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Federal Cloud Adoption, Part 2: Raining Contracts May 16, 2012 
The U.S. government's pursuit of cloud-based technology has been characterized by a blizzard of policies, directives, technical studies, proposed contract vehicles and conferences. The federal "cloud first" initiative, requiring agencies to give priority consideration to cloud solutions for IT operations, began in December 2012. Now, an idea of how much business is at stake for IT vendors has surfaced -- and it's impressive.
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Federal Cloud Adoption, Part 1: Lots of Baby Steps May 15, 2012 
The U.S. government is learning quickly that achieving the next big thing in information technology depends upon implementing a huge number of little things. For federal IT managers, that big thing is the cloud. Federal agencies have busily pursued cloud solutions since December 2010, when the government adopted its "Cloud First" policy, requiring agencies to give priority consideration to cloud technologies.
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Federal IT Managers Get New Tools for Hammering Out Innovations May 02, 2012 
E-Commerce buzz words sound great in theory, but innovation often founders on the shoals of "getting there from here" as IT managers slog through the details of converting to new systems and programs. Federal agencies have been turning to shared services, data consolidation, commodity IT and, especially, the cloud. Directives to reform IT have been flying out of the OMB at regular intervals for the past 18 months.
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Salesforce.com Reaches for Bigger Slice of Government Cloud Pie April 25, 2012 
Salesforce.com has unveiled a new series of cloud computing initiatives for the government user base -- a highly lucrative niche for tech vendors, especially those that can present their products in a budget-friendly light. The new offerings, bundled under the name "Government Cloud," include a dedicated, multitenant instance of Salesforce.com's cloud infrastructure, a new AppExchange for the Government, and a Salesforce Government Partner Accelerator Program.
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Tech Industry Coalition Seeks More Government Transparency April 24, 2012 
President Obama initiated an Open Government program on his second day in office, pledging to make government information more accessible to the public. Three years later, that program has achieved significant success in many forums. However, the effort of making more federal information even more accessible is a continuing one that seems to get more challenging every year.
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US Agency Takes 'Private' Approach to Streamlining IT Procurement April 14, 2012 
Information technology vendors seeking business from the federal government are well advised to keep an eye on the requirements of big agencies such as the Department of Justice or the Department of Homeland Security. Within big departments, there are big components -- such as the Food and Drug Administration or the Bureau of the Census.
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Vendors Must Deal With More Federal 'Commodity' IT Purchasing April 10, 2012 
Federal agencies will be moving significant portions of their annual IT spending to "commodity" type procurement vehicles by the end of 2012. As part of continuing reforms in IT acquisition and management, the White House Office of Management and Budget has directed agencies to immediately begin the process of consolidating IT procurement, with a focus on shared service arrangements.
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Federal Agencies Struggle With Protecting IT Supply Chain April 03, 2012 
Managers of information technology systems in both the private and public sectors have had their hands full dealing with security breaches that come from hackers invading IT systems. Increasingly, however, IT systems are becoming vulnerable from another channel -- the actual supply chain sources of both hardware equipment and software programs. Federal agencies are just as vulnerable as commercial enterprises to supply chain security breaches.
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Telework Growth Spurt Drives Feds' Hunger for Mobile Tech March 27, 2012 
The market for mobile information technology will grow sharply in the next few years as employers increasingly embrace both "at home" telework solutions and the use of other remote access capabilities, including smartphones and tablets. In a February forecast on mobile data traffic, Cisco Systems predicted that such traffic will grow at a compound annual rate of 74 percent in the U.S. between 2011 and 2016.
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Federal Telework Initiative Not Quite There Yet March 20, 2012 
The notion that the U.S. government workforce is a huge, deskbound bureaucracy is the typical stereotype, but that vision is only part true. The federal workforce is huge, and it may be well be bureaucratic -- but federal workers are not always deskbound. Many federal jobs require mobility. Agricultural and industrial inspectors, Border Patrol agents, tax and financial examiners come to mind.
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The Cloud Computing Paradigm Shift Is Bigger Than IT March 13, 2012 
Information technology leaders in the U.S. government have been promoting cloud technologies for more than a year. In December 2010, the federal chief information officer launched an IT reform plan that required agencies to start adopting cloud technologies. At the time, some agencies had already implemented cloud solutions, and since then many others have initiated cloud programs.
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Feds to Keep IT Revenue Stream Flowing March 06, 2012 
Vendors can at least count on one big customer to provide a steady stream of revenue for the next year or two: the U.S. government. Federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel has been promoting the idea that when it comes to IT, the federal government must "do more with less." But the Obama administration's budget for 2013 basically proposes that federal agencies do more with the same.
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Google Hires Headliner to Direct Government Relations February 28, 2012 
Google has hired veteran lobbyist and former member of Congress Susan Molinari to represent the company. Molinari served as a Republican member of the House of Representatives from New York between 1990 and 1997. Since then, she has represented major businesses as a lobbyist. Molinari, who will be based in Washington, D.C., will become Vice President of Public Policy and Government Relations for the Americas.
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Federal Virtualization Business: Let the Vendor Clawing and Scratching Begin February 21, 2012 
"We are seizing on the power of 21st century technology to consolidate data centers and moving to lightweight, shareable technologies, such as cloud computing, while also directing agencies to consolidate commodity IT services, and shift to shared services," said Federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel.
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Federal IT Reform: It's All About Virtualization February 14, 2012 
Federal agencies charged with improving the efficiency of information technology operations are embracing data consolidation, the cloud and mobile devices. One of the major factors involved in these efforts is the use of virtualization technologies that enhance the productivity of computer operating systems. Federal agencies are now under the gun to drastically reduce the number or government data centers.
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US Offers $10M to Jump-Start ID Security Tech Research February 07, 2012 
Identity theft and privacy breaches are reported almost daily. For example, last month two utilities in New York reported that an employee of a software contractor allowed unauthorized access to a database containing social security, date of birth and other information. That same day the DoJ reported the arrest of three women in California for engaging in a scheme to use stolen identities to illegally collect tax refunds.
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Federal CIO Aims to Goose US Agencies Into Mobile-izing January 31, 2012 
The sharp growth in the use of smartphones and tablets has spurred the U.S. government to keep pace with the private sector in the use of mobile devices. While federal agencies have been incorporating mobile technology for several years, the rate of adoption could be -- and should be -- far greater, contends Steven VanRoekel, the federal government's chief information officer.
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Guardians of the Grid: Agencies Unite to Bulk Up Utility Cybersecurity January 24, 2012 
It's one thing to have a computer system at a major bank, retailer or government agency invaded by cybercriminals. At best, such hacking incidents cause minor annoyances, and at worst, they result in high-cost privacy invasions. But what if the hackers get into the power systems that make the entire Internet possible?
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