http://www.informationweek.comInformationWeeken-usCopyright 2012, UBM LLC.2013-01-02T09:08:00ZNASA plans continued exploration of Mars and the night sky, continued missions to the International Space Station, and numerous satellite and spacecraft missions.http://www.informationweek.com/government/information-management/nasa-details-2013-plans/240145374?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/mobile/nasa-mars-mission-no-little-green-men-/240142965"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/917/roverv2_tn.jpg" alt="NASA Mars Mission: No Little Green Men -- Yet" title="NASA Mars Mission: No Little Green Men -- Yet" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">NASA Mars Mission: No Little Green Men -- Yet</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> Despite a budget crunch and an uncertain political environment, NASA is pushing ahead with numerous launches and plans for ongoing missions in 2013, the space agency said in a series of announcements over the last few weeks. <P> In the next year, NASA's Curiosity Mars rover will continue its drive toward a mound known as Mount Sharp, and the space agency will send expeditions to the International Space Station, update its space communications network, gather information about the lunar surface, and work on a mission to the Martian atmosphere, among other efforts. <P> Over the next year, NASA's most visible current project, the Mars Curiosity rover, will continue its drive across a shallow depression known as Yellowknife Bay on its way toward a three-mile-high mountain known as Mount Sharp, which NASA has targeted as Curiosity's "primary science destination." <P> NASA's long-lived Opportunity rover, meanwhile, is conducting experiments and taking photographs at another site, known as Matijevic Hill, on the rim of a crater. It is studying clay-like soils and tiny spheres of soil nicknamed "newberries" by NASA scientists. <P> <strong>[ Check out the instruments helping NASA determine whether microbial life ever existed on the red planet. See <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/mobile/11-cool-tools-nasa-curiosity-brought-to/240008978?itc=edit_in_body_cross">11 Cool Tools NASA Curiosity Brought To Mars</a>. ]</strong> <P> As for launches, NASA will begin the new year with a test flight of Orbital Sciences Corporation's Antares rocket from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, followed shortly thereafter by the launch of part of a series of next-generation communication satellites. Another Antares test is scheduled in April. <P> NASA's launches will continue throughout the year. In February, the agency will launch a new satellite for the long-running Landsat program, which provides imagery for wide-ranging uses. Manned and unmanned missions to the International Space Station are scheduled several times throughout the year. <P> In late April, NASA plans to launch a solar probe called the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, which will study energy in the Sun's atmosphere, focusing on the chromosphere. Joining missions to the Sun will be missions to the Moon and to Mars. The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, scheduled to launch in August 2013, will study lunar dust. The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) will study Mars' upper atmosphere. <P> NASA also plans to continue its work on the James Webb Space Telescope and other future missions. Ongoing missions include the New Horizons spacecraft, which will continue its approach toward Pluto, waking up from hibernation in January to calibrate and update instruments and software, and the Kepler Space Telescope, which will continue an extended mission to look for potentially habitable planets analogous to Earth.2012-12-28T11:48:00ZFedRAMP, which aims to make it easier and more cost-effective for government agencies to adopt cloud services, is now officially open for business with the authorization of Autonomic Resources ARC-P service.http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/feds-issue-first-cloud-services-security/240145353?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/leadership/iw500-15-top-government-tech-innovators/240006582"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/861/01_Intro_tn.jpg" alt="IW500: 15 Top Government Tech Innovators" title="IW500: 15 Top Government Tech Innovators" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">IW500: 15 Top Government Tech Innovators</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> In a bid to accelerate and make more cost-effective the adoption of cloud computing, the federal government Thursday issued the first government-wide security authorization for a cloud computing service as part of the new Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP). <P> The FedRAMP program will eventually be a mandatory, common approach to ensuring that cloud computing services meet federal cybersecurity requirements. It will replace the historically agency-by-agency and therefore often duplicative approach to certifying that services meet these requirements. For now, though, almost 19 months after being announced, FedRAMP is still just getting off the ground. <P> In issuing the authorization on Thursday, the General Services Administration met its goal of finalizing its first security authorization by the end of 2012 and vaulted little-known North Carolina-based government contractor Autonomic Resources LLC, which received the authorization, into the public eye. <P> <strong>[ For more on federal cloud initiatives, see <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/doe-national-labs-reveal-sweeping-cloud/240144154?itc=edit_in_body_cross">DOE, National Labs Reveal Sweeping Cloud Strategy</a>. ]</strong> <P> The authorization process required Autonomic Resources to implement and thoroughly document its implementation of dozens of required FedRAMP security controls in the vendor's ARC-P infrastructure-as-a-service offering, and had auditors from cybersecurity consultancy the Veris Group verify and test those controls. The authority to operate granted by GSA serves as proof that Autonomic Resources meets federal cybersecurity requirements for cloud services, and enables any government agency to use ARC-P. <P> Autonomic Resources' ARC-P is a community cloud infrastructure-as-a-service offering that can provide federal agencies with managed and unmanaged virtual machines. Autonomic Resources hires only employees with government security clearances to manage its cloud operations. <P> The company, which offers a variety of cloud and other managed services to government agencies, counts among its customers the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, the Navy, the National Institutes of Health, and a number of state and local governments. It has also been awarded contracts as part of several broader GSA contract vehicles, such as the government-wide <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/government/cloud-saas/feds-cloud-email-deal-paves-way-for-agencies/240006617">cloud email contract vehicle</a>. <P> Dave McClure, associate administrator of GSA's Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, which has played a leading role in developing FedRAMP, estimates that agencies using FedRAMP will save $200,000 per authorization. While the authorization for Autonomic Resources is a start, agencies likely won't start seeing real savings until more prominent, commonly used services providers have their services authorized as part of FedRAMP. <P> While Autonomic Resources received the first FedRAMP authorization, larger cloud service providers and government contractors are sure to follow. About 80 companies have applied for FedRAMP authorization since GSA began accepting applicants this summer, and GSA said in a statement Thursday that more authorizations are expected in "early 2013." <P> <i>Cloud computing, virtualization and the mobile explosion create computing demands that today's servers may not meet. Join Dell executives to get an in-depth look at how next-generation servers meet the evolving demands of enterprise computing, while adapting to the next wave of IT challenges. <a href="https://www.techwebonlineevents.com/ars/eventregistration.do?mode=eventreg&F=1005372&K=EOA">Register for this Dell-sponsored webcast now</a>.</i>2012-12-17T08:00:00ZGovernment agencies must raise server utilization and efficiency as they squeeze more computer processing into less physical space.http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/optimization-is-key-to-federal-data-cent/240144381?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <!-- InformationWeek Digital Issue--> <div id="inlineGreenPromoTop"> <div class="greenBand"></div> <div class="inlineGreenPromoContent"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/121712gov/?k=axxe&cid=article_axxe_os"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/government/016/smallcov.jpg" alt="InformationWeek Green - Dec. 17, 2012" title="InformationWeek Green - Dec. 17, 2012" align="left" class="greenIssueImage" /></a><br /> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/121712gov/?k=axxe&cid=article_axxe_os"><img src="http://twimgs.com/infoweek/graphics_library/misc/Green_leaf_88x88.jpg" alt="InformationWeek Green" title="InformationWeek Green" align="right" class="greenLeaf" /></a> <div class="greenPromoText"> <strong><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/121712gov/?k=axxe&cid=article_axxe_os">Download the entire December 2012 issue of <em>InformationWeek Government</em></a></strong>, distributed in an all-digital format as part of our Green Initiative<br /> (Registration required.)<br /><br /> </div> </div> <div class="greenBand"></div> </div> <!-- / InformationWeek Digital Issue--> <br /><!-- leave as a br to not interfere w/ the insights boxes --> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/government/016/016GovCS_cover2_150_110.jpg" width="110" height="110" alt="Data Center Optimization" title="Data Center Optimization" width="110" height="110" class="artInlineTopImage" /> <P> Closing data centers is only half the battle in the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative. The other equally important challenge is overhauling the data centers that remain to handle heavier workloads, and do so more efficiently and at lower cost than today's facilities.</p> <P> Launched by the Office of Management and Budget two years ago, the FDCCI aims to close 1,200, or 40%, of the federal government's 3,133 data centers by the end of 2015. The data centers that continue operating will have to pick up the workload from those that close, in addition to handling the ever-growing requirements they already support. That means data center optimization -- in the form of virtualization, more tightly packed server configurations, increased energy efficiency and new cooling approaches -- is vital to success of the broader initiative. </p> <P> The need for data center optimization is spelled out in the FDCCI documentation. Agencies are required to provide regular updates on the energy savings of their data centers, on virtualization and server-density rates, and on their use of cloud computing and shared services. </p> <P> "While we continue to rack up closures and focus on consolidation opportunities to maximize savings, it's equally important to focus on the efficiencies of the data centers that remain in our inventory," Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel wrote in a blog post. "These data centers, which will take on additional work as we consolidate, will become the centerpieces of service delivery to American taxpayers." Agencies, he said, must focus on computing density, not just data center capacity.</p> <P> <!