By the numbers

WLAN? Bluetooth? 802.11a or 802.11g? These terms will likely become part of the lexicon of even novice IT users within a handful of years.

Communications: It's all wireless

Predictions about the future of communications conjure up different technologies that all have one thing in common: They're wireless.

Afterwards, cooperation breaks down comm barriers

Sept. 11 and its aftermath offer opportunities for people in government IT to take advantage of a collaborative spirit and a technological retrenchment, federal and private-sector IT professionals say.

Special 9/11 Anniversary Issue: Looking back, moving forward

<p><a href="http://www.gcn.com/21_27a/community/19921-1.html"><b>HOW WE'VE CHANGED/PEOPLE</b>: Workers throughout capital cope with changes wrought by 9-11</a><br>Last month, in the middle of an August heat wave in Washington, like a pebble in a pool, dropped a cool clear morning. Defense Department budget and finance director <b>Joseph Friedl</b> was taking his usual commute to work at the Pentagon that day, enjoying the jewellike morning, the bright sun, the blue sky.

Feds confront their legacy applications

Congress and the public are calling on federal agencies to fling open their back-office doors and let electronic data and services flow onto the Web. No one knows better how difficult that challenge is than CIO Audrey Y. Davis, who has helped cut DFAS' 324 legacy systems down to size.

Group works to build a presence in tech fields

Math is for girls. So are science and computers. And information technology offers women a great choice of careers. That's the message of the nonprofit professional association, Women in Technology. Women who work in IT need such a group "to provide a voice and a forum," WIT president Belkis Leong-Hong told the House Committee on Science last year.

This data warehouse creates a virtual Noah's Ark

TUCSON, Ariz.&#151;Under the banner of the National Gap Analysis Project, the Geological Survey has for the last 12 years began mobilizing an army of biological detectives to discover plant and animal species that are endangered or are about to be, that should be thriving but aren't. Their detection tool is a data warehouse.

Network managers stick to the basics on security

You can protect your network; the technology exists. Sophisticated tools will let you set up firewalls to screen every e-mail message for potentially dangerous protocols, encrypt application files and run checksums to ensure no files have been changed. Tools can install antivirus software on networks and desktop PCs and keep users off suspect Web sites. Others can scan a user's retina, iris, fingerprint or face before granting access, closely circumscribe user privileges, track use and review audit

No shock; sysadmins do better in industry

As an information systems professional working for the government, you're making, on average, about $7,000 more than your systems colleagues in education. On the other hand, your counterparts at a systems integrator are making an extra $10,000 each year. These are some of the findings from last month's Sans Institute annual survey of system administrators and security professionals. The Bethesda, Md., research and educational organization based its figures on 1,600 survey responses, 153 of which

Justice creates video game that's ethical to play on job

Debuting this week, the Justice Department's ethics training game lets players act a part in scenarios and gives them hundreds of opportunities to make the right-or wrong-decision: Is it OK to accept that free membership? How about just a discount? (See the answers at end of the story.) The game is triple its projected size and nearly three and a half years late, although on budget to the penny. Under a $248,000 contract, Legend Entertainment Co.

Groups clash over mapping agency's role

When users and producers of federal mapping data met recently, sharp disagreements arose over how information technology can best meet national policy demands. It was with some trepidation that Defense and civilian agencies viewed the creation last October of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, which combined Defense Department and intelligence mapping organizations into a single group. Though NIMA's outreach efforts have somewhat alleviated anxiety, tough talk on Capitol Hill about NIMA budgets is generating new

DOD builds Web weather station

At the outset of the Bosnian mission in late 1995, Air Force commanders wanted to send cargo planes from Germany into Bosnia. They went to their computers and checked the latest weather forecasts, which covered a 40-kilometer zone. Though the data was up to 12 hours old and based on scanty local observation, they decided to send the planes in. But the forecasts were insufficient, and an unexpected fog forced their return.

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