Conference will target hot issues.

CONFERENCE WILL TARGET HOT ISSUES From ISDN to open systems and LANs, the Fed is pioneering use of all forms of advanced communications systems. That's why networking is a big part of this year's Federal Computer Conference, at the Washington D.C. Convention Center, Sept. 17-19.

Though geared to federal decision makers, the topics have broad appeal.

The private sector can learn from the experiences, good and bad, of government networking spearheads.

Mike Corrigan, GSA's deputy commissioner for telecommunications services--he manages the FTS2000 project--will talk about advanced features of the integrated network and how users are already capitalizing on them.

In open systems, the Fed has taken the lead by mandating GOSIP as a Federal Information Processing Standard. All computer systems bought for federal use will have to comply with GOSIP standards. Vendors wanting to sell to Washington will have to hustle to bring OSI protocols into their product lines. This will help all users desiring transition to government standards.

To accommodate ongoing efforts on OSI standards, GOSIP will be implemented in phases, each phase taking on additional standards.

In a special one-day program of free sessions, Jerry Mulvenna will discuss standards covered in the first three phases--GOSIP I, II, and III--and anticipated agenda. Mulvenna, manager of the Network Applications Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, will be joined by other speakers in talking about how each phase will affect computer-systems plans.

When it comes to LANs, the feds are already anticipating tomorrow's computing environment.

The Navy PC LAN project could involve up to 8000 LANs linking 30,000 PCs used by armed forces worldwide. Based on open-system standards, it will support MS-DOS and OS/2 workstations and provide TCP/IP and OSI gateways for workgroup and enterprise-wide networking. In another free session, Ken Rauen, program manager for Navy PC LAN, will give an update on this landmark LAN.

LANs will also be the subject of a special three-day LAN Solutions Showcase featuring briefing on LAN planning, procurement, and installation> previews of next-generation LAN operating systems and interconnectivity hardware and services> and updates on LAN servers and client/server DBMS, including a "shootout" between competing packages.

The sessions have been put together by Roger Myers of the U.S. Senate, who co-chairs the sponsoring Federal LAN Users Group. Anyone interested in joining the group can reach Membership Chairman John Moore at [phone].

Free classroom sessions will be supplemented by an Exposition showcasing solutions to computer needs made possible by advances in LANs and client/server computing. Networking interests will be well represented on the floor, with such industry leaders as IBM, Digital Equipment, AT&T, Hewlett Packard, and Apple Computer.

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