One thing many consumers and enterprise CTOs agree on is the strong desire for more speed to our mobile devices. Consumers want it for the tremendous voice, video and data options and the applications those empower. Enterprise IT wants it for the same reason plus the continual desire to derive competitive advantage. And both want more access to the "cloud" and the many capabilities being delivered from afar. So for many reasons we all try to track … [Read more...]
Code for America: Great people doing great things
July 29, 2010 By
Code for America is a great project with an exciting mission. They exist to help bring programming and technical talent, especially web2.0 talent, to the issues and challenges facing city governments. You are no doubt aware that cities are under great financial pressure. And we citizens of cities are as well, which means the odds of significant new IT money for most cities is really scant. It is time to look for new ways to empower our cities with … [Read more...]
Google Announces Apps for Government: More choices for gov CTO/CIOs.
July 26, 2010 By
I remember 3 years ago having a conversation with Vint Cerf and Lewis Shepherd about federal data in the Google Cloud. Lewis and I both shared what we believed to be key obstacles Google would have to surmount before gaining widespread acceptance of their cloud capabilities by US feds. In my opinion, today's announcements by Google are certainly welcome enhancements, and I'm sure their service in the federal space will improve because of this. But … [Read more...]
Azure Cloud Platform Deployable to Enterprises
July 12, 2010 By
Monday 12 July 2010, Microsoft announced and released a new version of its Windows Azure platform which will operate as an appliance. This platform, which is supported by a strong partner community (including Dell, Fujitsu and HP), provides enhanced means for enterprises to run cloud services, either internally or for their own customers. This is not, in my opinion, just your basic run of the mill IT news. At least not to technologists who track and … [Read more...]
Enhance your security posture
July 8, 2010 By
With this post I would like to provide some personal thoughts on the key things organizations should be doing to enhance security, privacy and functionality of their IT. This includes some specific recommendations for security solutions, including solutions I'm on advisory boards for (read the disclaimer). So I better caveat this by saying "please use your own judgement!" I associate myself with firms because I believe they are world class best … [Read more...]
Pros and Cons: Cyber Command
July 6, 2010 By
Even before the U.S. Cyber Command stood up there was wide-ranging speculation about what the command would do, the authorities it would be granted, and the powers it would wield. No amount of insight from those with knowledge of the command will be enough to assuage the concerns of those who feel such an organization – and more specifically its intimate links with an intelligence agency – is a threat to liberty online and in general. Two of the … [Read more...]
The Federal Technology Events Calendar
July 4, 2010 By
If your focus is on Federal IT you have no doubt long realized there are an incredible number of conferences and events in this domain. In August 2009 we established the Federal Technology Events Calendar, and we are still maintaining that as a reference and an aid to long range planning. Since then we have found another great reference site to government events, called GovEvents.com . We strongly recommend anyone building a schedule of future events … [Read more...]