FedScoop Radio

When it comes to IT modernization, federal agencies commonly face three central challenges: integrating a myriad of systems, rationalizing applications and winning over each system owner to support agencywide infrastructure changes. Those challenges often come to a head when trying to cultivate an agile and secure DevSecOps process.

One agency that has demonstrated surprising success in overcoming those challenges — in the face of daunting deadlines — is the U.S. Census Bureau.

This was this the first time the Census Bureau attempted to collect responses via the internet. That endeavor added to the size and complexity of the internal IT modernization project, as well to the number of developers, security and operations stakeholders and vendors brought on board for this initiative. Sponsored by T-Rex Solutions.

Guest: Jason Keplinger, Chief Technology Officer, T-Rex Solutions.

Look for more coverage of “IT Modernization in Government” on www.fedscoop.com/listen

Zero-trust security architecture is changing the way IT leaders think about access to federal agency networks and resources. That includes how to meet the needs of employees and contractors for whom physical personal identity verification (PIV) credentials and Common Access Cards (CAC) have been the primary method for authenticating access to federal IT systems.

The rapid surge in telework during the current pandemic has made clear, physical authentication controls present a significant obstacle to those who need to access agency resources remotely. At the same time, the continuing theft of usernames and passwords is forcing IT leaders to look for better ways to authenticate users, says Yves Massard. Sponsored by HID Global.

Guest: Yves Massard, Product Marketing Director, IAM solutions, HID Global

Look for more coverage of “IT Modernization in Government” on www.fedscoop.com/listen

Public officials across the nation have come under extraordinary pressures to keep up with the demands for public services. But they’ve also shown a remarkable ability to innovate in a hurry, says IBM's Jay Bellissimo.

While much of that innovation was driven by necessity, “it illustrates the potential to transform government faster than many would have thought possible,” he says. “What we’ve heard from many of our clients was that they were surprised — both by how easy it was to innovate on the fly, and how relatively inexpensive it was as well.”

The discussion is expected to continue at the Think Gov virtual conference on July 1, 2020. Visit www.ibm.com/thinkgov to register. Sponsored by IBM.

Guest: Jay Bellissimo, General Manager, U.S. Public and Federal Market, IBM

A new generation of open source solutions for high-performance computing are helping federal agencies tackle complex data and modeling challenges, such as climate simulations and fraud detection, according to a leading open source software expert.

High-performance computing (HPC) solutions, together with available cloud services, allow government agencies to not only generate high-resolution models, but also have a scalable, sustainable and manageable way to store the research.

“Thinking about the huge amount of data that agencies are flooded with in nearly every program, it's not humanly possible to analyze this information by hand, or even with traditional computerized checks. These problems are particularly well suited to HPC and machine learning,” says CTO Brent Schroeder. Sponsored by SUSE.

Guest: Brent Schroeder, Chief Technology Officer, SUSE

Look for more coverage of “IT Modernization in Government” on www.fedscoop.com/listen

Defense agencies looking for a faster way to acquire and utilize cloud services may be overlooking a unique cloud platform already at their fingertips. That platform — milCloud 2.0 — is a fit-for-purpose commercial cloud service designed to meet the unique mission critical requirements of the Defense Department and its mission partners – including the military services, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), the Pentagon and its 4th Estate Agencies. Sponsored by GDIT.

Guest: Jeffrey Phelan, milCloud 2.0 and DOD cloud services portfolio lead, GDIT

Look for more coverage of “IT Modernization in Government” on www.fedscoop.com/listen

The massive shift to telework in recent weeks has put enormous pressures on federal, state and local IT departments, given the scale and complexity involved in shifting operations. But there may be a silver lining, as IT leaders are in a stronger position to advocate for more modern and out-of-the-box solutions that can deliver services faster or more flexibly.

Steve McMahon, Interim CIO at Splunk, can relate to what agency IT departments are going through. He shares some of the steps his organization had to take to adapt to new operating environment — and suggests strategies that IT departments can use to address the expanded set of security risks. Sponsored by Splunk.

Guest: Steve McMahon, Interim CIO, Splunk

Look for more coverage of “IT Modernization in Government” on www.fedscoopstatescoop.com/listen or www.statescoopstatescoop.com/listen

IT executives are increasingly recognizing the importance of open source software as a way to preserve their investment options, reduce vendor lock-in and build more agility into their systems.

SUSE's Melissa Di Donato shares her perspective on how the open source movement is continuing to grow in importance to enterprise IT decision makers, as well as use cases for ways that government agencies can take greater advantage of open-source solutions. Sponsored by SUSE.

Guest: Melissa Di Donato, CEO, SUSE

Look for more coverage of “IT Modernization in Government” on www.fedscoop.com/listen

Zero-trust architecture is gaining widening attention from agency IT leaders and federal policy-makers alike. As agency network connections grow more complex, and the number of distributed applications and remote users continues to expand, CISOs see zero-trust strategies as a critical way forward to keep agency systems and users secure.

IT veteran Jim Richberg shares practical steps agency leaders can take to start building a zero-trust security environment. Sponsored by Fortinet.

Guest: Jim Richberg, Field CISO, Fortinet

Chief information security officers are working diligently to ensure the productivity of temporarily homebound agency employees, while still adhering to the fundamentals of effective cybersecurity practices.

Because employees are connecting working remotely, often with their own equipment, there is an increased risk of an employee exposing agency networks to a whole host of security risks. IT departments need to keep on top of network modeling and cyber-hygiene practices to keep remote workers secure. Sponsored by RedSeal.

Guest: Wayne Lloyd, Federal Chief Technology Officer, RedSeal

Look for more coverage of “IT Security in Government” on www.fedscoop.com/listen

The current work environment is prioritizing cloud-enabled collaboration tools for agencies, but without the network tools and bandwidth needed, says IT expert. Sponsored by Fortinet.

Guest: Jim Richberg, field CISO at Fortinet

Look for more coverage of “Security Transformation in Government” on www.fedscoop.com/listen