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div style="float:right;padding-left:10px;"> <div style="width:210px; border:1px solid #000000;"> <div style="margin:0; padding:5px; background-color:#CC0000; text-align:center; font-size:1em; color:#ffffff; font-weight:bold;"><a href="http://reports.informationweek.com/abstract/104/9047/Government/research-federal-cloud-computing-survey.html?cid=pub_analyt__iwk_20121217" target="_blank" style="color:#ffffff;">Research: Federal Cloud Computing Survey</a></div> <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/government/016/016Gov_CSreportcover.jpg" width="175" height="106" style="margin:15px;"> <div style="font-size:.9em; margin:0px 1px 0px 10px;">Our <a href="http://reports.informationweek.com/abstract/104/9047/Government/research-federal-cloud-computing-survey.html?cid=pub_analyt__iwk_20121217" target="_blank">Federal Cloud Computing Survey</a> finds that as more government agencies plug into the cloud, they're finding savings and exploring new uses. <br /><br />What you'll find : <ul class="normalUL"><li>No. 1 reason agencies don't choose public cloud services</li> <li>How to build a business case for cloud computing</li> </ul> <center><strong><a href="http://reports.informationweek.com/abstract/104/9047/Government/research-federal-cloud-computing-survey.html?cid=pub_analyt__iwk_20121217" target="_blank">Get This</a> And <a href="http://reports.informationweek.com/">All Our Reports</a></strong></center><br /></div> </div> </div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <P> FDCCI objectives include reducing energy consumption and costs, optimizing cooling and power distribution, lessening environmental impact, improving operational efficiency and enhancing the government's agility. </p> <P> The FDCCI's consolidation plan lays out, in six phases, how agencies must proceed. First, federal IT teams must take an inventory of their technology assets and establish other metrics to gauge progress. The second, third and fourth phases cover application mapping, data center design and transition planning. Consolidation and optimization together account for phase five. The final phase is "ongoing optimization," whereby data center operations are monitored and improved constantly. </p> <P> Federal agencies and departments will find themselves in different phases as they close or optimize data centers, then turn to others. The Army, which plans to shutter 70% of its data centers, is consolidating 13,000 applications. "This will help us drive down costs," says Col. James Parks, director of the Army's data center consolidation.</p> <P> Pulling the stakeholders together is an important first step, Parks says. At each site the Army plans to close, it forms "discovery teams" of stakeholders, including personnel from other military branches. </p> <P> <!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <center><strong>To read the rest of the article,<br /><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/121712gov/?k=axxe&cid=article_axxe_os">Download the December 2012 issue of <em>InformationWeek Government</em></a></strong></center><br clear="all" /></p> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->2012-12-11T14:10:00ZGoogle, NASA and the NOAA have released high resolution nighttime satellite images that illuminate everything from cities to ships at sea.http://www.informationweek.com/government/information-management/google-maps-adds-nasa-nighttime-satellit/240144185?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --><div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/mobile/nasa-mars-mission-no-little-green-men-/240142965"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/917/roverv2_tn.jpg" alt="NASA Mars Mission: No Little Green Men -- Yet" title="NASA Mars Mission: No Little Green Men -- Yet" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">NASA Mars Mission: No Little Green Men -- Yet</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->Less than a week ago, NASA released "Black Marble," a set of high-resolution images of the Earth at night, illuminated by the electric lights of cities worldwide. Already, thanks to a partnership between Google and government agencies, people can explore the imagery in Google Maps. <P> The imagery <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/NPP/news/earth-at-night.html">released</a> by NASA last week was collected by the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite during 312 orbits of Earth over 22 days in April and October 2012, and then composited and mapped over NASA's high-resolution Blue Marble Next Generation imagery. <P> Although users won't be able to zoom down to the street level like they can in Google Street View and the satellite view of the standard Google Maps, they can zoom down to the city level, which enables viewing of gas flares produced by oil and gas drilling and exploration in North Dakota and the Middle East, wildfires in Australia, boats crowding the Nile River in Egypt and the lights of New York City and London. <P> Google announced the collaboration with NASA Earth Observatory and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Geophysical Data Center, which Google is calling <a href="https://earthbuilder.google.com/10446176163891957399-13737975182519107424-4/mapview/">Earth at Night 2012</a>, in a <a href="https://plus.google.com/+GoogleMaps/posts/HNFErV8HfQT?cfem=1">post</a> Monday on Google+. <P> <strong>[ Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/mobile/11-cool-tools-nasa-curiosity-brought-to/240008978?itc=edit_in_body_cross">11 Cool Tools NASA Curiosity Brought To Mars</a>. ]</strong> <P> NASA also has released its <a href="http://earthdata.nasa.gov/labs/worldview/?map=-24.484375,14.05078125,50.75,62.14453125&products=baselayers.VIIRS_CityLights_2012~overlays.sedac_bound&switch=geographic">own interactive version</a> of the imagery overlaid onto a map as part of NASA Earth Observing System Data and Information System's (EOSDIS) Worldview tool. Worldview, first released to the Web in July, includes up-to-date satellite imagery and overlay data from 50 different data streams. <P> <a href="http://npp.gsfc.nasa.gov/">Suomi NPP</a>, operated out of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, has sent vast amounts of scientific data and imagery -- particularly climate imagery -- to NASA since its launch in October 2011. Other recent nighttime observations include images of Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath, images of wildfires in the Western United States in July and images of power outages in Washington, D.C., after a freak summer storm. <P> Suomi NPP's Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is so sensitive that it can pick up light from a single ship at sea, and is an improvement over past satellites that could pick up nighttime images. <P> According to NASA, scientists will be able to use the data from VIIRS and Suomi NPP more generally to study a long list of topics, including climatology, population movement, auroras, bioluminescence and the extent of arctic ice. <P> Suomi NPP is also responsible for NASA's most recent 86,400-pixel-by-43,200-pixel Blue Marble imagery, which is composed of daytime images from VIIRS. NASA has been taking satellite images of Earth since 1960, but the recent Blue Marble and Black Marble series are some of the highest resolution images yet released. <P> <i>Join Cloud Connect for a free webcast with "Cloudonomics" author Joe Weinman. Cloudonomics is a new way to discuss the benefits of private clouds. Many have focused on the cost reduction possibilities while others have focused on business agility. However, private clouds can play a strategic role, as well. The <a href="http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=543922&s=1&k=03050B993D09D35972131EDAF5030AD5&partnerref=jdpl">Cloudonomics</a> webcast happens Dec. 12. (Free registration required.)</i>2012-12-10T17:01:00ZStrategy outlines dozens of innovative initiatives underway or planned at the Department of Energy and the 22 national laboratories.http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/doe-national-labs-reveal-sweeping-cloud/240144154?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --><div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/government/policy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228201002"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/540/GeneralDynamics_tn.jpg" alt="Top 20 Government Cloud Service Providers" title="Top 20 Government Cloud Service Providers" class="img175" /></a><br /><span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view)</span><br /><div class="storyImageTitle">Slideshow: Top 20 Government Cloud Service Providers</div></div><!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->The Department of Energy and its national laboratories released a wide-ranging cloud computing <a href="http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy13osti/56143.pdf">strategy</a> and overview that for the first time pulls together the disparate cloud computing efforts of the agency's 22 national laboratories. <P> The strategy largely leaves in place the agency's hands-off approach to information technology at the national labs in what it calls a "cloud of clouds approach": A small set of centralized Department of Energy initiatives will guide the numerous cloud computing efforts at the independently-operated national labs. <P> Thus far, that hands-off approach has led to significant innovation at the labs. <P> <strong>[ Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/how-the-feds-drive-cloud-innovation/240010563?itc=edit_in_body_cross">How The Feds Drive Cloud Innovation</a>. ]</strong> <P> The strategy highlights a number of cloud computing initiatives and efforts at the national labs that range widely from the basic to the innovative, from infrastructure-as-a-service to Google Apps to virtual desktop infrastructures. Among them: <P> <strong>Department Of Energy's YOURcloud</strong> <P> The agency's YOURcloud hybrid cloud-based infrastructure-as-a-service offering will position the Department of Energy as a cloud broker and orchestrator, linking the agency and national labs to various public and private cloud service providers, and providing a home for the agency's future enterprise app store. Based as it is on Los Alamos National Lab's Infrastructure on Demand platform, YOURcloud shows that the agency will likely lean on its national labs to execute any centralized elements to its cloud strategy. <P> <strong>Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory FermiCloud</strong> <P> Fermi has set up a private cloud infrastructure-as-a-service offering for development and testing of scientific apps and open source cloud frameworks and for operation of grid computing apps and services. The offering gives end users access to virtual machines without having to go through IT, and has been configured to support supercomputing apps. <P> <strong>Cloud Email Collaboration</strong> <P> The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Savannah River National Laboratory have teamed up to investigate and pilot Microsoft Office 365 productivity and collaboration services. If given the go-ahead, the effort could combine the national labs' buying power and eliminate the overhead of having to operate email servers and other offerings on premises. <P> <strong>Nevada National Security Site VDI</strong> <P> Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) has already replaced half of its physical desktops with zero clients, and plans to continue down that path toward a virtual desktop infrastructure in an effort that could save NNSS $800,000 annually. The next phases of the migration will push VDI beyond standard desktops and will allow for three-dimensional modeling and complex computations. <P> Overall, several of the labs express plans in the strategy document to use YOURcloud, and the aforementioned Microsoft Office 365 effort also indicates strong prospects for a shared future. Additionally, numerous national labs have or are piloting or planning cloud infrastructure services and virtual desktop infrastructures. <P> Taken as a whole, the Energy cloud strategy document indicates that, although the national labs and the department as a whole continue to operate independently of one another, many of them are on the same page on cloud computing and are even working together. That's at least a start toward more unified IT at the Department of Energy. <P> <i>Join Cloud Connect for a free webcast with "Cloudonomics" author Joe Weinman. Cloudonomics is a new way to discuss the benefits of private clouds. Many have focused on the cost reduction possibilities while others have focused on business agility. However, private clouds can play a strategic role, as well. The <a href="http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=543922&s=1&k=03050B993D09D35972131EDAF5030AD5&partnerref=jdpl">Cloudonomics</a> webcast happens Dec. 12. (Free registration required.)</i>2012-11-21T12:10:00ZNASA says its Curiosity rover has made a discovery on Mars, but isn't saying more. Clues offer some educated guesses about what NASA's found.http://www.informationweek.com/government/information-management/mars-mystery-heres-what-we-know/240142491?