The new digital government strategy released Wednesday by the Office of Management and Budget covers a wide range of initiatives that go beyond what Federal CIO Steve VanRoekel initially proposed at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, during which he declared that 2012 would be the year of mobility in government.
In the flurry of releases that accompanied this morning’s announcement of the new digital strategy was VanRoekel’s own take on the importance and role of mobile technology in government. Keep reading →
Federal CIO Steve VanRoekel is expected to release the details this week of a long-awaited digital strategy document, laying out his vision and direction for how federal agencies should expect to use information and mobile technologies moving into the future.
Agency CIOs and others who’ve seen the document aren’t saying what’s in it. And VanRoekel didn’t tip his hand Sunday evening during a keynote speech to a group of government and contracting executives gathered in Baltimore to attend the Government Information Technology Executive Council (GITEC) summit. Keep reading →
Verizon’s plans to eliminate unlimited use plans should accelerate the federal government’s push to leverage Uncle Sam’s buying power to get lower prices and enhanced services from the carriers and the device manufacturers, a federal IT marketplace expert said Friday.
According to a CNET report, Verizon Wireless officials on Thursday clarified plans to discontinue unlimited data plans, saying customers could keep their existing unlimited data plans if they keep their existing device or buy a new device at the full retail cost of the smartphone. In other words, the report states, if a customer renews a contract and purchases a subsidized phone, they would lose the option to keep the unlimited plan. Keep reading →
The explosive growth of data emerging from social media, mobile applications and other sources is creating new challenges in terms of how to harness and obtain value from it.
The federal government’s recently announced $200 Million Big Data Research and Development Initiative is prompting new and higher profile attention from industry on how to better address the explosion of big data.
The latest example is the decision by TechAmerica Foundation, announced late last week, to create an expert commission on the big data issues.
“Big Data is one of the biggest issues that the technology industry has to tackle in the near term and we want to bring together the leading thinkers on the issue to provide the path forward,” said Jennifer Kerber, President of the TechAmerica Foundation.
Kerber cited the fact that more than 90% of the data that has ever existed was created in the past two years, according to a report in Fortune Magazine. Yet, the notion of what actually constitutes big data from the ongoing flood of information, and what new opportunities are emerging around big data, remains vague and not well understood, she said.
With the world’s data doubling every 18 months, the real question is how to make intelligent decisions based on that data, and that’s a question that is critical for government and industry to answer, she said.
The government of course has been dealing with big data issues for many years and has a variety of major initiatives already underway.
But the explosive growth of data emerging from social media, mobile applications, machine sensors and other sources is creating new challenges in terms of how to harness and obtain value from it.
Kerber said the new commission will seek to explore what capabilities are required to succeed with big data; how to use big data to make intelligent decisions; how will agencies effectively govern and secure huge volumes of information, while protecting privacy and civil liberties; and what value will it really deliver to the U.S. Government and U.S. citizens.
The TechAmerica Foundation said it is currently accepting applications for commissioners.
Citizens in seven leading countries suggest that the gap between government and the private sector is narrowing when it comes to delivering services electronically, according to a newly-released study.
Though the research reaffirms that governments have more work to do-and that some nations, such as Singapore, are much farther along than others in serving citizens electronically-the study’s findings also suggest that governments have come farther in their game of catch up with the private sector than many observers have suspected. Keep reading →
Mobile technology has joined cybersecurity, controlling costs, human capital and central agency policy on the list of top concerns that keep federal chief information officers awake at night, according to a newly-released survey of federal chief information officers released today by the trade group TechAmerica.
Based on in-depth interviews with more than 40 federal CIOs and their deputies, the latest annual survey finds that cybersecurity ranks as the Number 1 concern for CIOs this year, even as budget constraints now dictate how CIOs are moving forward to meet agency IT demands. Keep reading →
Verizon is teaming up with a Vienna, Va., provider of government-grade encrypted voice-calling software to deliver secure mobile calling capabilities to the U.S. government.
In what Verizon described as a collaborative strategic agreement with Cellcrypt, the two companies expect to release a jointly marketed mobile voice-encryption solution this fall designed to meet the needs of military, intelligence and civilian agencies. Keep reading →
An annual study of internet security vulnerabilities released today concluded that “2011 was the first year that mobile malware presented a tangible threat to businesses and consumers.”
The findings, released by Symantec Corp., showed that mobile vulnerabilities nearly doubled, increading by 93% in 2011, with a particular rise in threats targeting the Android operating system. Keep reading →
The convergence of several rapidly evolving technologies is creating new potential for innovation at federal agencies, a group of senior government officials said at a technology and innovation forum held in Washington, D.C., April 24.
The accelerating adoption of cloud computing strategies, the consumerization and commoditization of IT, the integration of mobile devices and applications in the workplace, the rise of social media, and the need to process exponentially greater volumes of data are each unleashing new and more cost effective ways to work, the officials said. Keep reading →
The epic shift to cloud computing and need to process massive volumes of data are spurring a high-stakes race to build global data center capacity while making information available on whatever kind of device consumers want it, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told a group of Northern Virginia technology executives Thursday.
“We need to think of data center capacity in real time,” he said, as part of Microsoft’s broader bet that businesses and government will use a combination of public and private clouds in the future, Ballmer said. He made comment in a series of wide ranging remarks about how technology is changing and the implications that will have for individuals, businesses, and government during an industry breakfast in McLean, Va., hosted by the Northern Virginia Technology Council. Keep reading →