Thinking back on my previous article, a thought occurred to me: Those of us in the blogosphere, and certainly those of us assisting with governmental IT missions, need to maintain a stricter code of engagement that needs to first and foremost deal with what is needed, not just wanted, from the people that we try to inform. We can do this by applying some of the basics of the journalistic code to all our communications and recommendations: Read More »

I recently had the opportunity to listen to a riveting keynote given by Ted Koppel at the Symantec Symposium in Washington, DC. Yes, Ted Koppel the journalist spoke at a technology conference, and was by far one of the best reasons to be there. Mr. Koppel started his discussion by giving the audience an overview of the evolution of broadcast journalism. He ... Read More »

Government IT has been characterized by long term monolithic systems that fail to deliver. Part of the problem is approaching IT as a complex durable good, like a battleship, with complete specifications, known life-cycles, and defined missions. Fighter aircraft have six generations of evolving technology and missions, each having known maintenance cycles, life spans, and changing requirements based on future planning and doctrine, as well as, mission feedback. IT has none of that because it has no duty cycle or doctrine. IT can be obsolete on delivery, regardless of development timeframe. IT delivery can redefine all previous requirements. IT has very little longevity, even if successful on delivery. Read More »

The DLT Cloud Advisory Group is focused on the emerging cloud landscape and proactively engages with the public sector community interested in cloud computing. We also actively contribute to establish standards through our participation in various Standards Development Organizations. Along with IEEE, NIST, and the CSA, we are active contributors to the Cloud Standards Customer Council (CSCC). Most recently, we have been assisting the CSCC Security Working Group’s research efforts for their recent whitepaper, “Security for Cloud Computing: 10 Steps to Ensure Success.” Read More »

We are excited to announce the launch of Technically Speaking, DLT’s new podcast series dedicated to providing IT information to our public sector customers in an easy, listen-as-you-go format. TS will cover a variety of topics ranging from government IT initiatives to new products and solutions to any other topics that YOU would like to see discussed. Read More »

After months of researching, writing, and editing, the DLT Cloud Advisory Group recently completed its new reference eBook, Cloud Computing for Govies™! Read More »

We are approaching the end of national “Cyber Security Awareness Month,” so let’s take a look at some top cybersecurity tips we should all adhere to: Read More »

“It's not the loud pronouncements by hacking groups or the highly visible denial-of-service attacks that scare cybersecurity experts. It's silence,” claims a recent Federal Times article. The article “Programs aim to get the word out when cyber attacks occur” brings light to the idea that one of the greatest tools against cyber attackers is the “relatively low-tech approach of sharing information about attacks.” The article continues on about a push for disclosure, explaining that the DoD has put forth ideas for a new Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) rule. The proposed DFARS rule would require contractors to provide “adequate security”, report cyber incidents within 72 hours, and review their networks to search for additional attack information. As always, the issue of cost tops the concerns about this communication technique. Not only would there be increased costs for the companies providing the “adequate security”, but government resources would have to be tapped in order to provide data analysis and enforcement of any resulting mandates. Read More »

A recent New York Times article spells out the issues around federal cloud computing adoption explaining “such high praise for new Internet technologies may be common in Silicon Valley, but it is rare in the federal government, where concerns about security are paramount”. Agencies are notably concerned about losing responsibility for managing and securing data as well as the possibility of cloud outages. However, there are agencies with fewer concerns about security breaches and they have been busy moving user accounts and email services to the cloud environment. For example, the Agriculture Department has already moved about 46,000 employee accounts and is in the process of adding another 120,000. NASA has also made the migration by launching their own internal Nebula cloud computing platform. This platform provides a range of services powerful enough to manage all of NASA’s large-scale scientific data sets. Read More »

It is already the second half of August and we are quickly approaching a busy conference time for DLT. Up-coming events will take DLT all over the country, but some of the best are local ones happening just down the road. The annual Innovation Nation Forum, hosted by MeriTalk, will take place Tuesday, August 23 at the Washington Convention Center. Aiming to “Shake IT Up,” Innovation Nation will focus on three Federal IT hot topics- cloud computing, cybersecurity and data center consolidation. Read More »