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Update for IT Executives: July 21, 1999 In This Issue: 1. Miller to Testify in Support of ICANN 2. R&D Tax Credit a Big Win for ITAA 4. ITAA Questions Tauzin - Dingell Telecom Bill 5. ITAA Opposes FASB Proposals on Stock Compensation Issues 6. ITAA Calls for Reauthorization of DOD Mentor-Protégé Program 7. ITAA Announces New Partnership with BBBOnLine 8. Breakfast Session on Computer Crime Fighting to Offer Justice Department Insight 9. ITAA Cosponsors E-customer Intimacy Conference 10. ITAA Announces Publication of Directory of E-Commerce Solution Providers 11. CIP Task Group Becomes Committee, Transitioning to Core, Changing Names 12. Summit to Highlight IT in Latin America 1. Miller to Testify in Support of ICANN ITAA President Harris Miller has been asked to testify before the House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigative Hearings on behalf of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The hearing will be held in the Rayburn House Office Building of the US House of Representatives on Thursday, July 22. ITAA and WITSA have been global leaders on the issue of domain name allocation since its inception, when the Administration made the decision to divest itself of the business and introduce competition into what was then controlled by a single domain name registrar. In light of the continuing debate surrounding the formation and support of ICANN, ITAA's National Board of Directors recently reaffirmed its position through a Resolution embracing a number of important principles:
Miller said his testimony will
reflect the principles of the Resolution, and will call for the critics of
ICANN to work together to produce equitable solutions to issues that are
inevitable with any start-up organization. ITAA contact: Marc
Pearl. ITAA's successes on the lobbying front continue this month as Congress responds to intense efforts by members and staff to extend the tax credit for research and development. ITAA recently issued a statement praising the House Ways and Means Committee for including a five year extension of the Research and Experimentation (R&D) tax credit in the Financial Freedom Act of 1999. Since then, the Senate Finance Committee has adopted an amendment to the tax cutting legislation that would permanently extend the R&D Tax Credit. The amendment was offered by Senator Orrin Hatch and passed by voice vote. The R&D tax credit provides an incentive for companies, particularly information technology firms, to continue important research programs and develop new, higher quality products. The credit was first enacted in 1981 and has always been extended but never made permanent. The differences between the House and Senate versions of the tax bill will be worked out in conference in the coming weeks. ITAA will continue to lobby for permanent extension of the tax credit. ITAA contact: Carol Cayo. 3. STRATEGIC SOLUTIONS'99 To Offer CIO Panel: How is the Internet Transforming the World of Business? Need a desert getaway featuring networking, golf and key information sharing with industry leaders? ITAA's Strategic Solutions'99, October 24-27, will offer IT executives the opportunity for each. Gary Beach, Publisher, CIO Magazine will host a panel discussion with industry CIOs on how the Internet is transforming the world of business. Sheri Anderson, Senior Vice President and CIO of Novell, Charles Martin, CIO of MicroAge, Greg Papadopoulos, Chief Technology Officer of Sun Microsystems, and Gordon Jones, CIO of Beyond.com join Beach to explore issues facing today's customer-focussed IT companies. How do companies keep up with technology advances and stay competitive? What do customers want? What is the IT industry doing right? What is the IT industry doing wrong? What will customers demand in the future, and who will be prosperous? This lively discussion will challenge assumptions, stimulate creative thinking and open new perspectives on business in the future. Companies may use Strategic Solutions as a focal point for holding a corporate retreat or strategy meeting with company executives, and corporate sponsorships are available. ITAA Contact: Barbara Dunlavey. 4. ITAA Questions Tauzin - Dingell Telecom Bill ITAA recently questioned the introduction of The Internet Freedom & Broadband Deployment Act of 1999 by Congressmen Billy Tauzin (R-LA) and John Dingell (D-MI). ITAA believes that the bill, which attempts to open rural markets' access to broadband telecommunications technologies by permitting local telephone companies to offer long distance data service before they are permitted to offer long distance voice service, would actually harm the successes achieved as a result of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 in opening up the telecommunications market to competition. "ITAA strongly supports Representatives Tauzin and Dingell's objective of encouraging widespread, timely broadband deployment," said ITAA President Harris Miller. "However this important goal is best served by encouraging healthy competition from a diversity of competitors. ITAA believes that it is premature to give incumbent local telephone companies access to new markets when they have not yet complied with the market opening requirements of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. By overturning the carefully balanced structure of the 1996 Act, this bill's approach would give Congress, not the marketplace, responsibility for picking broadband winners and losers." ITAA is a member of the Competitive Broadband Coalition, which also opposes the legislation. ITAA contact: Mark Uncapher. 