July 21, 2006 • Volume 4 • Number 10

Driving Infrastructure and Careers

Infrastructure optimization and consolidation. They may not sound sexy, but they are the key drivers to running cost effective, not costly IT government infrastructures in the future.

At the Federal Executive Forum, leaders who are on the front lines of this movement discussed the challenges and opportunities. On the panel were: Charlie Havekost, the CIO of HHS, Hord Tipton, the CIO at the Department of the Interior, Mark Day, the CTO at EPA, John Johnson, Assistant Commissioner of GSA, Mary Ellen Condon, Vice President, Deputy Director at SRA Orion Center for Homeland Security, and Steve Picot, the federal area manager for advanced technology data center at Cisco Systems.

As government moves forward, there will be evolution of culture. Importantly, there will be new opportunities for government technology professionals who want to advance and broaden their careers.

HHS CIO Charlie Havekost explained. “I have to say a word to anybody out there who is thinking how is this consolidation going to affect my career? That’s a really important question and you need to think about how consolidation is giving you the opportunity to take that next step up in your career, perhaps to work in an area that has a broader impact than just your office or bureau.”

It also requires being flexible and committed to change over time. As SRA’s Mary Ellen Condon said, “I see this process as an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary process, it makes it more important that standards and governance and flexibility and integration of these things be an ongoing thing, it’s not a one time experience.

Cisco’s Steve Picot added, “It’s clear that industry and government need to stay in lock step and technology leaders need to understand where the developments are and industry needs to be proactive in bringing those solutions to the government. We can’t just jump on the fire of the moment.”

There is clear evidence that IT optimization and consolidation are taking hold. Interior CIO Hord Tipton explains. “We started IT transformation 4 years ago at Interior. That consisted primarily of consolidating 13 networks, stemmed into 1 wide area network, we call that Phase 1. We’ve now extended that down into control over our bureaus. And going into Phase 3 as we speak will be the effort it takes our optimization, consolidation and standardization effort right down to the desk top.”

Interior’s efforts are just a sample of what government managers are doing. EPA CTO Mark Day is detailed to the Office of Management and Budget where he’s heading up the government-wide line of business for infrastructure consolidation and optimization. He says “bottom line is that mission and services to the citizens is enhanced because agency managers are good buyers with solid information about their IT infrastructure. Staff are focusing on the most important information management issues, not running commodities; and the federal government is getting the best deal for the buck.”

Working closely with Day is GSA Assistant Commissioner John Johnson. He says GSA is positioned to help government procure the products and services needed. “we  leverage the government’s buying power. Today we serve about 135 different federal agencies in 191 different countries, providing everything from basic calling card service to IT services with embedded security. And working collaboratively with the agencies we’ve identified a very, very robust portfolio of service offerings within the ‘Networx’ program.

Listen To Forum     •        Read Transcript

IT Security: Apps Need Attention

If, in 2003, you had told anyone in the IT business that attacks on servers would be cut in half by 2006, they probably would have said, “Good.” If you had told them that cyber crime would, in the same period, nonetheless soar more than 50 percent to become a $10 billion per year global industry, they likely would have said, “Apps.” MORE

Not Ready for Pandemic Flu

Following the Katrina debacle, the Department of Homeland Security launched an analysis of the nation’s preparedness for future catastrophes and found “significant national concern” in its June 2006 report.  Probably nowhere is this more evident than the nation’s unreadiness to face pandemic flu. MORE

The Tech Budget: When “Never Enough” is “Too Much”

Among the accomplishments of his presidency in the first term, Bill Clinton would often cite this one: that he had put 100,000 new police officers on the streets of America’s cities and towns.

It was a stump citation, repeated wherever he went, and it eventually drew fire from Republicans and critics. At most, they said, Clinton’s program had put 60,000 new cops on the street. Probably, it was closer to 40,000.

Who was correct? MORE

CALM (CHANGE, ADAPTATION, LEARNING MODEL)

The CALM solution helps organizations plan, validate, and execute strategies for organizational changes such as mergers, redesigning business processes, or introducing new enterprise software systems. CALM defines a methodology and supporting software system and enables you to practice and compare alternate change strategies. MORE