On the Edge

The Defense Department's Joint Interoperability Test Center has certified a number of telecommunications products for use in military networks:

? Enterprise communications servers from Avaya Inc., Basking Ridge, N.J., for the Defense Switched Network;

? Voice-over-IP call management software from Cisco Systems Inc., San Jose Calif., for networks apart from the Unclassified but Sensitive Internet Protocol Router Network;

? A switch from Nortel Networks Ltd., Brampton, Ontario, for gateways to the U.S. Special Operations Command's SCAMPI leased-line;

? A private branch exchange switch from Seimens AG, Munich, Germany, for the Army's Southern European Task Force.

Operated by the Defense Information Systems Agency, the test center provides independent interoperability compliance certification for military command, control and communications systems.The Data Storage Systems Center of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, along with storage vendor Seagate Technology Inc., Scotts Valley, Calif., won a $21.6 million award from the Commerce Department's Advanced Technology Program to advance a technique to pack more data on hard disks. Heat-assisted magnetic recording uses a laser to warm the area of a platter where the data is being written, allowing smaller magnetic charges to be placed on the disk, charges that stabilize once cooled. This technique promises a potential of up to a 100 times more capacity per disk, according to Robert White, director of Carnegie's Data Storage Systems Center.The new version of Groove collaboration software, offered by Groove Networks Inc., Beverly, Mass., features tools aimed at facilitating enterprisewide deployment. Groove 2.0 comes with an integration server for developers to customize so it can share information among customized applications and commercial software not already covered by Groove.