THE INTERNET engineering task force's IP payload compression protocol (IPPCP) Working Group, has forwarded a compression-protocol specification for review by the Internet Engineering Steering Group.

The IPPCP working group was f ormed to study the problem of higher-level encryption protocols, such as IP Security (IPSec), and the newly proposed protocol describes how to perform compression before encryption during IPSec.

As encrypting data prematurely makes compression impossible,the IPPCP approved a new protocol specification for using compression with encryption.

The group is spearheaded by the firm Hi/fn Inc. (San Jose, Calif.), which makes integrated circuits and software for manufacturers of computer-networking products. Most network-router manufacturers use Hi/fn's technology for data-packet processing.

The proposed protocol can be obtained at: ftp://ds.internic.net/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-ippcp-protocol-04.txt.

THROUGH JAN. 24: Ei Village has an online lecture, "Biometrics: Ready for Prime Time?" Hosted by William Rogers, the editor of Biometric Di gest , the lecture will explore verification applications in use today.

"FEDEX RUNS its mainframe off of a Cray supercom-puter. Though employee records, customer-account information and other internal functions are on the mainframe, the heart of FedEx's computer systemis called Cosmos (Customer Oriented Services and Management Operating System).

"All of Cosmos' data is available via remote access to managers, directors and select sales reps. It is also available to clever inquiring minds. [Detailed instructions then follow].

"It should be obvious that I once was an insider. It's up to us to protect ourselves by keeping information free and accessible. Happy hunting."

-Phransys Drak3 (Francis Drake) in a recent issue of 2600-the Hacker Quarterly .

BERKELEY DESIGN TECHNOLOGY INC. (Berkeley, Calif.) has a comprehensive set of DSP processor overviews available free. Get info on features such as data path, memory architecture and peripherals.

JOIN THE DIALOG on the sci.electronics newsgroups over Bell Labs' familiar 1947 transistor. Is it a fake-possibly alien-technology? Start with the "facts".

FUSION MICROMEDIA (Longmont, Colo.), a custom designer
of complex ICs, has a site.
Find info on the company's very-high-throughput,
hi gh-gate-count designs (200-k to 1-M gates).

CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT STRUCTURES INC. (Mansfield, Mass.) has a new site. CES designs, manufactures and installs for the cold-storage, food-processing, clean-room, environmental room and process-control industries, and manufactures insulated panels, and clean-room-wall systems.

IBM IS REALLY GIVING Java developers a shot in the arm with an impressive repository of related and free information. The site, at and modestly dubbed the "ultimate resource for Java developers," has grown so fast you need its site map to navigate around.

Designed with both the novice and expert in mind, the site is much more than a corporate marketing info-site. One use ful showcase is the feature called "Daily Grounds," where every day, a new article concerning Java in the real world is displayed-a recent one looks at how the language is being utilized in corporate intranets.

There's also several state-of-the-art Java-based apps and applets, along with news on innovations and standardizing.

The education section offers courses and training, white papers and tutorials, and a glossary; and the community section provides Java User Groups, as well
as a heavily trafficked technical online chat room.

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