Friday, July 31, 2009

GSA Releases Cloud Computing RFQ


Following through on a much anticipated action, GSA released their Cloud Computing Request For Quotation (RFQ) today. Cloud computing is a major part of President Obama's reform effort and this RFQ focuses on IaaS service offerings available within a public cloud deployment model. The implementation is a Low Impact System as defined in National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Publication 199.

According to that publication, the potential impact is low if the loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability could be expected to have a limited adverse effect on organizational operations, organizational assets, or individuals. A limited adverse effect means that, for example, the loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability might:

  • cause a degradation in mission capability to an extent and duration that the organization is able to perform its primary functions, but the effectiveness of the functions is noticeably reduced;
  • result in minor damage to organizational assets
  • result in minor financial loss; or
  • result in minor harm to individuals.

The objective of this RFQ is to offer three key service offerings through IaaS providers for ordering activities and have been divided into three distinct Lots:

  • Lot 1: Cloud Storage Services (Section 4.3.1)
  • Lot 2: Virtual Machines (Section 4.3.2)
  • Lot 3: Cloud Web Hosting (Section 4.3.3)
A excerpt of the presentation is available below.



( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - KLJ )

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Craigslist.org Founder Hypes Government Transformation


Craig Newmark, best known for being the founder of the Craigslist website, is working hard to get the word out on Gov2.0. Last week in FedScoop, he really laid out how technology is improving our American democracy.

"Overall, what we’re talking about is reinventing government from the bottom up, where web workers and ordinary citizens engage via the Net in large scale online grassroots democracy.... Our Founders created a flawed representative democracy, but with improvements it serves us well. However, we’re complementing that system via the Net with grassroots efforts which will create new checks and balances and accountability."

As stated in his article, Mr. Newmark hopes to help accelerate this progress by laying out national goals and enumerating specific actions for our elected and appointed leaders. I urge you to read his post and take his point of view to heart.

"This is what the new democracy is about- building upon existing structures with serious engagement from the public, and from genuinely dedicated public servants."


( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - KLJ )

Monday, July 27, 2009

Maria Spinola: An Essential Guide to Cloud Computing

Maria Spinola, a Strategic IT Marketing and Innovation Adviser and editor at www.Cloudviews.org, has recently published An "Essential Guide to Possibilities and Risk of Cloud Computing". Her very pragmatic approach has provided "a realistic perspective of the possibilities, benefits and risks of Cloud Computing; what to look for, what to avoid, and also some tips and best practices on implementation, architecture and vendor management strategies."

So why should you bother if you've already decide not to use cloud computing? Maria actually has a very succinct answer to that question:
  • Its' likely that without your knowledge, some of your departments are already using Cloud Computing,
  • You will need to define a Cloud Governance Program and make it available to all your internal customers.
  • A department may decide to go to a Cloud Computing service provider and start using their services immediately, instead of waiting months to have an on premise system installed,
  • Since Cloud offerings are "free" to start using immediately instead of asking permission to use it, employees may be asking you for forgiveness later.
I expect this guide will be widely distributed because it provides an excellent summary of current cloud computing industry views.

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - KLJ )

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

US Interior Department IT Infrastructure Vision

Tim Quinn, Chief Infrastructure Officer, US Department of Interior, sees IP convergence as a key part of DoI's future IT infrastructure. During the Federal News Radio Executive Forum, he also cited the need to deliver voice, video and 2-way radio over internet protocols as important to the provisioning of collaborative services. According to Mr. Quinn, his job is to "reduce the burden of infrastructure" in order to allow more focus on information. He also believes the department should be a leader in green IT.




