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The federal CIO has no authority outside the Office of Management and Budget. While he can evangelize the ideas he had about open-source and cloud-based computing, U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra had no means by which he could actually require such changes.
DoD IT Budget: Nearly $40 Billion Requested
If your CFO revealed that you’d have more than $38 billion to spend on your IT department or systems, you’d think you just received the equivalent of a blank check, right? Well, that's the amount requested by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) for fiscal-year 2012. Before you let your imagination take wing, however, this report from INPUT/Deltek Information Systems puts it all in perspective. Despite the hefty dollar amount, the report reveals that the DoD is firmly focused on increasing IT efficiencies and consolidation in a challenging funding environment. In other words: Military CIOs and IT departments face the same budget struggles as CIOs and IT leaders in private sector. In particular, DoD agencies are being directed to pursue efficiency and consolidation initiatives in the areas of service-oriented architecture, command-and-control network systems and “green” technology. In the end, given the pure scale of our military agencies, that $38 billion is hardly a windfall. “Tight budgets facilitate efficiency, in that [they force] prioritization,” says Deniece Peterson, senior manager of federal industry analysis within Deltek’s INPUT business unit. “However, some of the prerequisites for deploying solutions to drive efficiency -- such as cloud computing -- require significant work to standardize the DoD’s IT environment, all with security still in mind.” Here are selected highlights from the report.
New York City: The IT Infrastructure That Never Sleeps
A new 18,000-square-foot consolidated data center will enable the City to centralize the technology infrastructure of 40 agencies by the end of 2014.
Federal Investment in Cyber Security to Reach $13.3 Billion by 2015
A recent INPUT report, “Federal Information Security Market, 2010-2015,” predicts that federal investment in information security will rise from $8.6 billion in 2010 to $13.3 billion by 2015 at a compound annual growth rate of 9.1 percent, nearly twice the rate of overall federal IT spending. “There is a general consensus that the government has a lot of work to do to address weaknesses in its cyber security,” says INPUT principal analyst John Slye. “Over the last year, federal agencies have seen a 78 percent growth in cyber incidents. This demand for increased information security is greater than any other current technology, leaving it more immune to the recent federal budget cuts.” Key drivers for the expected increase in investment in information security include a 445 percent increase in cyber security incidents since 2006, a shortage of qualified security professionals, and an increasingly complex and interconnected technology environment. “While agencies continue to make incremental progress toward secure infrastructures, a lack of leadership, ambiguous roles, technical challenge, and workforce shortages inhibit the federal government from developing and implementing a cohesive, well-formed national cyber security strategy,” says INPUT principal analyst Angie Petty. “This creates a large opportunity for vendors to bring their combined agency knowledge and operational security expertise to the market.”
Presidential Initiative Would Double Broadband Spectrum
President Obama signed an initiative to nearly double the amount of available commercial and federal broadband spectrum for mobile devices, the White House reported.
Federal Trade Commission and Intel in Talks to Settle Antitrust Lawsuit
Intel and the Federal Trade Commission have suspended legal proceedings related to the lawsuit filed by the federal regulators against the chip maker while the two sides try to negotiate a settlement.
IT Spending Priorities in Local Government
Even as state and local government spending continues to get squeezed by the Great Recession and its aftermath, demand for information technology is growing in the public sector. Among the top priorities for state and local IT decision-makers are justice, public safety, and education, according to INPUT, a top government-focused IT industry tracker.
Virtualized Bureaucracy
So, just how efficient is a bureaucrat in the data center? No, that isn’t the beginning to a great joke. It is a question posed by CDW Government in its most recent survey on virtualization within federal agencies, across the civilian and defense spectrum. The company questioned 377 government IT managers in April, compiling the results in its 2009 Federal Virtualization Report released in mid-June.
Understanding Governance, Risk and Compliance
Aberdeen Group conducted a comprehensive study of 130 enterprises regarding their attitudes and practices surrounding governance, risk and compliance (GRC) initiatives. This slideshow highlights findings from Aberdeen’s wrap-up report, IT GRC: Managing Risk, Improving Visibility, and Reducing Operating Costs, by analyst Derek Brink. One detail: the GRC acronym has things out of order; Aberdeen says enterprises emphasize compliance first, IT governance next and risk management last.
Obama's Triad Takes on Government IT
How the Obama administration’s CIO, CTO and CPO -- an all-star lineup facing prodigious challenges -- can transform government IT.
Patent Reform Battle Shifts to Senate
Backed by the IT industry, the bill narrowly defines willful infringement and limits damages to the actual value of the technology.
IT Problems Hinder Data Sites That Combat Terrorism
Fusion centers are rife with problems, House subcommittee is told redundant information and poor integration cited.
Pressure Increases, but CIOs Still Struggle to Stop Identity Theft
Data theft laws are gaining traction on Capitol Hill. But will the upcoming legislation do any good?
Recipe for Foolproof Encryption
To create a virtually foolproof encryption program, begin with desktop computers and the network to which they are connected.
Unifying Health IT Bill Filed in Senate
The Clinton-Frist bill would arrange for shared health information, increased interoperability of software and equipment, and the accreditation of regional health networks.
Health IT M A Grows in Q1
Since the first quarter of 2004, the number of deals has increased by almost half. Still, most health IT merger and acquisition transactions remain relatively small.
Entrepreneurs Set Their Sights on Flight
Air-taxi service is being built around a new class of aircraft that has benefited from the involvement and investment of tech industry executives; still others are pursuing independent efforts to build manned spacecraft.
Public Companies Find SarbOx Compliance Expensive
Costs of complying with Section 404 are higher than anticipated, says an FEI survey, but will they decrease in the future?
Patents Cast Shadow on Future Development
Opinion: Software patents are a temptation; temptation leads to stagnation; stagnation leads to the Dark Side.