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/mobile/11-cool-tools-nasa-curiosity-brought-to/240008978"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/883/01_APXS2_tn.jpg" alt="11 Cool Tools NASA Curiosity Brought To Mars" title="11 Cool Tools NASA Curiosity Brought To Mars" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">11 Cool Tools NASA Curiosity Brought To Mars</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> Results of soil sample analysis by NASA's Curiosity rover may have yielded a significant scientific discovery on Mars, possibly of organic compounds, but until NASA makes a more detailed announcement at a conference in early December, the public will have to sift through available clues. <P> In the meantime, Curiosity will take a break over the Thanksgiving holiday, during which scientists will use the rover's camera to look for future routes and targets for investigation. <P> "This data is one for the history books," NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist John Grotzinger recently told National Public Radio, while adding that he could not divulge more until scientists had a better chance to vet the data. Hypotheses have ranged from a discovery of complex organic matter to chemicals indicating the presence of water. <P> According to Grotzinger, NASA's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) was the tool that facilitated the discovery. SAM is a hypersensitive set of three instruments -- a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrupole_mass_analyzer">quadrupole mass spectrometer</a>, a gas chromatograph and a tunable laser spectrometer -- that process and analyze soil samples in search of compounds containing carbon and other elements associated with life. <P> <strong>[ Learn more about the Mars mission. See <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/mobile/nasa-curiosity-visual-tour-mars-revealed/240005315?itc=edit_in_body_cross">NASA Curiosity Visual Tour: Mars, Revealed</a>. ]</strong> <P> SAM is the largest tool on Curiosity, weighing in at 88 pounds. The tool's mass spectrometer separates compounds and elements by mass to help scientists identify them, while the chromatograph vaporizes samples and analyzes the resulting gasses, and the laser spectrometer measures isotopes of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen in gasses. <P> "Because these compounds are essential to life as we know it, their relative abundances will be an essential piece of information for evaluating whether Mars could have supported life in the past or present," NASA says in an online description of SAM's mission online. <P> NASA sent SAM to Mars with five specific goals, all of which aim to address questions about habitability on Mars. These goals include surveying carbon sources on Mars, searching for organic compounds, revealing the state of isotopes on Mars that are important for life as we know it on Earth, determining Mars' atmospheric composition and measuring other gases in order to "better constrain models of atmospheric and climatic evolution." <P> Curiosity recently spent six weeks testing its soil sampling tools at a sand dune that NASA named Rocknest. The $2.5 billion Curiosity is on a broader two-year mission to investigate Mars' present or past habitability after landing in August in the Red Planet's Gale Crater -- a site that, according to NASA analysis of satellite imagery, was historically covered with water. <P> NASA first used SAM's soil sample tool with soil from Rocknest on November 9, and followed that sampling with two days of analysis on the sample. In a statement issued November 13, SAM principal investigator Paul Mahaffy indicated that the sample yielded "good data," but did not tip his hand as to what that data portended. <P> While the discovery of organic compounds would be significant, as previous missions have not found them on Mars, NASA officials have previously said in interviews that they expect that Curiosity would find organic materials. The presence of organics would not necessarily indicate past or present presence of life on Mars: For example, organics can be found on meteorites, and methane can be produced by abiotic processes. <P> NASA plans to announce the news at the fall meeting of the <a href="http://fallmeeting.agu.org/2012/">American Geophysical Union</a>, which takes place December 3 to 7 in San Francisco. NASA scientists have already used SAM to analyze Mars' atmosphere, finding little evidence of methane in the atmosphere despite an earlier false alarm.2012-11-19T08:46:00ZAmazon Web Services played a starring role in President Obama's quest for a second term.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240142268?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --><div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/cloud-computing/infrastructure/232901167"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/788/01_Transformation-1_tn.jpg" alt="Amazon's 7 Cloud Advantages: Hype Vs. Reality" title="Amazon's 7 Cloud Advantages: Hype Vs. Reality" class="img175" /></a><br/><div class="storyImageTitle">Amazon's 7 Cloud Advantages: Hype Vs. Reality</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div><!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->Much has been made about President Obama's tech-savvy 2012 campaign, which made use of technologies from big data to social media to email to bring votes home for Obama. Across those efforts, cloud computing played a key part in powering the campaign. <P> In particular, the campaign made heavy use of a vast array of services offered by Amazon Web Services, building more than 200 apps that ran in the cloud. The Obama re-election effort used Amazon so heavily that Amazon Web Services CTO Werner Vogels personally congratulated the campaign's chief technology officer, Harper Reed, on Twitter. <P> The long list of Amazon cloud services the Obama team tapped into included compute power and storage, Domain Name Service, distributed queue messaging, NoSQL and relational database services, bulk emailer services, virtual private cloud services, load balancing, in-memory caching, and Amazon's content delivery network. "The applications made use of virtually every AWS service," Amazon Web Services evangelist Jeff Barr said in a blog post Thursday. <P> <strong>[ Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/management/5-ways-amazon-web-services-protects-clou/240008405?itc=edit_in_body_cross">5 Ways Amazon Web Services Protects Cloud Data</a>. ]</strong> <P> Here are just six Amazon Web Services tools that the Obama team used to its advantage: <P> <strong>1. Databases. </strong> <P> Data was a huge force for the Obama re-election effort. According to Scott VanDenPlas, head of the effort's DevOps group, the team used 180 terabytes of data. The primary voter file database ran on Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS), which is Amazon's MySQL-based relational database, and pulled in information on voters from numerous sources. Obama for America also used Amazon DynamoDB key-value store; Amazon Simple Storage Service to store images of databases; and Google's open source LevelDB key-value store, which has its roots in Google's internal BigTable databse system. <P> <strong>2. Data Modeling And Analytics.</strong> <P> Although the databases were important for storing information on voters, donors, and volunteers, analytics put the data into action. Obama for America ran an analytics system on EC2 Compute Cluster Eight Extra Large instances, which Amazon targets for high-performance computing jobs. The campaign also did big-data modeling on Amazon with Amazon's Elastic MapReduce service and tools from HP Vertica. <P> <strong>3. Data Integration.</strong> <P> In order to connect various campaign apps with various data streams, Obama for America built a tool called Narwhal. Narwhal made heavy use of Amazon's Simple Queue Service distributed queue messaging service by integrating data from polls, third-party vendors such as Blue State Digital and NGP VAN, and other sources, and queueing the data up for processing. <P> <strong>4. Media management.</strong> <P> Amazon powered the tools that Obama for America built for what Barr termed "multi-channel media management." For instance, The Optimizer tool helped the campaign determine the most efficient television advertising strategies. Twitter and Facebook Blasters targeted individual voters on social media. <P> <strong>5. Voter and volunteer coordination. </strong> <P> The cloud powered Obama for America's social coordination and collaboration efforts as well. For example, the re-election campaign used Amazon Auto-Scaling to quickly add cloud resources in order to enable as many as 7,000 volunteers make more than two million calls to voters in four days at the campaign's end. <P> <strong>6. Backup.</strong> <P> Finally, once the election was over, Obama for America backed up its information to Amazon's Simple Storage Service. <P> <i>More than half of federal agencies are saving money with cloud computing, but security, compatibility, and skills present huge problems, according to our survey. Also in the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/100812gov/?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Cloud Business Case</a> issue of InformationWeek Government: President Obama's record on IT strategy is long on vision but short on results. (Free registration required.)</i>2012-11-15T15:35:00ZWhite House looks primed to take action on its own after Congress again fails to pass cybersecurity legislation.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240142198?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/leadership/iw500-15-top-government-tech-innovators/240006582"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/861/01_Intro_tn.jpg" alt="IW500: 15 Top Government Tech Innovators" title="IW500: 15 Top Government Tech Innovators" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">IW500: 15 Top Government Tech Innovators</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> Comprehensive cybersecurity regulatory reform failed yet again in the Senate on Thursday, but the White House is not waiting for Congress to act and will likely use an executive order to carry out some elements of the bill. <P> On Wednesday, Senate Republicans -- joined by a small group of Democrats -- again blocked the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 from coming to the Senate floor. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., attributed the opposition to a fast-tracked process and the failure to allow fully open amendments. Numerous national security officials have urged the bill's passage, but the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has repeatedly voiced strong opposition. <P> In response to the bill's failure, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., called the bill "dead for this Congress." <P> In a statement, Reid said: "A bill that was and is most important to national security was just killed and that's cybersecurity. I hope President Obama uses all the authority of the executive branch at his disposal to fully protect our nation from the cyber security threat." <P> The administration has already taken some actions. According to reports, President Obama in mid-October <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/security/obama-secret-order-authorizes-cybersecur/240134945">signed</a> the classified Presidential Policy Directive 20, which sets new cyber defense standards for government agencies, including standards for defensive measures that might require agencies to reach outside their own networks. <P> The Obama administration has also <a href="http://www.darkreading.com/advanced-threats/167901091/security/attacks-breaches/240008779/what-an-executive-order-on-cybersecurity-may-mean-for-enterprises.html?token=ad032739e5e1bd73340e0c18730909ca">prepared a draft executive order</a>, which has been circulating for months, that would require additional steps to be taken. Now, it appears prepared to issue that order. <P> "Congressional inaction in light of the risks to our nation may require the administration to issue an executive order as a precursor to the updated laws we need," White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Michael Daniel said in a statement. "We think the risk is too great for the Administration not to act." <P> A draft version of the executive order would direct the National Institute of Standards and Technology to set cybersecurity standards for eighteen critical infrastructure industries. The Department of Homeland Security would encourage adoption of these standards, and agencies responsible for regulating critical infrastructure industries would be responsible for proposing potentially mandatory cybersecurity regulations for those industries. <P> Information sharing is another big piece of the draft order. The executive order would set up new information sharing mechanisms that will accelerate security clearances and limit use of proprietary information. The order would also require agencies to take appropriate steps to ensure privacy of shared information. <P> However, an executive order can't do it all. Despite urging the President to take action, Reid warned in a statement that an executive order "leaves much to be desired" because, for example, it cannot offer companies liability protection in the event of a cyber attack. <P> Whlie Reid declared the cybersecurity legislation dead for this Congress, McConnell said in a statement after the bill's failure that he hopes Congress will again take up the issue "sometime in December" after dealing with other important national security legislation. <P> Whatever the case, the persistence of the cyber threat is one reason that action may be needed soon. The annual report of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, <a href="http://www.uscc.gov/annual_report/2012/2012-Report-to-Congress.pdf">released</a> on Wednesday, found that China in particular -- which the report called "the most threatening actor in cyberspace" -- continues to represent a serious and "increasingly potent" concern for companies and government agencies that hold potentially sensitive data. <P> "U.S. industry and a range of government and military targets face repeated exploitation attempts by Chinese hackers," the report said, fingering China in cyber espionage and cyber attacks aimed at the Department of Defense, NASA and U.S.