The title of this week's Executive Forum, July 22nd at 2pm, is "Building Government's Future Infrastructure - Progress & Best Practices". The program will discuss:
  • Progress Report on the Networx Contract & Transition in the Federal Government
  • Progress & Best Practices on Navy NMCI & DHS ONE-NET
  • Critical Issues on Optimizing Government's Infrastructure
  • Lessons Learned
  • A Vision for The Future
Participants include:
  • Karl Krumbholtz- Director Network Services Programs-ITS/GSA
  • Margie Graves- Acting CIO, Dept of Homeland Security
  • Tim Quinn - Chief Infrastructure Officer, Department of Interior
  • David Smith- Chief Technology Officer, Citrix Systems
  • Gary Depreta- Manager-Channel Operations, Federal Channels, Cisco Systems
  • Michael Donovan- Chief Technologist, EDS

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - KLJ )

Monday, July 20, 2009

DHS Acting CIO Margie Graves on Current DHS Challenges

During the Federal News Radio Executive Forum, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Acting CIO, Margie Graves provides a unique insight on the department. In her remarks, she described the challenges that currently face DHS as "dramatically cultural". This candid statement, however,was accompanied by a seemingly contradictory emphasis on the importance of maintaining the independent component cultures. According to Graves, component cultures are essential to mission accomplishment and is what an employee "feels" when they come to work in the morning.




The title of this week's Executive Forum, July 22nd at 2pm, is "Building Government's Future Infrastructure - Progress & Best Practices". The program will discuss:
  • Progress Report on the Networx Contract & Transition in the Federal Government
  • Progress & Best Practices on Navy NMCI & DHS ONE-NET
  • Critical Issues on Optimizing Government's Infrastructure
  • Lessons Learned
  • A Vision for The Future
Participants include:
  • Karl Krumbholtz- Director Network Services Programs-ITS/GSA
  • Margie Graves- Acting CIO, Dept of Homeland Security
  • Tim Quinn - Chief Infrastructure Officer, Department of Interior
  • David Smith- Chief Technology Officer, Citrix Systems
  • Gary Depreta- Manager-Channel Operations, Federal Channels, Cisco Systems
  • Michael Donovan- Chief Technologist, EDS

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - KLJ )


Friday, July 17, 2009

DHS EAGLE & First Source Digital Guide Launched

The Enterprise Acquisition Gateway for Leading Edge Solutions (EAGLE) is a multiple-award indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract vehicle, specifically designed as the preferred source of information technology (IT) services for the majority of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) enterprise infrastructure and initiatives. According to Soraya Correa, Director of the DHS Office of Procurement Operations (OPO), the success of EAGLE has led to plans for EAGLE II.

Designed as a companion contract to EAGLE, FirstSource provides DHS with access to contractor's commercial catalogs which offer a full array of IT commodity products available in the commercial marketplace from multiple original equipment manufacturers, producers, and suppliers. It is built on the same strategy as EAGLE and lets DHS components place their own orders through a centralized ordering vehicle, accessible to senior leadership, where they can find data or information related to their IT needs.

Soraya Correa, Director of the DHS Office of Procurement Operations (OPO)

This newly released digital guide provides information on:
  • Progress & Success of EAGLE/First Source
  • The Enterprise Solutions Office (ESO) & Outreach Program
  • Interview with Charlie Armstrong, CIO, CBP
  • EAGLE Contractor Roundtable
  • First Source for Small Business
  • EAGLE Large & Small Business Listing
  • EAGLE/First Source Vision for the Future
  • EAGLE Perspective by Jim Flyzik

Read and download your copy of this unique guide right now.

  • Abacus Technology
  • Accenture
  • Booz Allen Hamilton
  • CSC
  • ECS
  • IBM
  • Perot Systems
  • Raytheon; and
  • SAIC
( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - KLJ )

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Looking Forward To GovIT Expo!

I am humbled and more than pleased to serve as the Technical Chair of SYS-CON’s 1st Annual Government IT Conference & Expo.

To highlight the importance of this conference, I only need to repeat the guiding principles driving President Obama’s technology agenda:

· I Innovation in the Economy: Drive Economic Growth and Solve National Problems By Deploying a 21st Century Information Infrastructure

o The President believes that modernized infrastructure is a necessary part of the foundation for long term economic stability and prosperity. That includes everything from a comprehensive national broadband plan, to new health care information technology, to a modernized electrical grid.

· Innovation in Science: Invest in Science and Science Education

o The President has named Dr. John Holdren, a nationally recognized expert on climate change and nuclear disarmament, as an Assistant to the President and the nation’s Science Advisor, and Dr. Steven Chu, Nobel-prize winner as the Secretary of Energy. These are just two of the many leading science experts who are serving in an Administration committed to science.

