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- Going Mobile: As federal agencies embrace devices and apps to meet employee demand, the White House seeks one comprehensive mobile strategy.
- Smartphone Security: The National Security Agency is developing technologies to make commercial devices suitable for intelligence work.
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Technology Whitepapers
- Creating the Enterprise-Class Tablet Environment - by Yankee Group
- How To Regain IT Control In An Increasingly Mobile World - by BlackBerry
- The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet's Good Bones - by BlackBerry
- Red Alert: Why Tablet Security Matters - by BlackBerry
- New Visual and Wizard-Driven Paradigms for Exploring Data and Developing Analytic Workflows
Featured Reports
Featured Webcasts
- Maximize ROI with Database Consolidation onto Private Clouds
- Effective IT Inventory and Asset Management: From Quagmire to Quick Fix
- Outsourcing Security: What Every Potential Cloud Security Customer Should Know
- The ABC's of Cloud Computing in the Midmarket
- Five Jobs You Can Do Better with Intelligent Decision Automation












Agile Government: Elusive, But Not Impossible (Really)
February 20, 2012
A coming together of technologies and IT management philosophies at the federal level---including agile development and shared services--is cause for guarded optimism.
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Obama's Google+ Debut: Lessons Learned
February 01, 2012
Online get-together with a handful of citizens was a step forward for open government, but participation was limited and key questions were skipped.
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Federal Researchers Push Limits Of Cloud Computing
January 18, 2012
Energy Department's Magellan project, measuring the expansion of the universe, determines cloud computing can't beat its HPC systems on cost or performance. But flexibility is another story.
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FBI's Beleaguered Sentinel Project Delayed Again
January 04, 2012
Bureau's next generation case-management system suffers another setback, as performance issues arise in testing and push deployment out to May.
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Pentagon Unveils Enterprise IT Strategy
December 15, 2011
Department of Defense looks to save up to $5.2 billion through IT consolidation and enterprise-wide adoption of shared platforms and services.
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Federal IT Needs A Cost-Savings Dashboard
December 12, 2011
We need better measures of government IT reform's payback, including concrete numbers on savings and returns.
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How Defense IT Will Cope With Billions In Cuts
November 28, 2011
The Pentagon is betting that spending on technology can save money and help it meet huge cuts in the defense budget that have been ordered and additional cuts that may be on the way.
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Under Pressure, Pentagon Adopts New IT Strategy 
November 28, 2011
The CIO of the Department of Defense has devised an ambitious IT plan that aims to help the military branches cope with billions of dollars in budget cuts.
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Army CIO Seeks $1.5B In IT Efficiencies
November 28, 2011
How will Lt. General Susan Lawrence do it? Data center consolidation, enterprise email, and server virtualization are part of the plan.
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NASA's Next Mission: Deep Space
November 25, 2011
NASA's Mars Science Lab and Curiosity rover are the next steps in a long-term plan to travel farther and faster into space. Check out this visual tour of the future spacecrafts and tools that will get them there.
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IBM Gives First Glimpse Into Cloud Sales
November 04, 2011
With processes in place to track its cloud revenue, IBM puts its SaaS business at "hundreds of millions" of dollars. It's a start, but more details are needed.
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Pentagon CIO's Tech Revamp: 4 Priorities
November 02, 2011
With a new enterprise IT plan in hand, Teri Takai outlines what's next as the Department of Defense looks to introduce new technologies while strengthening its cyber defenses.
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U.S. Marshals Service Invests In IT, Then Faces Cuts
October 10, 2011
Its three-year IT project to provide better law enforcement tools is nearly complete. But the Marshals Service, which was part of an across-the-board 10% budget cut during the past year, now faces another 15% cut.
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How To Build A Government Cloud
October 07, 2011
As federal agencies race to meet OMB's 'cloud first' mandate, they must adapt the cloud model to the idiosyncrasies of government.
