A Nation of the People and IP Addresses

Senator calls for 100Mb national Net access

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D., W.Va.) has introduced legislation establishing a national goal for the universal deployment of next-generation, 100 megabit Internet access by 2015, "and calling upon Congress and the President to develop a strategy, enact legislation, and adopt policies to accomplish this objective," according to Thomas. The goal is 10 megabit service by the end of 2010, and 100 megabits service by the end of 2015. 

Meet the CIO for the Internet Age

It's no secret that state civil servants are fast retiring and changing the IT landscape. So it only makes sense that a new kind of CIO might emerge.

They don't remember when "we had a mainframe environment."

"State of the states" on IT spending, trends

GovernmentVAR, a web site devoted to technology integrators and value-added providers, recently published some spending and trends information that I found interesting. Its State of the States article also quotes a number of state government CIOs in an effort to provide a heads up on the opportunities available to the private sector.

The spending forecast looks good for telecommunications and public safety, two areas where NASTD members are active:

Research firm Input predicts that IT spending in state and local government will reach more than $60 billion in 2008 and about $73 billion in 2011. Of that, $50 billion will be contracted to the private sector in 2008, $62 billion in 2011.

Two areas that will carry significant opportunity for the channel are public safety, which Input predicts will grow 12 percent to $3.4 billion in the next five years, and health care, which is expected to grow 10 percent in that same time frame, from $7.6 billion to $12.2 billion.

The most significant sector growth will happen in telecommunications (from 19 percent of the budget in 2006 to 23 percent in 2011) and services (from 23 percent in 2006 to 30 percent in 2011). Software products will stay at about 9 percent of the total IT budget, while computer hardware is expected to drop from 16 percent to 14 percent.

The trends, as broken down by GovernmentVAR:

• "More with Less" - Mentioning the Michigan email and Texas data center consolidation projects specifically, the article suggests centralization will continue apace.
• "Moving beyond Homegrown" - moving beyond legacy homegrown solutions created and nurtured by IT professionals who are beginning to retire.
• "Mass Appeal" - the continued development of the Web interface with the citizenry, and the ability to capture cost savings from those initiatives.
• "Juggling Expectations" - meeting the expectations of the federal government
• Consolidating opportunities, or "strategic sourcing"

Thanks to NASCIO's Enterprise Architecture Newsbriefs for providing the link.

While you're at GovernmentVAR, check out the audio from an interview with NASCIO's executive director Doug Robinson on the challenges for state government IT.

NASCIO reports on state security chiefs

NASCIO is out with a report on the state of the CISO - state chief information security officers.

Key findings:

• Of the 41 responding states, 83 percent, or 34 of the 41, have a CISO or equivalent position.
• Fifty-four percent (54%) of respondents report to the state CIO.
• Sixty percent (60%) of the survey respondents indicated that they have authority over executive branch agencies, while an additional thirty-five (35%) reported having statewide authority (including multiple branches of government).
• Sixty percent (60%) of respondents have a defined security budget.
• Seventy-one percent (71%) of the survey respondents have the ability to enforce IT security policies.

Interestingly, "adequate staffing and personnel" was cited by 27 of the 41 responding states when asked what security chiefs needed to do their jobs. It's an issue that cuts across all of state government given the pending retirement of perhaps half of the state civil service workforce over the next decade. Attracting and keeping highly qualified people is a chronic problem.

State CIOs on "Talk Radio"

Wisconsin CIO Matthew Miszewski recently appeared on CIO Talk Radio on the subject of "partnering for success."

John Gillispie, Chief Operating Officer, Iowa and Malcolm Fry, advisor to NASCIO corporate member BMC Software are slated to appear today, September 20 on the subject of ITIL, according to news from the association.

State CIO's on Health IT

GovTech: NASCIO has released a briefing on the role of the CIO in health IT.

Nebraska has big IT plans

Government Technology has a piece in its February edition on Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman's plans to use IT to grow his state.

One of the governor's first acts was to merge the policy and operations functions in the CIO's office -- previously, the CIO's office set policy while the Department of Adminstration handled operations. Gov. Heineman has established four IT priorities: education, economic development, efficiency in government and safe communities.

He also appointed Brenda Decker, a long standing and active member of NASTD, as the state CIO in January 2005.

Check out the article if you get the chance.

New CIO in Massachusetts

Government Technology notes the new Massachusetts CIO, Louis Gutierrez. Among his many duties, Mr. Gutierrez will oversee the implementation of the state's oen document format proposal.   

New Empire State CIO

Government Computer News reports that Gov. George Pataki has filled two key IT positions in the Empire State.  Meg Levine is now the director for the Office for Technology and Michael Mittleman is the chief information officer. According to the article:

Mittleman will be responsible for implementing the state’s technology strategic plan, creating IT policies and standards and coordinating development and deployment of IT resources.

...Levine, formerly the acting director [of Office of Technology]... will lead the agency as it provides centralized technology services, shapes technology policy and coordinates statewide technology-related initiatives.

Levine will also be responsible for the state’s communications and IT infrastructure.

Virginia Governor-elect appoints technology chief

Virginia Governor-elect Kaine has appointed an expert in health information technology as Secretary of Technology, according to Culture  & Context.