Digital Government
Survey Says City/County GIS Use Up, But Environmental Potential Not Realized
Survey Says City/County GIS Use Up, But Environmental Potential Not Realized
Digital Government
DOE calls for upgrade to Los Alamos super
The Energy Department has launched a $65 million upgrade of a supercomputer that is used to monitor the nation's nuclear stockpile, and the agency was expected to begin installation last week of a new machine that is capable of 3 trillion floating point operations per second at Los Alamos National
Digital Government
Federal Bytes
BIRTH OF A NATION? Leave it to Rep. Steve Horn (RCalif.) to inject a little levity into his often very serious hearings. Horn, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Government Information, Technology and Management, was overseeing a Year 2000 hearing earlier this month when the discussion turned t
Digital Government
NASA lifts off with ODIN
In what may mark a dramatic shift in the government's management of desktop PCs, NASA last week awarded contracts to seven vendors under a governmentwide program worth up to $13 billion for outsourcing computer hardware, software and management services. The Outsourcing Desktop Initiative for NASA
Digital Government
Controllers slam radar system outages
With new replacement systems still two years away, radar screens at a major air traffic control center in New England are blanking out at an increasing rate, forcing a shift to backup systems that are not always online and increasing the likelihood of midair collisions. Additionally, controllers ch
Digital Government
Starlight delivers software to improve data streaming
Starlight Networks Inc. last week introduced a new product designed to improve the performance of multimedia applications by simplifying the process of streaming over the Internet audio, video and other types of information. Streaming involves sending multiple types of data, such as audio, video, s
Digital Government
Air Force cuts quick deals for PC BPAs
In an action that caught many PC manufacturers and resellers by surprise, the Air Force Standard Systems Group (SSG) last week quickly and quietly awarded two blanket purchase agreements for desktop computers and servers to Micron Electronics Inc. and Dell Computer Corp. The awards mark the end of
Digital Government
Nortel plans to acquire Bay
Angl ing for a leading role in the Internetbased communications market, telephone equipment vendor Northern Telecom Ltd. announced plans last week to acquire data networking company Bay Networks Inc. in a deal valued at $9.1 billion. The acquisition should provide more product choices to federal a
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OMB exec says emergency funds from appropriations bills won't help Y2K fix
A top Office of Management and Budget official told a congressional subcommittee today that attempts to strip Year 2000 emergency funding from appropriations bills would not help agencies move forward in fixing the millennium bug.
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DOD's Cohen rolls out Joint Electronic Commerce Program Office
Secretary of Defense William Cohen this month officially unveiled the Joint Electronic Commerce Program Office, which will work on accelerating the development and use of electronic commerce throughout DOD.
Digital Government
Commercial chips put nukes, satellites at risk
The Defense Special Weapons Agency (DSWA) is working on a solution to protect commercial chips in nuclear missiles and communications satellites from being crippled by an increase in radiation associated with aboveground nuclear tests. Commercial multiplechip processor modules, which guide nuclea
Digital Government
Formula helps lower-paid workers
Retiring federal employees not covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) in most cases lose some Social Security benefits as a result of the pension they receive for their federal service. One method by which the government reduces these Social Security benefits is called the windfa
Digital Government
EC program presents 'single face'
An electronic commerce service provider has kicked off an effort to create a 'single face to industry' for government EC, a plan that would compete with similar government programs. Loren Data Corp., a valueadded network, announced this month in the Commerce Business Daily that it is looking for i
Digital Government
DOD expands use of Netscape products
The Defense Department has expanded its departmentwide contract with Netscape Communications Corp. to include several new offerings and to allow Netscape products to be used to secure topsecret communications. The license, which DOD inked with Netscape in October 1997, originally covered Communica
Digital Government
House moves to head off Y2K snafu in Social Security
A House subcommittee, worried that the Year 2000 problem could disrupt the delivery of about 50 million Social Security retirement and disability payments, plans to study whether to transfer the responsibility of the payments from the Treasury Department to the Social Security Administration. Rep.
Digital Government
PC makers ramp up for new processor
NEW YORK Servers and workstations are about to get a boost in processing power with the expected release this month of the Xeon, the nextgeneration Pentium II from Intel Corp., which PC makers said will unlock four and eightway processing power. Computer manufacturers, including Dell Computer
Digital Government
What is an 'exempt' employee?
An employee with a contractor raised the following topic: Some of the employees in our company are paid on an hourly basis. They receive overtime pay for working more than 40 hours per week. However, many of the employees are paid on a salary basis and do not receive overtime pay. The company says
Digital Government
When Lightning Strikes
As Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT server grows in popularity, major vendors have released a torrent of clustering solutions, which are either homegrown or based on Microsoft's own clustering technology. These new solutions provide federal users with a rich menu of choices at both the high and low en
Digital Government
New college president to lead IT charge
Vice Adm. Arthur K. Cebrowski, the incoming president of the Naval War College, said last week that he would enhance the school's role in supporting experimentation with cuttingedge information technology for the battlefield. At the TechNet '98 conference, which was sponsored by the Armed Forces C
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