· Innovation in Public Administration: Creating an Open and Secure Government

o Strategic federal IT investments will make Government more transparent and accountable. At the same time, Americans will know that these investments by their Government are being leveraged to produce maximum value, and that the security of information systems nationally, and the privacy of Americans, are being protected. Strategic investments in IT are at the heart of the efforts to make Government services more effective, accessible, and transparent.

· Restoring a Culture of Accountability through Openness and Transparency of Government Operations and Information

o Moving Toward Unprecedented Openness: Change the presumption under the Freedom of Information Act to favor voluntary disclosure of government information to the public.

o Making Critical Government Information Available: Working to provide public access to information of public import and concern, such as the Department of Justice "torture" memos, the President’s and Vice-President’s tax returns, the public financial disclosure reports for White House personnel, and presidential records.

Information technology is central to the attainment of each and every one of these goals !!

Within a few short months, we have seen a whirlwind of change across the government IT industry landscape. The appropriation of $7.2B for broadband internet access nationwide, the launching of USASpending.gov, the appointment of Mr. Vivek Kundra as the nation’s first ever Federal Chief Information Officer and the rapid adoption of cloud computing are only a few examples of this historic change. As government IT professionals, we all share in the duty and responsibility of making this change work. This means balancing implementation speed with the need for ironclad security. It means fighting for that additional budget item in a time of economic collapse and fiscal crisis. It means dealing with sometimes archaic procurement regulations while simultaneously struggling to meet even more stringent IT governance deadlines.

To assist you in this challenge, the 2009 Government IT Conference & Expo is specifically designed to address many unique aspects of government information technology. Specialized tracks will cover cloud computing, virtualization, service oriented architecture (SOA), security and compliance. There will also be breakout sessions on the unique issues surrounding cloud security, including the important distinctions between private and public clouds. Join us in an informative and collaborative environment where expert speakers from government and the software industry alike will look at the unique issues involved with handling and sharing government information.

I look forward to meeting you at this important event, October 6, 2009 in Washington, DC. Please feel free to contact me if I can be of any service.

"To help build a new foundation for the 21st century, we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative."

-President Obama, April 25, 2009

Monday, July 13, 2009

Publishing Synergy: Blog, Twitter and Ulitzer

Have you ever been given the task of building and executing an aggressive customer outreach program? Well I received my assignment about a year ago and trust me; the budget was not commensurate with the assigned goal. My particular need was to educate prospective Federal government customers on a new information technology trend. Known as cloud computing, this new approach blends service oriented architecture (SOA), virtualization technologies and a "pay-by-the-use" sales approach into a new IT delivery business model.

Although this new approach promised the delivery of better constituent service at a reduced cost, risk adverse Federal agency decision makers needed to know much more before they would even consider cloud computing as an option. During a time of economic collapse and fiscal crisis, competing security, governance and procurement requirements would also need to be adequately addressed. Unfortunately, "elastic computing" still needed an "elastic federal procurement" companion.

Our initial approach to this challenge was to rely on traditional media outlet tools. After first securing prominent positioning and ad space in an industry leading print magazine, we aggressively sought opportunities to also publish related print articles. Although we were very frugal in our negotiations during this initial campaign, creative development cost, content review timelines and limited publication frequencies all contributed to making this an untenable budgetary option. Attempts to salvage this traditional approach with parallel email campaigns were also less than satisfactory. High list acquisition cost, weak channel linkage and an inability to gauge our relevance to targeted readers led to very low click through rates.

After this dismal start, we finally made the jump into new media with the launch of a customer focused blog. This shift began to deliver results almost immediately. From a budget point of view, our burn rate reduced significantly. For the first time, we were also able to directly measure the efficiency of our outreach program (blog visitors per dollar spent). Creative development cost plummeted, content review times shortened and our publication frequencies increased dramatically. Since our visitors were self-selected, blog post relevance was also directly measureable. Even with this enhanced flexibility, however, the one obvious shortfall was distribution. Without an established readership or broad web presence our industry impact was minimal. That's when we turned to Ulitizer.

