Satellite kit lets you create fly-over simulations in 3-D
Satellite Tool Kit/Visualization Option 3.1 software can perform fly-over 3-D simulations, create real-time video and observe detailed renderings of terrain data. The add-on from Analytical Graphics Inc. of Malvern, Pa., works with the 2-D Satellite Tool Kit 4.0, which is downloadable free from the Web at http://www.stk.com. With STK/VO 3.1, users can view scenarios from several perspectives simultaneously by opening different windows. The interface lets them select map backgrounds without editing separate files.
ZDS may be gone, but its PCs live on at several AF sites
Thousands of Z-248 systems are still running at DOD agencies. In the heyday of the Air Force's massive desktop indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity procurements, Zenith Data Systems sold more than 1 million PCs to the government. Thousands of the old Z-248 systems are still running at Defense Department agencies, and a dwindling number of ZDS notebook PCs also are still in service, primarily in the Air Force.
Postal worker tries on IT hat
For three weeks in 1994, Christopher J. Malone left his place in a Postal Service assembly line to become a spreadsheet developer. Malone, a data conversion operator at the Postal Service's Remote Encoding Center in Lumberton, N.C., keys in street addresses for mail that's unreadable by machine and is headed out of state from USPS' General Mail Facility in New York City.
AF unit gets long-awaited mobile access to manuals
After 13 years of trying, the Air Mobility Command finally has a system that lets flight-line technicians read manuals on their mobile terminals. "This is the first time we've been able to field it across AMC," said Capt. Stan Griffis, chief of logistics integration initiatives for the Air Mobility Command at Scott Air Force Base, Ill. Previous systems provided data or voice access at only one point, Griffis said.
Will ODIN give the Macs at NASA another nudge?
As NASA officials gear up for the first orders under the Outsourcing Desktop Initiative for NASA program, they acknowledge they are sending a somewhat mixed message about the future of Apple Macintoshes at the space agency. "We ultimately don't know the outcome" regarding long-term support for Mac users, said Don Andreotta, NASA's deputy chief information officer for operations. Business decisions by ODIN contractors will determine the outcome, he said.
NOAA site holds natural data
A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Web site supplies sophisticated coastal data to local, state and regional agencies that protect natural resources and develop economic growth. NOAA's Coastal Services Center's information directory, at http://www.csc.noaa.gov, electronically links databases about sea surface temperatures, tides and weather. The searchable databases conform to the Z39.50 Library of Congress standard, and searchers can view text descriptions of pertinent documents.
Diskeeper cuts backup time for network at Sandia labs
When Bob Foster wanted to cut his backup time for a 30G RAID data set, he used Diskeeper for Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0. The disk defragmenter package from Executive Software Inc. of Glendale, Calif., shortened backup time for a Digital Equipment Corp. 2100 server with a 190-MHz Alpha processor and 128M of RAM. It condensed the stored files that had become scattered across disks.
Workers at GSA come one step closer to new, agencywide e-mail
Lotus Domino Mail Server should be running by the end of December, Herdt said. General Services Administration officials last month expanded their Lotus cc:Mail migration pilot from 20 employees of the chief information officer at headquarters to an additional 30 workers in Arlington, Va., and Boston.
Site licenses change way agencies buy, use software
Grady Tucker remembers the old days when agencies would order one shrink-wrapped copy of each software application for each PC. "Resellers would ship the pallets of thousands of software boxes, and the government would store all the manuals and diskettes in warehouses,'' said Tucker, a manufacturer's representative in Gaithersburg, Md. Times have changed. Site licensing, CD-ROM and remote distribution, combined with online manuals, have streamlined software buys and earned agencies big discounts.
Justice seeks review of Microsoft source code
The Justice Department and state attorneys general have demanded a close look at Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows 98 source code. Justice and state lawyers filed the motion this month following a July 30 ruling by the U.S. District Court for Utah that ordered Microsoft Corp. to turn over the source code to antitrust plaintiff Caldera Inc. of Orem, Utah.
NEC Technologies' Multi CD-R combo gives users recording options beginning at$349
In the Multi CD-R unit, NEC Technologies Inc. has combined a CD-recorder for file distribution and archiving, a 20X CD-ROM reader and a rewritable 650M phase-change dual (PD) drive. Users can record a track at once, a disk at once or a 2X-speed copy of a file onto CD-recordable media. For backup, the product uses removable and rewritable PD cartridges. The PD drive verifies and error-checks files after each write.
