I have been spending time this afternoon working on my UMUC Contemporary Topics in Informatics class. One of the topics my students have been commenting on relates to information sharing. One of the questions I… A Passing Thought About Knowledge Management Systems
The Cloud Computing freight train roars on, if not with a lot of motion, at least with a lot of noise and tumult.
I have been part of a number of panels over the last few months which focused on the subject of Cloud Computing, the current state of the’art’, and as usual what barriers exist that need to be dealt with to make it easier to utilize. There certainly has been much written about it both pro and con and it remains a high-priority focus for the current Administrator and, in particular, Vivek Kundra, the Federal CIO.
For one of the graduate classes I am teaching this semester at the University of Maryland University College, the subject is touched upon as part of a broad look at technology changes and implications. The topic generated much comment by my students.
It seems to me that the subject starts from the wrong side of the discussion, the technology side. When the discussion turns to the impact, it starts at an important but not the most important concern, that of return-on-investment (ROI).
Today and in a number of future blog entries, I will talk about what I think are the current important issues associated with cloud computing. Today I start with what I perceive as a foundational issue, cost, but later in the week will move to what I believe are more important considerations and goals.
Note: I do not plan to rehash what cloud computing is, or is not, there are too many other write-ups that do this. Look at the National Institutes of Standards work on such definitions, I think it is pretty good.Cloud Computing Thoughts – Part I
I was lucky enough to be part of a panel discussing cyber-security at a Fedscoop conference Wednesday, October 14, at the Newseum. The agenda for the conference is here: http://fedscoopevents.com/agenda.php. I thought it might be useful to summarize my general points for those who were not able to attend.
The theme of the conference was Lowering the Cost of Government with Technology though the panel’s comments ranged from cost issues to government 2.0 and social networking to cyber-security in general.
The panel was moderated by Chris Dorobek, the afternoon co-anchor for WFED. The other panelists included Vance Hitch, the Department of Justice CIO, Pat Howard, the Chief Information Security Officer, CISO, for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Dr. Ron Ross, a key figure in defining security requirements and policy at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST, Gary Galloway, the Deputy Director for Information Assurance at the Department of State, and Rue Moody, the Director of Strategic Technology at Citrix.