Revisited

nisys Wins Coast Guard Workstation Contract

Unisys Corp. recently won a five-year, $188 million contract to supply workstations to more than 40,000 Coast Guard personnel. The hardware will replace the guard's existing mainframe systems to support command and control operations, office automation, finance, logistics, inventory, engineering and training.

Designed for use on ships and ashore, the workstations will use Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT, one of the first implementations of the software giant's operating system on various hardware platforms ranging from notebook computers to servers.

Unisys became the Coast Guard's standard workstation provider in 1988. Unisys' team partners for the Coast Guard bid include Intel Corp., Informix Software Inc., Learning Systems International and DataFocus Inc.

Eosat Gets Landsat Extension

The Commerce Department has extended Lanham, Md.-based Eosat's contract to operate the Landsat system of satellites until the demise of the Landsats 4 and 5 (WT, Jan. 12).

Other space companies had wanted a chance to bid on the deal, but a federal judge and Congress have given the Lanham, Md.-based Eosat its blessings to continue its role as the sole operator of the system and exclusive marketer of Landsat remote sensing data.

A June 26 decision by U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan gives Eosat, a joint venture of Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin Corp. and Hughes Electronics of Los Angeles, exclusive rights to sell imagery from the satellites until 10 years after the satellites stop operating.

Japan's Software Trade Barriers

U.S. information technology industry associations have appealed to the White House for help in fending off a Japanese proposal that could hinder sales of U.S. software in Japan (WT, June 8).

The appeal to Mickey Kantor, the U.S. trade representative, was made by several industry associations, including the Washington-based American Electronics Association. The Japanese proposal would require U.S. companies to submit their software for detailed review by auditors approved by a Japanese panel.

Battling Cyberspace Porn

To defeat congressional and state proposals that try to outlaw cyberspace porn, the infotech industry is relying on a combination of technical solutions and constitutional arguments. (WT, April 13)

The Information Technology Association of America has created an industry task force that is promoting software capable of filtering out noxious data, a rating system for cyberspace data, public education and an industrywide code of standards. These efforts back up an amendment in the House telecommunications bill that is sponsored by Reps. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

To buttress constitutional arguments against cyberporn bans, industry is citing Rep. Newt Gingrich, the controversial leader of the House Republicans, who told a TV audience that Nebraska Democrat Sen. James Exon's anti-smut measure "is clearly a violation of free speech."

Pentagon Outlines Plans for New Network

The Defense Information Systems Agency will release four solicitations this fall related to the Pentagon's planned meganetwork that will handle all defense traffic and replace numerous existing networks (WT, Feb. 9). The major acquisition among the four is the one for support services, which will be awarded next summer.

The remaining three contracts will address specific services, such as switch and bandwidth management, transmission and videoconferencing. Awards are scheduled for the fall of 1996.

The agency explicitly prohibits any vendor on the winning team for the support services contract to compete at any level for the three other acquisitions.