Digital Government

Getting the message

Unified messaging systems are rapidly evolving from curiosity to necessity as more users recognize the benefits of a centralized system for retrieving and managing all types of messages. Although federal customers who have dabbled with the technology report substantial bumps in the road to unified

Digital Government

Congress tying up loose ends of tech bills

When Congress returned from its summer break last week, in addition to incomplete appropriations business, lawmakers faced a stack of unfinished technologyrelated bills. Information technology bills on lawmakers' agendas include proposals to bolster federal information security and a plan for elim

Digital Government

Roster

Ed McManus, project director of the Thrift Savings Plan system conversion at the Agriculture Department's National Finance Center, recently was promoted to Senior Executive Service. McManus also is the Year 2000 project manager at the NFC. Ginny Caldwell, previously the financial manager for the Of

Digital Government

AF lab taps two under Answer

The Air Force Research Laboratory at WrightPatterson Air Force Base, Ohio, last month tapped two vendors for a broad range of information technology support services, replacing older contract vehicles with services available under a General Services Administration contract. With the signing of the

Digital Government

Kocher, Ballmer chart IT's future

The combination of the Internet and other technological innovations, such as advanced speech recognition, electronic paper and software that enables computers to see and learn, will fuel a dramatic shift in the next five years in the way the government and the commercial sector do business, accordi

Digital Government

Linux grabbing more federal biz

Linux, the opensource operating system that for the past few years has been quietly gaining ground throughout the commercial world, has established a beachhead in the federal market and is poised to take over responsibility for some government missioncritical applications, according to industry a

Digital Government

FGIPC looks for change

James Buckner, president of the Federation of Government Information Processing Councils, said a FGIPC task force this month began work on a project to determine how the organization can change to improve the way it achieves its goals, particularly in the area of IT education. 'I don't see any broa

Digital Government

Performing a critical duty

Two weeks into his new job, John Tritak faced something that most government employees spend a lifetime avoiding: a congressional committee demanding answers. Tritak became the new director of the Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office in July, just as a national newspaper reported that the CIAO'

Digital Government

GSA awards first PKI pact

The General Services Administration last week awarded the first in a series of contracts for publickey infrastructure services and products that will provide a way for all federal agencies to conduct business securely via the Internet. GSA awarded Digital Signature Trust Co. a contract under the A

Digital Government

Delano e-business tool makes e-mail a solid development platform

When you think of building a World Wide Web application, chances are you don't think about building it around email. Nevertheless, Delano Technology Corp.'s eBusiness Interaction Suite takes the reliable infrastructure of email and turns it into a fullfledged applicationdevelopment platform. A

Digital Government

Administration gets B-minus for Y2K

Despite the progress the Clinton administration has made in fixing computers for the Year 2000 date change problem, the federal government is critically behind in ensuring that federal services administered on the state level will continue uninterrupted next year, Rep. Stephen Horn (RCalif.) said

Digital Government

Texas names new chief for TIERS

Donna Geller has been named the new director of the Lone Star state's Texas Integrated Eligibility Redesign System, effective today.

Digital Government

Wireless system targeted at 'last mile'

Rep. Rick Boucher (DVa.) helped unveil a wireless communications system in Blacksburg, Va., on Wednesday that reduces the costs involved in bringing broadband service the last mile into rural homes and businesses.

Digital Government

Denver schools overhauling tech infrastructure

Denver's public school system is overhauling its maintenance and work management processes, as well as reengineering its existing technology infrastructure to ensure Year 2000compliance, through a contract that is scheduled for completion in December.

Digital Government

Horn: Fed Y2K efforts lagging in key service programs

Despite the progress the Clinton administration has made with its Year 2000 efforts, the federal government remains critically behind in ensuring that federal services administered on the statelevel will go uninterrupted next year.

Digital Government

Y2K bug still poses risk to air travel

Although the Federal Aviation Administration has made progress in making its systems Year 2000compliant, the millennium bug still threatens other computers in the U.S. and international air traffic systems.

Digital Government

Okla. libraries getting $2.5 million in Gates grants

Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating announced Tuesday that the state's public libraries are receiving $2.5 million in grants and services through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Library Initiative.

Digital Government

Senator says Y2K compliance is not risk free

me=abstract content=In his second appearance last week at the National Press Club, Sen. Robert Bennett (RUtah) said yesterday that American businesses and the federal government, even if they believe their computer systems are Year 2000compliant, should still cross their fingers.

Digital Government

Pa. plates bear Web address

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge launched the state's first license plate recall since 1976 on Tuesday, as plates bearing the state's World Wide Web address across the bottom went into the mail.

Digital Government

N.J. governor a high-tech hall-of-famer

New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman will be the first government official inducted into the state's HighTech Hall of Fame on Oct. 6, when she and two of the state's hightech business leaders accept honors from the Biotechnology Council of New Jersey Inc. (BCNJ) and the American Electronics Association (AEA).