Legal IT
Just what is needed to speed things up -- attorneys involved with every significant IT project. California is responding to their blowup over the Oracle contract.
posted by David @
11:08 PM
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Saturday, August 24, 2002  |
U.S. Secret Service rolls out cybersecurity task forces
The U.S. Secret Service is hosting government-sponsored meetings to compare notes with their peers on the subject of cybersecurity. This sounds a lot like Infragard.
posted by David @
10:48 PM
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Sento does McAffee
Sento, which is located in American Fork, powers the McAffee technical support website. The site was just given an award as one of the top ten support sites. According to a recent article, "the technology and philosophy behind Sento' Services Portal(TM) significantly expands emphasis on knowledge bases, self-help, email, chat, and a smooth transition to a live agent; allowing the customers to choose their preferred form of communication during the support process".
posted by David @
10:38 PM
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Demographics
Demographics plays a BIG role in Utah. It affects government spending, politics, education, etc. Here's an interesting article in the Economist on US vs. European demographics.
posted by David @
10:31 PM
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Myriad Genetics
I imagine that Myriad Genetics (MYGN) is part of the biotech ecosystem in Utah. Myriad posted a $6.8 million loss for the quarter just ended. That follows a loss of $3.5 million for the previous quarter. The company just submitted an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for the evaluation of its drug, R-flurbiprofen, for the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer's disease.
posted by David @
10:06 PM
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Local Officials need Homeland Help
An article in Federal Computer Week says that local government will need a lot of help from the feds on the homeland security issue and that the federal government should set broad technology standards. A key issue that comes up over and over is communications. I would like to suggest a software bridge that would allow users to use wireless data systems to control and bridge their voice systems. If various voice radio networks were connected to our wide area network, we should find a way to bridge from one local radio network frequency to another. Then, for example, a police officer in St. George who is looking for some information on something that occured in Logan, could search a data directory via the statewide mobile data network and request that the system create a bridge to connect his voice frequency to the source in Logan. Why not?
posted by David @
6:44 AM
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Governor Leavitt on Day 200
The Governor discussed a lot of tech issues in his monthly news conference on KUED. High tech high schools, smart sites, doubling the number of engineering and science graduates were a few of those. It was day 200 of his 1000 day plan.
posted by David @
6:24 AM
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Raising Out-of-state Tuition
Governor Leavitt's concerns over the impact created by raising out-of-state tuition are related to my comments on marginal cost-of-goods. Phil Windley suggests that we might come out ahead by letting some grad students come here for free.
posted by David @
6:16 AM
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UVSC and the Tech Environment
Higher Education is an important element in the development of a technology-based ecosystem. BYU, the University of Utah, and Utah State University have all made tremendous contributions to the development of high-tech industries in the state. UVSC continues to play a growing role as well. Kerry Romesburg has done a great job at making the college into a four-year institution which now supports about 25,000 students. Romesburg left to start a new university in Nevada. I'll be anxious to see that someone of high caliber replaces him.
posted by David @
6:10 AM
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Novell turns the corner
It was good to see Novell post a profit for their third quarter. Novell products are an important part of the technology infrastructure for Utah state government and integral to several of the upcoming enterprise projects.
posted by David @
6:01 AM
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More on Facilities Management
DFCM is utilizing Maximus' FacilityFocus to enhance the overall maintenance and management of facilities in the State. The system tracks all kinds of things and is available across the internet. We are using Citrix Server to deliver the thin client to users. This project already fits within the category of enterprise project proposed by Governor Leavitt and is being rolled out to agencies across the state. Dixie College is the current implementation with Corrections, Weber State University and others on deck.
posted by David @
5:58 AM
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Technology in Buildings
An increasing amount of technology is involved in the operation and maintenance of facilities. A group of employees at the State hospital is suing the State and some of it has to do with technology failure. Although the Department of Administrative Services houses the Division of Facilities Construction and Management and maintains a large number of state facilities, it does not maintain the State Hospital.
According to the lawsuit, failures with intercom systems, metal detectors, and surveillance cameras are putting employees at risk.
posted by David @
5:50 AM
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Outsourcing
In a recent article in CIO magazine, Tom Fields writes:
Frankly, state and local government IT is in worse shape than one might think. Because IT investments have been spotty at best in most agencies, the equipment is old, the networks are patched.
Frankly, outsourcing the whole thing like Regan or San Diego attempted to do appears to me to be more akin to abandonment of responsibility. It is admitting that the job can't be done right internally and throwing up your hands. Nevertheless, I would never consider outsourcing the whole IT bundle for a State government. That said, there are many areas where outsourcing can and is extremely successful. But, it should be based on standards or what you end up with is a bunch of applications and infrastructure that is designed differently by a million different vendors that doesn't talk to each other.
Fields statement that government equipment is "old" is really not the problem at all, at least not in this state as I've observed it. The problem is culture and turf. And that's changing. But it certainly can be difficult.
posted by David @
5:55 AM
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Sunday, August 18, 2002 |
