One to watch regarding standards and security

In May 2008 I provided an overview of Standards Organizations CTOs Should Track.  Standards groups don't change that fast, so the list is still pretty much ok, but I was very light on industry consortia.  Industry groups can play a large role in setting and implementing standards.  Industry reps send the majority of thinkers to standards bodies and industry management decides what standards to follow or ignore.  Tracking industry consortia can be very important to the CTO. 

Since security is such a hot topic (see: The Future of Cyberspace Security and Melissa Hathaway Op-Ed on Cyber Security, for example ) I wanted to point out one I think we should all watch.  The Industry Consortium for Advancement of Security on the Internet or ICASI. 

CIA IT Leaders Are World Class IT Leaders (continued)

CIO magazine continues its reporting on the IT enterprise at CIA and the CIA's CIO (Al Tarasiuk).  I have little more to add:  My comments from before still stand:  Al is a world class leader and this follow on report just underscores that.  I imagine Al is similar to other great CIOs from industry (folks like HP CIO Randy Mott, for example) and my old boss Mike Pflueger of DIA.   These leaders must wrestle with far more than technology (they can hand of the easy technology stuff to CTOs, right?).  In story after story of the great CIOs I note that they spend a great deal of time on culture, policy, process and human factors. 

For continuity I wanted to provide the link to the rest of the story.   It is here:  http://www.cio.com/article/print/441688

Bob

Microsoft Surface uses Jet to accelerate demand

This is the third of three blog posts on technologies encountered during my visit to Redmond. This one is on Microsoft Surface. 

(First a note:  although this is about Surface, Microsoft also announced another hot capability called Sphere.  For more on that see the blog of the CTO of Microsoft’s Institute for Advanced Technology in Governments- Lewis Shepherd)

Microsoft Surface is something you may have heard about in the press.  For
those of us who experimented with technologies like the “Touch Table”
from Applied Minds we already have familiarity with the basic concepts. 
You interact with data using your hands.  But there is something dramatically different with the Microsoft Surface. 
The biggest thing is that it is designed from the ground up to work with the rest of the technology stack.  
You need smart programmers and integrators still, but it is easy
for technologists to work with this system so it will very likely
proliferate. 
Many software packages already exist for it, and more are being written all the time. 
It will be used in the National Security space really soon. 
It is just a matter of time before it is.  And its cost will ensure that it is widely used. 

Vision for the Enterprise CTO: Lessons from DNI Vision 2015

This
note provides two lessons and a comment for enterprise chief technology
officers that comes out of a new vision document from the Director of
National Intelligence (DNI).

The DNI, Mike McConnell, just released Vision 2015, a vision for a
globally networked and integrated intelligence enterprise.   This
vision is for far more than just IT, but it has lessons for all
enterprise technologists.   

This document lays out a compelling, motivating vision for the future
of one of the largest enterprises on the planet, the US Intelligence
Community.  Currently this enterprise is guided by a Director who
exercises authority over its 17 major components and several smaller
organs.  But those many parts also have other chains of command and
frankly the enterprise is not optimized for mission success.   I’ve now
read a vision, however, that I know will change the future.

This is not just an IT vision, which might be ignored by
parts of the enterprise.  It is an enterprise vision.  So, the first lesson I believe this vision has for enterprise CTOs:  life can be so much simpler
if your boss releases a compelling, motivating vision for the entire
enterprise. 


The IT guys in the intelligence community clearly had input to this document.  Some smart techies wrote large sections of this, I can tell.  Here are a few paras from the vision:

QUOTE:

The end state will be seamless access to all intelligence information, tools and processes across multiple agencies and databases. Our information architecture will have to undergo a fundamental shift: from the multiple hub-and-spoke model of information collection, analysis, and dissemination based on specific discipline to a unified architecture designed around a common “cloud” (i.e., a distributed peering network) containing our information. This information infrastructure will allow authorized end-users to discover, access, and exploit data through a range of services, from federated query to integrated analytic tool suites.

Currently, each intelligence agency operates and maintains its own network and information infrastructure: power, cooling, circuits, switches, routers, databases, information management systems, data centers, security and enterprise systems management tools. By 2015, we will migrate to a common “cloud” based on a single backbone network and clusters of computers in scalable, distributed centers where data is stored, processed, and managed. The shared data centers will be unique facilities designed and located for access to communication and power supplies. The Intelligence Enterprise will benefit greatly from a more robust, secure, and effective means to organize, update and retrieve all of the information it collects. The centers will also allow experience and technologies employed across the Community to be leveraged, focusing scarce technical resources and reducing costs.

