|
|
 |
      |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
 |
People inside and outside the Pentagon unanimously agree that the military can teach private enterprises a lot about the best approach to implementing information technology. For example, because the military is reluctant to make abrupt changes, every decision is carefully researched and discussed along the way so that when the Pentagon announces it is going to launch an initiative, that's not just the beginning of something. It's really the culmination of a long process of weighing alternatives and considering various scenarios. No step is taken without the next one already planned out. In sharp contrast, the dot-com boom saw many private companies chasing the latest technology, often without a clear idea of why they needed or wanted it with, at times, a result of rooms of underused or misused equipment. Because of its sheer size, the military cannot turn on a dime, so even the smallest mission must be carefully planned in advance, be it a battlefield mission or an IT project. As in the case of the so-called smart card initiative to evaluate whether biometrics could be used to create a standard access system for all Department of Defense buildings. The DoD spent months screening potential vendors and evaluating options, then decided to award a contract for a proof-of-concept test run. If the vendor's solutions meet an extensive list of criteria for moving forward, that test will be followed by another, larger test run of the system. Or, consider the effort to create a joint intranet for the Marine Corps and Navy. Whereas many private companies might try to wrap such a project in a matter of months, the Senate recently approved a move to extend the contract for developing the intranet to seven years. The government is not skimping: The project, which eventually will integrate voice, data and video, has a price tag of nearly $7 billion. Like the military in preparing for one instance or event, information security system administrators also spend months -- and in some cases millions of dollars -- to prepare for a worst-case scenario. The outbreak of a deadly disease in Asia (SARS) prompted Hewlett-Packard to close a 300-person office in Hong Kong. The possibility that an HP employee working out of a Hong Kong office contracted Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome led the company to send home all workers at that facility. HP is cleaning all five floors of their office and has distributed information about the illness to its staff throughout Asia. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control have recommended that people planning nonessential travel to Hong Kong, parts of China and Hanoi consider postponing their trips. The disease raises questions about tech companies' operations, similar to the issues raised by an earthquake that shook Taiwan in 1999, because so many of them have extensive manufacturing facilities in the Asia-Pacific region and often depend on components made there. For example, Cisco Systems uses components made in Asia and also has a sales office in Hong Kong and other offices in China. Intel has a regional sales office in Hong Kong, research and development facilities in Beijing and Shanghai and an assembly test facility outside of Shanghai. The World Health Organization said the disease seems to be spread by close contact with an infected person and the majority of cases have occurred in hospital workers who have cared for SARS patients and the close family members of these patients. Motorola has seen operations at a Singapore plant affected by the disease, with the quarantining of 305 night workers. The plant is running at partial capacity at night, but workers have been added to the day production line to make up the shortfall. The incubation period is estimated to range from 2 to 7 days, with 3 to 5 days being more common, according to the WHO. What server should an organization purchase? Technology buyers have no shortage of options and often analysts cannot agree on which machines are best for enterprises that want to rev up the pace at which they conduct business through e-commerce. Because of intense competition in the e-business server marketplace, the best server technologies -- and what is best for a particular enterprise -- may change rapidly as innovations are introduced at a steady pace. So will that result in lowering the prices for yesterday's top technologies and provide the e-business server marketplace with high-performance choices at reasonable costs? Analysts still point to star products in certain categories -- servers that might give their purchaser a slight competitive edge, like Dell's PowerEdge server gets high marks as an e-business tool because it can accommodate up to four Intel Xeon processors and is among the easiest servers to introduce into an existing network. Also, the PowerEdge can be expanded with ease, rather than replaced, if additional capabilities are needed in the future. Overall, Dell has made gains in the enterprise space in recent years -- and the company clearly has designs on winning more market share. Meanwhile, market gains by HP indicate that its line of servers are also gaining ground. At the top of the e-business server pyramid, IBM sold more servers than any other company in 2002, according to research firm IDC. But analysts say e-businesses that want to remain nimble may find that IBM's best value lies in the middleware or application server arena. Perhaps because of its stable pricing, the market for IBM WebSphere servers saw double-digit sales growth during much of 2002 while many competitors saw their sales shrink or grow more slowly. What is the next best thing in the e-business server market? The answer may be unclear, but whatever it is, it is likely to foster a continued environment of reasonable prices and abundant choice -- and that can only be good for business. Businesses need to participate in working groups developing web standards if they want to ensure vendors’ interests do not hijack progress. Recently, Microsoft confirmed that it would not "formally participate" in the W3C web services choreography working group. This withdrawal has sparked fears that Microsoft may be considering charging royalty fees for its works. Microsoft has denied "cherry picking" which standards it cooperates on. The W3C choreography group is examining ways of describing the usage and linkage relationships between web services and includes representatives from 27 companies, including Oracle , SAP and EDS. Technology companies are of mixed opinions about the effects of the Iraq war. Some believe the conflict is a factor behind lower revenues but others say it has had no negative affect on operations. Technology is also playing a part in providing so-called remedies for SARS, like the chain e-mail being circulated throughout countries like Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan detailing a recipe for a soup that is touted to clear toxins from the body and build up resistance to SARS. Medical experts have said there is no conclusive evidence to prove the benefits of the broth, which involves boiling green beans and potatoes with brown sugar.
Basically these statistics show that no one is safe. Especially in the cases of companies that do e-commerce on their web sites. They are the highest targeted companies and they account for 50% of all businesses that are attacked. Also think of the money that you could potentially lose. Over $450,000,000.00 was reported lost last year alone and as stated before only 44% of the businesses reported their loses to the survey. So that number could be much much higher and do you want to contribute to that? With the availability of attacks and methods dropping at an alarming rate it no longer takes much skill to successfully attack an under-protected system.
PROCUREMENT AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES The following is a listing of recently published technology procurement or Federally funded opportunities with various governmental entities. We hope our readers take the opportunity to investigate these postings and increase their business: DON - Naval Air Systems Command DON - Naval Supply Systems Command DLA - Logistics Operations DLA - Logistics Operations Procurement Technical Assistance Program - GMU U -- Responding to RFPs Synopsis http://www.eps.gov/spg/DLA/J3/PTAC%2DGMU/04222003/listing.html DLA - Logistics Operations DOE - Duke Cogema Stone & Webster (DOE Contractor) GSA - Federal Technology Service (FTS) DHS-DR - United States Coast Guard (USCG) NEWS & NOTES is a service of the PA e-Commerce Association. Please forward this e-mail to anyone else who might be interested in the content or in learning more about the Association. Remember to visit our website @ www.paecomm.org. or give us a call at 800-497-0809. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Privacy
Policy |
Contact
Us
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
