DataStream You Scratch My Back ... UUcom Inc., a small Internet engineering operation in Alexandria, Va., has come to the rescue of online money firm, CyberCash Inc. But Reston, Va.-based CyberCash is coming to UUcom's aid as well. UUcom, known for its highly sensitive international government work, will expand and upgrade CyberCash's Internet architecture and operational facilities. In return, CyberCash announced July 6 it will make an undisclosed equity investment in privately held UUcom. CyberCash wants to use UUcom's connections with Internet service providers to speed up its slow sales. PSINet Gobbles Internet Firms PSINet Inc., one of the largest independent Internet service providers in the United States, bought four more companies July 7, bringing the company's acquisitions to eight since January. The latest purchases, which cost PSINet $46 million in cash, include LinkAge of Hong Kong, INX of Germany, SCII-
CalvaPro of France and ioNET of Oklahoma. Edward Postal, chief financial officer of Herndon, Va.-based PSINet, said the company wants to double last year's revenue of $122 million. The eight purchases so far this year should provide $50 million in sales toward that goal. IRS Moves on CIO Front Paul Cosgrave is the apparent front-runner to become chief information officer for the Internal Revenue Service. He would replace Arthur Gross, who left the job April 1. Cosgrave, who was hired July 7 as a consultant to the IRS on technology modernization, likely will become CIO after President Clinton signs the IRS modernization bill sometime this week, sources said. Cosgrave most recently was the president and chief executive of Claremont Technology Group, a provider of information technology services in Beaverton, Ore. Pulsar Is Daring You Feeling quite proud of its new product, Pulsar Data Systems Inc. of Lanham, Md., issued a challenge to computer hackers everywhere: Break into its new computer security product, and Pulsar will give you a computer. No word yet from the company on how many takers they have had or if any of them have been successful. EMC Puts DoD in Its Sights EMC Corp., Hopkinton, Mass., is mounting an offensive to increase federal sales by targeting opportunities at the Department of Defense.The company, which makes storage equipment for computer systems, does 70 percent of its government business with civilian agencies and 30 percent with the Defense Department. Company officials want to see the mix closer to 50-50 and have promoted Carolyn Hyde, formerly in charge of EMC's civilian business, to the top position at EMC federal to oversee the sales initiative. EMC's federal unit has 54 employees. EMC, which won't disclose federal revenues, reported sales of $2.9 billion in 1997 and expects 30 percent growth this year. Encryption Plan Well-Received The "private doorbell" proposal unveiled last week by a coalition of high-tech companies led by Cisco Systems Inc. was greeted by White House officials as a possible break in the debate over encryption. A white paper released this week by the coalition, which includes Network Associates, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Microsoft, specifies only encryption technology that follows the "operator action model" should be exported. The coalition hopes this model will appease law enforcement officials concerned about criminal activities being masked by encryption technology. The IT industry and law enforcement officials have been at loggerheads over the issue for several years. Consolidation Cools Consolidation in the defense industry has slowed, with most of the major mergers and acquisitions having already taken place. Ferris, Baker Watts recently evaluated the acquisition potential for several third-tier information technology contractors. Most were deemed to have low takeover potential during the next two years. | Company | Acquisition Potential | Advanced Communication Systems | Low | |