Tech Success: Siemens dials up unique VoIP solution

Siemens Enterprise Networks found a winning strategy when it blended voice-over-Internet telephone service with standard circuit-switched equipment to provide the town of Burlington, Mass., with an 800-phone network.

On the Edge: News briefs

Datum Inc. is marketing its cesium atomic clock as an alternative to global positioning system-based solutions that telecommunications companies now rely on to synchronize time across voice and data networks.

Watching the gatekeepers

In 2001, the Federal Computer Incident Response Center was notified of 6,683 attacks, ranging from defacing Web sites to break-ins of an agency's central "root" servers. In 2000, the agency that monitors malicious attacks on federal systems was notified of only 586; in 1999, that number was 580.

Wireless roundup

FCC forms spectrum task force ... National Academy of Sciences calls for new weather radar system ... Wharton calls 3G wireless dead.

HP outlines public-sector strategy

Combining Hewlett-Packard Co. and Compaq Computer Corp. product lines is allowing the new HP to offer more complete IT solutions, according to company officials.

Nader needles OMB over widespread Microsoft use

The Consumer Project on Technology, led by Ralph Nader, wants OMB to consider purchasing an office productivity suite outright to replace its Microsoft products.

Information assurance: Integrators gear up for the next big thing

Although the term "information assurance" doesn't appear to drive many contracts coming from the federal government, it is on the minds of agency heads, who often request information assurance-related work in different pieces, such as contracts for security, disaster recovery or public key infrastructure. But what agencies need most, said industry officials, are integrators that can help them see the big picture, to see how the multitudinous aspects of protecting data fit together to create enterprisewide information assurance.

Information assurance: Integrators gear up for the next big thing

When information assurance experts at SRA International Inc., Fairfax, Va., want to show their government clients the full range of possible security risks they face, they sometimes dispatch someone to an agency office to sneak in the front door and try to steal a computer.

Tech Success: Avexus tightens Air Force maintenance

As the world's largest facility for overhauling airplane landing gear, the Air Force's Ogden Air Logistics Center in Utah works on the wheels, brakes and assemblies of some of the world's most complex aircraft.

On the Edge: News briefs

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Oracle, Symantec validated under security standard

Oracle Corp. and Symantec Corp. have both had products receive Common Criteria certification through an evaluation program run by the National Security Agency and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Boeing tests unmanned combat aircraft

The Boeing Co. successfully flew its unmanned combat aircraft as the company demonstrated the command and control link between the craft and a ground station.

AT&T Scores State Department telecom extension

AT&T Corp., New York, won a modification of a telecommunications contract for the State Department, worth up to $49.9 million.

DynCorp, ArrayComm team to pursue government work

DynCorp and ArrayComm Inc. will explore how to use ArrayComm's smart antenna technology for government voice and data applications.

Jacobs wins $565 million Army support contract

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Tullahoma, Tenn., won a $565 million U.S. Army contract to provide support services for automation, data and voice communications, visual information, and records management to the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala.

Navy chooses portal to assist modernization

When the Navy was trying to select a portal for its servicewide Web initiative, the chief concern was finding a product that wouldn't be difficult to upgrade, modify or replace.

.Net or J2EE? It's a personal thing

As Ventera Corp. undertakes new software development projects for government and commercial clients, its lead architects increasingly find themselves choosing one of two platforms to develop their solutions: .Net or J2EE, according to Brian Stygar, chief technology officer for the McLean, Va.,-based IT consulting company.

On the Edge

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

WebMethods hires PRC alumnus Don Upson

WebMethods Inc. has hired former Virginia Secretary of Technology Don Upson as senior vice president of business operations for its public-sector unit.

Government e-form wins to PureEdge, Cardiff

PureEdge Solutions Inc. won winning a potential four year contract with the U.S. Air Force, and Cardiff Software Inc. scored a sale to Boston.