FedScoop Radio

Department of Defense (DOD) agencies and their partners want to capitalize on the speed, scale and analytic power of the cloud to tackle artificial intelligence and machine learning workloads. However, elevated security requirements, timing and budgets tend to limit which projects can actually move to the cloud — or whether they get done at all. The good news is that milCloud 2.0 — operated in partnership with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and GDIT — is helping defense agencies overcome those obstacles and even fast-track the use of AI and ML applications. Sponsored by GDIT and Intel Corp. Guest: Jeffrey Phelan, milCloud 2.0 Cloud Services Portfolio Lead, GDIT Look for more coverage of “IT Modernization in Government” on www.fedscoop.com/listen

The pandemic and subsequent shift to support remote workers has put renewed focus on the limitations of relying on virtual private networks — and why zero-trust access controls offer greater long-term security. “There are a lot of challenges around scaling VPNs. Agencies that have adopted zero trust earlier were able to get [their remote workforce] up and running quite simply,” says Jose Padin. Padin discusses use cases that show zero trust’s value over traditional VPNs and how agencies benefit, by being able to reduce operating costs and scale access quickly to meet workforce demands. He also touches on ways agencies can establish quick wins with zero trust. Sponsored by Zscaler. Guest: Jose Padin, Federal Director of Sales Engineering, Public Sector, Zscaler Look for more coverage of “IT Modernization in Government” on www.fedscoop.com/listen

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the whole notion of going into a government office to interact with an agency came to a stand-still, forcing agency leaders to establish alternative solutions to quickly deliver services to constituents. Fortunately, the availability of open source solutions and a global community of developers have helped IT leaders implement fast and agile cloud solutions. Implementing these solutions has been helped along by the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA Act), which laid the foundation for federal agencies to deliver the kinds of web and customer service experiences that consumers typically expect when they are interacting with the private sector, says Peter Durand. Sponsored by Acquia. Guest: Peter Durand, Vice President, Federal Business, Acquia Look for more coverage of “IT Modernization in Government” on www.fedscoop.com/listen

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