Member offices using minicomputer systems, i.e., Intelligent Solutions (Quorum), Micro Research Inc. (MRI), Versyss Benchmark (ABLE), and Monarch Systems, are the primary users of the HWAN network. As these mini-computer vendors become LAN capable, it is expected that there will be a decrease in the demand for HWAN connections and a corresponding increase in the demand for LAN/WAN or frame relay connections. HWAN network troubleshooting procedures were solidified and seminars were conducted for Hill vendors.

HOUSE LAN/WAN (FRAME RELAY NETWORK). After successful pilot testing in two Member offices, the House LAN/WAN service (Frame Relay Network) was made available during January 1993. In a competitive procurement, MCI was awarded the contract to provide this service to House Member offices because it offers both lower rates and a superior network management offering. This network provides Member district office to Washington office connectivity for Member offices that use LAN technology.

During the year, LAN/WAN connections were established for fourteen Member district offices. Evaluations of the Lantronics terminal server for Quorum LAN/WAN service was completed, and the Citrix application server to enhance MicroMIN district office communication were completed.

INTERNET COMMUNICATIONS. Substantial communications work was completed in preparation for making Internet-based services available to House offices. In support of applications development, communications staff assisted with the implementation of a Wide Area Information Server (WAIS). Design and implementation of an E-Mail relay host to the Internet and the implementation of a UseNet News Server were provided. The Sprint Link Internet access circuit was upgraded to the significantly faster T1 speed. H.I.S. technical staff also worked with House vendors to coordinate Internet mail parameters and assisted with the analysis and testing of Internet client software.

STANDARDIZATION OF MEMBER SUITE WIRING. FY 93 also marked the completion of Infotap wiring HUB installations in each Member office suite. These HUBS allow use of existing phone wire for in-office computer connections to terminals and PCs. This wiring scheme, known as 10baseT, saves time and money because the same wiring scheme can be used in all Member offices. It was used extensively during the Member office moves this past year. It is expected that more Member offices using LANS will be connected to this technology in the coming year. This technology allows for the same wiring scheme to be used in each Member office suite, thus, improving the bi-yearly move process and eliminating the necessity to run office cabling for each new system installation.

103D CONGRESS MOVES. The start of the 103d Congress had an impact on communication and field services with a total of 211 Member office moves performed during December 1992. H.I.S. staff worked weekends and overtime to accomplish these moves, with six to seven moves occurring every day. In addition, a record number of communication requests were completed for Asynchronous Services Network (ASN), House Ethernet, House Fiber Data Distributed Interface (FDDI), Infotap wiring, and the House Wide Area Network (HWAN) connections. A similar impact is expected in FY 95 for the 104th Congress.

HOUSE CAMPUS NETWORKS. The Asynchronous Services Network (ASN) or terminal server network continued to grow this past year as obsolete Bus Interface Units (BI) were replaced by terminal server connections. An inventory of remaining BIUS in Member and Committee offices indicated that fewer than 100 BIUS are awaiting replacement by ASN and/or House Ethernet connections. (The BI phase out was completed in December 1993.) H.I.S. developed ASN stabilization and prewire plans for the Rayburn, Longworth, and Cannon buildings, which enabled the replacement of BIUS with ASN connections.

ASN or terminal server connection requirements are expected to decrease over the next several years as more offices and Hill vendors move toward ethernet connectivity. In FY 93, terminal server or ASN connections were provided for 156 Member offices and 13 committees.

The House Ethernet continued to serve as the primary campus communications transport for committees, House support offices, and many Member offices. In FY 93, House Ethernet connections were provided for 54 Member offices; and to 16 committees, Member organizations, and House Support offices. However, there was an overall reduction in the number of Member office connections to the House Ethernet because the new higher speed FDDI network was implemented. Novell Netware file servers were migrated from the House Ethernet to the FDDI network. The trend of committee offices migrating from DEC technology to PC-based LANs resulted in H.I.S. preparing many private network designs for House committees. (The House Ethernet will continue to be available for committees using DEC equipment and protocols.) As funds permit, Member and committee systems will be moved from the House Ethernet to FDDI.

The House Ethernet backbone equipment was upgraded with state-ofthe-art equipment to improve performance and manageability. Installation of NetWatchman and Shiva Net Manager software was completed to monitor Fast Paths (Macintosh networks) on the Hill. The number of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for computers on the House Ethernet was expanded from 253 to 1020, allowing for increased peak-period network capacity. The Quorum Telnet access to its ethernet- connected vendor platform was tested and

approved. Other enhancements included installation of a Cisco Public Data Network gateway, which provides access from the House Ethernet to Tymnet.

The House FDDI network has experienced tremendous growth since its inception in January 1993. FDDI technology moves data traffic ten times faster than the speed of the ethernet. A total of 16 FDDI routers were installed during FY 93 with ports quickly being allocated and used both to resolve the previously mentioned Novell Netware routing problem and handle the migration of House CMS vendor systems to ethernet technology. The plan is for each office to have its own private port to the FDDI network for easy access to services such as Internet, E-Mail, ISIS, and to other Legislative Branch data. This port-per-office approach enhances H.I.S.'s ability to manage these connections, resulting in a more reliable network.

H.I.S. provided FDDI connections for 132 Member offices, six committees, and six Member support organizations during FY 93. Compared with ethernet, FDDI provides bandwidth suitable for CDROM and imaging applications; higher capacity for continued growth in connections; better network management and troubleshooting capabilities; and cost savings, because it moves the routing functions from the office LAN servers to the shared hallway wiring closets. Use of FDDI results in a substantially decreased financial investment in additional communications gear, (e.g., buying one versus two network cards). Other technical enhancements implemented to ensure a smooth transition from House Ethernet to FDDI communications, included evaluations of both FDDI concentrators and routers, migration of Novell file servers, and implementation of Novell route and service advertisement filtering on the new FDDI network.