We first linked up with Ulitzer through an author site. With Really Simple Syndication (RSS), blog post were automatically published on selected Ulitzer topic sites. This single move increase blog post readership from ~150 per week to over 150 per day!! These rapid results emboldened us to tackle the editorship of a couple of topics. This move doubled our readership yet again! With these two simple moves, we quickly addressed our distribution shortfall while maintaining high flexibility and a low budgetary burn rate. Recently, we've extended our foray into new media by "tweeting" links to our newest blog post and Ulitzer articles. Although detailed topic statistic are not routinely made available by Uliizer, they have told me that our two topics have a combined 1.2M views per month, 80,000 of which are from unique visitors.

In the six months we've been using Ulitzer, the platform has definitely demonstrated its value in the delivery of true publishing synergy with new media. Through it, we have built an effective, responsive and fiscally conservative customer outreach program. Industry thought leadership, as measured by article readership, has exceeded all expectations. We look forward to future enhancements and will certainly leverage the many other related offerings.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Input: Cloud Computing, Security to Drive US Gov't IT Spending

According to a PC World article, cloud computing and cybersecurity will be the high-growth areas for government IT spending over the next few years. The analysis and consulting firm Input projected that the federal government's cloud-computing market will grow by 27 percent over the next five years, with spending of more than $1 billion in 2014. Cybersecurity spending is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of more than 8 percent, from $8.2 billion this year to $12.2 billion in 2014.

According to Deniece Peterson, manager of industry analysis at Input, the growth in cloud computing is a big area to watch. Instead of trailing the commercial sector, government use of cloud computing is expected to grow about the same rate as in the private sector.

Last year, Input projected a compound annual growth rate of 4.1 percent in total government IT spending over five years, and this year the five-year growth rate is down to 3.3 percent a year. While Input has adjusted the numbers downward, there are still some "really promising" opportunities for contractors, given the bad economy, Peterson said.

Contractors should, however, be ready for acquisition reform efforts in the U.S. government, she added. The Obama administration, members of Congress and the U.S. Department of Defense are all pushing for more transparency and accountability in contracts, and contractors should expect more reporting requirements and oversight, she said.

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Saturday, July 11, 2009

GovIT Expo 2009

I'm happy to announce my appointment by SYS-CON to be the Technical Chair of the 1st Annual Government IT Conference & Expo. This event is a 1-day deep dive into how cloud computing is changing the way that Federal agencies leverage, procure and utilize IT. GovITExpo, which is being held October 6, 2009 in Washington, DC, builds on the success of SYS-CON's Cloud Computing Expo. Data storage, security and software services are among the major themes of the technical program.

During one of the event sessions, I will also do a presentation on recent developments in Tactical Cloud Computing. This technology branch refers to the use of cloud computing technology and techniques for the support of localized and short-lived information access and processing requirements. Use cases could include:
  • “Cloudbursting” to support cyclic data processing requirements;
  • Establishing a cloud-based collaboration environment in order to coordinate firefighting resources during a wildfire;
  • Virtually binding shipboard IT infrastructures in order to create a battlegroup infrastructure-as-a-service platform;
  • Virtually binding land vehicle based servers and storage resources into a battlefield data center; or
  • Dynamic provisioning of virtual cloud-based servers in order to automate exploitation and dissemination of unmanned air vehicle (UAV) streaming video feeds.
This session will explore how defense, homeland security and law enforcement organizations are looking to leverage this new and exciting IT capability.

Additional session papers are being actively solicited until July 31, 2009. Topics could address any aspect of the new wave of Internet-based technologies that are changing the way that Federal agencies leverage, procure and utilize IT such as:
  • Security
  • Virtualization
  • Government 2.0
  • Cloud Computing
  • Scalability
  • Collaboration in the Cloud
  • Service-Oriented Architecture
  • Green IT
  • Compliance
  • Private Cloud Computing
  • Internal Clouds
Ideal candidates are infrastructure, architecture, and software engineering experts who have first-hand experience in the development, procurement or implementation of IT for Government or Federal agencies.

Registration is now open. I look forward to seeing you there !!


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Tuesday, July 7, 2009

NCOIC To Help FAA on NextGen


Today, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium (NCOIC™) announced an agreement to work together to advance the Enterprise Architecture of NextGen, FAA’s national airspace (NAS) transformation program.

