Digital Government
California Hires San Diego DP Corp. for Y2K Work
Nonprofit computing center will provide state with consulting services.
Digital Government
Langston foresees an IT-dependent DOD
A top technology official for the Defense Department last week described the agency as an organization that 10 years from now will operate as a virtual department, with computer systems that are '99 percent' reliable for filling users' needs. But some information technology experts question whether
Digital Government
Feds Offer IT Security Services to State and Local Governments
New Commerce Department platter serves up PKI, encryption and other security technology.
Digital Government
Federal Bytes
RETURN OF THE GDAI. The General Services Administration's Federal Technology Service Network Services Conference '99 in Kansas City, Mo., last week took its cue from the 'Star Wars' mania sweeping the country. At the opening session, FTS chief Dennis Fischer donned Luke Skywalker garb and wielded a
Digital Government
Security must include information superiority
As the Defense Department undertakes a program to improve the security of its computer communications network, the NonClassified Internet Protocol Router Network (NIPRNET), it should keep in mind that security and communications are essentially opposites on a continuum. Few argue against the need
Digital Government
Procurement reform happens
It is becoming clearer every day that writing and passing procurement reform legislation even though it took years to accomplish may have been the easy part of changing the way government buys information technology. Making the acquisition reform legislative package known as the ClingerCohen
Digital Government
States Agree to Swap Crime Data Files
A number of state legislatures clear the way to share data in noncriminal screenings of school teachers, bus drivers and others.
Digital Government
Rep. preps IT research funding bill
The chairman of the House Science Committee this spring plans to introduce legislation proposing a program for federal information technology research. Jeff Lungren, a spokesman for Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (RWis.) , chairman of the committee, said last month he would not describe the upcom
Digital Government
Two methods to manage e-mail madness
With more offices and homes getting on the Internet, a rapidly increasing share of the country's business commercial and governmental is carried out electronically. The ensuing flood of email messages and World Wide Web forms can create a tidal wave at the receiving end. Two products steppin
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DOD-wide database pact imminent
The Defense Department plans to award the first in a series of departmentwide licensing agreements for database management systems as early as this week. Under the arrangement, Oracle Corp. will provide its software at volume discount pricing that is unavailable through existing contracts. The Pent
Digital Government
SANs rise on fed horizon
Faced with the prolific growth of data and networks, a growing number of federal users are building early versions of storagearea networks on which they can offload traffic from increasingly burdened localarea networks. An extension of a client/server architecture, SANs are used to centralize sto
Digital Government
House bill pumps extra $71.9M into Defense IT
Included in the emergency supplemental spending bill the House passed last week for military and humanitarian efforts in the Balkans is $71.9 million for military communications and command and control facilities in Europe and the Middle East. The Navy would receive $37.8 million for improvements t
Digital Government
Hackers retaliate after NATO bombing
A group of Chinese hackers defaced the home pages of the departments of Energy and Interior this past weekend, apparently in retaliation for NATO's accidental bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
Digital Government
Agenda
MAY 1999 1011 Workshop on Smart Card Technology. Chicago. This workshop is sponsored by the Usenix Association and colocated with CardTech/SecurTech. For more information, call (949) 5888649; Web, www.usenix.org/events/smartcard99. 11 Federal Outlook 2000. Fairview Park Marriott. Falls Church,
Digital Government
FTS 2001 transition takes center stage
KANSAS CITY, Mo. Not surprisingly, much of the discussion at the General Services Administration Federal Technology Service Network Services Conference '99 held here last week focused on the transition from the FTS 2000 longdistance telecommunications network to its successor, FTS 2001. Hundred
Digital Government
Unix servers: Mainframe redux
In computing, the pendulum has swung between the poles of centralized mainframe environments and distributed client/server computing. Right now, it is swinging back toward a centralized environment. Urged on by costofownership and personnel issues, some agencies, such as the Defense Information S
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Army accelerates radio deployment
The Army has speeded up delivery of hightech aircrew survival radios to units operating in the European theater, following several modifications to address mechanical and design problems. A spokeswoman for the Army CommunicationsElectronics Command (Cecom), Fort Monmouth, N.J., said the Tobyhanna
Digital Government
CIO panel preps fed 'white pages'
The CIO Council is planning to build an online government 'white pages' directory, a firstofitskind service that would make it easy for government employees and the general public to find the names, email addresses, telephone numbers and locations of all federal workers. The directory also woul
Digital Government
Intercepts
COMPOUNDING CONFUSION. The Army has selected the unbelievably userunfriendly Cecom Acquisition Center World Wide Web page as its front end to handle 'complex' bids for all Army procurements, from tanks to helicopters, according to Kevin Carroll of the Program Executive Office Standard Army Managem
Digital Government