Digital Government
DOD PKI plan raises liability, relevance issues
The Defense Department is building a system for communicating with its contractors using dualkey encryption. This initiative will make it possible for DOD and its contractors to conduct paperless contracting in nearly complete security. But DOD and the private sector should recognize that DOD's pl
Digital Government
Microsoft, Compaq team on NT/Unix link
Microsoft Corp. and Compaq Computer Corp. last month formed a joint initiative to create greater interoperability between Windows NT and Compaq's Digital and Tandem operating systems for highend systems users. The partnership comes as Compaq moves to take advantage of technologies acquired when th
Digital Government
Panel backs GILS for data sharing
A study produced for an intergovernmental group last month backed a controversial online indexing system as the best available solution for coordinating government information and federal, state and local services. The study suggested that the Government Information Locator Service (GILS) could pro
Digital Government
FAA plans $1B comm upgrade
The Federal Aviation Administration last month detailed its plans to alleviate the growing congestion of the airwaves that link pilots and air traffic controllers by undertaking a $1 billion upgrade of the agency's air and ground communications systems. The Next Generation Air/Ground Communications
Digital Government
Software tool ports Unix apps to NT
Testing by Paul Ferrill and Mark Fuller As Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT makes inroads into the highend workstation market, government users may need to port software written for Unix platforms to Windows NT. Softway Systems Inc.'s Interix attempts to make the process of porting Unixbased code as
Digital Government
New strategy for financial software takes shape
A government group last week outlined changes being considered as part of the longawaited overhaul of the government program for buying commercial financial management system (FMS) software. The Joint Financial Management Improvement Program proposed changes to the list of core financial systems r
Digital Government
Roster Change
President Clinton has nominated Army Maj. Gen. James King to be director of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency. The president also nominated King for a promotion to lieutenant general. King now serves as acting director of NIMA. Thomas McSweeny has been named associate administrator for regula
Digital Government
Online window shopping
Reacting to widespread use of the Internet and government credit cards, an increasing number of agencies are building electronic catalogs and electronic malls that allow users to browse merchandise offered by federal contractors and place orders online. Agencies such as the Defense Logistics Agency
Digital Government
FAA catches up on Y2K fixes
The head of the Federal Aviation Administration last week told Congress that the agency has fixed nearly all of its missioncritical computer systems for the Year 2000 bug and now must begin testing.
Digital Government
Wireless net proves field ready
Testing By Chip Pettirossi Just as cellular telephones introduced a new kind of personal mobility, wireless networks make yet another aspect of modern life portable. No longer must computer users be tied to stationary machines to access a network networking is now possible even without hard wirin
Digital Government
Fedwire
GSA spearheads security effort The Clinton administration last month tapped the General Services Administration to lead the federalsector effort to protect critical infrastructures. At the request of the National Security Council and the Office of Management and Budget, GSA is working to identify
Digital Government
Letters to the Editor
iMac supports printers Although I found it to be generally balanced and well reported, I find one statement in the article 'Apple responds to iMac demand' [FCW, Sept. 21] to be unnecessarily inflammatory and offensive. Roger Kay, an analyst at International Data Corp., said the iMac doesn't 'have a
Digital Government
DOD vs. GSA: The two faces of EC emerge
The Defense Department this month plans to test a World Wide Webbased search engine that will provide a single point of entry for vendors searching for business opportunities across the entire department, even though a group of civilian and military agencies also is working to take a similar syste
Digital Government
DOD's Hamre spells out Web rules
Just one week after senior Defense Department officials expressed concern over the posting of sensitive information on DOD World Wide Web sites, Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre last week issued a departmentwide action plan to boost DOD's Web security policy. The move was a response to concer
Digital Government
Future shock: Air Force conducts battle experiment
LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. The Air Force last week launched the first in a series of experiments designed to test cuttingedge information technologies that will help the Air Force completely reinvent the way it wages war in the 21st century. Known as the Expeditionary Force Experiment (EFX) 98,
Digital Government
Navy tech aids Swissair search
To help locate debris from Swissair Flight 111, which crashed off Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, earlier this month, the Navy has dispatched an experimental underwater minedetection system far more capable than the Navy system used for searchandrecovery operations following the crash of TWA Flight 8
Digital Government
Aldmyr aims to intercept DOD travel biz
With the Defense Travel System still several years from full deployment, software vendor Aldmyr Systems Inc. has been steadily developing Defense Department clientele for its own travel management system, which company officials are positioning as a DTS alternative, at least for the short term. DTS
Digital Government
Lockheed wins $3.4B NASA prize
In one of the largest information technologyrelated procurements in civilian agency history, NASA last week awarded Lockheed Martin Space Operations Co. a $3.4 billion contract to manage the space agency's entire space operation infrastructure. The Consolidated Space Operations Contract (CSOC) cal
Digital Government
Piloting FAA's modernization
When the Federal Aviation Administration tapped Steven Zaidman as the agency's associate administrator for research and acquisitions in July, he said people did not know whether to congratulate him or send condolences. 'I said neither,' said Zaidman, a 21year veteran of the FAA. 'It's a challengin
Digital Government