5. ITAA Opposes FASB Proposals on Stock Compensation Issues On June 30, ITAA submitted comments to the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) opposing certain provisions of its exposure draft on stock compensation. ITAA expressed surprise and disappointment with the Board's overall decision to revisit stock compensation issues, in light of an agreement reached among the Board, industry, Congress, investor groups and others. ITAA views this new stock compensation draft as a clear violation of the agreements reached in previous negotiations. On the issues of stock compensation for Boards of Directors, ITAA strongly opposed FASB's proposal to require companies to record as an expense options granted to outside directors and consultants. The association also opposed the Board's proposal that companies that reprice employee stock options be required to begin immediately recording expenses for these repriced options. "Technology companies - drivers of the U.S. economy whose key barrier to growth often is a scarcity of skilled IT workers - use stock options in lieu of employee salary to preserve scarce startup capital for expenditures and to attract and retain highly skilled employees," said ITAA President Harris Miller. "The FASB proposal would seriously undermine the robust health of the US and global economies. We are disappointed that the Board has chosen to unnecessarily revisit this issue, but are hopeful that the Board will be willing to work with industry on a compromise solution," Miller added. ITAA has made these and other emerging finance and accounting rule changes a priority for 1999. For details, see http://www.itaa.org/news/source/financepk.htm. 6. ITAA Calls for Reauthorization of DOD Mentor-Protégé Program ITAA recently called for full reauthorization of the Defense Department's Mentor-Protégé program in the Congressional FY 2000 budget. The program, which reimburses government IT contractors for mentoring services required by the Federal government, is currently included in the Senate version of the Defense Authorization bill, but not the House version. In a letter to members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees' conferees on the DOD Authorization bill, ITAA called for full reauthorization of the program, saying that anything less would be a disservice to the nation's military defense and the taxpayer. "The DOD Mentor-Protégé program is about ensuring that our nation's diverse small businesses, populated by outstanding minds and talents, continue to provide the best possible products and services for our national defense," said ITAA President Harris Miller. "Working together, DOD mentors and proteges have exceeded the expectations of the program's vision, and this valued program has enabled even the best small, disadvantaged businesses to improve their capabilities and products." The Association's letter to the House and Senate conferees cited tangible examples of the program's benefits, including taking a disabled couple off of welfare and teaching them Internet navigation, reaching new levels of accreditation which led to new contracts for one SDB, and improved business processes for another. ITAA contact: Olga Grkavac. 7. ITAA Announces New Partnership with BBBOnLine ITAA has announced a new co-marketing agreement with the online privacy program of BBBOnLine (www.bbbonline.org). The BBBOnLine Privacy Program, launched March 17, seeks to assure consumers about how a Web site handles personally identifiable information. Under the new agreement, ITAA will encourage its members to apply for the BBBOnLine privacy seal, which is awarded to online businesses that meet the high standards set by the program. These include the posting of online privacy principles; completion of a comprehensive assessment; monitoring and review by a trusted organization; and participation in a consumer dispute resolution process. At an ITAA-sponsored Privacy Policy Briefing held at the AOL/Netscape offices in Mountain View, California, Vice President and Counsel Mark Uncapher called the partnership another step forward in industry self regulation of privacy issues on the Net. Noting the recent Federal Trade Commission report, which concluded that online privacy legislation is not currently needed, ITAA also commended the Commission for supporting continued industry-led initiatives. "We are pleased to offer the BBBOnLine program to our members, who represent the leaders in the IT industry. While most of our members already voluntarily post their privacy policies, we think it's important to go to this next step to give the consumer the assurances they are