Data Systems

Legislators heard an outpouring of complaints Thursday about smart meters from Maryland utility customers who want to be allowed to opt out without charge. Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. and other Maryland utilities are installing the meters — which send wireless data about energy use and allow the companies to pinpoint outages — as part of a nationwide push to jettison analog meters that require in-person reading. Utilities say the new technology will reduce costs and enable customers to better manage their energy use. But here and elsewhere, the shift has kicked off a countermovement of smart-meter foes with concerns about health effects, privacy, the cost of installation and other issues.

PLANO, Texas - Electronic Data Systems Corp. won a five-year, $1.3 billion contract from ABN Amro Holding NV yesterday to manage computer networks for the biggest Dutch bank's corporate- and investment-banking division. The agreement concludes more than four months of talks and comes 12 days after Electronic Data, the world's second-biggest computer-services company, announced a 10-year, $4.5 billion order from Bank of America Corp. The new contracts eased concern among some investors that Electronic Data might be unable to compete for big orders, which can require multimillion-dollar, up-front investments.

In the midst of a state budget crisis, Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposal to establish a system to collect individual-level student statistics from all sectors of education and the work force might not attract much attention. That would be unfortunate, because this initiative could revolutionize policymakers' ability to answer questions at the core of educational effectiveness. The Maryland Longitudinal Data System would make it easier to share information about students across agencies and institutions in the state for the purpose of examining student progress and outcomes over time -- particularly those related to preparation for postsecondary education and employment.

The Baltimore Police Department will soon begin switching to a beefed-up computer system of crime analysis that will enable commanders to track trends and process data in seconds. The system is being funded by a $250,000 federal grant that was awarded to the agency yesterday by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, according to city and federal officials. The system, which officials described as new computer programs and upgraded computer systems, should be ready for use in six months to a year, city officials said.

Behind the scenes of the season's first snowfall yesterday, state road crews embarked on a 21st century-style battle against highway snow and ice. In its pursuit of bare pavement, Maryland is leading the nation with a sophisticated network of road sensors and weather stations that relay the tiniest details to highway crews every 20 seconds. It means early warnings of dangerous conditions. And fixing them before they do harm. The precision of the data helps eliminate the guesswork and misjudgments that can conspire to strand motorists and cost the state millions.

It is relatively new, cost $570,000 to start up, additional money to correct -- and Howard County School employees say it doesn't work. The Student Management System, provided by Burnaby, British Columbia-based Chancery Software Ltd., was suppose to be a faster, more efficient way for schools to record grades and other pertinent achievement data. But because of program glitches, high school report cards have been delayed and employees have spent additional hours working to rectify the problems, resulting in overtime.

Baltimore County school leaders are proposing to spend about half of their $17.4 million in Race to the Top money on technology and increasing the number of Teach for America teachers. In a presentation to the county school board this week, educators said they want to use the funds to pay for $5 million in data systems, including a virtual learning center at Chesapeake High School and developing a virtual high school and games. Another portion of that $5 million would go to developing data systems to track students' performance and to a site now under development that teachers can use to gather curriculum information and individual student data.

Behind a small screen embedded in golf carts is a computer that tells golfers how far they are from the next hole, keeps their score and allows them to order drinks after they tee off. It's the same computer that tells the carwash how much soap and rinse to use on each car as it drives through, or allows racetrack visitors to place bets from the track's dining room. "You can bet without leaving the table," said Alain G. Philippe, director of engineering for Applied Data Systems Inc. Columbia-based Applied Data Systems Inc. designs the embedded systems that are integrated with such software applications.

Carroll County's public assistance and food stamp recipients, approximately 1,500 of them, didn't get welfare checks or food stamps in the mail this month.Instead, they got new cards that allow them to withdraw cash from MOST automatic teller machines and pay with plastic at the supermarket.The conversion "is going very well, considering," said David Ensor, assistant director for income maintenance at the Carroll County Department of Social Services.He said the staff found only a few glitches, such as incorrect codes entered into the computer.

AT&T Corp. and International Business Machines Corp., two giants of the information technology industry, announced a multi-billion-dollar series of agreements yesterday to swap some key operations.In a move seen as a bid to enhance New York-based AT&T's standing in the international and Internet markets, AT&T will buy IBM's global network business for $5 billion in cash. That move comes as companies such as MCI WorldCom Inc. continue to aggressively build their own worldwide networks.That thrust by AT&T would complement the company's joint venture with British Telecommunications PLC to develop an international network.