The explosion of mobile devices and technologies can be overwhelming to many organizations, especially federal agencies concerned with saving money through increased efficiency while maintaining network security.
A newly released desktop virtualization system focused on the government sector seeks to resolve these issues by providing a scalable, secure, end-to-end capability that can allow organizations to manage a variety of devices across networks. Keep reading →
One of the many extraordinary aspects of NASA’s successful landing of the Curiosity rover onto the surface of Mars Aug. 5 was ensuring the spacecraft had the information it would need to make its own decisions in the final moments of its descent without any help from mission controllers at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. And at least some of the credit can be attributed to the advanced work of two earthbound high performance computing systems called Nebula and Galaxy.
“What’s most nerve-racking is that the first time Curiosity goes through the whole landing sequence is on Mars,” said Ben Cichy, JPL’s chief software engineer for the Mars Science Laboratory, which includes the Curiosity rover and its scientific instruments. “By the time we heard about it, it was already over.” Keep reading →
A new, enterprise-class IT backbone in a box has become the latest solution for a highly digitized U.S. military and first responders to access tactical data networks quickly and maintain connectivity wherever they are.
Developed to operate in a variety of environments where infrastructure is lacking or nonexistent, Dell’s Tactical Mobile Data Center (TMDC), is a completely customizable, air deployable data center that can be loaded onto transport planes, ships, trucks or slung under helicopters. Keep reading →
A new computing device could revolutionize mobile federal computing. It’s super thin, has a potential battery life of close to nine hours, an ultra high resolution screen and a glass touchpad. It boots in seconds, has 4G connectivity, and it’s all wrapped in carbon fiber and aluminum for lightness and ruggedness.
It’s made by Dell. Keep reading →
The American Red Cross, borrowing an approach used successfully by Dell, launched what’s being billed as the first social media-based operations center devoted to humanitarian relief.
The Digital Operations Center, located in the Red Cross National Disaster Operations Center in Washington, D.C., expands the Red Cross’ ability to engage with the public during emergencies. The new operations center, which Dell help fund and design, is modeled after Dell’s Social Media Listening Command Center, where Dell personnel monitor what customers are saying online about Dell and try to remedy customer issues proactively. Keep reading →
Consider this: At the beginning of the day you’ve got two computing devices sitting in front of you, a laptop and an iPad. Which do you turn to first?
The laptop’s undoubtedly more powerful, but to use it, you’ll likely need to press the power button, wait a few minutes for it to fire up, wait a few more minutes for various programs to load, then take a few more minutes to find what you’re looking for. The iPad, on the other hand, sips energy ever so slowly and hardly ever needs to be powered down. Everything is easily accessible with the touch of a finger, and apps launch almost instantaneously. And, as portable as the laptop is, the iPad is even more so. Keep reading →
The Department of Defense has taken on the challenge of determining the safest, most appropriate way to deploy modern smartphones to warfighters while maintaining information security.
The consumerization of IT phenomenon–in particular with smartphones–has indeed posed unique challenges to U.S. federal government IT departments. While users would like to take advantage of the smart gadgets that they often also use for private use, there are substantial Information Assurance (IA) concerns regarding the use of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) initiatives. Issues of authentication, authorization, accounting and auditing are paramount. Keep reading →
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) is no stranger to the government technology community. As founder and managing director of Columbia Capital, a venture capital firm, he helped found or invest in a number of technology companies, including Nextel.
So it was a logical leap when Warner reached out to the Northern Virginia Technology Council in 2010, asking for recommendations for remedying the major record-keeping deficiencies discovered at Arlington National Cemetery. Keep reading →
The U.S. Government receives its share of jabs for being a belated adopter of technology. Federal officials have taken many steps — and some missteps –in recent years, however, to reverse that reputation.
Some of those steps were examined in depth on the Sept. 8 episode of “Federal Spending” as analysts explored how federal IT is trying to be more innovative with public portals, data center consolidation and encouraging cloud adoption. Keep reading →
Hewlett-Packard’s announcement on Aug. 18 that it planned to abandon tablets and smart phones, and explore a possible sale of its PC business in favor of software and services led many on Wall Street to question the company’s grand strategy and future valuation.
But throughout the federal government, where the world’s largest IT company is also one of the two most popular providers of desktop computers, the three main questions on the minds of IT managers are: will a decision by HP to sell its Personal Systems Group (PSG) impact my agency? Will my HP desktop investment look dramatically different in the near future? And, should federal IT decision makers be nervous about HP’s drastic change of course? Keep reading →