Digital Discourse / Policy / Policy - Cloud Computing

SIIA Welcomes Aspen Insitute’s Cross Border Data Principles

April 24, 2012 By

Today the Aspen Institute released its first report on its IDEA project. It is a first-rate summary of Internet freedom issues and a call to action to implement principles designed to keep the Internet an open, vibrant platform for free expression and economic activity. In particular, the report endorses the cross-border data flow principles that SIIA has been supporting:

Free Flow of Information Principles
1. Governments should allow the free flow of information globally.
a. Allowing information to move freely and be stored globally permits the capture of economies of scale and makes it possible to reap the economic benefits associated with the Internet.
2. Governments should not artificially or geographically restrict facilities and information storage.
a. Artificially limiting the location of data geographically reduces the resiliency of the Internet and undermines its stability.
b. Governments should not require that facilities or information be located in a specific country or region.

SIIA member companies rely on the Internet as a platform for free expression, the distribution of content protection by strong intellectual property rules, electronic commerce, cloud computing and a unprecedented range of economic and cultural activities. SIIA is committed to maintaining the openness and viability of a free Internet. SIIA congratulates the Aspen Institute for putting together these principles and for carrying forward this important work. We look forward to working with policy makers to implement them.

Mark MacCarthy, Vice President, Public Policy at SIIA, directs SIIA’s public policy initiatives in the areas of intellectual property enforcement, information privacy, cybersecurity, cloud computing and the promotion of educational technology.

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Filed Under: Policy, Policy - Cloud Computing, PSIG Tagged With: ,

This Week in the Federal Cloud: April 16-20

April 20, 2012 By

This week, DOD and Intelligence officials speaking at the AFCEA conference highlighted the need to match acquisition policy with the speed of technology. As we have seen over many years, governments consistently struggle to change their culture and mindset, as well as the underlying acquisition policy, to keep pace with changing technology. As governments plan for and begin to move to cloud computing, this issue will continue to be a point of debate.

This week we also saw the release of an insightful survey by Serena Software, highlighting the views of federal IT officials on a number of key topics. Agile development – a software development process focused on delivering results quickly in small increments – was a priority for only 22 percent of the 225 federal IT professionals surveyed. The same study also reported that only 19 percent of those surveyed listed cloud computing as a priority despite the push by the Administration for “Cloud First.”

The drumbeat around continuous monitoring also continued this week, as lawmakers began debate on Rep. Issa’s FISMA 2.0 legislation. The bill, H.R. 4257, known officially as the Federal Information Security Amendments Act of 2012 passed the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee earlier this week by voice vote and is expected to be considered on the House Floor next week. The key to continuous monitoring, which is seen by many as an alternative to compliance audits, is making sure the underlying control environment you are monitoring is secure. Simply monitoring a weak system won’t achieve the desired results.

Michael Hettinger is VP for the Public Sector Innovation Group (PSIG) at SIIA. Follow his PSIG tweets at @SIIAPSIG.

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Filed Under: Cloud Computing, Cloud/Gov, Government, Policy, Policy - Cloud Computing, PSIG, Software Tagged With: ,

This Week in the Federal Cloud: April 9-13

April 13, 2012 By

The run up to FedRAMP continued this week, with an announcement on Friday morning by Dave McClure, GSA Associate Administrator for the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technology, that the first FedRAMP 3PAOs would be announced in May.  This represents a slight delay from what we had been hearing over the past few months, namely that the initial accredited 3PAOs would be ready to go by mid-April.  As anyone who has been following the FedRAMP process knows, without the first set of accredited 3PAOs it’s difficult to get the process of provisional authorization for CSPs under FedRAMP going.

Also this week, SIIA member McAfee hosted an exciting and insightful Public Sector Summit this week at the Ritz Carlton in Pentagon City.  The event attended by more than 300 government and industry participates had a heavy focus on cybersecurity, cloud and mobility and featured keynotes from Howard Schmidt, the White House Cybersecurity Advisory and General Steven Smith, Director of the Army Cyberspace Task Force.

In other cloud news:

Michael Hettinger is VP for the Public Sector Innovation Group at SIIA.

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Filed Under: Cloud Computing, Government, Policy, Policy - Cloud Computing, PSIG, Software Tagged With: ,

This Week in the Federal Cloud: April 2-6

April 6, 2012 By

As it does every spring, Federal IT took center stage in Washington, DC this week, as the Washington Convention Center hosted the annual FOSE Conference and Trade Show.  This year featured tracks on mobility, cybersecurity and cloud & virtualization, as well as keynotes from Federal CIO Steven Van Roekel and former U.S. Senator George Mitchell.  A lot of buzz in the halls on innovation, the future of federal IT, security in the cloud and the upcoming FedRAMP certification process.

This week in Federal Cloud also saw contract awards for the Army Private Cloud (APC2) and more talk about the need for acquisition to evolve to support cloud deployment.

