Intercepts

DTV upgrades. Look for Hughes Data Systems to upgrade its DT V offerings a Pentium 166 at "a good price point." That's the word from Felice Liston director of government sales at Micron Electronics the Hughes DT V PC supplier. Liston expects the change to occur before the end of the fiscal 1996 b

DTV upgrades. Look for Hughes Data Systems to upgrade its DT V offerings a Pentium 166 at "a good price point." That's the word from Felice Liston director of government sales at Micron Electronics the Hughes DT V PC supplier. Liston expects the change to occur before the end of the fiscal 1996 buying season but did not put an exact date on it. Hughes needs to change its products and pricing on DT V or end up outgunned by Zenith Data Systems which has better technology and prices.

DT V switcheroo? Rumors persist that Hughes wants to switch out Micron in favor of a brand-name supplier with Compaq and IBM touted as the two most likely candidates. Liston said she has heard the speculation saying that "primes should shop around to see what's out there." But she quickly added as far as she knows Hughes remains "satisfied" with Micron. E.O. Knowles the Hughes honcho said there is "no truth" to reports that the company wants to replace Micron.

Ponder those ThinkPads. That's about all potential Air Force buyers of the IBM ThinkPads on the Hughes DT V contract can do. I'm picking up strong signals that IBM so far has shipped few ThinkPads to Hughes despite strong demand.

Boeing/GSI DSSG deal? My Tysons Corner antenna has picked up medium-strength signals that Government Systems Inc. has entered talks with Boeing Computer Services to settle the lawsuits GSI has filed against the Boeing win of the $3 billion DISN support contract. I'm hearing GSI would drop its suits in return for a piece of Boeing's action. This one may drag out for a while which means folks over at DISA HQ will have to continue to run their own postage meters without contractor support.

The Huachuca battle (cont'd). The Arizona congressional delegation continues to fight a plan calling for the Army's Communications-Electronics Command to take control of the Information Systems Command at Fort Huachuca. At stake are more than 600 jobs out of a total of 2 500 according to Bill Hess of the Sierra Vista (Ariz.) Herald. Hess writes that the switch - strongly backed by Army widget boss Lt. Gen. Otto Guenther who hails from Red Bank N.J. right next door to Cecom - will happen after the November elections despite the rear-guard battle being fought by the Arizona Hill reps.

Winging Web privacy policy. That's how most companies organizations and institutions seem to handle privacy issues on their World Wide Web sights - which besides dispensing information also can be used to collect info on unsuspecting Web surfers. Speaking at last week's Federal Webmasters Conference Janlorii Goldman deputy director for the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) said that few outfits have such policies until CDT asks "and then they hire lawyers to start writing them."

New improved Air Force Web site! That's the word from Capt. Terry Bowman chief of technology integration (a long way to say Webmaster) at the Air Force Public Affairs shop . Look for the grand opening of the improved AF Web site on Tuesday at www.dtic.dl.mil/airforcelink.