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GCN Home > October 11, 1999 issue

Briefing Book

Mac defense. The Army’s main portal Web site, at www.army.mil, has been moved from Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 to Apple Computer Inc. Mac OS Server for security reasons, but Army officials say they are not standardizing on any product.

Chris Unger, the Army webmaster who made the switch, “had some unresolved problems with Windows NT, and we had just been hacked,” said Lt. Col. Bill Wheelehan, an Army spokesman. “This is not an indictment of Windows NT or a total, permanent switch to the Mac OS. We are evaluating how this works out for this one webmaster.”

Dave Borland, the Army deputy chief information officer, said the service sets architectural standards but avoids product specifications.

Keith Hodson, a spokesman from Microsoft Federal, said Unger reported that the glitches were caused by a problem with Cold Fusion software from Allaire Corp. of Cambridge, Mass.



DFAS PC purchase. In late August, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service bought more than 10,000 PCs through two blanket purchasing agreements as part of its effort to consolidate buying all standard-configuration PCs and monitors, and use Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 on all desktop PCs.

Inacom Government Systems of Fairfax, Va., is supplying 1,086 Micron Electronics Inc. desktop PCs with 17-inch monitors and 3,940 Micron desktop PCs with 21-inch monitors through a $6.6 million delivery order. Intelligent Decisions Inc. of Chantilly, Va., is selling 4,230 of its own desktop PCs with 17-inch monitors and 1,066 desktop PCs with 21-inch monitors, meanwhile, for $5.4 million, said DFAS spokesman Ed Braese.



Cisco BPA. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in San Diego recently awarded a BPA to FDC Technologies Inc. of Bethesda, Md., to supply networking products, training and services from Cisco Systems Inc. of San Jose, Calif., at a significant discount off the company’s General Services Administration Information Technology Schedule contract, according to an announcement on the Navy Information Technology Umbrella Program Website, at www.it-umbrella.navy.mil. The networking BPA is open to the entire Navy.



Risk assessment. A $10 million software development contract to make risk assessments based on the effects of command and control on missions and weapons systems is going well. It also could be used to develop a government database for such classified information within four years through the Defense Department’s Secret IP Router Network, the program manager said.



—Bill Murray
Internet: bmurray@gcn.com

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