The Federal IT Challenge is a series exploring the administration's aim to fundamentally change how the Federal Government purchases and uses IT, and a discussion around one of the biggest goals, reducing the number of Federal data centers by at least 40 percent by 2015.

Software Defined What?

March 21st, 2013

For the last year, we've been hearing more and more references to ‘software defined' stuff - datacenter, storage, networking. The big questions are, what exactly does ‘software defined' mean, and why does it matter to government organizations? In this segment of the Federal IT Challenge, WFED's Jason Miller and VMware's Doug Bourgeois will tackle these topics, and reveal why ‘software defined' models will be the underpinnings for make or break Federal IT initiatives such as Cloud Computing, Shared Services and Digital Government.

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IT Reform: Where do we go Next

February 19th, 2013

Policy and Reality: We just celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the eGovernment Act of 2002 in December, and Clinger-Cohen is 17 years old - does the content of those two historic pieces of legislation remain relevant today? Where in the Federal government can IT reform create real impact? What stands in the way of reform? How can those barriers be broken down?

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When Cloud Meets Crowd

November 27, 2012

Crowdsourcing describes the various methods and processes for getting a sizeable and distributed group of people to accomplish a task, solve a problem, or make a decision. The Cloud is a platform for delivering vast resources and services over the Internet, accessible to anyone regardless of location. The confluence of the "Crowd" and the Cloud will usher in a powerful new software development model for the public sector.

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Cloud Brokering - Federal Agencies as Cloud Service Providers

November 9th, 2012

Learn insights on Federal agencies' cloud initiatives. Some agencies are sophisticated in their adoption/approach to the point of becoming cloud service providers for other Federal agencies. What does this mean for the later adopters? Can they plug and play into these organizations' clouds? What impact does this sort of model have on other initiatives such as Consolidation and Digital Government? Does this mean those brokers do all the work?

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Maximizing Savings in the Cloud

The Federal government's Cloud First Strategy identified $20 billion in potential savings from cloud computing. While this represents 25% of the total Federal IT budget, it corresponds to a measly 3% of the total Federal government's budget. Tapping into this larger cost savings opportunity won't be easy but it is a necessity. For this to happen, cloud computing needs to be better leveraged to bring not only IT efficiency but also to bring mission efficiency.

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The 3 Keys to Tapping Cloud's Potential in Government

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Where is the Digital Government Strategy on the Journey to the Cloud?

June 8th, 2012

OMB just released the Digital Government Strategy, calling upon Federal Agencies to identify and deploy innovative solutions to deliver high quality services to citizens and an increasingly mobile workforce - and to do so with significantly improved efficiency. To accomplish this goal, Federal organizations will need to further eliminate silos, establish a common platform for accessing and managing data and leverage device agnostic/mobile enabled applications. Interested in learning more?

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Unlock Big Data for the Cloud

March 13th, 2012 at 2PM

The advent of Big Data is creating a challenge for Federal agencies that are pursuing cloud computing and mobility initiatives. If data is locked up in brittle and/or underperforming resources, agencies can't realize the productivity gains promised by cloud computing and post-PC era technologies. Listen to learn more on how your agency can manage the rapid growth of data and derive greater value from that data.

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Mobility

February 14th, 2012

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Platform as a Service - it's not just important to developers

January 24th, 2011

Platform as a Service may seem like something that only the most technically oriented IT professional may care about, but it has huge implications for Federal agencies' ability to reduce costs, to leverage modern technology to support their missions, keep employees productive and to truly leverage the capabilities of cloud computing.

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Consolidation and Cloud Computing

Aired March 29th, 2011

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Cloud First

February 22nd, 2011 at 10AM

In OMB's 25-point plan for Federal IT Reform, a mandate for agencies to adopt a Cloud First policy requires agencies to default to a cloud-based solution when evaluating options for new IT initiatives. Virtualization is the key to realizing the true benefits of cloud computing: cost savings, agility, flexibility and better resource utilization.

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Data Center Consolidation - 40% by 2015

January 25th, 2011 at 11AM

Administration's aim to fundamentally change how the Federal Government purchases and uses IT. One of the biggest goals is to reduce the number of Federal data centers by at least 40 percent by 2015.

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