There Goes the Sun: NASA Upgrades Technology to Prepare for a Total Solar Eclipse mol.doak_yr9o Tue, 04/02/2024 - 15:13 To prepare for the total solar eclipse in 2017, NASA focused on technology that would keep its livestreams running for those who couldn’t see it in person. This time, the agency has looked at how to spend less money for even better service. About 12 million people watched the eclipse on NASA sites on Aug. 21, 2017, the first to cover much of the U.S. in more than a century.   The April 8 total solar eclipse — the last one over the continental U.S. until 2044 — will cove ..read more

WEST 2024: The Navy, Marines and Coast Guard Look to Leverage Emerging Tech mary.winters Fri, 02/09/2024 - 10:27 The speed of technological development can often be faster than the pace of mission, and the military services are trying to close that gap, especially since the speed of world events can outpace both. Procurement and acquisition processes also need to catch up to the rate at which technology is moving, and that will be one of the focuses of the WEST 2024 conference, which begins Tuesday in San Diego. “Our acquisition system was really developed around building large capital ships ..read more

How to Design the Best Digital Experience for Federal Employees marilyn.bain Wed, 02/07/2024 - 11:50 In the beginning, making sure everyone in a meeting was comfortable was easy. All an agency had to do was provide attendees with good chairs and some snacks. Once the pandemic arrived, issues of sound quality, bandwidth and video availability came along, and technology became more important than the best GSA-approved office seating. These days, meetings are even more complicated. Some attendees are in the office, and some are at home. Some have internet connections that can easily handle video ..read more

How Agencies Can Ensure Tech Purchases Integrate with Existing Environments Dave.Nyczepir Wed, 07/26/2023 - 07:37 As the end of another fiscal year approaches, federal agencies are making the final decisions on what technology is a must-have before the current budget concludes. Impulse buys in a spend-it-or-lose-it situation are unwise, however. Technology readiness is key to digital modernization — if new tech doesn’t work as promised within an existing system, program delays and unexpected costs can result. Agencies should ensure that their new purchases will fit into their existing infrast ..read more

Imagine Nation ELC 2022: E-Gov Act Granted Critical Tools to CIOs Mickey_McCarter_qjsu Mon, 10/24/2022 - 11:45 In 2019, NASA had a challenge: The agency was upgrading all its offices to Office 365, and it wanted to include all its employees in the transition, including astronauts on the International Space Station. “Astronauts have email; astronauts have iPads,” said Renee P. Wynn, former NASA CIO. “We want this for our astronauts too. We don’t want to leave them behind.” Working with industry partners, NASA was able to overcome technical challenges to that upgrade, Wynn told an audience Sund ..read more

How Federal Agencies Can Effectively Plan Upgrades for Aging IT jordan.scott_tQLR Tue, 12/27/2022 - 05:06 As federal agencies modernized their technology solutions over the past several years, they have upgraded their networks, moved to hybrid cloud architectures and adopted shared services. However, there are always more upgrades to do. One federal IT official recently told FedTech it is “almost like a game of whack-a-mole.” These upgrades are especially challenging for mission-critical systems. Technology lifecycle management for federal systems is complex, requiring IT leaders to account f ..read more

5 Answers to Common Questions About the Chip Supply Shortage kevin.ducoff_ud6G Wed, 07/27/2022 - 11:43 As agencies went remote in 2020, the demand for laptops and other consumer electronics skyrocketed. This depleted inventories, accelerating the need for computer chips and creating sustained shortages. Here are answers to five questions about why this is continuing. Click the banner to become an Insider. Dusty Lawless ..read more

Integrated Solutions Allow Agencies to Quickly Add Technology mol.doak_yr9o Thu, 10/27/2022 - 13:23 While federal agencies may have opted for more bespoke applications and equipment in the past, some are now finding that preconfigured, plug-and-play options can offer a number of operational benefits. The adoption of ready-to-use technology indicates a shift within the industry toward an increasingly cloud- and service-based mindset. It also advances digital transformation efforts at a faster clip than agencies could on their own, according to Jonathan Alboum, federal CTO at ServiceNow. “Histo ..read more

Imagine Nation ELC 2022: Federal IT Officials Strive to Improve Delivery of Services Mickey_McCarter_qjsu Tue, 10/25/2022 - 10:37 The federal CIO, the U.S. Digital Service and the General Services Administration form “three legs of a stool” that support the new federal IT operating plan, said U.S. federal government CIO Clare Martorana. Addressing a panel of the 2022 Imagine Nation ELC conference Monday in Hershey, Pa., Martorana recounted how the Biden administration developed the inaugural federal IT operating plan at the direction of Congress. The federal CIO office develops policy to driv ..read more

Agencies Shifting to Zero Trust Contend with New IT Supply Chain Best Practices mol.doak_yr9o Fri, 10/14/2022 - 16:15 Nearly two years after the SolarWinds cyberattack forced the government to bolster IT supply chain security, federal agencies continue sorting out how to implement and enhance those protections.    The December 2020 attack, attributed to Russian foreign intelligence, compromised nine agencies with malicious software embedded in via legitimate updates. Since then, various federal agencies have issued guidance on how to enhance IT supply chain security. The panoply of ..read more