business

After several years of depressed revenues, the telecommunications industry is poised to recover in 2005, experts say. Rebounding from the historic lows of the past several years, the equipment manufacturing sector can expect robust growth while gains for services will remain modest. But storm clouds loom on the horizon as emerging technologies such as broadband and voice over Internet protocol threaten to radically change traditional service carrier arrangements.

Many would-be contractors sabotage their own bids with sloppy processes and mistaken notions that leave government acquisition officials no choice but to reject them for a contract award. These mistakes can run the gamut from firms' attempts to pull the wool over the eyes of government officials to honest errors that bidders do not realize are hurting their cause.

It is easy to understand why Gene Colabatistto might be tempted to get by on image. After all, ever since his company launched its first sensor-laden satellite in 1986, the international Spot system has captured and delivered millions of images of Earth-from the sands of the Sahara to the expanse of the Golden Gate Bridge.

If necessity is the mother of invention, then Linda Gooden can qualify as an expert on both.
Ever since 1790, inventors who wanted to protect their intellectual property against possible theft or exploitation have filed their patent applications pretty much the same way-they filled out a form on paper.

Despite a shaky economy, businesses are contributing to homeland security and the war against terrorism by backing their workers who are guardsmen or reservists. Although it is still too early to determine how an extensive call-up may affect human resources, many firms are researching their legal requirements in terms of pay, benefits and re-employment. Several are then going beyond the mandatory to the extraordinary to ensure that their employees can serve their country without worrying about their families or civilian jobs.

U.S. government and business organizations are re-evaluating their communications network design and resiliency following the September 11 terrorist attacks. Planners are now emphasizing dispersed, redundant, military-style systems that can rapidly retrieve and update lost data or switch to alternate transmission modes to maintain connectivity.

It is very rare that the experiences of one company can provide a snapshot of what has happened to the Internet sector, the U.S. economy and the technology industry in general.

In warfare, as in chess, victory often depends on the ability to foresee the opponent's next move. So, it seems more than a little appropriate that Lt. Gen. Carl G. O'Berry, USAF (Ret.), a chess enthusiast, is now vice president of a company that is helping the United States develop an integrated battlespace designed to redefine modern warfare.

A multimillion-dollar U.S. Air Force project that streamlines financial information sharing processes is coming to fruition using an approach that facilitates responsiveness to requirements changes and incrementally delivers capabilities. The system goes into production this month after two years in development.

The rapid evolution of the Internet and other telecommunications networks has begun to eliminate national boundaries and geographic separation among countries. Scientific methods used to study international information flows and resulting globalization indicate a correlation between the flows and major political and economic changes over time.