Wyatt Kash

 

Posts by Wyatt Kash

Big Data Tradeoffs: What Agencies Need To Know – NIST’s Peter Mell

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The power of big data – like cloud computing and mobility – has emerged as a transformational technology force, but one that poses a host of planning questions for senior government agency officials. Peter Mell, a senior computer scientist for the National Institute of Standards and Technology, devoted many months assessing the potential and the pitfalls of big data for NIST. He recently shared what he learned and what executives need to understand about big data in an interview with AOL Government’s Wyatt Kash.

Mell outlined some of the misunderstandings and tradeoffs associated with large scale data sets agencies are likely to encounter as they move beyond classic relational databases. He also talked about the importance cloud computing plays in facilitating big data analytics. And he shared with our readers a comprehensive slide presentation that puts many of the questions about big data and related security implications into perspective. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 12, 2012 at 9:00 AM

Cyber Chief Alexander Issues Call For Action; Outlines Who Does What

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The nation’s top military cyber commander offered his version of how government and military agencies are likely to work together when America suffers cyber attacks, and warned that industry needs to take a greater role.

“We have laid out lanes of the road,” Gen. Keith Alexander, commander of Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency said, sketching them out in broad terms for an audience of security professionals yesterday at a symposium in Washington sponsored by Symantec. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 8, 2012 at 3:00 PM

Cyber Priorities Still Trump Big Data, Cloud And Mobile, Study Finds

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Federal information technology professionals are confronted with a management landscape that is perhaps as complex as any have seen in a generation.

That’s due in part to the convergence of three transformational technologies – cloud computing, mobile devices and big data analytics. The benefits of each technology are generally expected to outweigh many of the associated challenges of implementing them. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 5, 2012 at 3:00 PM

Oregon Testing Windows 8 Tablets For Disabled Voters

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Last fall, Oregon became the first state in the nation to utilize tablet technology in elections. Now in the state’s latest technology move, Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown has arranged to provide Samsung Series 7 PC tablets, featuring the Windows 8 operating system, to be used by Oregon voters with disabilities in Tuesday’s general election.

“Specifically, in this pilot project, Oregon voters with disabilities will be encouraged to test their own accessibility devices with the brand-new technology that should increase the use and confidence in our accessible voting system,” said Secretary Brown. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 5, 2012 at 8:30 AM

Gadgets Answer Key Election Questions: Where Do I Go? Who’s On My Ballot?

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This week, millions of voters will confront not only the decision of who to vote for, but also the more mundane questions of where and when to vote, whether they need to bring identification, and who or what exactly will be on the ballot.

Despite the march of technology that makes that information available online to more and more people, finding the correct information for a given voting district has been a continuing challenge for veteran and prospective voters alike, as well as state and local election officials. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 5, 2012 at 8:00 AM

Staring Over Financial Cliff: Preparing For IT Budget Cuts Across The Board

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With sequestration looming, and 2013 federal IT spending requests having have dropped $1 billion over fiscal year 2012 levels, contracting dollars especially for IT are expected to come under intense scrutiny, and in many cases get shuffled to meet changing needs next year.

Those who follow federal IT spending are already aware that the fiscal 2013 federal IT budget request is approximately $78.9 billion, down from the prior year’s $79.7 billion. However, Congress’ continuing resolution and potential sequestration are likely to lower IT spending to between $73 to $74 billion. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 2, 2012 at 1:15 PM

New Guide To Tech Titans And Tech Threats On Capitol Hill

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How well members of Congress truly understand how technology is transforming the way America works – and drives much of the U.S. economy – is a matter of frequent debate.

Despite the relentless march of technology groups upon Capitol Hill to explain the mounting cost of intellectual property theft from cybersecurity breaches, the impact of big data analytics, or why cloud computing services are changing the procurement of IT, it seems too few members of Congress actually get what the fuss is about.

Who gets it and who doesn’t maybe a little easier to gauge, thanks to a new “Technology Policy” report card launched by TechCrunch.

