Since I didn’t have a chance to blog about the new Federal Digital Strategy last week, I will add it in to this week’s update. Obviously it’s of significant importance to what is going on in Federal IT these days as the US Government tries to address issues such as mobile security, open data and bring your own device. The Digital Strategy, originally billed as a mobile strategy, has evolved into something more complex.
Released on May 23rd, the Digital Government Strategy sets out three main objectives:
• Enable the American people and an increasingly mobile workforce to access high-quality digital government information and services anywhere, anytime, on any device.
• Ensure that as the government adjusts to this new digital world, by seizing the opportunity to procure and manage devices, applications, and data in smart, secure and affordable ways
• Unlock the power of government data to spur innovation across the Nation and improve the quality of services for the American people.
Among the key action items in the Digital Strategy is the establishment of the Digital Services Innovation Center at the General Services Administration, under the direction of Gwynne Kostin, Director of Mobile in GSA’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies. The Digital Services Innovation Center will work with agencies to establish shared solutions and training, as well as a FedRAMP-like certification program for mobile devices.
This week, in advance of NIST’s Cloud Workshop V which begins Tuesday, June 5th, we saw the publication of the NIST Special Publication 800-146: Cloud Computing Synopsis and Recommendations. This document attempts to describe cloud computing in plain language, repeats the NIST-established definition of cloud computing, describes cloud’s benefits and identifies 23 open issues to be addressed – some of which I am sure will be hot topics at next week’s workshop. It also provides insight into various cloud technologies, while providing guidance as to how information technology decision makers should manage cloud-based systems.
See the NIST Publication here.
Michael Hettinger is VP for the Public Sector Innovation Group (PSIG) at SIIA. Follow his PSIG tweets at @SIIAPSIG.