DOD and Lockheed are pleased with DMS test -
Defense Department and Lockheed Martin Corp. officials are guardedly optimistic about results of the Defense Message System's initial operational test and evaluation, which took place last month at nine military sites. The Defense Information Systems Agency will not make the IOT&E results public for another two weeks. DMS program manager Tom Clarke said in a statement that the preliminary results "confirm DMS Release 1.0 is a viable baseline system" that likely will evolve to full
Here's the skinny on flat-panel monitors -
The first thing people say when they see a flat-panel monitor on your desk is "Cool!" The second is, "I want one." I speak from experience. Over the last four months, four active-matrix liquid crystal displays on my desk have drawn just those remarks. My Reviewer's Choice designation goes to Compaq Computer Corp.'s TFT500 monitor. Compaq is not known as a monitor maker, and the company's TFT500 is not a perfect monitor. My early production
Hayes' 56-kilobit/sec modem comes close to its touted speed -
Modem speed and price wars are causing some casualties. The first thing I noticed when I opened the box containing Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc.'s external 56-kilobit/sec Accura 56K modem was that there was no serial cable. I happened to have a couple of spare cables squirreled away, but buyers who expect ready-to-install products should be aware that few modem makers include cables anymore. A notation to that effect on the box would save
Agency will sell bonds online -
About 55 million people own U.S. savings bonds. Another million have Treasury Direct retail accounts for buying Treasury securities. The Bureau of the Public Debt, which finances the nation's indebtedness from an operating center in Parkersburg, W.Va., is upgrading its computer network to handle these accounts electronically. If all goes well, the bureau will begin selling savings bonds online late this year. Customers eventually will have access to their Treasury Direct accounts via the World
OPM puts career advice online -
To help agencies plug staff holes and create their own technical experts, the Office of Personnel Management has established a new online career counseling service. The USACareers system gives agencies an automated toolkit for evaluating a person's job skills, interests and training needs. OPM officials said the new interactive personnel testing program is intended to help federal employees chart direct career paths and cope with downsizing pressures.
DOD integrates best sim tools -
The Defense Department is putting the final touches on specifications for a modeling and simulation system that will integrate Army, Navy and Air Force systems into a seamless battlefield training and analysis tool. The Joint Simulation System (JSIMS) will let units from different services hold joint simulated training exercises. The framework for a common systems architecture blends the service-unique features of different mission models into an interoperable whole.
Cobol cognoscenti come out of their burrows and rake in all the lira -
Somehow the Rat wasn't surprised to see the year 2000 problem rear its ugly head in a Page 1 story above the fold in his local newspaper. The buzz this time was about Maryland's $100 million code crisis. The state has had to commit to spending about $20 per taxpayer to straighten out its discombobulated code. Now that's a figure the Rat really can sink his incisors into.
ATM adapters give backbone to servers and nets -
A synchronous transfer mode adapters are great for the backbone, but they're not ready for the desktop. Deployed on a WAN, backbone or desktop, ATM is becoming the big gun of bandwidth. When National Software Testing Laboratories Inc. looked at the newest crop of PCI 155-megabit/sec ATM adapters, it found several useful server cards. But no vendor has yet mastered the formula for bringing ATM to the desktop. The prices of some adapters exceed the
It is time for the government to cut bait on GILS -
The 21/2-year-old mandate for the Government Information Locator Service is being re-examined by the Office of Management and Budget, the General Services Administration and the National Archives and Records Administration. Intended to improve access to federal information sources, GILS seems to have had little success meeting that objective. This disappointing showing is in sharp contrast to the many excellent World Wide Web services from which the public can choose. Therein lies the cure for what
SBA proposes new minority preference rules for contractors -
The Small Business Administration's 8(a) program is changing again. No stranger to controversy, the 8(a) program has had a series of recent tremors. In 1995, the Supreme Court's decision in Adarand Constructors Inc. vs. Pena signaled a need to focus more narrowly on minority preferences in Government contracting. A 1995 General Accounting Office report concluded that most 8(a) companies derive little benefit from the program, but the top few dozen received 25 percent of the
Visioneer tunes up the software for its itty-bitty desktop scanner -
Visioneer Inc.'s keyboard-scanner combo has made an about-face. When the GCN Lab last reviewed the scanner [GCN, Aug. 12, 1996, Page 41], the PaperPort ix's hardware performed well, but the bundled software needed work. Now the reverse is true. The new Visioneer PaperPort Strobe scanner has several outstanding advantages over its predecessors. It can scan documents in 24-bit color at up to 300 dots per inch by 600 dpi, as well as black-and-white documents
DOD's bugs get stuck on Web -
A Defense Department group that tracks disease-bearing insects and other pests across the globe has put indexing software on its World Wide Web server so users can trap bug information more easily. The Defense Pest Management Information Analysis Center used ZyImage Web Server to trace more than 160,000 text files from 200 scientific journals going back to the early 1900s, said Lt. Cmdr. Jeffrey A. Corneil, the deputy chief.
