PENTAGON: The Army showed off an impressive array of battlefield wi-fi gadgetry today in the Pentagon courtyard, exhibiting new-found realism about what gadgets it might not need.
Consider the hardware to connect the individual foot soldier to the brigade-wide command network, which has been stripped down from a 14-pound prototype to a militarized smartphone plugged into a handheld radio. Keep reading →
Environmental Protection Agency Chief information Officer Malcolm Jackson has embarked on a six-month, rapid-deployment plan to contract and implement a new email and collaboration platform to help improve work processes for EPA employees.
“We’re ripping the Band-aid off,” declared Jackson, acknowledging the initiative “is aggressive; it’s really aggressive.” Keep reading →
The Defense Department’s release of a new mobile device strategy late last week provides a revealing snapshot of how much work lies ahead for Defense officials in rationalizing the rapid adoption of smartphones, tablets, and mobile devices across the Department. It also highlights the urgent challenge to secure the use of those devices on Defense networks – even if it fell short of describing how and when DoD planned to tackle ongoing security concerns.
While the new strategy is seen as “a huge step forward,” as Jeff Sorenson, former U.S. Army/G-6 CIO and now partner at AT Kearney, sees it, it also also reflects the continuing gap that exists between DoD’s ability to integrate commercial mobile technology compared to other, faster-moving organizations. Keep reading →
About one of every two laptop users, according to a new survey, is unaware of the possibility that a hacker can remotely access and control web camera technology – allowing cybercriminals to secretly watch and record activities near a user’s machine.
“It is alarming that high numbers of women (who are the primary caregivers of children) and young people (who spend a significant amount of time using their laptops) do not know their webcams can be easily hacked,” said Dr. Ruby A. Rouse, who conducted the study. More than 6 in 10 women were unaware of the risk, compared to 40% of men. Additionally, 57% of Generation Y study participants were unaware of the risk, she said. Keep reading →
When Roger Baker, the chief information officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs, looks at the challenge of managing mobile technology, he sees more than the task of moving data securely to the tablets and smartphones used by the department’s nearly 280,000 doctors and employees.
Sounding more like a brand manager than a CIO, Baker said that the bigger challenge is managing the department’s mobile applications – and more specifically, the experience veterans and employees encounter when they use them. Keep reading →
With federal agencies and departments developing a myriad of mobile applications for citizens, and agency employees, the government should be moving to develop application tools that are platform agnostic and have multiple uses, according to Dr. Rick Holgate, who played a leading role in developing the mobility recommendations in the government’s new digital strategy.
The new digital government strategy, released May 23 by the Office of Management and Budget, accompanied by a memorandum from the White House, is designed to give agencies a roadmap on how to embrace and optimize use of digital technology. It combines earlier efforts on the government’s original mobility strategy and a lesser-known web reform strategy, said Holgate, CIO of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Keep reading →
Perhaps it was inevitable. With all the computing power in the palms of a critical mass of end users, commercial off the shelf (COTS) mobile devices – smartphones, tablets and small factor computing devices of various hues and types – are now also getting into the hands of warfighters, first responders, federal law enforcement personnel, covert operators, command and control operation center staffs, and many other government workers.
And as a result, the age of tactical mobility may very well be upon us – finally. Keep reading →
The much-anticipated Digital Government Strategy was released as a presidential memo on May 23.
It was worth the wait and certainly didn’t disappoint, delivering strong ideas and including many self-imposed deadlines. Keep reading →
General Dynamics is hardly a name that comes to mind in today’s fast moving smartphone market. Inside National Security Agency circles, however, General Dynamic’s Sectera Edge smartphone — for awhile at least — had gained a reputation for its ability to make secure phone calls and access email and data on classified networks via cellular networks and Wi-Fi access points anywhere in the world.
But priced at more than $3,100 per phone, and weighing 12 ounces, and about as user friendly as its generic government name, the Secure Mobile Environment Portable Electronic Device (SME PED) was all but destined to lose its appeal as smartphone makers and application developers continued to revolutionize what smartphones could do. (Even President Obama, upon taking office, balked at using one, preferring his BlackBerry at the time.) Keep reading →
A popular Web-based collaboration application developed for the Defense Department is now being made available for mobile devices, according to a report from Government Computer News.
Defense Connect Online, an application developed by the Defense Information Systems Agency, currently allows users to host and attend Web meetings, and provides unified communications tools that lets individuals know who among their peers is available on the network. It also supports online chats. Keep reading →