-based companies like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. In what the report called the "most significant example of malicious Chinese cyber activity," the report said that intruders "gained full functional control over networks at the [NASA] Jet Propulsion Laboratory." <P> The report noted that China continues to build up its cyber forces. "The Chinese military is refining and implementing strategies for the cyber domain," the report says, noting that the military and intelligence communities each have groups concentrating on cyber war and cyber espionage. "New developments suggest Chinese exploitation capabilities are improving significantly." <P> The report also noted that while American businesses are not necessarily able to "sufficiently manage the threat of Chinese cyber espionage" on their own, they remain afraid of sharing information about attacks with the government. Such concerns about sharing -- and about cyber attacks -- could be allayed by the President's forthcoming cyber executive order or by some sort of action on Capitol Hill. Just when the latter will come remains, at this point, anyone's guess.2012-11-15T08:41:00ZNASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's philosophy -- prototype new tech based on what non-IT workers envision -- could pay off in robot telework, spacecraft created by 3-D printers and more.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240134995?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --><div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/mobile/11-cool-tools-nasa-curiosity-brought-to/240008978"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/883/01_APXS2_tn.jpg" alt="11 Cool Tools NASA Curiosity Brought To Mars" title="11 Cool Tools NASA Curiosity Brought To Mars" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">11 Cool Tools NASA Curiosity Brought To Mars</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory wants to pilot more early-stage information technologies, whether they be three-dimensional printing, robotics, or new user interfaces, NASA JPL CTO for IT Tom Soderstrom said Wednesday. <P> Speaking over a video link -- multimedia videoconferencing is another technology the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is testing -- to attendees gathered as part of a regular series of colloquia at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., Soderstrom said that NASA JPL is relying on its employees to push pilot projects and IT prototypes. <P> "IT as we know it is going away," Soderstrom said. "It's all about innovating together. NASA is not going to get famous for IT, it's for putting <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/mobile/curiosity-rover-to-get-on-the-go-photo-c/240007783">rovers</a> on Mars, for putting the Hubble Telescope out there, and we should use IT to support that mission. Which technology is going to be the winner? It's not going to be IT that decides." <P> With that in mind, JPL is actively piloting a number of cutting-edge IT capabilities and has even sent teams of non-IT workers to the Consumer Electronics Show to report back on technologies that they think they could use in their jobs. The agency has worked with a large range of companies and agencies on prototypes and pilots within the last year, including Google, Microsoft, Apple, Toyota and others. <P> <strong>[ Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/tech-center/gov-cloud/humanoid-robot-challenge-kicks-off-at-da/240010038?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Humanoid Robot Challenge Kicks Off At DARPA</a>. ]</strong> <P> "Historically, we would lay out a big budget, plan it, and then a year later deliver something that nobody wanted because it was too much time," Soderstrom said. "What we do now is lay it out and then prototype." Ideation to prototype could be as short as a matter of weeks, he added. <P> Some of the technologies being tested are far out, while others are innovative but to be expected. On the futuristic side, NASA JPL is heavily interested in desktop three-dimensional printing to print out tools and parts; remote-controlled robots with video screens that enable employees working elsewhere to navigate the physical office environment and hold multimedia interactions with colleagues; and user interfaces that use technologies such as Microsoft Kinect to allow users to manipulate images on the screen with simple hand gestures a la <em>Minority Report</em>. <P> One of the new technologies NASA JPL is exploring, three-dimensional printing, "is something that's really revolutionary," said Gabriel Rangel, JPL assistant CTO and emerging IT solutions engineer, holding up a wrench printed on a three-dimensional printer. "We're now able to look [at] and print out different devices. Imagine a mechanical design center, to be able to print out a working part." Soderstrom added that the technology might someday even be used to print out a spacecraft. <P> Another area of focus at JPL is the "workplace of the future." Projects in this area cover everything from gesture-based computing to remote-controlled devices. On the gesture front, JPL is experimenting with technologies from companies such as Microsoft Kinect, Leap Motion and <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/personal-tech/science-technology/cool-factor-future-of-computing-looks-li/240008103">Oblong Industries</a>. <P> But the most interesting project might be what the agency calls Robotic Mobile JPLers. With this technology, JBL employees working remotely pilot a remote-controlled device that's connected by the Internet to employees' computers. The wheeled robot has a sound system, a screen that shows the JPL employee's face, a video camera and a microphone, allowing the remote employee to virtually navigate the physical space at JPL and interact with other employees. "It's very early experimental, but it works quite well," said Soderstrom. For example, the agency has used the technology to enable a sick employee to be able to virtually attend important meetings. <P> On the tamer side, NASA JPL has bought heavily into mobile apps, big data, <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/commentary/government/cloud-saas/how-the-feds-drive-cloud-innovation/240010563">cloud computing</a>, mobile apps and collaboration technologies like wikis and an internal video sharing site called JPL Tube. JPL Tube has been successful enough that JPL is now prototyping a NASA-wide version called NASA Tube that might soon be more broadly available. <P> <i>More than half of federal agencies are saving money with cloud computing, but security, compatibility, and skills present huge problems, according to our survey. Also in the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/100812gov/?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Cloud Business Case</a> issue of InformationWeek Government: President Obama's record on IT strategy is long on vision but short on results. (Free registration required.)</i>2012-11-13T15:30:00ZDepartment of Veterans Affairs will move 600,000 users to Microsoft's cloud email and collaboration services in one of the biggest cloud computing deals to date.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240124926?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/leadership/iw500-15-top-government-tech-innovators/240006582"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/861/01_Intro_tn.jpg" alt="IW500: 15 Top Government Tech Innovators" title="IW500: 15 Top Government Tech Innovators" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">IW500: 15 Top Government Tech Innovators</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> In what could be one of the biggest cloud computing contracts to date by number of users, the Department of Veterans Affairs will move 600,000 users to Microsoft cloud email and calendaring services. <P> The five-year, $36 million contract will first see 15,000 VA employees move to Microsoft's government community cloud collaboration offering, Office 365 for Government, with the rest of the agency's 600,000 users to follow over the remainder of the contract period. Office 365 includes email, calendaring, instant messaging, web and video conferences, Office collaboration tools and SharePoint, though VA will stick to just the email and calendaring features for now. <P> Instead of working directly with Microsoft, VA has signed on with HP Enterprise Services, which will act as the systems integrator and provide disaster recovery services. However, VA has a long history as a big Microsoft shop. In July, for example, the agency signed a five-year enterprise agreement giving the agency access to a broad array of Microsoft products and services. <P> Microsoft has characterized the agency as having "one of the largest technology systems in the United States." The agency has 6,300 IT employees, 400,000 PCs and more than 100,000 mobile devices, and is the second largest federal agency, trailing only the Department of Defense. The agency's users and IT systems are spread out across 163 hospitals, 135 nursing homes, 800 clinics and the agency's headquarters, among other locations. <P> <strong>[ Learn more about <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/how-the-feds-drive-cloud-innovation/240010563?itc=edit_in_body_cross">How The Feds Drive Cloud Innovation</a>. ]</strong> <P> Cost-cutting and the potential for improved service drove VA's decision to move to cloud email. The move is part of a larger initiative, the VA Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology (T4) IT modernization program. <P> "VA is moving to cloud-based email and collaboration as part of a broader effort to leverage emerging technologies to reduce costs, increase efficiencies and, most importantly, improve service delivery to our nation's veterans," Charles De Sanno, VA's executive director of enterprise systems engineering, said in a statement. <P> VA had been <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/va-to-migrate-email-to-the-cloud/229219490">planning its move</a> to cloud email since at least February 2011, when it released an initial request for information. <P> VA joins numerous other agencies in moving to Microsoft cloud services. Other Microsoft customers in the federal government include the Department of Agriculture, the Defense Information Systems Agency, the Federal Aviation Administration and the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/epa-chooses-cloud-for-email/240012710">Environmental Protection Agency</a>, which signed a deal at the end of October. Other Microsoft government customers include Santa Clara County, Calif., Chicago, San Francisco, Minnesota and California. <P> Microsoft has been in heavy competition for government cloud collaboration business with Google, which counts among its government customers Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the General Services Administration and others. <P> <em>Editor's note: Updated 11/15/12 to clarify that the agency will use only email and calendaring features at outset. </em>2012-11-13T13:23:00ZFirst four years of the Obama Administration were marked by the beginnings of significant changes in federal IT. Execution will be the name of the game during the next four.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240124934?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --><div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/leadership/iw500-15-top-government-tech-innovators/240006582"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/861/01_Intro_tn.jpg" alt="IW500: 15 Top Government Tech Innovators" title="IW500: 15 Top Government Tech Innovators" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">IW500: 15 Top Government Tech Innovators</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div><!