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New York Seeks To Turn Ideas Into Mobile Apps
October 06, 2011
At Interop, NY CIO Carole Post outlines next steps in the city's open government and IT modernization initiatives, including a mobile apps competition.
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7 Lessons: Surviving A Zero-Day Attack
September 19, 2011
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory CIO Jerry Johnson takes you inside the cyber attack that he faced down--and shares his security lessons learned.
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15 Government IT Innovators: InformationWeek 500
September 14, 2011
Government agencies from California to Washington, D.C., are taking on ambitious IT initiatives in an effort to provide better services at lower costs. Here are some federal, state, and local efforts that are leading the way.
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Federal IT's Revolving-Door Problem
September 07, 2011
Vivek Kundra's resignation as federal CIO underscores a nagging issue in government IT -- a lack of continuity among key decision makers.
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The New Federal CIO: A Closer Look
August 04, 2011
Vivek Kundra's successor, Steven VanRoekel, logged time at the FCC and Microsoft and is known to be an innovator. But he's never been a CIO.
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Office 365: 5 Factors That Swayed One Enterprise
June 29, 2011
Hendrick Automotive chose Office 365 over Google Apps and other alternatives. The IT director explains why.
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Cloud Revenue: The Question Vendors Keep Dodging
June 28, 2011
Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, and Google play coy when breaking down their cloud computing revenues. That reticence is no longer acceptable.
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Feisty Ballmer Talks Cloud, Office 365, And Big Data
June 17, 2011
In this Q&A, Microsoft's CEO pushes back, but also provides new insights into the company's cloud computing business, its hardware strategy, and his customers' next big bet.
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Government Technologist: Give Federal CIOs The Authority They Need
June 11, 2011
It's not clear if agency CIOs have the clout and support they need to accomplish all the tasks they've been given.
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FBI Recasts Sentinel As Model Of Agility
June 11, 2011
The agency's CIO and CTO share the methodology they're using to hasten completion of its overdue case management system, so that other agencies can learn from their approach.
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50 Most Influential Government CIOs
June 07, 2011
Check out InformationWeek's Government CIO 50, our power list of top government CIOs--ranging from the NSA's technology chief to innovators at the state and city government level. They've got vision, clout, and sometimes, billion-dollar IT budgets. But most of all, these CIOs are known for delivering tangible, measurable results. Here's an inside look at the government technology leaders and their approaches to unique IT leadership challenges.
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FBI Recasts Sentinel As Model Of Agility
May 16, 2011
The agency's CIO and CTO share the methodology they're using to hasten completion of its overdue case management system, so that other agencies can learn from their approach.
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U.S. Intelligence Connects The Dots On Bin Laden
May 03, 2011
Intelligence agencies are leveraging new surveillance technologies and IT architectures to facilitate information sharing in their anti-terrorism and other national security efforts.
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Feds Seek IT Ideas From Private Sector
April 29, 2011
Federal CIO Vivek Kundra has called a meeting with business CIOs to identify emerging tech trends, with a goal of helping federal agencies begin planning now for what comes next.
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Government Technologist: Cloud Computing's Hard Realities Set In
April 16, 2011
It's becoming apparent that cloud computing isn't as easy as it sounds.
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InformationWeek's Government CIO 50
April 14, 2011
Our 2011 list of the leading technology executives in federal, state, and local government.
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InformationWeek's Government CIO 50
April 09, 2011
InformationWeek Government highlights 50 IT leaders that are closing the tech gap.
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Report Blasts Problem-Plagued Cancer Research Grid
April 08, 2011
$350 million caBIG technology program is too complex and its business model is unsustainable, says National Cancer Institute working group.
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The Government CIO 50: Vision, Influence, And Results
March 03, 2011
The top IT execs in federal, state, and local government are using new technologies and hands-on project management to drive change in the public sector.