Fliers scout with GIS package
The Navy is installing a geographic information system on notebook PCs in E-2C Hawkeye early warning aircraft to overlay map data on targets in real time. Co-pilots in two Navy squadrons started using the Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS) Moving Map Tactical Information Display System (JMMTIDS) in late March, said Cmdr. Kevin T. McCarthy of Airborne Early Warning Squadron 113.
Walter Reed prescribes ATM
The Walter Reed Army Medical Center is replacing its tired and sickly information systems network with a new architecture. At the Washington medical center—the Army's largest—an asynchronous transfer mode network project will give the hospital better speed and fluidity in its information systems, hospital officials said. It will also put more flat-panel displays in patient wards and support as many as 470 X Window terminals, said Capt. Richard J. Gordon, the center's chief information officer.
Dolch Computer sells a 400-MHz rugged notebook
Dolch Computer Systems Inc. has released one of the first ruggedized 400-MHz Pentium II notebook PCs. The MegaPAC-P2 has Intel Corp.'s new 440BX chip set and 100-MHz motherboard bus. It can hold as many as nine full-size ISA/PCI expansion boards. The notebook runs on 120- or 220-volt alternating current or on 160-watt Power Anywhere power supplies or uninterruptible power systems. The 25-pound, shock-mounted unit has an alloy chassis and composite case.
To find time to fix date code, HHS delays other work
The Health Care Financing Administration is 70 percent through rewriting 49 million lines of code, an agency spokeswoman said. HCFA hired retired federal employees to work on the code under a $128 million budget that runs through September, HCFA administrator Nancy-Ann DeParle told the Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem last month.
FEMA opts to make Windows 98 standard
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has become one of the first agencies to standardize on Microsoft Windows 98 as the operating system for any new PCs it buys. Concern about year 2000 readiness prompted FEMA's Information Technology Policy Branch to approve a plan to buy new PCs with Win98, said Paul L. Alberti, a computer specialist in FEMA's IT Services Unit. The agency's installed PC base, however, will "bite the bullet" and stay with Windows 95,
Not every agency considers UPS protection a priority
The gospel of uninterruptible power systems has yet to win converts at all agencies. Early on, data centers installed proprietary UPSes for their mainframes and minicomputers. But most agencies do not routinely connect UPSes to client PCs or servers, although data loss from power problems is 15 times more common than from virus attacks, according to a survey by Contingency Planning Research Inc. of White Plains, N.Y.
Software helps create an inventory of network assets
The NetworkCharter Pro diagramming tool draws all the products on an IP or IPX network and supplies their corresponding addresses. The information lets administrators keep an inventory of PCs, peripherals and servers for year 2000 readiness and other tasks. The package from Micrografx Inc. of Richardson, Texas, gives precise names and other data for Simple Network Management Protocol devices. When the administrator indicates a device on the network, NetworkCharter can link it to specifications in its
Bureau of Prisons, NOAA ink equipment, services BPAs
Bracing for a rush of fiscal-year-end orders, the Bureau of Prisons and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently negotiated blanket purchasing agreements. The Justice Department's BOP signed BOPNet 2000 BPAs with IntelliSys Technology Corp. and Vanstar Government Systems Inc., both of Fairfax, Va. Under the BPAs, the companies will supply PCs, printers, servers, software and related peripherals, said Ron Williams Sr., BOP's director of ADP contracting.
Corps prepares to field wearable data systems
The Marine Corps is mulling a commercial security standard that would extend command and control applications over wireless LANs to handheld computers for Marines in the field. "It's not the guy with the biggest biceps who wins the battle but the one who can push the information around," said Maj. James Cummiskey, technical adviser to the commanding officer at the Tactical Systems Support Activity at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.
Manage Consent Preferences
Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies
Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link
If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.
Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.
If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.
Cookie List
A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:
Strictly Necessary Cookies
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Functional Cookies
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Performance Cookies
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Sale of Personal Data
We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.
Social Media Cookies
We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.
Targeting Cookies
We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.
Help us tailor content specifically for you: