CHANNEL NEWS

PeopleSoft Inc., Pleasanton, Calif., has licensed its PeopleSoft 8 human resources management system to the Defense Department to serve about 3.1 million military personnel worldwide.

With this software, the department will consolidate its legacy human resource applications and information systems into a single system, to be called the Defense Integrated Military Human Resource System. The Defense Department will employ PeopleSoft's commercial software for payroll, benefits, time and labor, pension and recruitment duties.

This system is to be implemented in 2002.
A new report by Booz-Allen & Hamilton Inc., McLean, Va., analyzes how equipment outsourcing contracts made by companies such as Cisco Systems Inc., Compaq Computer Corp. and others may have contributed to their recent financial difficulties.

The report, "Why Cisco Fell: Outsourcing and Its Perils," places blame on inadequate outsourcing implementation. Original equipment manufacturers such as Compaq needed flexibility to quickly ramp up supply as new products became hits.

However, the contractual equipment manufacturers to which the OEMs outsourced needed predictability, not flexibility, for their production schedules as they operated on razor-thin profit margins. That OEMs did not build sufficient flexibility into their contracts left many with first, a shortage and after the economic downturn, a glut of supply.

The report can be obtained by calling (212) 551-6516 or via e-mail from guterl_karen@bah.com.Information technology distributor Tech Data Corp., Clearwater, Fla., has introduced a dedicated business unit to tailor a line of government network services for its primary market of small-to-medium-size solution resellers and retailers.

Tech Data's government services unit offers a range of services that can be incorporated into bids and proposals as product line items, including warranty upgrades, leasing options, credit services, configuration and assembly, technical support and training. The University of South Florida has purchased a multipoint control unit from broadband solutions provider Polycom Inc., Milpitas, Calif., to enhance its distance learning program while smoothly migrating from its existing integrated services digital network-based infrastructure.

The unit, an Accord MGC-100, enables the school to support both ISDN and Internet protocol within the same video call, allowing for IP migration and expansion of its interactive video communications capabilities. The unit also allows management of the university's video network from a central location.
Electronic commerce service provider Beyond.com Corp., Santa Clara, Calif., and network integrator Network Management Corp., Sacramento, Calif., won a three-year contract to supply Microsoft enterprise software products to the Energy Department.

Under this agreement, which the agency values at more than $20 million, all the agency's offices will purchase Microsoft software at a discount.

Network Management, the prime contractor, is providing program management. Purchases will go through Beyond.com's government systems group, a software reseller. Beyond.com's license tracking technology, called Atlas, will be used to distribute, manage and track the products across the Internet.

In addition, Beyond.com will build a Web site for purchases of other software, allowing the agency to control the choices available to individual departments, said Don Beery, vice president and general manager of Beyond.com's government group.

Beyond.com's government group also provides software distribution services to agencies such as the Defense Logistics Agency, the Defense Department, the Internal Revenue Service, the Office of Thrift Supervision, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency and the Patent and Trademark Office.

Also, Beyond.com's General Service Administration online store allows government employees to purchase software online through its GSA schedule.