LETTERS

Congratulations WT

I wanted to congratulate you on naming such qualified and talented individuals to fill the positions of editor and news editor. Also, congratulations on your 10th anniversary last month. May you have many more to come.

Dr. Lyle A. Cox

Arlington, Va.

Netplex or What?

Just saw your Who Are We Again? piece in Beltway Biz (WT, July 25). I had been wondering where the Netplex moniker came from. The reason for my interest: I was one of several co-winners of a Washington Technology--sponsored contest in 1988 to name the high-tech region centered around Washington. This winning name was Mid-AtlanTech. I never saw it used much afterward, but I still like it better than Netplex.

Garrett R. Moore

GRMoore@smtpgate.read.tasc.com

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I think Netplex is a terrible name. Whenever I come across "Netplex" in an article, I come to a complete stop and wonder what the heck it is. Maybe eventually I'll remember, but it's not very evocative. "Net" sounds like network or Internet and "Plex" sounds like a bunch of cables or something. I always think its a computer store or some fancy type of WAN.

Netplex gives no clue to regional identity. You cannot draw a mental picture of a "netplex" since there is no such thing. In contrast, "Silicon Valley" is based on a real thing (silicon chips) and a geographic area (valley). I don't know what the Washington equivalent is, but please keep trying. Netplex just doesn't cut it.

Renata Parrino

rparrino@bdm.com

Not so smart highways

Some thoughts on your article on Smart Highways (WT, July 11).

The New Jersey program calls for in-lane systems to be provided for only the Turnpike and Garden State. The Atlantic City Expressway already has MFS installing its in-lane systems.

The program calls for a single customer service center for the three agencies mentioned, as well as the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey. The projects in New Jersey and Florida are probably valued in the hundreds of millions, not thousands. Lockheed is not installing the New York Thruway system, they only supply the customer service centers. The Thruway itself is installing the in-lane systems. Amtech is installing the MTA system.

MFS was not a subcontractor to Lockheed on the Orange County TCA project, they were simply equipment suppliers of the tags and readers.

Mike Kolb

The ETC Home Page

http://village.ios.com/~mkolb/etc.html