Federal Collaboration Survey Results
Market Connections, Inc. survey of over 200 federal decision makers on Unified Communications
Find resources for converging voice, video and data into a single powerful and secure network. See how the U.S. Postal service is reducing travel costs by using a Unified Communications network to connect, communicate and collaborate at a distance.
A Prescription for UC
02-02-10Unified Communications may be just what the doctor ordered to improve healthcare.
Healthcare organizations are choosing IP phone systems from ShoreTel to cure communication problems that plague medical staff, administrators and IT managers. Even in a tight economy, IT staffs feel the pressure to improve response time and collaboration by upgrading communication systems.
"With pressure to provide top-notch patient care while controlling costs, the hospital needed to boost the availability, mobility and capabilities of its communications infrastructure," says Robert Acosta, director of technology services and security at the Doctors Hospital at Renaissance.
"We did not want our doctors and staff to be hindered by technology, especially in light of new facilities opening to the public."
Some other hospitals highlighted the integration of email into their overall contact systems while others discussed video tele-medicine.
ShoreTel is a provider of commercial, closed-source VoIP products.
Snow days could help gov't telework
01-26-10When winter weather shuts down schools and the government, Federal managers could soon be doing what most school kids certainly won't be -- learning.
Steve O'Keefe, executive director of the Telework Exchange, tells Government Computer News that managers need to treat "snow days" as informal tests to assess how effective teleworking plans are and how to improve upon them.
He says managers who are new to allowing employees to work from home can develop best practices and incorporate lessons learned.
"This is obviously not a disaster-type environment, but the value of telework pays dividends every day -- not just from a business continuity perspective but from a productivity perspective."
O'Keefe says managers can see whether the teleworking infrastructure, including bandwidth and network connections, is adequate. There also will be feedback on how planning can help boost productivity while teleworking.
In 2008, the government found about 103,000 teleworkers, which is less than 10 percent of the eligible population.
Social media helping in Haiti
01-19-10Social media is helping the U.S. government with recovery and relief efforts in Haiti, following the devastating earthquake that crippled the small country on Jan 12.
The sharing of information on the State Department's Facebook page provides details on where to donate and how to help. Posters have also shared phone numbers for people in the United States and Canada looking for U.S. citizens in Haiti.
"For those interested in helping immediately, simply text 'HAITI' to '90999' and a donation of $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill," one of the post states.
At the Defense Department, the USS Carl Vinson, a supercarrier, was dispatched to provide support in Haiti. Federal Computer Week says the news was published on the ship's official Facebook page.
"The USS Carl Vinson is en route to support first responder humanitarian relief & disaster response operations in Haiti following the devastating earthquake that occurred yesterday. This effort is a core mission of carrier operations and our crew is well trained to carry out this mission." the Facebook post states.
The magnitude-7.0 quake has killed an estimated 200,000 people.
Warning program makes big splash
01-12-10A new program is helping to keep Americans safer.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's warning system has been built into an international network of nearly 50 sensors, feeding data -- in nearly real time -- to computer models to produce detailed forecasts and warnings.
The warnings include tsunamis.
"We took an extremely challenging problem - the ocean is a brutal place to work - and have detected tsunamis and made forecasts that have proven to be accurate," Christian Meinig, director of engineering at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, tells Government Computer News.
"The American people are safer because of that."
The tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed more than 200,000 people in December of 2004 was a catalyst for the NOAA and its Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis program.
Five years ago, NOAA's two tsunami warning centers were staffed 40 hours a week, with only on-call coverage. Now, there are two warning centers -- one in Hawaii the other in Alaska -- staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
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