GCCS flunks 2000 test -
During a recent test, the Defense Department's Global Command and Control System failed when the date was rolled over to the year 2000. The system failure occurred Aug. 1 during the closing hours of this year's Joint Warrior Interoperability Demonstration, an exercise conducted annually to demonstrate emerging technologies that are designed to improve command, control, communications, computers and intelligence operations. DOD held JWID '97 from July 7 to Aug. 1 at 45 sites worldwide.
Buyer, be aware -
On a recent television drama, there was a brief reference to one-time assistant attorney general Nicholas Katzenbach. Remember him? He's the guy who filed the IBM Corp. antitrust case on the last day of the Johnson administration. He later became a legal gun for Big Blue. How times change. As late as eight years ago, the pundits were wringing their hands over the unstoppability of IBM. Then came years of turmoil, shrinking market share and
NOAA system tries to outpace Mother Nature -
You can't fight Mother Nature, but officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are using PCs to speed up their ability to keep ahead of her. NOAA is building a PC network to let forecasters send instant warnings to areas in danger of violent weather. The Radio Console Replacement System (RCS) will replace 1970s consoles that don't work with new NOAA systems.
Incomplete GPRA reports irk Congress -
In a House leadership review of Government Performance and Results Act reports, no agency received more than 62 of a possible 100 points. In a letter this month to Office of Management and Budget director Franklin Raines, House Majority leader Richard Armey (R-Texas) called it inexcusable that many agencies had failed to include all the elements required by the 1993 law.
RealVideo tries its hand at videoconferencing -
If you can't afford dedicated videoconferencing, the next best thing might be Progressive Networks' RealVideo 4.0. This client-server system streams audio and video over TCP/IP networks. With 28.8-kilobit/sec modems to do the transmitting, RealVideo can display a quality, 10-frame/sec, small-screen video. It really shines on 56-kilobit/sec and faster networks.
If you do decide to buy a new 56-kilobit/sec modem, shop carefully -
If your Internet provider doesn't support 56-kilobit/sec modem downloads, you probably wonder why I'm writing about this topic again. I believe new technology is always important for power users to know about, even when it doesn't work as advertised. In this case the fast new modems actually do work, they just don't squeeze data through the pipe as fast as they claim.
Unix-like Linux OS has garnered good reputation and fed fans
The Unix-like operating system Linux, developed by Finnish programmer Linus Torvalds, has found its way into many agencies, including four NASA centers. It will run on a PC with as little as 4M of RAM. Despite a lack of commercial applications, the freeware Linux has millions of users, according to its proponents. Users can download it for free or buy a CD-ROM version with maintenance, priced as low as $50.
Use the Web for inexpensive videoconferencing
I'm tempted to call it the poor man's videoconferencing system. You just build a presentation in ActivePresenter, publish it to your LAN or Web site and invite others to come browse it. Add a telephone conference call or a RealAudio broadcast, and you essentially have videoconferencing. It's not a bad way to build an impromptu Web page, either. As long as each member of the audience has a local Internet provider, the entire presentation can
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