looking for when conducting transactions online," said Uncapher. Russell Bodoff, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of BBBOnLine was a speaker at the briefing. He called the partnership a natural alliance. "ITAA has been a longtime advocate of businesses working with their customers to create mutual relationships of trust, without regulatory or legislative mandates. Our program allows businesses to create that piece of mind for customers concerned about privacy," Bodoff said. ITAA will promote the privacy program through its electronic newsletter and other mailings, invite BBBOnLine representatives to participate at conferences and include information about BBBOnLine on the ITAA Web site. As part of the co-marketing agreement, ITAA members who apply for the seal will receive a discount on the annual BBBOnLine Privacy Seal fees. ITAA contact: Mark Uncapher. 8. Breakfast Session on Computer Crime Fighting to Offer Justice Department Insight ITAA Members are invited to attend a breakfast session on Wednesday, July 28 to hear Scott Charney, Chief of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section in the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice address "The Computer Crime Initiative: The Justice Department's Response to the Growing Threat Posed by Computer Criminals." Charney has been involved in several major hacker prosecutions, has co-authored the United States' current computer crime legislation and the Federal Guidelines for Searching and Seizing Computer. Charney led the U.S. delegation on Cryptography Policy at the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris and has served on the Advisory Board of the Computer Emergency Response Team at Carnegie Mellon University. Currently, he chairs a Subgroup on High-tech Crime at the G8, serves on the Justice Department's Privacy Council and is responsible for supervising eighteen federal prosecutors who handle high-tech crime and intellectual property offenses on a full-time basis. The session is part of the ongoing partnership with George Mason University to provide timely, provocative seminars and discussions on issues of interest to E-Commerce. ITAA contact: Pete Smith. 9. ITAA Cosponsors E-customer Intimacy Conference E-Customer Intimacy is brimming with case histories of companies, large and small, that discovered the secrets of establishing and maintaining close customer-intimate relationships. These companies are reaching out to customers. They're making it easy for customers to do business with them! Discover how companies are getting closer to their customers. How getting closer to customers increases revenues, decreases costs, and helps get a bigger share of each customer served. Join visionaries Martha Rogers, Patty Seybold, Jim Sterne, along with over 25 senior executive speakers from prominent companies to hear leading edge strategies for creating, building and managing relationships online. ITAA members are entitled to a 10% discount off the registration fee. The E-customer Intimacy conference is October 13-15, 1999, at the DoubleTree Suites in Boston, MA. ITAA contact: Mark Uncapher. 10. ITAA Announces Publication of Directory of E-Commerce Solution Providers ITAA will publish a hard copy of its on-line Directory of Electronic Commerce Solution Providers in August 1999. Encouraged by the success of both the Year 2000 and Euro Conversion Vendor Directory's, ITAA strongly encourages every member to take advantage of this benefit. Every ITAA member company is engaged in electronic commerce at some level, whether it is integration, software or services. Each Directory listing includes the company location, key organization contacts and a brief description of the services offered. The Directory will also include a comprehensive Glossary of Terms. Company listings in the Directory are free to ITAA member companies. For member companies already included in the on-line directory, please check your listing and advise ITAA of any changes (http://www.itaa.org/ecomm/resources/vendor.cfm). If not currently listed, and contact Heidi Hooper to submit listing information no later than Wednesday, July 28, 1999, for inclusion in the printed Directory. In today's competitive marketplace, companies need to use every available tool to be successful. ITAA's Directory of Electronic Commerce Solution Providers gives companies a definite advantage in the marketplace. The Directory educates the marketplace about current offerings of E-Commerce solution providers, and helps organizations identify leading commercial providers of E-Commerce products and services. ITAA will offer advertising opportunities in the Directory. Special placements will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. ITAA contact: Heidi Hooper. 