Digital Government
Telecom next wave in outsourcing
Network management, which most federal agencies have handled with inhouse resources, may be the next candidate for largescale outsourcing as a number of agencies have confirmed they are considering turning the job over to telecommunications carriers. Departments with huge telecommunications infra
Digital Government
EPA beefs up supercomputing power for weather research
A new supercomputer purchased by the Environmental Protection Agency will be dedicated to research on air quality, helping the agency to carry out the Clean Air Act. The $6.8 million Cray T3E supercomputer from Silicon Graphics Inc. is a workhorse system for environmental applications, said David B
Digital Government
Some Good News, Some Bad for States in OMB Y2K Report
A new White House report blesses states' progress on the Year 2000 problem, but the report is based on data gathered three to six months ag
Digital Government
OMB stresses Y2K contingencies
Acknowledging that most of the federal government's missioncritical computer systems will be ready for the Year 2000, the Office of Management and Budget has shifted its Year 2000 oversight focus to just a few systems and to agencies' contingency plans, according to the latest quarterly report on
Digital Government
Nets aid Kosovo force
The Defense Information Systems Agency plans to insert rapid, highpower, commercial communications links in Kosovo and Macedonia to extend the Defense Department's longhaul communications network to support the peacekeeping effort in the Balkans. The U.S. European Command (Eucom) also has started
Digital Government
Navy faces IT training, support woes
(This is the fourth in a series of articles looking at DOD efforts to bring new technology into the battlefield.) The Navy has hit a few bumps in translating the grand vision of networkcentric warfare embodied in its Information Technology for the 21st Century project into gritty operational reali
Digital Government
Fedwire Briefs
Hamre, McGuirk win Eagle Awards John Hamre, deputy secretary of the Defense Department, and James McGuirk, president of Unisys Federal Systems, last week won Federal Computer Week's Eagle Awards for outstanding accomplishments in the world of federal information technology. Hamre won the top govern
Digital Government
IRS modernization plan garners GAO praise
The General Accounting Office in about two weeks is expected to release a rare positive report about a federal information technology plan in this case cautiously complimenting the Internal Revenue Service on its initial funding plan to manage its highprofile modernization effort. In the report
Digital Government
Flat-panel displays: Sleek CRT alternatives
Flatpanel displays. The words conjure up images of those futuristic EtchASketchlooking slates you see on portable computers and hospital TV shows. Actually, the term flat panel rarely refers to notebook displays, which are necessarily flat. Rather, it designates the PC displays that have emerge
Digital Government
Report berates DOE lab security
A report issued last week by a special panel of senior intelligence and security officials on what some experts are calling the worst case of espionage in U.S. history has increased the scrutiny of government computer security programs and policies and has caused many to question the government's c
Digital Government
Cyberattacks spur talk of 3rd DOD network
As part of a strategy to defend its unclassified networks against relentless cyberattacks, the Pentagon may establish a new network to handle electronic commerce and other interactions with the public while cutting off all other existing connections to the Internet. The proposal follows an increase
Digital Government
Letters to the Editor
NARA is coping Thank you for publishing the recent article 'NARA must learn to cope electronically' [FCW, May 31]. We agree with concerns raised by the author, Timothy Sprehe, which is why we are undertaking initiatives he described and others. Most FCW readers know that we have produced new guidan
Digital Government
ODS Networks applies statistical analysis to security
Using technology originally developed for ultrasecurityconscious federal customers, ODS Networks Inc. last month introduced an offtheshelf software package that enables agencies to collect and analyze data on network intrusions and related security problems. The product, called CMDS Enterprise,
Digital Government
Java perks up federal applications
Like the real world in general, the computer world suffers a TowerofBabel proliferation of incompatible languages that make cooperation and communication difficult. In the real world, idealists concocted the idea of Esperanto, a single, global language to replace the many languages used worldwide
Digital Government
GSA: Agencies will pay for late telecom switch
General Services Administration officials warned that agencies that are late in transitioning to the new FTS 2001 longdistance network will have to pay the government's excess costs of providing duplicative telecommunications services to FTS 2001 users and to those who have not completed the transition.
Digital Government
Integrated Criminal Justice Workshop This Week
The Center for Technology in Government and the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Justice Programs will hold a workshop June 2324 in Minneapolis to discuss integrating criminal justice systems at all three levels of government.
Digital Government
An ideal seal for privacy in the federal government?
Privacy is a major concern of Internet users visiting commercial and government World Wide Web sites. In the private sector, one response has been the development of 'seal' programs, such as the Good Housekeeping Seal, certifying that a site meets the minimum privacy standards. Is this an approach
Digital Government
Symantec upgrades remote-access tool
Symantec Corp. last week released a new version of its dialup remoteconnectivity software, adding centralized management, security and other features. Many federal employees already use pcAnywhere software to dial in to their localarea networks and gain access to Microsoft Corp. Windowsbased de
Digital Government
Benefits fraud backfires
If you are looking for a shortcut to riches, don't try to swindle the workers' compensation system, or you'll wind up in rags. A number of postal workers have learned to their chagrin that stiff fines and financial penalties await those who try to defraud the U.S. Postal Service by filing false
Digital Government