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->President Barack Obama's first term was marked by ambitious IT reform initiatives in cybersecurity, cloud computing, mobility, project management and more. With his reelection, Obama's focus must now shift to finishing what he started. <P> On his first day in office in 2009, Obama signaled that IT would be high on his agenda when he <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/TransparencyandOpenGovernment">issued a memo</a> calling on federal agencies to "harness new technologies" to promote open government. It remains to be seen if he will launch a tech policy of similar scope on day one of his second term, but there's already enough to keep the federal CIO and federal CTO -- positions created in Obama's first term -- busy pushing those existing programs forward. <P> We now know that federal CIO Steven VanRoekel plans to stick around to oversee that. VanRoekel shared the news on Twitter. "For those who asked if I am staying with the Administration &#8211; four words &#8211; '2 Legit 2 Quit,' " he tweeted on Nov. 9. <P> <strong>[ Read: <a href="www.informationweek.com/government/leadership/obamas-it-transformation-is-a-work-in-pr/240008500?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Obama's IT Transformation Is A Work In Progress</a>. ]</strong> <P> Cybersecurity has been a major point of focus for Obama, with the creation of U.S. Cyber Command, the appointment of a national cybersecurity coordinator, changes to federal IT security authorizations and monitoring, and attempts to enact new cybersecurity laws. <P> New policy initiatives are expected within the next month or so. The administration is readying an executive order that will require increased public-private sharing of information on cyber threats. And, although Congress failed to pass comprehensive cybersecurity legislation this term, it will likely be taken up again by the next Congress. Items still up for debate include the scope of revisions to the Federal Information Security Management Act and what requirements will be placed on private sector companies that operate "critical infrastructure." <P> From an operational standpoint, Cyber Command, the military's new hacker corps, is maturing. The Department of Defense plans to unveil cyber rules of engagement at some point in the near future, and DoD secretary Leon Panetta recently called for an expanded offensive role for the military in the cyber realm. <P> Outside of the military, federal CIO Steven VanRoekel wants federal agencies to adopt a federated, inter-agency identity management model, so look for progress there over the next year or two. A cross-agency effort to protect federal networks will also push ahead with the introduction of the Einstein 3 intrusion prevention system. <P> The White House's Office of Management and Budget is aggressively pushing agencies to consolidate data centers and, in lieu of dedicated IT resources, make increased use of cloud computing and shared services. There's much more to be done in all of those areas. <P> One major new development is the recent launch of FedRAMP, a program to expedite security authorizations of cloud services. That should hasten cloud adoption by agencies. On the shared services front, there are deadlines to meet. Agencies must complete two shared services initiatives by the end of 2012. A shared services implementation guide is due any day. <P> The government is ahead of its schedule to close 1,200 data centers by 2015, and IT budget requests related to that effort are on the rise, even as federal IT spending remains flat. The government soon will launch a federal "data center marketplace" for excess data center capacity. The marketplace is being pilot tested. <P> The federal IT budget will be flat in fiscal 2013, the fourth consecutive year of no growth, and that probably won't change over the next few years. With flat spending, the administration will continue to look for ways to cut costs and make federal IT more efficient. VanRoekel refers to it as "cut and invest." Given the budget pressure, federal IT must become agile and leaner. One way federal CIO VanRoekel will seek to do that is through an emphasis on metrics-based project management with efforts such as TechStat and PortfolioStat to spot and fix inefficiencies in federal IT across the board. OMB director Jeff Zients last month attributed <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/information-management/white-house-it-reform-will-save-governme/240010031">$2.5 billion in savings</a> over the next three years to PorfolioStat alone. <P> Changes in IT procurement are another way federal officials will look to save. Just last week, the General Services Administration issued a <a href="https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&tab=core&id=3314a8486f3594adafc8032d6bb144cb">request for information</a> in advance of drafting new purchase agreements for enterprise software. OMB's Shared Services Strategy emphasizes smarter buying of "commodity IT." Other changes to federal IT purchasing could come in the form of legislation. <P> Many federal agencies developed and released their first mobile applications over the past year and began to experiment with new mobile devices, setting the stage for enterprise-wide initiatives in the months ahead. OMB's <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/05/23/roadmap-digital-government ">"digital government strategy,"</a> introduced by VanRoekel in May, seeks to "unlock the power of government data," in large part by making it available through Web APIs and by targeting mobile devices. Most of that work lies ahead. <P> VanRoekel has called for government-wide contracts for mobile app development, mobile devices, wireless service, and mobile device management. What the feds don't buy, they might bring to work. Agency CIOs have been mulling bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies for months now. We can expect more agencies to take a firm stand on BYOD in the near term. <P> On the open government front, VanRoekel aspires to make Data.gov the nation's central repository for government data and a platform for creating new applications and data mash-ups. That vision has been slow to spread, but it deserves, and will likely get, continued attention from the federal CIO. <P> <i>More than half of federal agencies are saving money with cloud computing, but security, compatibility, and skills present huge problems, according to our survey. Also in the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/100812gov/?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Cloud Business Case</a> issue of InformationWeek Government: President Obama's record on IT strategy is long on vision but short on results. (Free registration required.)</i>2012-11-09T13:01:00ZAstronaut aboard the International Space Station used a new NASA-developed deep space networking technology to drive a small robot in Germany.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240077485?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/mobile/11-cool-tools-nasa-curiosity-brought-to/240008978"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/883/01_APXS2_tn.jpg" alt="11 Cool Tools NASA Curiosity Brought To Mars" title="11 Cool Tools NASA Curiosity Brought To Mars" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">11 Cool Tools NASA Curiosity Brought To Mars</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> NASA and the European Space Agency in October successfully controlled a small robot in Germany from the International Space Station (ISS) with the help of a new networking protocol designed for deep space communication, NASA announced Thursday. <P> As part of the experiment, NASA deployed a small Lego robot at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, and space station commander Sunita Williams connected to the robot from a Lenovo ThinkPad T61p laptop on board the ISS's Columbus Orbital Laboratory. The simulation was intended to replicate a spacecraft orbiting any other planetary body. <P> The test used NASA's Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) protocol, which the space agency a decade ago jointly developed with TCP/IP co-inventor and Google VP Vint Cerf. The technology can withstand delays and disruptions that might be common in space due to long distances and obstacles like planets and solar storms. Unlike Internet Protocol, which establishes an end-to-end connection before sending data, DTN moves data node-to-node, and can wait for connections to open up before relaying information to further nodes. <P> NASA is banking on DTN to be one of its primary future space protocols. "The experimental DTN we've tested from the space station may one day be used by humans on a spacecraft in orbit around Mars to operate robots on the surface, or from Earth using orbiting satellites as relay stations," NASA deputy associate administrator for space communications Badri Younes said in a statement. <P> <strong>[ Learn the latest on NASA's Mars mission. See <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/enterprise-architecture/curiosity-rover-maps-more-of-mars/240044427?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Curiosity Rover Maps More Of Mars</a>. ]</strong> <P> The robot experiment is part of a series of tests with Disruption Tolerant Networking that have been carried out by NASA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and now the European Space Agency. These tests <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/nasa-tests-deep-space-internet/212100822">began in October 2008</a> with transmission of dozens of images across 20 million miles from NASA's Epoxi spacecraft, the primary mission for which was to perform a close flyby of comet Hartley 2. <P> This particular DTN experiment "will establish the initial communications network for follow-on telerobotics studies," NASA said in a recent statement. In a planned future study, an astronaut will wear an exoskeleton on the ISS, and DTN will be used to relay signals from the exoskeleton to a robot on Earth that will mimic the astronaut's movements. <P> DTN is part of NASA's broader Space Communications and Navigation effort to improve communication in space. Space Communications and Navigation's Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex, for example, provides communications links to and from the Mars Curiosity rover and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. NASA has indicated that <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/mobile/nasa-wants-internet-access-in-space/231602166">improving space communications</a> is one of the agency's key goals.2012-11-07T09:31:00ZPresident Obama was re-elected on Tuesday, but not without glitches and malfunctions reported by users of digital voting technologies.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240062512?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/government/mobile/240002124"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/811/01_Smokey_tn.jpg" alt="10 New Mobile Government Apps" title="10 New Mobile Government Apps" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">10 New Mobile Government Apps</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> The 2012 election relied more heavily on technology, including digital voting, than ever before. While voters came out en masse to narrowly re-elect President Barack Obama, not everything went exactly as planned. There were plenty of examples of broken and malfunctioning voting machines, a flawed email voting scheme in New Jersey and other problems. <P> Reports of problems with voting machines started even before Election Day. On Monday, the Ohio Green Party chairman filed suit seeking removal of software upgrades on voting machines in 39 Ohio counties because they were not tested or certified as required by law. Early voters in Pueblo, Colo., and Adams County, Colo., reported that voting machines were changing their votes. <P> One of the big stories on election day was a video, initially posted to YouTube and Reddit, of an electronic voting machine in Perry County, Penn., repeatedly changing a vote for President Obama to one for Mitt Romney. The video, which received more than 500,000 views throughout the day, showed the error in real time as the voter pressed next to President Obama's name only to have Mitt Romney's name selected. <P> According to reports, the machine was taken out of service once the problem was indicated, but was later recalibrated and placed online, with no further problem reports. <P> Machines changing votes weren't the only problem of the day. In many locations, there were examples of machines that were on the fritz. For example, in heavily populated Cuyahoga County in swing state Ohio, there were a number of reports that ballot counting machines were jammed, with some having to be replaced, despite having been tested