'98 shapes up to be doozy for telecom, feds predict
With billions of dollars' worth of federal telecommunications contracts up for grabs, this year will be a big, if stressful, one for networking and telecommunications negotiations, top government telecom executives predicted recently. The government will be ruthless in leveraging its buying power, said Dennis J. Fischer, commissioner of the General Services Administration's Federal Technology Service, last month at the 11th annual Federal Telecommunications Conference in McLean, Va.
Congress does U-turn on NGI's future funding
In a change of heart, House and Senate lawmakers have drafted bills that would ensure that Next Generation Internet research receives at least $200 million for fiscal years 1999 and 2000. Both houses of Congress last fall refused to fund NGI at the level the administration had requested. After complaining that agencies had no clear plan for NGI research, Congress approved $85 million instead of the $105 million Clinton requested for the program for this
MathWork's math tool requires advanced programming skill
There are two kinds of advanced math programs for PCs. One kind has an interactive, graphical interface with a programming language hidden underneath. The other kind is mostly just a programming language. MatLab falls into the second category. It's easy for mathematicians, engineers and programmers to learn, but hard for nontechnical users. Although you can solve problems interactively at the command line, MatLab's strength is its powerful, C-like language.
Education limits PC buys to Dell, Compaq brands
Although the Education Department is limiting PC and server buys to Compaq Computer Corp. and Dell Computer Corp. brands, it has drawn no flak about whether it's restricting competition, Education officials said. In an August letter, chief information officer Don Rappaport announced a decision by the department's Information Technology Investment Review Board to adopt what he termed a standards approach.
With Microsoft OSes, choose carefully
There are so many desktop operating systems on the market that choosing one is like picking a card, any card. Some government users can't or won't buy an OS from Microsoft Corp. For the many who do, here's a look at what that choice will mean down the road.
GIS packages come to rescue
After a January storm left three inches of ice on parts of New England, New York and Quebec, two geographic information system packages helped federal and New York state officials organize rescue operations. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, Army National Guard and five New York state departments cooperated using software from Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc. of Redlands, Calif., and MapInfo Corp. of Troy, N.Y., said Dan O'Brien, program manager at New York's Emergency Management
Is DOD the archiving savior?
A Defense Department archiving program could be a white knight for government agencies working to establish an archiving policy for electronic documents. The Defense Information Systems Agency's Joint Interoperability Test Command Records Management Application (RMA) test at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., could become the standard for storing and managing documents governmentwide.
Pastry bandits deliver just desserts to Gates, fellow techno cohorts
When Bill Gates' face collided with a pie in Belgium, the incident illustrated something that even the Winter Olympics was unable to show: There are events that unite the world in moments of victory and satisfaction. The Rat wishes that he had lent a paw in the custard cake flinging. Alas, he was tied up here in the States, setting up LAN and WAN connections for a temporary office.
Make sure that if you buy an inexpensive PC, it doesn't bite back
My last column mentioned sub-$1,000 PC deals from small as well as big-name companies. I decided to spring for a super cheapie to judge for myself. A PC from TigerDirect Inc. of Miami cost $1,059 without a monitor. I liked the bundled Corel Corp. software, 32M memory, 200-MHz IBM Corp. 6x86 processor, 3.2G Ultra DMA Western Digital hard drive, 56-kilobit/sec modem, Yamaha wavetable sound card, IBM dictation software and Microsoft Windows 95.
Netscape, DOD at odds over software pricing
In discussions, the Defense Department has not persuaded Netscape Communications Corp. to change a $50 million software agreement, even though Netscape is now offering its client and browser free to private-sector buyers. The Defense Information Systems Agency made a $50 million client-server agreement with Netscape in September 1997 to let more than 2 million DOD users download the company's browser and some software. But on Jan. 22, Netscape began offering free downloads of Netscape Navigator
VSATs supply global sky links
The need for flexible and affordable bandwidth is pushing the Army to use a new global commercial satellite communications service for two-way telemedicine applications. The Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) at Fort Detrick, Md., recently awarded a $1 million contract to Hughes Global Services Inc. of Los Angeles.
USDA rule proposal draws abundant online comments
If sheer numbers qualify electronic government applications as successful, then the Agriculture Department is onto something. Using the World Wide Web as its conduit, USDA set up a system to receive and post comments on proposed organic produce and livestock standards. The public has participated in record numbers in a process that usually attracts mostly well-funded, special-interest groups.
Commerce plan maps out future of Internet Domain Name System
We can all breathe a sigh of relief. The Internet Domain Name System isn't going to collapse in chaos after all, thanks to a recent Commerce Department proposal that's on the fast track toward worldwide acceptance. Owners of .gov and .mil addresses won't be affected by the proposal, because registration for those domains is handled internally at http://registration.fed.gov and http://www.nic.mil.
Call center delivers messages
The Postal Service delivers millions of messages each day, not all of them letters. There's a lot of other traffic between post offices, distribution centers and the USPS's new call center. "We have 40,000 post offices out there," said Bob Winkleman, call center program manager. "We have an online system, but we don't have online service available everywhere immediately."
Some work plans call for a double dose of NT 4.0 and Win95
As a GCN Lab reviewer, I wanted the efficiency and stability of Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Workstation. I also needed the compatibility and device support of Windows 95. So I decided to have both. When we recently upgraded our lab technology, I installed a 300-MHz Pentium II computer with 128M RAM and an 8.4G hard drive--definitely the right configuration for a power user, developer, network administrator or reviewer.
Energy shoots for 100 teraFLOPS by 2004
It's 100 teraFLOPS or bust. That's how President Clinton described the government's quest for more powerful, high-performance computers when he unveiled the Energy Department's PathForward program earlier this month. Speaking before a group of scientists and researchers at Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, Clinton said the PathForward team by 2004 would build a computer with a processing power of 100 trillion floating-point operations per second. The president earmarked $517 million in his
Cohen nominates Money for ASD(C3I)
In a turnabout, Defense Department Secretary William Cohen has decided to leave the role of chief information officer in the hands of the assistant secretary of Defense for command, control, communications and intelligence. As part of the decision, Cohen has recommended Arthur Money, the Air Force's CIO and acquisition executive, as the next ASD(C3I).
Feds must nail down network server safety
As in the commercial world, vulnerability is a watchword in virtually every federal program. Vulnerability comes in different shapes and sizes and presents many levels of risk. It increases as agencies move documents from paper to electronic formats, as they open more external network access points and as they integrate a growing variety of communication modes into their distributed systems.
OMB moves up 2000 deadline
With pressure mounting to make sure federal systems can handle dates come 2000, the Office of Management and Budget has moved up by eight months the deadline for agencies to finish date code fixes. In a memorandum to agency chiefs, OMB Director Franklin D. Raines said he wants all systems 2000-ready by March 1999. OMB had previously set a deadline of November 1999 for agencies to complete all systems date code work.
It might pay to skip Windows 98 and wait for NT 5.0
Two-and-a-half years after Microsoft Windows 95 revolutionized the graphical interface, its Windows 98 successor offers little more, at least on the surface. Microsoft Corp.'s newest operating system is set for delivery this spring if schedules hold firm. After examining the latest beta version and others that came before, I believe this upgrade offers few enhancements important enough to warrant a switch by most government users. For one thing, Mickey Mouse waves back at you
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.