Dan Verton

 

Posts by Dan Verton

What HP’s Restructuring Means To Federal IT

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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 →

 /  Published August 31, 2011 at 9:01 AM

Ex DHS Secretary Says Border Can Be Secured Despite Budget Crunch

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The nation’s first Secretary of Homeland Security says the border can be secured using commercially available technologies, and that the Department of Homeland Security’s failed multibillion-dollar contract with Boeing Co. to build an electronic border fence ran counter to the legislation that created the DHS in the first place.

Tom Ridge, who served in that role under President George W. Bush, recently praised the Department of Homeland Security for putting an end in January to Boeing Co.’s multibillion-dollar contract for the Secure Border Initiative (SBInet). After nearly five years and $1 billion in taxpayer funding, the deal netted a mere 28-mile prototype and a 53-mile permanent segment of electronic sensors in Arizona. According to Ridge, the effort failed in large part because it did not leverage commercially available technology. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 26, 2011 at 7:01 AM

Feds Exchange Blunt Advice For Reducing Cost of Government

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Cloud computing, telework and data center consolidation–and a cross section of senior federal IT officials–took center stage at a conference yesterday to discuss ways to use information technology to reduce the total cost of government.

While nobody was willing to predict how the federal budget crunch was likely to impact specific government IT programs, most agreed that cloud computing, telework and data center consolidation are the three major initiatives that federal CIOs and managers must come to terms with in the coming budget cycle. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 25, 2011 at 4:41 PM

Ridge Blasts Public Safety Wireless Battle; Calls Congress’ Inaction ‘A Bloody Outrage’

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The nation’s first Secretary of Homeland Security said Congress has “failed” America’s first responders by not acting on legislation that would dedicate wireless communications spectrum to a nationwide, interoperable, public safety network and said it is unlikely anything will pass before the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

“It’s wrong. It’s really wrong for them to have failed these first responders,” said Tom Ridge, appointed by President George W. Bush shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 to lead the homeland security effort, and who subsequently became America’s first Secretary of Homeland Security in 2003. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 19, 2011 at 9:45 AM

DHS Unveils New Strategies For IT Risk Management

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As the number and sophistication of cyber attacks targeting government agencies and large private enterprise continue to increase, the Department of Homeland Security has released new risk management strategies for the nation’s critical IT infrastructure.

The strategies were released last month in an effort to raise awareness and help public and private enterprises better understand and respond to emerging threats and vulnerabilities. Specifically, they pertain to products and services, incident management and Internet routing and were developed in cooperation with the private sector-led Information Technology Sector Coordinating Council. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 10, 2011 at 2:00 PM

DHS Pushes Partnerships, But Management Concerns Linger

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Since the failed response to hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Department of Homeland Security has been fighting a pitched battle to restore the American people’s faith and confidence that it can prepare for, manage and respond to disasters and terrorist attacks like an integrated, effective, well-managed enterprise.

The department’s latest effort came on Aug. 3 when it brought out Secretary Janet Napolitano, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administrator Craig Fugate, and former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge for a round of keynote speeches promoting public-private partnerships at an event hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 9, 2011 at 2:00 PM

Smart Grid Privacy And Security Risks Loom For Agencies

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The effort to modernize America’s electric grid is well underway, with nearly $8 billion in federal funding since 2009 and states across the country hastening to deploy everything from electronic smart meters for homes to regional sensors capable of detecting and responding to power outages.

But major privacy and security problems for the smart grid effort could be on the horizon and present a host of challenges to federal agencies, according to multiple smart grid technology and policy experts. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 4, 2011 at 10:30 AM

High Tech Van Gives Enforcement Agents Network Access From Just About Anywhere

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While the White House and Congress squared-off last month on how best to solve the problems facing first responder communications, a team of IT experts at McLean, Va.-based MorganFranklin unveiled a new mobile communications vehicle that is already helping a major component of the Department of Homeland Security operate in places where IT infrastructure either does not reach or does not exist.

In an exclusive tour of the new Mobile Communications Vehicle, designed to custom specifications for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE), the team at MorganFranklin showed Breaking Gov how they have integrated a wide variety of IT and communications systems to effectively expand the agency’s enterprise network to any geographic location in which it needs to operate – even those where there is little or no infrastructure in place. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 1, 2011 at 11:01 AM

Budget Crisis Threatens DHS Tech Innovation

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If the fiscal 2012 Homeland Security Appropriations bill now under consideration in the Senate becomes law, it would slash research and development funding by 81%, effectively ending the Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology Directorate’s ability to innovate across a multitude of critical technology areas.

That’s the warning from Paul Benda, the newly-appointed Director of the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency (HSARPA). Keep reading →

 /  Published July 26, 2011 at 11:00 AM

Battle For Public Safety Airwaves Rages On A Decade After 9/11

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The fight to obtain additional wireless communications spectrum capable of providing police, firemen and emergency managers with the same capabilities most 15 year-olds have on their smart phones has been ongoing since the attacks of September 11, 2001, when outdated radios prevented firefighters and police from communicating evacuation orders. Hundreds died because they could not hear those orders.

And while little has changed in the decade since then, the Obama Administration last month publicly announced its support to transfer a swath of wireless spectrum known as the D block to first responder agencies for the purpose of building a nationwide, interoperable wireless public safety network – a key recommendation of the 9/11 Commission. Keep reading →

 /  Published July 19, 2011 at 2:01 PM
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