800 IT staffers still face RIFs under IRS plan
Although IRS avoided the large overall systems budget cut first sought by Congress for this fiscal year, it has informed a federal union that it still must reduce its systems work force by 800 starting in June. IRS also notified the National Treasury Employees Union that it will begin a reduction in force of 800 headquarters employees and an unknown number of field personnel on March 2, NTEU officials said. That's just one day after
SEC will keep control of its filing system
In its rush to adjourn this month, Congress decided that the Securities and Exchange Commission should retain authority over who operates the commission's on-line filing system and to what degree. SEC reform legislation, one of the final items pushed through the House and Senate before lawmakers left Washington, calls for a commission review of privatizing the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval (EDGAR) system.
Sources gossip and spin futile dreams of bashing Microsoft
After publicly panning the Olympic games in this space, and especially after revealing his ties to the late Gen. Sherman, the Rat became rodentia non grata in the city of Atlanta. So he was forced to send operatives to the recent Networld+Interop show there while he carried on with ratly duties at home.
Anti-virus tools vie for position in gov't market
No single vendor dominates the federal anti-virus software market, according to agency security officers. Defense Department sites have a choice of anti-virus protection from IBM Corp. and Norman Data Defense Systems Inc. of Fairfax, Va., through site licensing agreements with the Defense Information Systems Agency. McAfee Associates Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., and Symantec Corp. of Cupertino, Calif., also have sizable DOD installations.
Congress postpones mass layoffs at IRS
Though the omnibus spending package Congress approved last week gives IRS systems employees a temporary reprieve from layoffs, it forces the agency to step up plans for outsourcing Tax Systems Modernization. In the appropriations bill, lawmakers ordered IRS to re-examine its staff reduction plans before proceeding with any reductions in force. President Clinton signed the bill into law last week.
AMD's K-5 Pro90 rivals Pentium for compatability, price
When people ask me which computer to buy for home use, I generally suggest the same hardware I'd recommend on the job. But in upgrading an old 66-MHz 486 at home, I surprised myself. After much searching, and with no limited General Services Administration schedules to battle, I settled on the perfect machine, from CyberMax Computer Inc. of Allentown, Pa. It came with Advanced Micro Devices' 90-MHz K-5 PR90 processor, a roomy minitower case, 1.5G
Navy upgrades its Internet Kit with Explorer
The Navy is releasing a new, beefier version of its Navy Internet Kit (NIK) just as it abandons a faltering program to provide low-cost dial-up Internet access to service personnel. NIK Version 2.0, which the Navy will begin distributing electronically late this month, replaces an old version of the National Center for Supercomputing Application's Mosaic browser for the World Wide Web with Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer. It includes several other enhancements, as well.
Word to the wise before going to the private sector
When senior federal employees consider leaving the government for the private sector, they must do their best to distinguish the companies whose growth can be expected to continue from those that may implode. Similarly, companies need to identify those government employees who will help them sustain rapid growth. Finding a match that works is itself hard work and depends on luck and friendship. After seeing lots of successful courting and good matches, as well as
In just weeks, Census awards big notebook leasing contract
The Census Bureau last month awarded to Comark Inc. a $50 million lease-purchase contract for up to 21,500 notebook computers. The buy is one of several pilot procurements under a Commerce Department streamlining program. At least one unsuccessful bidder said his company plans to protest the award. Even so, one goal of the streamlining program--cutting the time needed to award a contract--appears to have been met, Census officials said.
Dell's new Latitude has CD, lacks staying power
When the GCN Lab awarded Dell's Latitude XPi notebook a Reviewer's Choice [GCN, July 29, Page 37], the only thing lacking was a CD-ROM drive. Now it has one. In July, the Latitude XPi weighed just over 6 pounds with a 133-MHz Pentium chip and an 11.3-inch display. By September, my test unit, a preproduction Latitude XPi CD P150ST, had the new 150-MHz Pentium, 16M of RAM, a 12.1-inch active SuperVGA display and a weight
Multicasting and cache systems ease bandwidth pressures
The government's busiest World Wide Web servers, like other hot spots on the Internet, constantly struggle to add fatter hardware and pipes for better response and more connections. But supply never quite meets demand. It may be time to concede that the bigger-hammer approach isn't always the answer. Could you rethink the way you move your data and strip out some of the redundancy instead?
FAR rewrite teams develop the near beer of competing
That's what seems to have happened on the way to creating what the Federal Acquisition Regulation rewrite teams calls ""an efficient competitive ranges. The Federal Acquisition Reform Act included language suggesting the vendors in the ""zone of active consideration''--an archaic but useful description--could be further narrowed to an efficient competitive range.
Will New Year's Day 2000 come as a welcome relief?
Much has been written about the problems systems professionals will confront at the end of 1999. Some experts call for crash programs to patch existing systems. Others argue it would be easier to replace the old systems. I expect that the federal government will see massive defections among systems professionals in anticipation of the millennium.
Not a great leap, but V.34 is what we've been looking for
About 18 months ago, modem vendors were pushing the new V.34 standard as the last, best analog data funnel to connect your computer to the info highway over regular telephone lines. These modems have made a big difference to users, doubling the 14.4-kilobit/sec rate of the V.32bis standard to 28.8 kilobits/sec, and easily justifying the cost of upgrades because they cut on-line time almost in half.
A fact of life
Whether you order direct from the manufacturer or through a reseller, PC delivery snafus have become a regular, if unwelcome, part of life. As one of two suppliers on the Desktop V contract, Zenith Data Systems Corp. recently got a publicity black eye for a problem that, in truth, plagues the entire PC industry. Air Force brass held up Zenith orders for five business days when a small percentage of the company's deliveries were outside
DOD Briefing Book
The development team for the Defense Information Systems Agency's Global Command and Control System, having survived a chilly initial reception by service users, last month won vice president Al Gore's coveted Hammer Award. The award, given to federal organizations that help build a government that "works better and costs less," coincided with the official plug-pulling of GCCS's creaking predecessor, the World Wide Military Command and Control System.
NIST draws fire to plans to halt testing
The government's new emphasis on devising technology tests has left some vendors wondering who will ensure compliance with standards such as the Structured Query Language for database management systems. Officials at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have announced plans to turn their SQL conformance testing program over to industry and standards groups by early next year.
Few surprises are in store as IT budgets win Hill approval
After last year's federal budget storms, the fiscal 1997 budget season seems only partly cloudy, and the outlook is bright for information technology spending between $26 billion and $27 billion next year, according to industry analysts. With lawmakers back briefly after the August recess and hoping to return to their districts by Oct. 1 for re-election campaigns, one of the few must-do items is the appropriations for the fiscal year that begins next week.
Zenith back in Desktop V game
Zenith Data Systems Corp. will offer free upgrades to Desktop V buyers who do not receive their new PCs within contractual time limits. Under an agreement with the Air Force Standard Systems Group, ZDS customers will get either bigger hard drives and more RAM or better monitors if their Desktop V orders are not filled on time.
Similarities seen on zine scene among Slate, Salon and sires
The Rat's network mail server RAID controller just up and died the other day. While the service engineers cursed and moaned and tried to resurrect it, the Rat caught up on some on-line reading. Bouncing back and forth between Salon, the World Wide Web magazine sponsored by Apple Computer Inc. and Adobe Systems Inc., and Slate, the counterpart published by Microsoft Corp., the Ratster couldn't help but notice how each reflected its origins.
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