TechCrunch is best known for profiling startups, reviewing new Internet products and breaking technology news – and as a matter of disclosure, is owned by AOL (which publishes Breaking Gov, Breaking Defense and Breaking Energy). The website’s editors, however, get to see how public policy impacts technology innovators, and thus hope to shine a brighter light on the matter, says Greg Ferenstein, with a new section on the site called CrunchGov.

The score card, which is powered by the Sunlight Foundation, is more a measure of where politicians stand on issues that affect the technology industry as a whole, according to Ferenstein, rather than on their breadth of understanding of how technology is rewiring the way American business – and even government agencies – work.

Even then, notes Ken Wasch, president of the Software & Information Industry Association, “The tech industry is awfully broad..and includes all kinds of interests.” He cites just a few of the issues his members are focusing on, including the evolution of “first sale, grey market, reimportation,” and the Kirtsaeng copyright issue.

That notwithstanding, TechCrunch plans to grade each member of the House of Representatives (and a few selected members of the Senate for now) on how closely their voting aligns with three core issues deemed to align with “the consensus of interests” of the technology industry: Immigration, crowdfunding and an open Internet. Details about the methodology and grading system can be found on their FAQ page.

Among those deemed to be Tech Titans are: Representatives Eric Cantor (R) VA; Anna Eshoo (D) CA; Mike Grimm (R) NY; Darrell Issa (R) CA; and Zoe Lofgren (D) CA

And among those deemed to be Tech Threats are: Representatives Lamar Smith (R) TX; Marsha Blackburn (R) TN; and Sen. Charles Grassley (R) IA.


Cybersecurity champions, such as Rep. Mike Rogers (R) MI for instance, earned a B rating, despite their clear-minded advocacy for advancing the use of technology.

The website is similarly beginning to build a legislative database, recognizing that “tech policy is more than just piracy and immigration reform: it’s tax reform, STEM education, cybersecurity, privacy, patent rights, broadband expansion, libel law, wireless spectrum – not to mention all of the local policies, such as taxi and hotel regulation, wreaking havoc on startups,” says Ferenstein.

The database is expected to catalog tech legislation, with links to news stories, and a list of who supports and opposes the legislation. But to complement that, the site is also attempting to build a crowd-sourced “public markup utility” called Project Madison, which aims to get users to provide feedback to pending legislation.

“We hope that better ideas can facilitate bi-partisan agreement on otherwise doomed bills and avoid the unintended consequences of poorly crafted laws,” said Ferenstein.

 /  Published November 1, 2012 at 2:00 PM

EPA To Move 25,000 Employees To Microsoft Collaboration Cloud

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has contracted with Lockheed Martin and Microsoft to migrate the email and collaboration systems supporting approximately 25,000 employees to Microsoft’s cloud-based Office 365 system, according to a joint announcement released by Lockheed Martin and Microsoft today.

The collaboration and communication service is expected to improve EPA employees’ access to communications and mobility tools and result in expected savings of $12 million over the four-year contract period. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 31, 2012 at 11:01 AM

Google Offers Mashup Lessons For Hurricane Sandy Disaster WebSites

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The National Weather Service, FEMA, and other federal agencies have come along way in using the Internet and mobile applications to inform and interact with citizens during natural disasters.

The ability of agencies and other relief organizations to rally during a crisis, however, is frequently hamstrung by technical and organizational challenges that inevitably arise in the midst of the crises. Large volumes of traffic can overwhelm or crash websites. Key personnel may themselves be unable to access networks remotely due to the impact of disasters. And data sources can also get backlogged. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 29, 2012 at 11:45 AM

Memo To Incoming Leaders: Think Virtual Reorganization And Turbocharged IT

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The federal government is on the brink of a perfect storm of management challenges. For better or worse, that also presents the nation’s leaders with an opportunity to dramatically reshape how it delivers services, in part by embracing digital technology in new and more powerful ways.

Either way, national leaders moving into new positions at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue in the coming few weeks will have to look seriously at real and “virtual” ways of reorganizing federal bureaucracies, say a group of public administration experts. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 25, 2012 at 7:46 PM
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