U.S. blows its technology horn

The Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), itself part of the Technology Administration (TA), which is a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce, released a report touting its technical accomplishments in 2004.

The report details how the ITL advanced standards, measurements and technologies in e-voting security, biometrics, building safety, electronic health records, information overload and mobile computing. Looking ahead, ITL Director Shashi Phoha said her group was engaged in bringing together the worlds of computer technology and quantum physics with the Quantum Information Program, the success of which she deemed "critical to future homeland security." Quantum information is of particular interest to cryptos.