ACM TechNews - Wednesday, November 14, 2001

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ACM TechNews
Volume 3, Number 576
Date: November 14, 2001
Site Sponsored by Gateway (http://www.gateway.com)

Top Stories for Wednesday, November 14, 2001:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html

"Gates, Chambers Say Productivity Gains Will Be Adding Up"
"Security Clearance Requirements Spark IT Talent War"
"Region Is Well Represented in the Technology Fast 500"
"Government Continues to Fund High Risk, High Payoff Projects"
"Security Firms Emerge As Bright Spot In Tech, New Spending Poll Says"
"European Union Set to Vote on Data Law"
"ICANN: To Serve and Protect"
"Sound Alternative to Telephone Networks"
"Security Concerns Top Comdex Agenda"
"Nokia Will Open Up Parts of Its Software"
"Feds Get 'F' in Computer Security"
"Austin, Texas, Firm Looks for Commercial Success in
 Artificial Intelligence"
"Tech Companies Find Few Buyers Even at Discount"
"Techies vs. Telcos"
"Storage Gets Caught in the Net"
"The Writing's On the Screen"
"Computer Consciousness"
"Stopping the Next One"

******************* News Stories ***********************

"Gates, Chambers Say Productivity Gains Will Be Adding Up"
At the Comdex trade show in Las Vegas, Microsoft Chairman Bill
Gates and Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers both predicted
productivity growth in the technology sector for the coming year.
ates expects innovative, XML-based Web services and new products ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1114w.html#item1

"Security Clearance Requirements Spark IT Talent War"
Government IT contractors are seeing more job applicants
recently, as people are more eager to help the country by using
their technology expertise.  But the number of applicants that
have crucial security clearances are still few.  One insider said ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1114w.html#item2

"Region Is Well Represented in the Technology Fast 500"
The Washington, D.C., metropolitan region holds the
second-largest number of fast-growing technology companies after
Northern California, where Silicon Valley is located.  The
Technology Fast 500 study by Deloitte & Touche found three of the ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1114w.html#item3

"Government Continues to Fund High Risk, High Payoff Projects"
The government is continuing to pour money into risky small
technology projects under the auspices of the National Institute
of Standards and Technology's Advanced Technology Program (ATP).
"Our role is to help companies that want to be viable and ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1114w.html#item4

"Security Firms Emerge As Bright Spot In Tech, New Spending Poll Says"
Overall tech spending is expected to rise slightly this year,
according to a survey from Gartner and the SoundView Technology
Group investment bank, while 48 percent of respondents said that
security will receive a greater portion of IT budgets next year. ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1114w.html#item5

"European Union Set to Vote on Data Law"
The European Union is unlikely to adopt the requests of President
Bush when drafting its data-protection law.  Bush sent a letter
to the European Union asking that ISPs and telecommunications
firms retain customer records and data for longer than what is ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1114w.html#item6

"ICANN: To Serve and Protect"
ICANN is attempting to raise awareness about Internet security
matters in the wake of Sept. 11, but because it does not have the
legal power to force VeriSign and other registrars to follow its
security advice, it is playing little more than an advisory role. ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1114w.html#item7

"Sound Alternative to Telephone Networks"
Telecommunications equipment makers are marketing voice over
Internet protocol (VoIP) technology as a way to make
corporations' voice communications resilient to infrastructure
attacks, save on maintenance costs, and add flexibility.  ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1114w.html#item8

"Security Concerns Top Comdex Agenda"
Technology vendors at the Comdex Fall 2001 show are highlighting
new security products and services.  EDS, the computer services
company, unveiled its new range of security services, including
cybersecurity, business continuity, and emergency management ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1114w.html#item9

"Nokia Will Open Up Parts of Its Software"
As part of an industry initiative to develop a unified platform
for 3G (third-generation) Internet-enabled mobile-phone services,
Nokia has agreed to grant rival handset manufacturers access to
certain parts of its software.  "This initiative is to ensure ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1114w.html#item10

"Feds Get 'F' in Computer Security"
The House Government Reform Subcommittee on Government
Efficiency, Financial Management and Intergovernmental Relations
has rated overall agency efforts to secure computer systems a
miserable failure.  Of two dozen agencies rated, 16 failed, and ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1114w.html#item11

"Austin, Texas, Firm Looks for Commercial Success in
 Artificial Intelligence"
Cycorp, of Austin, Texas, is pioneering the role of artificial
intelligence in commercial computer applications.  By compiling a
vast database of common sense answers and reasonings, Doug Lenat,
who leads the research effort at Cycorp, expects to make computer ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1114w.html#item12

"Tech Companies Find Few Buyers Even at Discount"
Merger and acquisition activity in the technology market is not
quickening to the level analysts had predicted a few months ago.
Part of the reason, according to Goldman Sachs global technology
investment banking head Brad Koenig, is that stock prices are ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1114w.html#item13

"Techies vs. Telcos"
The Agenda conference this October could represent the start of a
movement within the tech industry to confront telecommunications
companies that control broadband access to the Internet.  At the
conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., tech executives painted the ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1114w.html#item14

"Storage Gets Caught in the Net"
IP storage is designed to be cheaper, faster, and more efficient
than fibre channel, leading to improved storage area networks
(SANs).  Cost savings can be realized by recycling existing
Internet-compatible hardware for one's storage needs.  One of the ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1114w.html#item15

"The Writing's On the Screen"
The advent of the electronic book seems set to permanently alter
society's reading habits.  Forrester estimates that one-sixth of
the U.S. book-publishing market will be comprised of e-books by
2005.  The distribution of handheld devices designed to make ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1114w.html#item16

"Computer Consciousness"
The fastest supercomputer will be able to perform more than 100
trillion operations per second by 2005, predicts Stephen M.
Younger, former senior associate director for national security
at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.  Younger ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1114w.html#item17

"Stopping the Next One"
Although the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon show the limits of technology in protecting against
terrorism, technology will play a key role as the United States
tracks down terrorists who are responsible for the national ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1114w.html#item18

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