Systems track federal credits and debits
FMS is the government's check writer. It issues Social Security checks, disburses pay to federal employees and remits payments to contractors. FMS also disburses tax refunds and collects taxes, customs duties and tolls that are due the government. Craig began her federal career in 1970 as an intern with the Customs Service. She left government service from 1978 to 1980 for a job as a technical support analyst with Dillingham Corp. in Honolulu. She returned to
The Rat wrestles with security advice to slam down computer hackers
The Rat has been watching with interest as the rest of the world learns a painful lesson in network security. The New York Times Web site hack got everyone's attention a few weeks ago, but that was just one instance in a recent rash of site takeovers, including one of a Web server in Japan that hosts 24,000 domains.
Marines march in via phone
When the Marines stormed ashore in Newfoundland this summer, they carried cellular telephones for secure communications and global links over a tactical cellular network. NATO's Maritime Combined Operational Training (MARCOT) exercises, hosted by Canada in June, marked the first deployment of tactical encrypted cellular communications by U.S. forces. The 2nd Marine Division used the TacCell system from Wheat International Communications Corp. of Reston, Va.
There's no quick fix for archiving electronic records, archivist says
Implementing a new policy for archiving electronic records will take time, the national archivist said last week. Because of the complexities associated with electronic documents, it could take more than two years for some agencies to come up with ways to destroy or store those documents, John W. Carlin said. "There are no easy answers, and much work remains to be done," he said. "Clearly federal agencies want to manage their electronic records—indeed, all their records—more effectively,
GAO criticizes DISA's fee-for-service operations
The Defense Information Systems Agency is not adequately managing mainframe systems at Defense Department megacenters and other systems services it provides on a fee-for-service basis, according to a new General Accounting Office report. DISA provides a wide range of information technology products and services to Defense agencies and the services. But GAO auditors found that DISA sets improper prices for IT services.
TECH REFRESH
TECH REFRESH GCN September 28, 1998 Comark Federal Systems has picked up pen-based handheld computers from Fujitsu-ICL Systems Inc. of Dallas for its General Services Administration Information Technology Schedule contract. The federal market for pen-based handhelds has shown some signs of growth recently. The Federal Emergency Management Agency bought thousands of handhelds earlier this decade, and pockets of users at the Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development departments and at NASA have bought thousands more
Agencies are on the brink of IP telephony
When reading about product literature nowadays, you would think that voice over Internet service is just as close as the telephone itself. If you thought per-call prices over FTS 2000 circuits were at rock bottom, consider a new technology that could reduce the cost of calls even more and, more importantly, provide integrated services over IP.
DOD directive pushes single radio system with programmable software technology
The Defense Department has put the brakes on the military services' multiple radio programs in favor of a single family of radio communications systems that will incorporate programmable software technology. Arthur Money, the senior civilian official in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence, late last month issued a directive to service acquisition executives banning the services from developing or buying tactical radio systems. Money said DOD wants to
NARA likely to seek agency records archival plans
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.—The coming directive for archiving electronic records will likely require agencies to develop plans for storing and destroying electronic records, according to a legal adviser at the National Archives and Records Administration. Agencies should expect that they will have to establish new records management schedules within two years, said Miriam Nisbet, special counsel for information policy in NARA's Office of the General Counsel. She spoke this month at the Interagency Resources Management and Chief
Inprise says middleware tool eases updating of intranet, Internet apps
Inprise Corp., formerly Borland International Inc., has entered the transactional middleware market. The Scotts Valley, Calif., company's VisiBroker Integrated Transaction Service for Java and C++ clients and servers runs on top of SunSoft Solaris and Microsoft Windows NT operating systems. It is a key component of the enterprise application server that Inprise plans to deliver later this year.
Kinks in satellite communications service delay rollout to Defense
Eleven of the 12 gateways for satellite-to-network call switching are operational. Iridium LLC is delaying its new global satellite communications service by a month while it works out bugs in the wireless network that eventually will serve 120,000 Defense Department users. Iridium had planned to begin the network service early next month, but Edward F. Staiano, the Washington consortium's chief executive officer, said the new startup date will be Nov. 1.
Agencies lack funds for IT research, exec says
Stagnant federal investment in R&D threatens progress, 3Com chairman Eric Benhamou says. Federal research in information technology focuses myopically on near-term problems, said Eric Benhamou, 3Com Corp. chairman and chief executive officer. Speaking this month at the Upside Summit '98 conference in Washington, the CEO of the Santa Clara, Calif., company and a member of the President's IT Advisory Committee said privately funded research "is not picking up the slack" left by the stagnation
Tadpole to buy portable systems competitor RDI
Tadpole Technology Plc., a British manufacturer of portable servers and notebooks built with Sun Microsystems Inc.'s UltraSparc processor, is acquiring competitor RDI Computer Corp. of Carlsbad, Calif., for $6 million. Tadpole's chairman, Lars Turndal, said RDI's UltraBook products will complement Tadpole's VoyagerIIi line, which also uses the UltraSparc. He said Tadpole will continue selling RDI's PrecisionBook line of portable Unix workstations powered by Hewlett-Packard PA-RISC processors.
The Web won't wait for long
Jakob Nielsen recently left his position as a research engineer at Sun Microsystems Inc. to start his own Web consulting company, the Nielsen Norman Group of Atherton, Calif. He has written several books about usability engineering and human-computer interface design. Currently he is working with a federal laboratory on a Web project.
New copyright bill a balancing act of protecting owner, user interests
The proposed Digital Millennium Copyright Act, now undergoing reconciliation by congressional committees, would make it illegal to break the protective technologies by which software companies and other copyright holders prevent copying of their works. The bill's purpose is to lay the groundwork for the technical means to protect copyrighted material.
IRS gets vendor help to promote online tax filing
The IRS will get help from a vendor in meeting its goal of getting 80 percent of tax returns filed electronically by 2007, company officials said. Intuit Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., will offer its WebTurboTax software, a tax preparation and electronic filing program, free to individuals with incomes of less than $20,000.
Commerce site lists resources for IT training
The Commerce Department recently launched a Web site to help information technology workers, employers and educators find information on IT training programs nationwide. The Go for IT site at http://www.ta.doc.gov/go4it posts profiles of 171 systems development programs in the United States. Users can search for programs by city, state, region and subject.
Millions hit, millions miss Starr report on Web
President Clinton wasn't the only one under pressure the last week or so. Government servers were overwhelmed by the public demand for independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr's report on his investigation of President Clinton. Even so, millions of people still managed to get onto government Web sites to read the report during the weekend after its release Sept. 11.
Toshiba puts its 266-MHz Portege 7000CT on a diet
Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. has slimmed down its Portege 7000CT notebook computer to one-inch thickness and 4 pounds in weight. The Portege 7000CT comes standard with 266-MHz Mobile Pentium II processor, 32M of synchronous dynamic RAM, 512K of Level 2 cache, 4.3G hard drive, 56-Kbps modem, 12.1-inch active-matrix display and Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows 98.
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