Children won’t be the only ones trick-or-treating this month. Last year, federal agencies reported an estimated 3,574 incidents every month in 2011 according to the Government Accountability Office. The same office also said incidents reported have increased nearly 680% in the last six years. Due to rising cyber terrorism and the need for increased cyber security, President Obama has designated October “National Cyber Security Awareness Month”.

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.

Many of the products we use or hear about, from fighter jets to infusion pumps, are powered by software. Software holds the keys to innovation of the next big product by giving it an edge from feature to quality. The line of code or software embedded in a product makes a wonder in the modern world. In an effort to save money for the design, development, and market introduction of products, using open source software not only changes the way organizations innovate, but how they achieve their mission.

Do you have questions about FedRAMP? What is FedRAMP? How will FedRAMP impact my agency? What do I need to know about FedRAMP to procure cloud computing services? These are only a few of the many questions we are hearing from customers. To address these questions and others, Shamun Mahmud, the security architect of the DLT Cloud Advisory Group, recently published a white paper entitled The Benefits of FedRAMP. The white paper details how federal IT agencies are being impacted by the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP).

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) recently published the latest in a series of issue briefs on analytics titled "Is Big Data a Big Deal for State Governments?" The objective of this first issue brief on Big Data is to put a foundation for future briefs and discussion forums in place. All aspects of Big Data technologies are examined while also exploring its potential relevance to state IT operations. The document is an excellent starting point for both technical and non-technical decision makers in state governments who are considering expanding the use of technology to deliver new citizen services and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of existing services and IT operations.

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.”

Gunnar Hellekson was good enough to help me along the path with this response on commoditization, one of my favorite words. The grounding idea for me is "undifferentiated good". Undifferentiated (another good word) is a biological concept that means "having no special structure or function." How better to bring me out of the spin I was in and back to the path at hand?

Last year, the public sector was given a unique opportunity to showcase its achievements in digital design thanks to the [acronym] Magazine CAD Awards. This contest was the first of its kind to give the government the opportunity to share the creative ways it has used digital design/CAD software to improve the performance of their agency and enhance the delivery of citizen-centric services.

Hey, did you hear how NASA used Amazon’s cloud computing for its latest Mars mission? NASA’s management of the Curiosity Rover is demonstrating the considerable technical expertise of the scientists involved in the design and deployment of history’s greatest continuation of unmanned research on another planet. The JPL Curiosity Rover Team’s use of the latest in Amazon Web Services (AWS) Infrastructure and Platform support services (IASS) are demonstrating the team’s considerable understanding of the financial benefits as well.