before Election Day. <P> Some voting machines were also reported to be malfunctioning or broken in places as distant as Brooklyn and Manhattan in New York City, Rehoboth, Mass., Milwaukee, Columbia, S.C., Chandler, Ariz., and South Florida. A number of these problems led to long lines at the polls. New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg was quoted calling his city's new voting system, which included a new scanner, a "nightmare." <P> On Saturday, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, New Jersey announced that it would allow those affected by the storm to vote by email. Security researchers and political academics quickly expressed concern about hacking. <P> However, it wasn't hacking that caused the most trouble, but rather confusion and a full email inbox. Many people did not know where to send applications. Additionally, according to reports, the email addresses of clerks in populous Morris and Essex counties were not receiving emails. Also, the Essex County clerk's substitute, reachable via a personal Hotmail account, appeared to have protected the account with only a weak security question. <P> There was also a problem of overflowing inboxes. "It has become apparent that the county clerks are receiving applications at a rate that outpaces their capacity to process them without an extension of the current schedule," New Jersey's Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno said in a statement released Tuesday. "Given this extraordinary volume, if a displaced voter can vote by other means, they are urged to do so." In the end, New Jersey said that the state would continue to accept electronic ballots through Friday. <P> Despite the glitches, new technology also played a positive part in the elections. For example, online voter registration was on the rise in the 2012 registration. Washington state, for example, made use of a Facebook app to register new voters. Other states allowing online registration included California, Maryland, Nevada and Washington, D.C. <P> Additionally, some disabled voters in Oregon voted on Samsung Series 7 tablets running Windows 8 rather than custom-made and expensive voting machines. One precinct in Virginia pilot tested a Microsoft Surface tablet as a voting device. <P> Outside the voting booth, new technology played a starring role for voters and vote watchers. Voting apps allowed people to share on Facebook the fact that they had voted, while a widget on Google's homepage showed people where to vote and many online news outlets updated vote counts in close to real time. The vote ended up as the most-Tweeted event of all time. <P> <i>More than half of federal agencies are saving money with cloud computing, but security, compatibility, and skills present huge problems, according to our survey. Also in the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/100812gov/?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Cloud Business Case</a> issue of InformationWeek Government: President Obama's record on IT strategy is long on vision but short on results. (Free registration required.)</i>2012-11-01T15:00:00ZEnvironmental Protection Agency moves to Microsoft 365, adds to stream of government agencies choosing cloud-based email and collaboration services.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240012710?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --><div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/government/policy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228201002"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/540/GeneralDynamics_tn.jpg" alt="Top 20 Government Cloud Service Providers" title="Top 20 Government Cloud Service Providers" class="img175" /></a><br /><span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view)</span><br /><div class="storyImageTitle">Slideshow: Top 20 Government Cloud Service Providers</div></div><!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->In what has become a regular occurrence, another federal agency is moving its email and collaboration to a cloud computing platform. The Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday that it has signed a deal to move to Microsoft Office 365. <P> The EPA expects that the move will save it about $12 million over four years by moving approximately 25,000 employees from the agency&#8217;s current on-premises email system to Office 365 over the next several months. The agency will complete its migration by early next year, according to Microsoft. <P> The new email deal will cost the EPA $9.8 million. As part of the deal, Lockheed Martin -- a long-time contractor for the EPA -- will handle systems integrator duties by managing the move and providing engineering and integration services. Lockheed has provided cloud services to federal agencies for several years. <P> According to a <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/federal-agencies-build-a-business-case-f/240008518">recent survey</a> of federal IT pros by <em>InformationWeek Government</em>, more than half of federal agencies have identified use cases for cloud services. <P> <strong>[ Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/amazons-share-of-government-cloud-comput/240008848?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Amazon's Share Of Government Cloud Computing 'Accelerating'</a>. ]</strong> <P> Other federal agencies and state and local governments using Microsoft's cloud email services include the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/usda-taps-microsoft-cloud-for-120000-wor/228701932">U.S. Department of Agriculture</a>, the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/enterprise-applications/faa-picks-microsoft-office-365-private-c/240001918">Federal Aviation Administration</a>, <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/state-local/csc-microsoft-bpos-win-california-email/227900325">California</a>, Nebraska, <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/state-of-minnesota-moves-to-microsofts-c/227500838">Minnesota</a>, and the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/microsoft-unveils-public-sector-cloud-de/229219157">cities</a> of San Francisco, Chicago, and Virginia Beach, Va. <P> Google, meanwhile, has been just as successful in snatching up government customers for Google Apps. Among those customers are the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/general-services-administration-picks-go/228500093?subSection=News">General Services Administration</a>, the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/interior-department-chooses-gmail-over-m/232901270">Department of the Interior</a>, the state of <aa href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/state-local/wyoming-completes-google-apps-migration/231000229">Wyoming</a>, and the city of <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/google-apps-migration-nearly-complete-fo/227400053">Los Angeles</a>. <P> The fight for government customers has been so intense that competition has been strained at times. For example, that competition spilled over into a court battle that stretched throughout 2010 and 2011, though the case was eventually <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/google-seeks-to-drop-cloud-case-against/231602256">settled</a>. <P> Office 365 for Government delivers productivity and collaboration services such as Exchange Online, Lync Online, SharePoint Online, and Office Professional Plus. Google Apps for Government includes Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Google Docs, and Google Sites. IBM and Zimbra also offer cloud email and collaboration services to government. <P> Agencies no longer even have to get their email through the private sector. In August, the General Services Administration announced contracts with 17 tech companies and federal contractors through which federal, state, local, and tribal agencies can receive cloud-based email services from Google, Microsoft, IBM, and the open-source Zimbra. <P> <i>More than half of federal agencies are saving money with cloud computing, but security, compatibility, and skills present huge problems, according to our survey. Also in the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/100812gov/?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Cloud Business Case</a> issue of InformationWeek Government: President Obama's record on IT strategy is long on vision but short on results. (Free registration required.)</i>2012-10-31T15:06:00ZFederal, state, and local information technology and data are on the case in the ongoing recovery from Hurricane Sandy.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240012635?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/government/info-management/232602698"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/760/01_RedCross_001_tn.jpg" alt="American Red Cross Social Media Command Center" title="American Red Cross Social Media Command Center" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">American Red Cross Social Media Command Center</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> From New York City's mobile emergency alert system to the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency providing satellite imagery to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration supercomputers to a new government data-powered alert service from Google, government technology is playing a critical role in responding to Hurricane Sandy. <P> On Wednesday, Google released a new service, Public Alerts, which is powered largely by government data. The service pulls in data from a network of partners that include the National Weather Service and the United States Geological Survey in an effort to help the public prepare for and react to disasters like Sandy. <P> Public Alerts, built by Google's Crisis Response team, can warn users of impending disasters and also provide information on disaster recovery. Google has already integrated Public Alerts into other products -- Android's new Google Now app will display alerts directly to users' mobile devices in the case of a nearby emergency. Users will be able to learn more about the alert by clicking a "More Info" link. Public Alerts is also integrated with Google Maps to show emergency warnings in other areas, and with Google Search to show alerts when users search for information on a disaster. <P> <strong>[ A strong DR plan is important, but a bulletproof one might be missing the point. Read more at <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/quickview/superstorm-sandy-lessons-100-uptime-isnt/1824?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Superstorm Sandy Lessons: 100% Uptime Isn't Always Worth It</a>. ]</strong> <P> For an example of how Google Alerts works, search for "Hurricane Sandy" on Google. The site will link to a <a href="http://google.org/crisismap/2012-sandy">Google Crisis Map</a> with information on things like power outages and shelters, state level information from 13 different states, a Ready.gov page titled "What to do after a hurricane," and New York City alerts. <P> New York City has been relying heavily on open data after the storm. The city's Transit Tracker system provides up-to-date information on transportation outages in the New York metro area. New York City also has its own mobile alert system that was activated during the storm. <P> Even before the storm, government tech was busy in preparation. NOAA computers ran weather model simulations like the National Weather Service's highly respected Global Forecast System (GFS) model to predict the storm's track, while the Naval Research Laboratory ran the U.S. Navy's Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System (NOGAPS) model. Computer models, which help inform the official forecasts of the National Hurricane Center and other forecasters, were fairly accurate with Sandy, predicting the storm's track into New Jersey days before landfall and thus ensuring that areas along Sandy's path had time to prepare for the worst. <P> Government websites remain loaded with information about Sandy and its aftermath. Hurricanes.gov, for example, allowed the public to see gobs of data on Sandy, from a graphical forecasted track to current observations to warnings and even text-based forecast discussions. It continues to link to public advisories on Sandy's remnants. FEMA, meanwhile, has been actively updating the public via social media. Ready.gov provides hurricane preparation and response tips. <P> Finally, the recovery is government-tech heavy as well. FEMA and the National Guard are using imagery from, among other places, intelligence agencies like the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office to show the disaster relief agencies in the hardest-hit locations and how to get there without encountering storm-related obstacles. <P> <i>More than half of federal agencies are saving money with cloud computing, but security, compatibility, and skills present huge problems, according to our survey. Also in the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/100812gov/?