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Government Technologist: The $1 Trillion Question
February 19, 2011
Six powerful CEOs have a big idea for improving government efficiency--but could it possibly work?
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10 Steps To Open Government
February 19, 2011
The feds have accomplished a lot with the year-old Open Government Directive, but they must get going this year on these 10 critical action items.
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10 Steps To Open Government
February 19, 2011
The feds have accomplished a lot with the year-old Open Government Directive, but they must get going this year on these 10 critical action items.
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The $1 Trillion Federal IT Challenge
February 15, 2011
The CEOs of IBM, Dell, and other tech companies say the U.S. government can reap huge savings from IT-driven initiatives, but their ambitious plan has virtually no chance of success.
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Innovation Mandate: An Interview With NASA's CTO For IT, Chris Kemp
January 04, 2011
From a technology perspective, I see every new space craft and new mission as a new way to connect with the public.
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Where's Government Data In The Cloud?
December 10, 2010
Amid the Obama administration's 'cloud first' strategy, federal agencies face the prospect of seeing their data go offshore. There's a lesson to be learned from WikiLeaks.
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USDA Taps Microsoft Cloud For 120,000 Workers
December 08, 2010
As part of its IT modernization strategy, the federal agency has turned to Microsoft and Dell to provide e-mail and other online applications across its operations.
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Navy CIO Torpedoes Public-Facing Blog
December 03, 2010
The first public blog post by the U.S. Navy's new CIO is also his last. Less than two weeks into the job, Terry Halvorsen has posted a blog to explain that he will no longer communicate via that platform.
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Top 20 Government Cloud Service Providers
November 20, 2010
Nearly a dozen teams of technology vendors have been approved to provide IT infrastructure as a service to government agencies through Apps.gov, the General Services Administration's cloud computing portal. The new blanket service agreement makes it possible for federal, state and local government agencies to order on-demand virtual servers, cloud storage and web hosting as needed from GSA-approved service providers. Cloud vendors must satisfy FISMA's "moderate impact" data security level to participate in the program. A total of 20 companies made it through GSA's vetting process. They comprise a broad cross-section of IT service and infrastructure providers, from industry leaders such as AT&T, Dell and Microsoft to smaller vendors that specialize in doing business with Uncle Sam.
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Tech Teams Vie For Federal Cloud Business
November 20, 2010
GSA has approved 20 companies, ranging from IT industry leaders to lesser-known specialists, to provide infrastructure as a service through its cloud computing portal
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Q&A: Eli Lilly On Cloud Computing Reality
November 13, 2010
The drugmaker doesn't have all the answers, but it has a lot more experience than most. Here's an excerpt from a session during our InformationWeek 500 conference.
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Feds Respond To Air Safety Threats
November 10, 2010
A series of recent incidents have prompted air transportation officials in the United States to outline new security measures, just as millions of people book flights and begin packing for the Thanksgiving travel rush.
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Air Force CIO Priorities: Networking At Mach 6
November 08, 2010
Lt. Gen. William Lord outlines an ambitious plan to bolster the Air Force's cybersecurity posture, drive IT efficiencies, deploy new tech tools, and establish aerial networks at supersonic speeds.
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Signs Point To Amazon Data Center Expansion
October 29, 2010
The e-retailer and cloud services vendor has reportedly purchased 10 acres in eastern Oregon to be used for an expanding data center footprint along the Columbia River.
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New York As IT Center Of The World
October 26, 2010
The Big Apple's new licensing agreement with Microsoft is just one part of an ambitious IT strategy that includes data center consolidation and central management of policies and services.
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Takai Named CIO Of Defense Department
October 25, 2010
Only weeks after having the DOD nomination withdrawn, Takai resigns from her position as the state of California's top IT executive to go to the Pentagon.
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Amid Contract Scandal, A Shakeup And Lingering Questions
October 22, 2010
A suspension on systems integrator GTSI is lifted following an agreement to be monitored independently and the resignation of two top company executives.
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