CAPNET. Through the cooperation of Legislative Branch agencies, a high-speed data network was designed and implemented. This network provides connectivity among all Legislative Branch Organizations. H.I.S. participated in the design and implementation of this network. In FY 93, the House, Senate, Architect of the Capitol, Congressional Budget Office, Library of Congress, and Office of Technology Assessment were connected to CAPNET, which is based on state-of-the-art FDDI technology and provides the bandwidth necessary to accommodate applications such as Imaging and CD-ROM. This network will provide access to data within all Legislative agencies that were previously unreachable. HOUSE SYSTEMS NETWORK ARCHITECTURE (SNA) NETWORK. The House SNA network provides access to all H.I.S. mainframe-resident data including MIN, ISIS, NCOA, Newswires, E-Mail, LEGIS, Votes, Employee Payroll, and office equipment inventories. Gateways provide an interface to all local and wide area networks. The SNA network remains somewhat static, but nevertheless requires regular maintenance to allow enhancements and ensure reliability.

Systems Network Architecture (SNA) software upgrades were applied to the Communications Front End Processor and the IBM Mainframe communications software. To provide more effective SNA network support, the design and implementation of an SNA Resource Manager, which will automatically generate statistics on all SNA connections, was completed; and a program was implemented enabling the Network Control Center to establish the terminal identification associated with a user reporting a problem. Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol windows-based full-screen packages were reviewed as an alternative to the Novell SNA Gateway. Other SNA network modifications and enhancements included installation of the facsimile gateway and new lines to support SoftSwitch E-Mail, a plan for upgrading the IBM control units to SNA technology, and the reconfiguration of the Novell SNA gateway to improve reliability.

NETWORK MANAGEMENT. An important component in keeping network resources reliable and available is a comprehensive network management system. Several years ago, H.I.S. began to move toward a standard solution for providing this capability, known as Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). FY 93 marked the completion of several major milestones in this area. Netview 6000, IBM's SNMP system, was implemented as the organization's production network management system and is used to monitor network resources. Hewlett Packard's Openview, on which IBM's system is based, was implemented as a backup network management system. Work is proceeding to make all network components SNMPcompliant so they can be monitored by these SNMP-based systems. Work is also underway to standardize all configuration management and inventory data under a single database. These tools will permit the proactive monitoring of all network resources and will greatly reduce down time associated with any network failure.

SERVICES TO HOUSE OFFICERS AND SUPPORT OFFICES.
OFFICE OF THE CLERK.

OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE OPERATIONS. The Legislative Information
Management System (LIMS) is the cornerstone system which provides
the official legislative data in the House of Representatives.
LIMS is the source for all the other legislative databases used
by the Congress and outside entities.

A specially-designed Local Area Network was installed in the Office of Legislative Operations. This office collects the official legislative information for the House and is responsible for its dissemination into various paper and online publications. Of special significance is their ability to directly connect to the H.I.S. mainframe. Because the LIMS systems must be operational whenever Congress is in session, providing several mainframe connectivity options has proven invaluable.

In October 1992, the House Calendar became the first document transferred directly from the H.I.S. mainframe (or any government

computer) to the Government Printing Office (GPO) via Ethernet. This major document, which details legislative activity in the House, is printed and distributed daily by GPO from data compiled and formatted by LIMS systems. The electronic transfer of the

calendar saves time and money both for the Clerk and GPO. A backup tape system is in place, if needed.

Substantial modifications were made to the Floor Action Reporting System and the Legislative Activity Guide to accommodate House rule changes allowing Delegates to vote in the Committee of the Whole.

During FY 93, both the Final First Session Calendar and the Final Full Congress Calendar were produced for the first time using LIMS data. These two GPO-printed documents contain all the legislative information in the daily House Calendar and were expanded to include extensive statistical data. They are the authoritative record of Congressional legislative accomplishments, and the Clerk takes every precaution to assure one-hundred percent accuracy.

Development of a new LIMS application was begun to automate the Daily Digest, which is the summary of House activity appearing in the Congressional Record. Currently, the Daily Digest is handwritten by Enrollment Clerks, but under the new system, previously collected LIMS data will be selected by Legislative Operations and formatted automatically.

An Index of Short Titles was added to the Daily House Calendar and the Legislative Activity Guide (LAG). These new sections are very helpful in identifying legislation by its commonly-called name and providing an additional information resource. Stylistic changes were made to the LAG to accommodate double-sided printing, Hispanic surnames, delegate voting, and roll listings. OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION (LEGIS). All data concerning House bill actions was transferred nightly to the Senate and the Library of Congress (LOC), and subsequently integrated into their respective legislative databases. In turn, H.I.S. received and processed approximately 25,000 Senate and LOC transactions. Transactions included the Senate Floor proceedings (new Senate bills, amendments, and cosponsors), and LOC data (brief titles, subject terms, LOC cross references and Bill Digest). H.I.S. staff received and processed approximately 19,100 Congressional Record page references from GPO, and 81,018 House actions.

The LEGIS Call Totals Reports system, which automatically counts the number of calls handled by the LEGIS Office within a specific time frame, was developed and implemented. An audit trail for related legislation received from LOC was added, which is used by the LEGIS office to verify the daily transfer of data from LOC. Other requested changes included one that would enable the LEGIS