Digital Government
DeSeve official now
Edward DeSeve has been appointed deputy director for management in the Office of Management and Budget after serving for months in an acting capacity. President Clinton, who first nominated DeSeve in March, announced the appointment this month. He acted under a provision that allows the president t
Digital Government
Fedwire
USIA unveils data network The U.S. Information Agency last week unveiled a satellitebased data network that officials said will give diplomats and embassy personnel improved access to email, the Internet, videoconferencing and other communications tools. The network uses very smallaperture termi
Digital Government
Benefits tangled up in divorce court drama
A recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals makes it clear that getting divorced raises sticky questions about retirement benefits. The case involved Warren Snyder, a retired air commander with the Air Force Reserves at March Air Force Base, Calif. In 1989, he married Susan Rice in Florida and, ac
Digital Government
Feds go on sked services buying spree
Agencies swarmed to the Federal Supply Service schedules to buy their information technology services in the first two months of fiscal 1999, purchasing almost half as much as they did during fiscal 1998. Agencies bought $519 million worth of IT services in October and November. In fiscal 1998, the
Digital Government
Sprint wins FTS 2001, Part 1
The General Services Administration on Friday awarded Sprint the first of two contracts under the $5 billion FTS 2001 program, a move likely to reduce prices and shift many agencies to new providers. Dennis Fischer, commissioner of GSA's Federal Technology Service (FTS), said he expects the new Spr
Digital Government
Impeachment e-mail clogs Congress
A surge in email to Congress last week brought about by the impeachment debate forced some mail servers to be taken offline as lawmakers' systems struggled to handle the load. 'There have been some severe problems around here,' said Matt Raymond, press secretary for Sen. Conrad Burns (RMont.). 'U
Digital Government
Keeping time at INS
You may find many innovators among federal information technology executives, but you probably won't find many graduates of The Juilliard School, the Mecca of musical training in the United States. David Goldberg, the deputy associate commissioner for information resources management at the Immigra
Digital Government
Post offices connect with satellite links
The U.S. Postal Service recently kicked off a project to connect remote and small post offices to the agency's telecommunications backbone using a satellite network rather than traditional landbased networks as originally planned. The effort falls under a larger $3 billion program called the Manag
Digital Government
Meridian's Snap! Server makes network-attached storage simple
Testing by Chip Pettirossi Network storage is a hot commodity these days. With more data circulating on networks, servers are often overloaded and simply run out of space. In some cases, agencies just need a storage boost and don't want to fork over the money or take the time to install new ser
Digital Government
Office 2000: For heavy Web users only
The latest version of Microsoft Corp.'s Office, the most popular office suite in the federal market, is all about the World Wide Web. In fact, it is tough to tell where Office 2000's Windows applications end and the Web begins. The beta version of Office 2000, which shipped this month, is a necessa
Digital Government
Thin-client/server solution eases administration
With the advent of thin clients, the world of computing has come full circle. In the beginning, there were big mainframe computers and dumb terminals. Then there was the personal computer revolution, and the power was pushed to the desktop. Now we have gone back to the future with thin clients conn
Digital Government
HP beefs up its high-end Unix server line
HewlettPackard Co. this month announced its latest highend, Unixbased server, reaffirming the company's commitment to the Unix operating system and its own reduced instructionset computing (RISC) processor architecture. The new HP 9000 V2500 combines HP's 64bit HPUX 11 Unix operating system w
Digital Government
Hill shifts leave IT fate unclear
Several members of Congress who have had a hand in how the government buys and uses information technology will depart key committee posts next year, leaving the fate of IT in the 106th Congress unclear, according to industry sources and congressional staff members. One of the most significant chan
Digital Government
IRS taps CSC for system overhaul
The Internal Revenue Service earlier this month awarded a multibilliondollar contract to Computer Sciences Corp. to lead a 15year effort to replace the IRS' archaic computer systems. Under the Prime Systems Integration Services Contract, the CSC team will provide the program management and system
Digital Government
Industry Watch
NAI Labs to research nextgen network security Network Associates Inc. last week announced that its advanced security research division, NAI Labs, has received three contracts from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to help build security for the next generation of computer networks. Du
Digital Government
HCFA: We're ready for Year 2000
Responding to claims by Congress and the General Accounting Office, a top technology official at the Health Care Financing Administration said last week that HCFA and the contractors that process Medicare claims will have computer systems Year 2000compliant by the end of March. 'Despite what you
Digital Government
Vendors bid brand names for Army PC-3
In a battle of brand names that echoes consumer PC advertising, at least five and possibly up to nine industry teams have submitted bids for the Army's Personal Computer3 contract, valued in the $200 million to $300 million range and due for award early next year. The Army CommunicationsElectroni
Digital Government
Fed 100 showcases IT success stories
As 1998 draws swiftly to a close, we not only look ahead to the challenges the new year will bring, but we also look back and marvel at the accomplishments of the federal information technology community in the year just past. The Federal 100 awards program is Federal Computer Week's way of acknowl
Digital Government
Better management key to making fusion technology work
The federal government has developed a number of intelligence programs and initiatives, called fusion algorithms, systems and processes, that rely on systems to produce coherent intelligence products. The systems use complex methods of sifting through enormous amounts of data to find and assimilate
Digital Government