The US Postal Service will spend US$22 million to defend itself against network attacks. On Wednesday, Secure Computing said it nailed down a four-year contract with the post office.
Secure Computing (SCUR), of San Jose, California, will develop and deploy the plan, and recommend hardware and software to secure the agency's systems.
The post office may see significant competition for business on the Net from the likes of Federal Express or smaller companies.
Recently, USPS has been testing the Post Electronic Courier Service, designed to securely transmit electronic documents. In October, United Parcel Service filed a formal complaint, saying that the Post Electronic Courier Service hadn't received proper approval from the government.
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Fujitsu jumps aboard Linux train: Japanese computer-maker Fujitsu said Thursday it will sell application software that works on Linux, making it the first major Japanese computer company to do so, according to a report by the Japan Economic Newswire.
Fujitsu will sell Fortran and C Package for Linux, the report said. These software programs are used for education and research, and to develop databases.
About 3,500 of the Linux versions will be shipped in June, for 98,000 yen, or 65,000 yen for educational institutions.
Linux is an open-source operating system and an alternative to the dominant Windows OS from Microsoft.
Just about every Microsoft rival is making Linux versions of its products available. Recent additions to the list include Sybase, Oracle, and Informix, who plan to offer Linux versions of their database products. Hewlett Packard and Silicon Graphics also recently said they will offer Linux as the OS on some of their computers.