The NCOIC will analyze and evaluate NextGen’s enterprise architecture views, products, plans, net-centric patterns and operational concepts. Working collaboratively, its members will develop “voice of industry” recommendations about applying net-centric standards to the NextGen procurement, as a way to achieve interoperability in the NAS and, potentially, the skies beyond U.S. borders.

According to Terry Morgan, NCOIC executive chairman, the standards recommendations, best practices and net-centric pattern development derived from this collaboration is expected to strengthen NextGen’s requirements. “Our recommendations will be founded on the thoughts of multi-national, multi-industry leaders in net-centricity.”

The NextGen enterprise architecture will be based on open standards and designed to enable network-centric operations—includes the following: delivering vital information to those who operate the NAS; speeding system development and reducing procurement cost through re-use of software, patterns and best practices; effectively bringing legacy systems into an interoperable enterprise; and supporting the seamless integration of rapidly emerging commercial technology into NextGen.

Press release

Fact Sheet


Additional information is also available online at the NCOIC website (NCOIC membership required):

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Thursday, July 2, 2009

OMG Cloud Standards Summit

July 13-15, 2009, in Arlington, VA, the Object Management Group, is holding a Standards in Government & NGO's Workshop. During the first day, the Cloud Computing Standards Summit will focus on cloud computing standards for government clouds. Participants include:

  • Peter Mell and Tim Grance - National Institutes of Standards and Technology
  • Reuven Cohen - Cloud Computing Interoperability Forum)
  • Kevin Jackson - Dataline, LLC
  • Mark Carlson - Storage Network Industry Association
  • Winston Bumpus - Distributed Management Task Force
  • Robert Grossman - Open Cloud Consortium
  • Craig Lee - Open Grid Forum
  • Nils Puhlmann - Cloud Security Alliance
  • Douglas Johnson - Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS)
  • Jim Warner - TM Forum
  • James Odell - OMG SOA SIG Co-Chair, CSC,
  • Ralph Thrash - CSC

Recommendations from this summit will be made available to the July 15th, NDU IRM Cloud Computing Symposium attendees.

The establishment of compatible industry and government standards are crucial to the broad adoption of cloud computing. Just as standards allowed the global spread and enhanced the utility of the Internet, standards will drive the utility of the cloud computing paradigm.

Registration for this seminal event is available at http://www.omg.org/registration/GOV-WS/css/index.htm

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NDU IRM Cloud Computing Event "Sold Out"!!!

Hope you've already registered for the “The Cloud Computing Symposium” , Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at the National Defense University in Washington, DC! This promises to be the premier government cloud computing event of the year. I first blogged on the event on May 20th and recently they had to cut off registration at 850 !! This event has clearly drawn tremendous interest from both government and industry.

Speakers, in agenda order, are:

  • Dr. Robert Childs, Senior Director, IRM College
  • Vivek Kundra, Federal Chief Information Officer
  • Dave Girouard, President, Enterprise, Google
  • David Wennergren, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Information Management, Integration, and Technology & Deputy Chief Information Officer
  • David Cearley,Vice President & Gartner Fellow, Gartner
  • Erich Clementi, Vice President, Strategy & General Manager, Enterprise Initiatives, IBM
  • Russ Daniels, Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, HP
  • Richard Soley, Chairman and CEO, Object Management Group
  • John Garing , Director, Strategic Planning & Information, DISA
  • Matt Quinn, Senior Vice President-Engineering & Chief Strategy Officer, TIBCO Software Inc.
  • Kevin L. Jackson, Vice President of Dataline, LLC and Editor of eMagazine “Government Cloud Computing”
  • Randy Garrett, Director of Technology Integrated Intelligence Program, NSA
  • Alfred Rivera, Director, Computing Services, DISA
  • Hal Stern, Sun Microsystems VP Global Systems Engineering
  • Srinivas Polisetty , CSC, Director – Strategic Initiatives
  • David Hunter, VMware, CTO, Public Sector
  • Sushil Kumar, Oracle , VP Product Strategy & Business Development
  • Pat Arnold, Microsoft, Federal CTO,
  • Curt Aubley, Lockheed-Martin, CTO Operations & Next Generation Solutions
  • John Shea, Director, Enterprise Services Integration, OSD
Additional information is available at http://www.ndu.edu/irmc/pcs_ilss.htm , but as I said earlier, registration is closed.

See you there!!

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