The spread of information and networking technology into virtually all corners of the globe is spawning new opportunities for criminals and terrorists to wreak havoc through the Internet. The dichotomy of system complexity and ease of individual use has created a target-rich environment across the entire realm of cyberspace.

TechNet International 2000, which was held June 20 through June 22 at the Washington, D.C. Convention Center, represented an event in transition. For this year's event, AFCEA International's 54th annual convention and exposition, we chose to return to our Defense Department core specialties. At the same time, we introduced a number of exciting new features that produced favorable results and bode well for the future.

For Anthony K. Robbins, building a billion-dollar business is about more than high performance. Indeed, as the president of SGI's recently launched federal business subsidiary, success depends on generating images such as realistic battle scenes and high-resolution relays from outer space.

The Turkish army is conducting field trials with a new broad bandwidth, wide-area digital battlefield communications system. This prototype system is designed to provide a common picture of the battlefield in near real time, sharing multimedia information among and between operating systems.

A David and Goliath rematch is shaping up in Northern Europe over the next few weeks. This time, however, there are several Goliaths, and no one will be using a sling. All opponents are armed equally with the latest technological advances, and the contest is in one of the giants' own backyards. Two other titans wait in the wings.

A state-owned company's heavy investment in research and development is paying off for Italy's military and in the international export market. This research powerhouse is providing advances in radar, electro-optic, infrared and cryogenic technologies harnessed in a variety of weapons fire control systems.

The U.S. Marine Corps is assessing a new communications system that will enable deployed forces to establish data network connectivity between land and sea forces in support of joint amphibious operations. A combination of commercial off-the-shelf and Marine legacy equipment would provide basic tactical communications designed to meet the requirements of international operations. Currently undergoing a series of tests, the technology could be ready for full-scale implementation as early as fall 2001.

The U.S. Marine Corps is moving toward a network-centric warfighting capability that will allow more troops to be placed in the field with a smaller logistics footprint. New communications technologies are aimed at enabling the service to conduct and participate in joint operations with other services and coalition partners with unprecedented levels of coordination and speed.

As the U.S. armed forces continue to transform their own inner workings and construct the means for cooperating in a joint environment, a similar-though much larger-phenomenon is well underway as countries throughout the world explore their role in international operations. At the heart of the matter are questions about political objectives, legal constraints and the status of technology development-tough issues that require the framers of this new global community to be part architect, part foreman and part bricklayer.

Spain's army is benefiting from information technology development by the nation's domestic industry. A mesh system of nodal centers is being developed and deployed for mobile command, control and communications. Independent of terrain considerations, the multimedia voice and data system covers the operational area of an army division.