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Cloud Business Case</a> issue of InformationWeek Government: President Obama's record on IT strategy is long on vision but short on results. (Free registration required.)</i>2012-10-30T13:35:00ZFederal Bureau of Investigation will hire computer scientists, build new tools and boost collaboration to help catch malicious hackers.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240012560?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/security/14-amazing-darpa-technologies-on-tap/240008013"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/877/01_Aware-camer--prototype_tn.jpg" alt="14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap" title="14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> The Federal Bureau of Investigation is adding resources, building new tools, increasing hiring and expanding collaboration with local groups as part of its Next Generation Cyber Initiative, an effort to overhaul the FBI's Cyber Division, the agency announced last week. <P> The FBI has long been a force in combating cybercrime. In the last year alone, the agency has <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/management/fbi-busts-massive-international-carding/240002819">busted dozens</a> involved in the online trafficking of credit card and bank account data, <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/attacks/lulzsec-leader-sabu-unmasked-aids-fbi-ha/232602103">arrested key members of the Anonymous and LulzSec</a> hacktivist groups, <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/cybercrime/fbi-helps-bust-46-million-cybercrime-gan/231902126">broken up</a> a sophisticated gang of online bank fraudsters, <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/attacks/fbi-busts-mayor-for-hacking-recall-websi/240001115">taken down</a> a small-town mayor for hacking a website calling for his recall and worked closely with international officials to <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/attacks/fbi-busts-14-million-botnet-fraud-gang/231902762">disrupt a botnet</a> that had stolen $14 million. <P> However, the FBI still wants to get better, especially in its ability to attribute attacks to the hackers behind them. Attribution of cybercrime has long been the bane of law enforcement due to the nature of the Internet and the ability of hackers to spoof their IP addresses and rely heavily on proxies. As the adage says, on the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog. <P> <strong>[ Cybercrime is a growing problem. See <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/quickview/hack-exposes-most-south-carolinians-soci/1821?wc=4?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Hack Exposes Most South Carolinians' Social Security Numbers</a>. ]</strong> <P> Over the course of the last year, the law enforcement agency has launched an effort to "uncover and investigate Web-based intrusion attacks and develop a cadre of specially trained computer scientists able to extract hackers' digital signatures from mountains of malicious code," the FBI said in a press release. For example, the FBI has increasingly hired computer scientists to work alongside agents as part of cyber investigations. <P> The question the FBI is attempting to resolve is "who is conducting the attack or the exploitation and what is their motive," FBI assistant director of criminal, cyber, response and services Richard McFeely said in a statement. "In order to get to that, we've got to do all the necessary analysis to determine who is at the other end of the keyboard perpetrating these actions." <P> Such an effort requires not only new talent and better tools, but also ongoing collaboration with organizations that get hacked and other government agencies. To that end, the FBI said that its agents are working to build relationships with critical infrastructure companies in industries like finance and transportation. The FBI is also sharing a lot of information with the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and National Security Agency as part of the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force.2012-10-29T15:11:00ZAfter a multi-year effort, Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Monday turned its new Titan supercomputer on for business. The 20 petaflop Titan will compete for world&#8217;s most powerful supercomputer.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240012478?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/security/14-amazing-darpa-technologies-on-tap/240008013"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/877/01_Aware-camer--prototype_tn.jpg" alt="14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap" title="14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> With a throughput capacity of more than 20 petaflops, Oak Ridge National Laboratory's new Titan supercomputer, which Oak Ridge said opened for business Monday, could be the most powerful computer yet. <P> When the latest release of the biannual Top500 supercomputing rankings are released in several weeks, Titan is likely to come in either first place or a close second place to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/government/information-management/ibms-sequoia-is-worlds-fastest-supercomputer/240002268?cid=SBX_bigdata_related_news_Supercomputers_big_data&itc=SBX_bigdata_related_news_Supercomputers_big_data">Sequoia</a>, which topped June's list with a peak of 20.1 petaflops. According to Oak Ridge, this type of power "is on par with each of the world's 7 billion people being able to carry out 3 million calculations per second." <P> The Department of Energy, which oversees the national laboratories, will use Titan for research on a number of different topics, including biofuels, combustion engine efficiency, magnetics, astrophysics, climate, nuclear science and atomic-level materials science, among others. <P> Among the specific applications designed to run on Titan are CAM-SE, which will be used to research climate change adaptation and mitigation, Denovo, which will perform nuclear research on topics like the behavior of neutrons in nuclear reactors, LAMMPS which will research a way that molecules enter and exit living cells, and S3D, which will research combustion questions that tackle issues like the performance of large hydrocarbons. <P> Titan is officially an upgrade to another <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/supercomputers/cray-xt-jaguar-supercomputer-surpasses-i/212001621">former world-beating</a> Oak Ridge supercomputer, Jaguar. However, the name is far from the only thing to have changed -- Titan boasts 10 times the processing power of its predecessor, which formerly ranked sixth on the Top500 list with a peak of 2.6 petaflops. <P> The massively parallel Titan is a Cray XK7 system with 18,688 computing nodes in 200 cabinets. Each node is powered by a 2.2-GHz AMD 16-core Opteron 6274 processor with 32 gbytes of DDR3 memory and a Nvidia K20 Tesla GPU with 6 gbytes of high-speed memory. All told, the machine has 710 Tbytes of memory. There's also a new, more scalable interconnect. <P> Despite the upgrades, Titan will occupy the same physical footprint, and thanks to its combination of CPUs and GPUs will use only slightly more electricity than Jaguar. The computer will consume 9 megawatts of power, less than three times the 30 megawatts it would have taken to power Titan had it consisted of a solely CPU-based architecture. <P> One piece of the system that will remain in place is the Spider file system and its 240 Gbps bandwidth and 10 petabytes of storage capacity. Oak Ridge plans to upgrade the file system next year on both fronts. Other peripheral tools include the HPSS data archive, LENS data analysis and visualization and EVEREST high resolution data visualization. <P> Titan has been <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/enterprise-architecture/oak-ridge-labs-builds-fastest-supercompu/231900554">under development</a> since 2009. Throughout much of the upgrade, Jaguar was up and running, powering apps that, for example, sparked new insights in fields like computational fluid dynamics.2012-10-26T15:12:00ZDefense Department is serious about getting smartphones into soldiers' hands, according to new mobile device management and app store vendor solicitations.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240010603?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/security/14-amazing-darpa-technologies-on-tap/240008013"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/877/01_Aware-camer--prototype_tn.jpg" alt="14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap" title="14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> The Department of Defense has pushed forward toward implementing an enterprise-wide mobile device strategy, as the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) announced that it's looking for mobile device management (MDM) software and an enterprise mobile application store capable of supporting 260,000 mobile devices. <P> The release of <a href="https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=8ced49aaddd7db57fc819c86ba570097&tab=core&_cview=0">procurement documents</a> Oct. 22 indicates that the Defense Department is serious about the enterprise mobile strategy it announced in June 2012, and that it aims to deploy large numbers of smartphones to soldiers across the military sooner rather than later. <P> DISA is looking for MDM software that will: work with, at a minimum, iOS and Android devices; remotely manage software and configurations on employees' mobile devices; and remotely wipe devices when lost, stolen or compromised, among other features. There have been other recent sizable MDM contracts in government: the Department of Veterans Affairs recently signed on with vendor AirWatch to manage 100,000 devices. <P> <strong>[ RIM's best days in Washington may be in the past. See <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/mobile/blackberry-loses-its-grip-on-federal-gov/240009689?itc=edit_in_body_cross">BlackBerry Loses Its Grip On Federal Government</a>. ]</strong> <P> DISA is also looking for an app store to enable employees to search for and download enterprise mobile apps. Enterprise mobile application stores are increasingly popular across the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/mobile/army-launches-mobile-apps-store-prototyp/232602904">military</a> and the rest of the federal government. <P> The <a href="http://www.defense.gov/news/dodmobilitystrategy.pdf">mobile device strategy</a> that DOD announced in June indicated that the military was seeking a "common vision and approach" to mobile. Among the strategy's goals are to "[i]nstitute mobile device policies and standards," a goal that a large mobile device management deployment would support. Another goal is to "[p]romote the development and use of DOD mobile and Web-enabled applications." An app store would support that goal. <P> DISA indicated in a new <a href="http://www.disa.mil/News/PressResources/2012/~/media/Files/DISA/About/Strategic-Plan.pdf">five-year strategic plan</a> released in September that "secure mobile capability leveraging commercial mobile technology" would be among the agency's key focuses over the next several years. <P> While DISA is not DOD headquarters, the military has long used the agency as a network service provider, and is now increasingly using DISA as a service provider in other venues as well, such as cloud computing and email. Earlier this year, agency officials touted DISA as a focal point of DOD's enterprise-wide mobile strategy. DISA made a nod to this possibility in the Oct. 22 procurement documents, noting that the MDM and app store could both later expand to meet the needs of the entire military. <P> As of June, according to the Department of Defense, the military already had 250,000 "commercial" mobile devices, including several thousand iOS and Android devices, across both production environments and pilot tests. Other enterprise-wide steps the agency is already taking include carrying out an inventory of mobile devices and wireless service contracts.2012-10-26T09:06:00ZInventors compete to build DARPA robot that can use human hand tools, drive vehicles, and climb ladders in a disaster scenario.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240010038?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --><div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/security/14-amazing-darpa-technologies-on-tap/240008013"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/877/01_Aware-camer--prototype_tn.jpg" alt="14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap" title="14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div><!