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.

DLT’s Chief Cloud Technologist David Blankenhorn touches on all of the basics in this Securing the Cloud webcast - the concerns, the cautions, the considerations, but he also discusses how trust and an understanding of responsibilities play into the mix. Check out this clip for an overview of what responsibilities fall on the agency versus the provider.

Data protection architectures are by necessity complex in nature as they involve the cold calculus of many factors. There is not a “one size fits all” approach to data protection because the operational requirements of each organization dictates how data is used and the local risk assessment process dictates to some extent how it will be protected. Part of the data protection strategy is the backup / restore process. The simplest of these architectures involve a management tier, a process tier and either a storage tier (disk, tape or both). Symantec’s answer to this is the Netbackup Appliance; a 4U 32TB raid 6 stack that includes all three layers in an appliance form factor. It comes with 2 1GigE ports, 2 10 GigE ports and 2 4Gig fiber hbas. It also has a direct out to tape capability for off-site backup replication. Symantec’s de-duplicate anywhere capability is an integral part of this appliance which extends the scope of data protection significantly.

It’s very rare that the public sector gets the attention it deserves for its innovations and achievements in the field of digital design. Whether it’s saving tax dollars by using computer aided design (CAD) software to introduce efficiencies in waste water management or helping the war fighter with precision weapons design and simulation - the examples, across federal, state and local government are endless. Well, with the newly announced [acronym] Magazine Public Sector CAD Awards, finally these agencies have the opportunity to share the creative ways they have used digital design/CAD software to improve the performance of their agency and enhance the delivery of citizen-centric services.

“If you are waiting until the market settles before making decisions, you are going to be waiting a long, long time.” (According to DLT’s CTO Van Ristau, in a recent Platform-as-a-Service webcast) Gartner, a third party analyst of the IT market, published a statement that by the end of 2011, the battle for leadership in Platform-as-a-Service and key PaaS segments will engulf the software industry. This particular segment of the cloud computing is moving very fast and there is a lot of competition- always a healthy thing for end users. Cloud providers are constantly delivering new or expanded PaaS offerings, and the market doesn’t seem to be settling anytime soon. If you are considering adopting a PaaS strategy, it is time to investigate the different offerings available, get your development teams involved, and begin using these services. Of course, by the time all of that happens in your agency, solutions offerings may have changed again! But, it’s better to figure out what you want, what you need and what’s out there in the market.

On your mark, get set, go! The contestants furiously ripped open their packet, which contained the 20 clues that they would be following for the next two hours. Race for the Cup 2011 had begun. The DLT Race for the Cup is a picture scavenger hunt which takes place in the Washington D.C. metro area. A couple of years ago the DLT Social Committee, an employee-led group that focuses on employee events and morale, started the event as a team building activity. However, this annual scavenger hunt has quickly become one of the most highly anticipated events of the year.

“Private cloud adoption is a journey both from a technical and business perspective.” At the recent AFCEA Cloud Lifecycle Management Symposium in DC, the discussion on government cloud computing ranged from acquisition policies to building the roadmaps in which NIST and government guidelines are being centered around. The vision of these roadmaps is to “easily locate desired IT services, rapidly procure access to the services, and use the services to deliver innovative mission solutions.” But with all of the service providers and offerings available, how can government standardize and corral all of these into one simple menu of options that meets individual agency requirements? How will agencies define a successful cloud program? What are the strategies to assure success?

DLT recently participated in DLT recently participated in the XChange Public Sector conference that which brought together leading analysts to focus on opportunities in the public sector community, including new products, services and solutions, as well as insight from leading industry speakers. The opening session, presented by speaker William Eggers, focused on the impact of changing federal and state IT initiatives on public sector integrators and vendors. These vendors have been challenged to develop programs to meet the evolving needs of the government customers. Eggers discussed his research findings on why some big government initiatives succeed while others fail, and drove home the key point that successful programs have elements that can be replicated. These elements act as a type of map to “systemic barriers to success” that are built into challenging programs. One program mandate that can’t be avoided is the migration to cloud computing. The federal government has a major interest in making that switch, even though the adoption process is slow-going. DLT’s CTO Van Ristau participated in a panel discussion about this during the Federal Cloud Session: Drilling Down into the Federal Market. The discussion aimed to provide insight into cloud computing initiatives that emphasize a push to reduce infrastructure costs, speed application development, reduce complexity, and shrink the energy and real estate footprint of federal IT activities.

To have a public cloud or not to have a public cloud- that is the question. Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) comes with many choices for the customer, and deciding whether or not to make virtualized data centers public or private, is one of the largest ones faced by government agencies. In this clip from the Cloud Advisory Group’s webcast on IaaS, CTO Van Ristau provides some insight into determining your IaaS needs.

On May 22, 2011 a tragic event occurred in the small town of Joplin, Missouri, with an incredible and lasting impact. With little prior warning before touching down, a powerful tornado ripped through the region, leaving hundreds dead, and thousands with nothing to call their own. Houses, schools and businesses were leveled to the ground, belongings of all sizes and shapes were swept away into a cycling fury and residents of Joplin were left searching for aid in the form of basic necessities. Well Joplin, Missouri, aid is coming from over 1,000 miles away! DLT Solutions, partnering with a campaign led by the NetApp Vienna office, hope to deliver thousands of pounds of supplies to the area on July 1st.