Desktop Outsourcing
Computerworld, 8/1/03: NASA wastes money with desktop outsourcing deal, audit finds
The space agency overpaid an average of 24% for computer accessories and supplies
By Stacy Cowley
NASA has overpaid by an average of 24% for computer accessories and supplies purchased through a 5-year-old desktop IT outsourcing arrangement, according to a recent audit by the NASA inspector general's office.
The space agency in 1998 signed a nine-year, $1.3 billion deal awarding seven companies a contract to provide desktop, server and communication equipment and support services. Dubbed the Outsourcing Desktop Initiatives for NASA (ODIN), the program requires participating vendors to maintain at each NASA site they support an online catalog of supplemental computing supplies and accessories, such as keyboards, printer cartridges and PDAs.
The seven vendors include OAO Corp. (since acquired by Lockheed Martin Corp.), Affiliated Computer Services Inc. and Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC). NASA spent $13.9 million last year on products from ODIN catalogs.
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Security
The Wall street Journal, 8/3/03: Didn't Get an E-Mail? That Could Be Spam's Fault, Too
Vigilant Blockers Toss Out
The Good With the Bad
By MYLENE MANGALINDAN
This spring, Lynn Sonfield discovered she was out of the loop. Despite signing up to receive e-mail announcements from Berkeley High School in Berkeley, Calif., she never got its online newsletter. Or the e-mail to parents about school-planning meetings. She also missed the community-service notice for her 16-year-old daughter, a student there.
When Ms. Sonfield, 55 years old, found out from another parent that she wasn't getting the e-mails, she irately called the teacher in charge. He suggested the problem lay with her Internet service, AOL Time Warner Inc.'s America Online unit. AOL had probably labeled the school's mailings as "spam," or unsolicited bulk mail, he said.
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Computerworld, 8/1/03: CERT warns of attacks, new holes in Windows
Unlike past exploits, hackers are keeping a low profile with the latest vulnerability
By Paul Roberts
The CERT Coordination Center has received reports of widespread attacks using a recently disclosed security vulnerability and a previously unknown security hole in Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system, the center said yesterday in an advisory.
The known vulnerability is in a Windows interface that handles communications using the remote procedure call (RPC) protocol and could enable remote attackers to gain total control over vulnerable systems.
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Computerword, 8/1/03: Update: Microsoft.com hit by DOS attack
The site was unavailable for about an hour this afternoon
By SHARON MACHLIS
A denial-of-service attack caused Microsoft.com to be largely unavailable to users for more than an hour, but a company spokesman says the attack is now under control.
The problem was a "classic denial-of-service" issue and is not related to recently reported security holes in Microsoft software (see story), said Microsoft spokesman Sean Sundwall. MSN sites and service were unaffected, Sundwall added. The company has contacted law enforcement authorities about the attack.
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Collaborative Technologies
The New York Times, 8/3/03: What: Mob Scene. Who: Strangers. Point: None.
By OTTO POHL
BERLIN, Aug. 3 — All at once at 6:01 on Friday evening, about 40 people in the middle of a crowded street pulled out their cellphones and started shouting "yes, yes!" Then they began clapping.
Margarethe Müller, emerging from a nearby department store, sensed that something was happening. She just wasn't sure what.
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Microsoft
C|net, 8/3/03: Microsoft's plans cloudy for server OS
By Ina Fried
Microsoft has laid plans for a server version of Longhorn, the next release of Windows. But it remains unclear what the software will include and when it will debut.
The software giant has said relatively little about Longhorn--the next desktop version of the Windows operating system--and even less about the server version. All Microsoft will confirm is that a server version is indeed back in the software maker's product plans.
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Optimism
AMR Research, 7/30/03: Optimism Is on the Return for IT
Colleen Niven, Fenella Scott
AMR Research’s most recent IT spending survey identifies three key areas that IT organizations are targeting for the next year:
Taking back control of hidden technology spending that still continues at the business unit level--There’s a real need to set better IT governance and standards to eliminate nonstrategic purchases of technology.
A shift away from the current trend of spending more on maintaining existing technology versus investing in new--This complements the ability to change the ratio of fixed costs to variable costs.
Reviewing options that take advantage of lower cost alternatives, such as offshore outsourcing and additional managed services--Here the focus is on performing tasks within an organization’s core competency while using alternative service providers where best suited.
The Bottom Line: Optimism is on the return for IT--not necessarily in terms of its ability to significantly increase IT budgets, but rather because of the increased ability to improve IT efficiencies while managing IT spend.
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