Digital Government
TSM on the ropes
Ten years into its development, Tax Systems Modernization is "in serious jeopardy" and could fail unless the Internal Revenue Service substantially improves its network security design and systems architecture, develops performance metrics and upgrades the technical skills of its information mana
Digital Government
SGI revs processors, system software
Silicon Graphics Inc. has revamped its workstation line with faster processors and a new version of its 64bit system software, leading the way among Unix vendors battling to offer better price/performance with faster chips. In other workstation moves, Digital Equipment Corp. last week announced a
Digital Government
Johnson plans to step down March 1
General Services Administrator Roger Johnson late last month announced his resignation, marking the end of a tenure that saw the agency's information technology oversight dwindle and its ranks diminish. The resignation will be effective March 1. Reaction at GSA was mixed as Johnson, who presided ov
Digital Government
Presidential Technology Team sets sights on problem programs
The Office of Management and Budget wants the government's "best and brightest" information technology experts to become part of a roving consulting team that will help agencies rescue troubled projects and prevent the most difficult IT programs from developing problems in the first place. The id
Digital Government
Apple/Sun dealings continue
Talks between Apple Computer Inc. and Sun Microsystems Inc. continued last week regarding a possible sale of Apple to the workstation vendor. The negotiations, which came to light two weeks ago, follow Apple's announcement last month of losses and layoffs. Apple has been struggling to maintain mark
Digital Government
Hire Your Own Internet Coach
Feeling out of it because you don't know how to navigate the Net? Don't have time to read an Internet manual even one for dummies? Then try this new online user guide. Internet Coach from Apte Software, Evanston, Ill., is an interactive guide to the Netscape browser and the World Wide Web. It i
Digital Government
Corel buys WordPerfect; new release due in April
Federal WordPerfect users have to ride out another sale of their beloved word processing package. However, the new owner said an upgraded version of the package and its companion office suite will be issued on time in April. Novell Inc., which bought WordPerfect in June 1994, last week sold it, al
Digital Government
Council seeks software strategy
A Defense Department council this month will begin shaping a strategy to improve DOD's management of software programs in command and control, information management and weapons programs. The Software Management Initiative, more than a year old, has already had an impact in a number of areas, inclu
Digital Government
SCO unveils Internet products
The Santa Cruz Operation Inc., the leading provider of Unix operating systems in the federal government, today unveiled a new strategy to deliver a family of Unixbased Internet products. "We're bringing out a family of Internet products that will provide government users [with] a solution that is
Digital Government
Vendors form policy group
IBM Corp. and Microsoft Corp. are among the 14 companies that are pooling their public policy efforts within the Business Software Alliance, a Washington, D.C., software industry organization. The companies last week formed BSA's Policy Council. In addition to IBM and Microsoft, the council consist
Digital Government
U.S. know-how brings telecom to peacekeeping in Bosnia
U.S. peacekeepers in Bosnia have constructed one of the most extensive and complex field communications networks ever put together by the military, a voice/video/data infrastructure that stretches all the way from Bosnia to the Pentagon. Some 600plus soldiers of the U.S. Army 5th Signal Command
Digital Government
Cohen, Clinger departures create leadership vacuum
The top two GOP advocates for procurement reform and information technology programs are retiring from Congress at the end of the year. Sen. William Cohen (RMaine) and Rep. William Clinger (RPa.) will leave behind no obvious successors to champion the use of IT in the federal government. Cohen wa
Digital Government
Armchair quarterbacks: How would you spend the budget?
How hard could it be to balance the budget? Judge for yourself by connecting to "How Would You Spend the National Budget" at "http://ux1.cso.uiuc.edu/ kundert/taxes/taxdollar.html" and "Federal Budget Simulator" at "http://garnet.berkeley.edu:3333/budget/budget.html." Neither of these budge
Digital Government
Lockheed Martin grabs $100M fingerprint pact
Lockheed Martin Corp. last week captured a sixyear, $109 million contract to develop the core fingerprintmatching software for the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS). The AFIS component the last big contract to be awarded under the IAFIS program will allow
Digital Government
Desktop V delayed
The Air Force postponed the award of its $1 billionplus Desktop V PC contract until April, after winnowing down the list of bidders to offerors who made the "competitive range" cut. Despite the delay, the Air Force Standard Systems Center (SSC) wants to keep the program on a fast track, telling
Digital Government
ROSTER
Maj. Gen. (select) Michael V. Hayden assumed command of the Air Intelligence Agency, Kelly Air Force Base, Texas, earlier this month. Hayden previously served as director of intelligence for the U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany. He succeeds Maj. Gen. John Casciano, who moved to the Penta
Digital Government
Lockheed/Loral combination would be tops in integration
Lockheed Martin Corp.'s plan to acquire the bulk of Loral Corp.'s defense business will catapult the combined company to the top of the federal integration market. The companies earlier this month announced their "strategic combination," in which Lockheed Martin will buy Loral's defense electroni
Digital Government
DOD tries on wearable computers
Not content with handheld computers, military computer users moving through confined spaces such as tank turrets and ship scuttles are demanding something different: wearable processors. A small number of vendors have developed wearable computers that combine headset video and voice activation soft
Digital Government
Auditing system guards DMS
As part of a groundbreaking computer security plan, the Defense Information Systems Agency plans to build a $200 million global auditing system to protect the Defense Message System from skyrocketing numbers of network attacks. DISA now depends on network and security administrators in the field t
Digital Government