Over the last 20 years, the Intelligence Community has been challenged to keep pace with rapidly evolving information technology. Although a less-than-agile acquisition and procurement system has been part of the problem, the Intelligence Community is also undermined by its basic approach. If we are to maintain a technology edge, we must adopt an enterprise wide, service-oriented architecture that is interoperable with systems in other federal departments, and can share information with non-traditional partners. A service-oriented architecture provides a proven means to adapt new technologies while responding to changing user needs. By creating “software as a service,” this architecture reduces system complexity and deployment risks through a shared development style, uniform standards, and common interfaces. These services will enable a user-defined analytic environment through the use of composite applications – discrete services that can be pulled from a central library and dropped into a user-defined workspace.

The range of Enterprise-wide services that should be deployed by 2015 include communication services (e.g., common e-mail, directories, calendaring, and collaboration); data services (e.g., federated queries and searches, tagging, entity extraction, and storage); security services (e.g., single sign-on, access control, monitoring, and auditing); and analytic services (e.g.,portals, data mining, visualization, and modeling and simulation tools).

 UNQUOTE

Something this vision does very very
well is capture the IT components of the vision, which is very
empowering for enterprise technologists.  This points to what I believe is the second big lesson for enterprise technologists:  CTOs
should ensure their vision for the future makes it into the bosses
vision.   

And a closing thought:  To me the IT components of this vision were a
very familiar read.  It is the same vision that was successfully
accomplished under the leadership of Mike Pflueger and Mark Greer when
they transformed the DIA and DoDIIS enterprise from 2004 to 2007 (I was
honored to have been their student and their CTO).   They lead a team
of us at DoDIIS HQ and throughout the global enterprise to consolidate
the efforts of 11 major enterprises (and several smaller ones) into one
strong globally networked intelligence enterprise.   In my entire
career they are the only two people I met who I’ve seen accomplish this
type of effort in government.   [Mike and Mark, my crystal ball is clear
on this issue.  You will likely be getting a call from the DNI.  The call might come in 2014 saying a rescue is needed because this IT integration was harder than they thought.  But hopefully the call will come in 2008 and ask your
help/advice on this in its early stages.  If you can work your magic in
the early days of this effort the nation will be far better off for
it.]

AFCEA, JFCOM, Blogs and Twitter

AFCEA just pulled together another great conference (Joint Warfighting 2008).  They have been
real pioneers when it comes to using new Web2.0 technologies during
these events, and that really came out during this conference.  For example, some of
Signal Magazine's greatest writers, including Maryann Lawlor, were at
the conference blogging the highlights of the key events as they were
occurring (they also encouraged other bloggers to post, including the
military PAOs).  For a look at what they did: The AFCEA blog for the Joint Warfighting 2008 conference starts here.  The JFCOM blog for the conference starts here. 

Both AFCEA and JFCOM also used Twitter to give a running feed of what is happening where.   To see what the AFCEA Twitter Feed looked like click here.  To see what the JFCOM feed looked like click here. 

I've been using twitter a bit as well, and I encourage all CTOs to
check it out.  If you use it wisely and configure it to automatically
update your Plaxo feed and Facebook it can be an easy way to keep comrades up to speed on items of interest.  I've also posted a feed on my blog here as a bit of an experiment (I might decide to move that to my personal page instead).

Why do folks like me see a potential benefit from Twitter?  One
example is in the post I did before going to the conference last
week.  After some friends saw that we were able to pre-arrange some
meetings that we would not have done without Twitter.  And, by
following Signal and AFCEA's twitter feed, I was able to maximize my time at
the conference.   

You can check out my feed at: http://twitter.com/bobgourley 

Zettaflop Supercomputers and Moore’s Law

Intel's Pat Gelsinger, a guy in a position to know and help drive Intel's technology roadmap (he is Intel's Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and SVP) spoke recently at the Intel Developers Forum where he gave a presentation called "From Petaflops to Milliwatts."   In that presentation he described something we should all be glad to know, he believes Moore's Law will continue to hold good through 2029 (as I'm sure most readers here know, Moore's Law comes from Intel co-founder Gordon Moore's statement that the number of transistors on a chip will double about every two years). 

Read more on Pat Gelsinger's latest statement at the article on Web Sphere Journal.