THE FUTURE OF THE FEDERAL IT SHOP

Proposed legislation could change the way federal technology is purchased, granting CIOs long sought authority over IT budgets. Another major change would be the creation of a Commodity IT Acquisition Center overseeing large, governmentwide IT contracts, and Assisted Acquisition Centers of Excellence within agencies, which would share their expertise in certain purchasing categories (i.e. healthcare IT procurement) across government. Consolidation of federal data centers and continued migration to the cloud are also on the horizon. What type of changes can we expect in the next year in federal IT? Hear from congressional leaders who are shaping future priorities.

Speakers Include:
Congressman Darrell Issa, Representative, 49th District of California; Chairman, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Congressman Gerry Connolly, Representative, 11th District of Virginia; Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and Procurement Reform
 

Length - 48:32 | Email to a Colleague

Breakout Session: Mobility Track - EXCEEDING THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE MOBILE AND DIGITAL CITIZEN

Citizens demand a government that can keep pace with the speed of change and deliver services in a modern, efficient manner. Pockets of innovation are emerging to answer this call with mobile and digital applications that are enabling citizens to access services and useful information in an effective and meaningful way. This pressure will continue to rise and agencies must be prepared to create, sustain and expand their abilities to meet the needs of today’s citizen. This session will provide you with insight from agencies that are rising to meet these new challenges. You will hear how they have leveraged customer research to established clear goals, developed a culture that supports continuous innovation, mitigated risk while venturing into new areas, built stakeholder commitments, and more.
Speakers Include:
Simon Szykman, Chief Information Officer, Department of Commerce
Avi Bender, Chief Technology Officer, U.S. Census Bureau
Dana Grinshpan, Research Manager, Government Business Council
Moderated by:
Joseph Marks, Correspondent, Nextgov

Length - 50:45 | Email to a Colleague

MOBILITY TRACK - MOBILE SECURITY CHALLENGES
Mobile technology enables people to work anywhere, anytime, creating new efficiencies for government agencies, and new opportunities for hackers. Employees can open an email or download an application, making the agency vulnerable to spam, bots and worms and other security threats. As employees increasingly use smartphones to access mobile applications, security features must move from the device to the network. To stay ahead of threats posed by malicious mobile applications, we must act now.
Speaker:
Rodney Dilts, Director, Security Technology-Network Based Security Engineering and Development, AT&T Chief Security Office

 

Length - 52:06 | Email to a Colleague

POWERING THE CLOUD: THE FISCAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES

A recent New York Times series asserted that data centers are wasting up to 90 percent of the energy they pull from the power grid. Running facilities at maximum capacity, regardless of demand, has contributed to this problem. As Federal agencies look to optimize their data center and cloud operations, they are becoming increasingly mindful of potential efficiency gained- both environmentally and in taxpayer dollars. This session will bring together stakeholders from various areas within government and the private sector that are successfully making the business case for the green cloud with a focus on cost savings.
Speakers Include:
Dr. Dan Arvizu, Director and Chief Executive, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Una Song, Program Manager, ENERGY STAR Program, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Moderated by:
Katherine Peters, Executive Editor, Nextgov
 

Length - 57:29 | Email to a Colleague

Big data. Watson. Hadoop. Big analytics. Everywhere you turn, Big Data is there. More and more agencies are working to tackle the big data conundrum and, more importantly, determine how to make use of the increasing amount of available data to make smart, actionable, mission critical decisions by taking advantage of big data. As the volume and velocity of the data increases, so does the complexity of dealing with this data deluge. You will gain insight into how to tackle and make better use of the data to deliver mission success. This session highlights how storage technologies are enabling mission requirements so that it’s easier and faster to deliver the results required -- whether in the office, in research environments or on the battlefield.
Speaker:
Dave Denson, ISR Solution Architect, NetApp

Length - 58:17 | Email to a Colleague

Federal agencies wishing to unlock the power of big data may find that they have a shortage of people with the skills and understanding required to do so. A report published by consulting firm McKinsey and Company found that the US faces a substantial shortage of both analysts who can make strategic decisions using big data and workers with deep analytical skills. The emerging need for data scientists leaves federal agencies struggling to devise a strategy for attracting, developing and retaining the talent they’ll need to extract key insights from complex data. Several agencies have looked to public competitions to make previously incompatible data sets homogeneous & usable- but is crowdsourcing a sustainable strategy? Join us and hear from leading minds who are making strides in tackling the challenge of the data science talent deficit.
Speakers Include:
Micheline Casey, Principal, CDO, LLC; Former Chief Data Officer, State of Colorado
Dr. Michael Rappa, Director of the Institute for Advanced Analytics and Distinguished University Professor, North Carolina State University; Academic Co-Chair, TechAmerica Foundation’s Big Data Commission
Jeff Butler, Director, Research Databases, IRS Research, Analysis, and Statistics
Moderated by:
Aliya Sternstein, Senior Correspondent, Nextgov
 

Length - 58:24 | Email to a Colleague

Today's security threats can occur anywhere, at any time, from internal or external sources. Trends such as employee mobility, cross organization collaboration, cloud, and consumerization of IT are fundamentally changing the way people work and live, and forcing a fundamental re-evaluation of traditional security paradigms. Learn how recent computing advancements in machine learning can be used by organizations to analyze and uncover patterns, protect information assets, and identify and mitigate intentional and unintentional security breaches before they become the next news headline.

Speaker:
Sam Kalbag, VP Global Accounts, Autonomy Inc.

Length - 36:41 | Email to a Colleague