  • FOSE Conference brings together hundreds of government IT leaders from around the country
    (Federal Times, April 3)
    (Washington Technology, April 4)
    (Federal Computer Week, April 3)
  • US Army awards $250 million private cloud contract to HP (ITProPortal, April 4)
  • McClure says acquisition officers must retool for cloud (Fierce Government IT, April 4)
  • Australia:  Federal government opens up to smaller cloud deals.  Aim is to make sure technology can be acquired as it becomes available (IT News Australia, April 3)

Michael Hettinger is VP for the Public Sector Innovation Group at SIIA.

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Filed Under: Cloud Computing, Cloud/Gov, Government, Policy, Policy - Cloud Computing, PSIG, Software Tagged With: ,

This Week in the Federal Cloud: March 26-30

March 30, 2012 By

A lot happened this week around the federal government’s move to cloud computing and related technologies – everything from GSA’s Dave McClure announcing that current IaaS BPA holders will be the first to go through the FedRAMP certification process, to the federal government announcing a $200m “big data” investment to GSA Chief Martha Johnson pushing shared services and Amazon and NIH announcing plans to put human genome project data in the cloud. The links below give you more information.

Michael Hettinger is VP for the Public Sector Innovation Group at SIIA.

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Filed Under: Cloud Computing, Cloud/Gov, Government, Policy, Policy - Cloud Computing, PSIG, Software Tagged With: ,

Mark your Calendar: Key Spring Federal Cloud Computing Dates

March 26, 2012 By

Now that Spring has arrived, it’s time for cloud providers and tech companies that do business with the federal government to mark their calendars with the season’s key cloud dates, opportunities and deadlines.

March: Progress on Shared First
This month’s targets include agency assessment of the current state of shared services, identification of two commodity IT areas to be shared, and incorporation of current and future shared service areas into the EA transition plan.

Mid-April: Cloud First/FedRAMP Deadline
First 3rd Party Assessment Organizations (3PAOs) to be approved

May: Shared First Target
Develop a roadmap to improve quality

June 5-7: NIST Cloud Computing Workshop V
The forum and workshop, held at the Department of Commerce, “calibrates the NIST Cloud Computing program and USG Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap initiative with external stakeholders” and “features panels focusing on Federal and private sector topics of interest and showcases work completed through NIST chaired public working groups.”

June 8: Cloud First 18 Month Deliverables Due

  • Create a government-wide marketplace for data center availability
  • ScaleIT program management career path
  • EnableIT program manager mobility across government and industry
  • Reduce barriers to entry for small innovative technology companies
  • Roll out the  “TechStat” model at the bureau level

Want to stay up to date on key Federal cloud dates? Get involved with the Public Sector Innovation Group (PSIG), a new division of SIIA comprised of innovative software and IT services firms seeking to take advantage of the evolving Federal investment in cloud-related technologies. The PSIG builds off the themes of SIIA’s annual Cloud/Gov Conference that has tracked the transformation of Government IT procurement over the past six years.

Laura Greenback is Communications Director at SIIA.

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Filed Under: Cloud Computing, Government, Policy, Policy - Cloud Computing, PSIG, Software Tagged With: , , ,

SIIA Launches Public Sector Innovation Group to Address Changes to the IT Acquisition Environment

March 15, 2012 By

SIIA today announced the launch of a new membership group to help technology firms take advantage of the evolving Federal investment in cloud-related technologies. SIIA also announced that it has brought on Mike Hettinger, a Capitol Hill veteran and leading expert on public sector management, to direct the new division.

Called the Public Sector Innovation Group (PSIG), this new membership division will help cloud service providers and Third Party Assessment Organizations (3PAO) take advantage of the evolving Federal investment in cloud-related technologies. PSIG is the only organization of its kind to serve this innovative segment of the public sector technology market. While SIIA been a leader for years in guiding tech companies in the government procurement process, the formation of PSIG reflects the dramatically changed government marketplace.

The move to the cloud is an enormous opportunity for many government contractors. The creation of PSIG will help SIIA members understand the changing landscape, seize upon new government initiatives, and generally be better positioned for success with Federal IT procurement.

SIIA has been guiding our members through this process for six years, with our annual Cloud/Gov conference at the centerpiece. When the Federal government issued its ‘Cloud First’ policy last year and adopted the FedRAMP Concept of Operations, we knew it was time to do more to help our members understand the impact of changes to the IT acquisition environment.

Hettinger most recently served as Executive Director overseeing Strategic Planning and Market Development in Grant Thornton’s Global Public Sector Practice, where he was responsible for firm-wide strategic business planning, federal marketing, and external relations. Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Hettinger was the staff director of the House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform, Subcommittee on Government Management, Finance and Accountability. Hettinger also has an extensive background in public affairs, having served as a Public Policy Counselor at Patton Boggs LLP, where he oversaw large-scale lobbying and public affairs campaigns. Prior to joining Patton Boggs, Hettinger was Chief of Staff to Representative Tom Davis of Virginia.

Read more about PSIG in today’s Government Computer News feature.

Laura Greenback is Communications Director at SIIA.

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Filed Under: Cloud Computing, Government, Policy, Policy - Cloud Computing, PSIG, SIIA News, Software Tagged With: , , ,
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