11. CIP Task Group Becomes Committee, Transitioning to Core, Changing Names During recent meetings of the Board of Directors of the Enterprise Solutions Division and of ITAA overall, members approved a proposal to upgrade the ES Division's Critical Information Protection Task Group to a full Committee and begin a transition process toward becoming an ITAA Core program. In addition, the new Committee, during its July 8th meeting, approved a name change to the Information Infrastructure Assurance Committee (IIAC). ITAA firmly believes that the protection of corporate information and technical infrastructures will be a major focus of attention in the business world as we enter 2000 and beyond. Through ITAA's Critical Information Infrastructure Program, of which the IIAC is a part, we have begun the process within industry and government of raising awareness of these issues, building relationships with representatives from vertical industries, and working together to establish best practices to ensure the security of information and infrastructures. Ross Pickus of Computer Associates and Dan Wiener of Unisys currently serve as Chair and Vice Chair, respectively, of the IIAC. Douglas Sabo, formerly of ITAA's Software Division and who recently was promoted to Director of ITAA's Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Program, will oversee the day-to-day management of the CIIP program and the Committee. The next major efforts of the Committee include seeking participation from the rest of ITAA's member companies and building relationships with the vertical industries the Committee has targeted, including: Finance, Telecommunications, Utilities, Transportation, National Security, and Health & Welfare. ITAA Contact: Douglas Sabo. 12. Summit to Highlight IT in Latin America Preparations for the September 26-29 Global Public Policy Summit in Buenos Aires are now in finalizing. The event, which will put both Latin-America and global IT policy in focus, has recently seen some important additions to its program. Industry leaders such as Telecom Argentina President Juan Carlos Masjoan, Alcatel Techint Director General Alfredo Redondo (Argentina), Motorola Vice President William Davies, Citigroup Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer Stephen Katz, as well as Finsiel Spa Chairman Andrea Pucci (Italy). In addition to Argentine President Menem and Uruguay President Sanguinetti, the public sector is also well respresented with additions of the Honorable Mario Tagarinski, Minister of State Administration (Bulgaria), Claudia Bello, Secretary of Public Affairs (Argentina), Ana Kessler, Secretary of Small and Medium Enterprises (Argentina). Register online at http://www.cessi.org.ar/cessi/index2.htm. ITAA contact: Sheila O'Neill. July 7/23: 9:00 - 11:30am Seat Management Meeting at Federal Data Corporation. 7/28: Federal Committee Meeting, more info. 7/28: 8:00 - 9:30am ITAA / GMU Breakfast Series, more info:mailto:jbrown@itaa.org 7/30: HSITAG Meeting August 8/9: Information Infrastructure Assurance Committee meeting. More info: dsabo@itaa.org 8/11: Procurement Policy Committee Meeting 8/27: HSITAG Meeting September 9/1: Y2K Task Group Meeting, contact: Hhooper@itaa.org. 9/8: Procurement Policy Committee Meeting. 9/13: Information Infrastructure Assurance Committee meeting. More info: dsabo@itaa.org 9/22: Federal Committee Meeting 9/24: HSITAG Meeting
10/1: Techforce Initiative (ITAA-NAB-EDC) Regional IT School-to-Career symposium with the CT Technology Council, New Haven, CT, contact: jdonaldson@itaa.org 10/6: Y2K Task Group Meeting, contact: Hhooper@itaa.org. 10/13: Procurement Policy Committee Meeting. 10/13-15: E-customer Intimacy Conference. More info: muncapher@itaa.org. 10/23-24: ITAA/JISA (Japan Information Services Association) meeting, contact: Soneill@itaa.org. 10/24-27: ITAA's Fall Executive Conference in Tucson, Arizona at the Westin La Paloma resort. Watch ITAA's website for program updates and details on sponsorship opportunities, contact: bdunlavey@itaa.org. 10/24: HR Forum in Tucson, AZ. 10/24: CFO Roundtable in Tucson, AZ. 10/29: HSITAG Meeting November 11/3: Y2K Task Group Meeting, contact: Hhooper@itaa.org. 11/9: Techforce Initiative (ITAA-NAB-EDC) Regional IT School-to-Career symposium with the Northeastern Ohio Software Association, contact: jdonaldson@itaa.org 11/10: Procurement Policy Committee Meeting. 11/16-17: ITAA Electronic Commerce Tax Conference, at the Marriott World Trade Center in New York City, more info: ccayo@itaa.org. December 12/1: Y2K Task Group Meeting, contact: Hhooper@itaa.org. 12/3: HSITAG Meeting 12/8: Procurement Policy Committee Meeting. 7/22: Harris Miller will testify before the House Commerce Sub-Committee on Oversight and Investigation on the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). 7/22: Marc Pearl will speak to the IBM Platinum User Consortium in Amelia Island, Florida on Federal Government Perspectives on Y2K. 7/26: Bob Cohen will address the National Conference of State Legislatures on Y2K in Indianapolis, Indiana. Harris Miller OlgaGrkavac Bob Cohen Jon Englund Mark Uncapher Henriette Warfield Amy Callahan Marc Pearl Sheila O'Neill Barbara Dunlavey Renee Winsky Carol Cayo Jack Babbitt Martin Ennis Peter Smith Douglas Sabo Tinabeth Burton Marjorie Bynum Anders Halvorsen Heidi Hooper John Donaldson Kelly Cutler Nathan Ridnouer Shannon Bickford
Zelsnick Naomi Boone Eerik Kreek Joshua Brown Jackie McWilliams
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