Los Alamos National Laboratory is one of the largest science and technology multidisciplinary research institutions in the world. In anticipation of a large federal migration to a virtualized cloud environment, Los Alamos Lab built a sophisticated cloud platform which is now serving as a model for how data center managers should charge and entice users.

n a recent mobile strategy document released by the Department of Defense (DoD), they addressed the need to strengthen the efficiency of its workforce and operations and construct its business to be more relatable to today’s modern workplace and clientele. The document went on to explain this implementation would involve addressing 3 major goals for the department; “Advance and evolve the DoD Information Enterprise infrastructure to support mobile devices, institute mobile device policies and standards, and promote the development and use of DoD mobile and web-enabled applications.” This strategy “identifies the vision and goals for capitalizing on the full potential of mobile devices and supports the end-user services approach in DoD Information Technology Enterprise Strategy and Roadmap,” states Chief Information Officer, Teri Takai. In order to evolve into this developing strategy, the Department has stated that it must better familiarize itself with management methods of better utilizing available spectrum and also “develop mechanisms for rapidly transitioning technologies into programs of record.” DoD’s new enterprise infrastructure and wireless networks must have the capability to support both unclassified and classified high-bandwidth traffic, a critical up kept stream of wireless coverage to in-building and terrestrial locations, and also various networking architectures. This architecture must maintain a security between the interface of DoD networks and commercial networks by empowering a proper management of mobile devices, applications, and network connections.

Wednesday, June 6th marked the launch of the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) application process for cloud service providers. As required by the Office of Management and Budget, all cloud service offerings must meet FedRAMP requirements when working with Federal agencies.

The days of identity thieves digging through your trash can or calling you requesting your personal information are long gone. Those methods took up their time and resources with limited results. Now, fraudsters can reach millions of people in a day with a click of a button, or create a webpage that is similar to a target agency in content and URL for just a few dollars. Malware can be downloaded just by clicking on these websites and will lay dormant until key words are inputted into your PC.

Federal agencies are getting more comfortable as they transition to a mobile landscape. As this transition progresses discussions have become more focused on securing actual data rather than securing devices as the concept of Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) fits into the architecture.

“Big Data” has been the buzz word floating around federal, state, and local agencies this year. Big Data is a loose term used to describe mass amounts of structured and unstructured digital data flooding government agencies, and it is proving to be problematic. Expanding legacy data combined with growing real-time data requires agencies to devote manpower, funding, and new technology to address changing needs. The FY12 fiscal cycle has been a feeding frenzy for private sector IT giants all battling for a piece agency IT budgets devoted to data management. In response to the Obama Administration’s March announcement of a $200 million Big Data R&D Initiative, the non-profit TechAmerica recently announced the launch of a new Commission. The Big Data Commission, chaired by Steven Mills, Senior Vice President at IBM, is comprised of industry IT leaders, academics, and government advisors and will focus on providing recommendations on how to secure data, how to do more with less, and the relationship between cloud and Big Data.