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->For the next two years, researchers and scientists from the nation's top robotics shops in government, academia, and the private sector will compete for a $2 million prize to see who can build a robot that can use human hand tools, drive vehicles, and climb ladders in a disaster scenario. <P> The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Robotics Challenge, announced in April and launched Wednesday, will bring together some of the nation's top robotics engineers in a bid to develop some of the most advanced robotics yet built. <P> The challenge requires teams to build robots and robotics software that can navigate through the scene of a disaster. In addition to using tools, driving, and climbing ladders, the robots will have to traverse rubble and move debris. <P> The challenge is divided into several different tracks, including one that calls for new robots, one that's looking for new software for existing robots, one that wants software for a simulated robot, and one that doesn't use DARPA funding and can have international entrants. <P> <strong>[ Also read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/information-management/nasa-funds-8-advanced-robotics-projects/240007615?itc=edit_in_body_cross">NASA Funds 8 Advanced Robotics Projects</a>. ]</strong> <P> Among the participants is a who's who in science, computing, engineering, and robotics. Teams come from, among other places, Carnegie Mellon University, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Washington. <P> The first track, Track A, requires the most hardware work, because teams will have to build their own robots. DARPA already has <a href="http://www.darpa.mil/Our_Work/TTO/Programs/DARPA_Robotics_Challenge/Track_A_Participants.aspx">released</a> concept art and details on the teams' proposed robots. Most of these, such as Carnegie Mellon's proposed CMU Highly Intelligent Mobile Platform (CHIMP), and Drexel University's Hubo, will be humanoid, but they need not be. For example, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is building RoboSimian, which looks something like a four-legged crab. <P> Among the humanoid robots, some look like they have hands, others claws, and others with at least one hand made to support tools. A few have eyes. All have four limbs. <P> Track B will receive a modified version of DARPA's Atlas robot, a predecessor of which, Pet-Proto, can be seen navigating obstacles in a new <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFGfq0pRczY&feature=youtu.be">YouTube video</a>. Atlas was built by Boston Dynamics. <P> Track C will make use of simulation software called DRC Simulator, and the challenge itself will take place in June 2013, with a qualifying round in May 2013. The DRC Simulator is open source and already has been released in beta form. DARPA says that it plans to add a number of features to the software, including robot models, sensors, and advanced physics models. <P> <i>In the <a href="https://www.techwebonlineevents.com/ars/eventregistration.do?mode=eventreg&F=1005014&K=PREM">Getting Started With Big Data</a> webcast, InformationWeek Government will help government IT professionals understand the steps required to support large data volumes and find out how to apply that data to improve government operations and offer new public services. It happens Oct. 25.</i>2012-10-24T15:26:00ZRIM's BlackBerry platform has maintained a strong following in government for years, but that is changing.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240009689?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/security/14-amazing-darpa-technologies-on-tap/240008013"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/877/01_Aware-camer--prototype_tn.jpg" alt="14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap" title="14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> The BlackBerry, carried by FBI agents, Congressional staffers, and even President Obama, this week suffered its latest and most serious setback as the de facto mobile device in federal government, when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement chose the iPhone as its new mobile platform. Barring some rapid innovation by RIM, the BlackBerry's best days in Washington will soon be over. <P> After eight years with BlackBerry, ICE, part of the Department of Homeland Security, indicated in a <a href="https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=186e774db8ef58c216dcd06c5479d34f&tab=core&_cview=0">solicitation on FedBizOpps.gov</a> that it would no longer be using BlackBerry, joining a growing list of agencies that are increasing their use of Android and iOS devices and, in some cases, switching away from the BlackBerry entirely. In all, 17,676 ICE employees will now be receiving iPhones instead of BlackBerrys. <P> The Department of Defense might not be far behind. Procurement documents <a href="https://fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=8ced49aaddd7db57fc819c86ba570097&tab=core&_cview=0">released</a> Monday by the Pentagon for mobile device management software included BlackBerry management only as a nice-to-have. The change is also happening at government contractors. Booz Allen Hamilton will move 25,000 employees from BlackBerrys to iPhones and Android devices, the company said last week. <P> <strong>[ Government IT pros face a variety of challenges. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/leadership/state-cios-face-balancing-act-in-2013/240009623?itc=edit_in_body_cross">State CIOs Face Balancing Act In 2013</a>. ]</strong> <P> BlackBerry remained a stalwart in government circles in recent years even as its grip on the business and consumer smartphone market began to loosen. However, the Federal Air Marshall Service, the Coast Guard, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are switching, or have already done so, from BlackBerry to other mobile platforms. Other agencies, including the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/mobile/tsa-buys-into-iphones-ipads/240001158">Transportation Security Administration</a>, the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/mobile/air-force-unit-chooses-ipad-for-flight-m/232602045?token=2ccde430dbd40b7100eebca815ae6764">Air Force</a>, and the Federal Aviation Administration, are <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/mobile/federal-agencies-embrace-iphones-ipads/229800006">widening</a> their use of BlackBerry alternatives. <P> BlackBerry still has a big footprint in the government market. The company puts its government business at one million users in North America, with 400,000 device upgrades last year alone. According to RIM's most recent annual financial report, government represents one of BlackBerry's three largest user bases, along with the financial and legal industries. However, these numbers don't indicate how quickly things are changing, and it's clear that Apple and Google are hot on RIM's heels. <P> ICE chose to go with the iPhone because "RIM technology can no longer meet the mobile technology needs of the agency," it said in its procurement documents. "ICE has evolving mobile law enforcement business requirements that require the use of more capable and dynamic mobile technology to support its mission and personnel." <P> The agency attributed the change in strategy to increases in mobile capabilities--the availability of thousands of applications, for example---and end user expectations. Government employees want devices that let them do more at any time and from anyplace. The Blackberry, with its smaller ecosystem, has trouble keeping up with the rapid pace of innovation on other smartphones. <P> One factor that has worked in RIM's favor in business and government is BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which helps manage and secure devices in enterprise email systems. However, the emergence of mobile device management technologies from Zenprise, Good Technology, MobileIron, and others make it easier to bring other devices into the fold. "Driven by the move from well-managed and secured BlackBerrys to consumer-focused devices, MDM is the fastest-growing enterprise mobile software ever," Gartner wrote in a <a href="http://www.notifycorp.com/products/documentation/magic_quadrant_for_mobile_de_230508%20%282%29.pdf">report</a> earlier this year. <P> The enterprise feature gap has also shrunk as Apple and Android improve device security. For example, Apple <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/application-security/6-reasons-ios-6-jailbreaks-will-be-tough/240008996">hardened the kernel</a> in iOS 6. And Google <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/mobile/android-hacker-jelly-bean-tougher-to-cra/240003965">added</a> full address space layout randomization, a powerful memory protection feature, to the latest version of Android. <P> RIM's VP of government solutions, Paul Lucier, said in a statement that he's "confident that BlackBerry is, and will continue to be, the best solution for government agencies." He didn't contend that the BlackBerry will continue its dominance in government. Given the way things are going, it won't.2012-10-18T14:35:00ZFollowing deadly attacks on diplomatic facilities in Libya, the Department of State wants new technology to track employees working in the field.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240009336?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/security/14-amazing-darpa-technologies-on-tap/240008013"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/877/01_Aware-camer--prototype_tn.jpg" alt="14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap" title="14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> As the Department of State continues to scramble to improve diplomatic security in the wake of the recent deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic missions in Benghazi, Libya, and other violent attacks elsewhere, the agency has started a search for a new system to track its diplomats outside American embassies. <P> In <a href="https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=4365375e93929aa2bec9d48f057c48e7&tab=core&_cview=0">procurement documents</a> released this week, the Department of State says that it is looking for a contractor to build a system to track diplomats via signals from their mobile devices, including satellite phones and traditional cellular phones. <P> The procurement is a bid to increase security for American diplomats. It comes at a time when the Department of State is under heavy scrutiny for its ability to keep diplomatic employees safe abroad after an attack September 11 on diplomatic compounds in Benghazi, Libya, killed four--including U.S. ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens--and wounded nine others. <P> While the system may be used in the United States, its primary use will be to protect State Department employees when they are outside American embassies on diplomatic missions. "The protection of government personnel traveling from the protected mission facility to their foreign counterpart's office is of paramount importance in the execution of U.S. foreign policy," the agency said in its procurement documents. <P> <strong>[ Cyberespionage is a growing concern. See <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/management/7-miniflame-facts-how-much-espionage-mal/240009237?itc=edit_in_body_cross">7 MiniFlame Facts: How Much Espionage Malware Lurks?</a> ]</strong> <P> The technology will be operated out of the Department of State's Office of Security Technology of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the security arm of the Department of State. According to the acquisition documents, the new system will replace an outdated, nine-year-old system. The agency has already <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/hi-tech-system-to-track-us-staff-on-risky-tours/2011/07/13/gIQAtq5TKI_story.html">implemented a similar system</a> from Thermopylae Sciences and Technology for diplomatic staff in Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen, though that system relies on transmitters attached to vehicles and individuals. <P> The system will include a Web interface that will allow the State Department to view live and historical tracking data, and will also serve data to visual mapping applications like Google Earth, ESRI software, and FalconView. It will be able to create a virtual "geofence" that can alert an administrator and the diplomat him or herself as the device enters and exits certain predefined areas. For some devices, the system will also show the State Department how fast the diplomatic employee is traveling and in what direction. <P> In the event of an emergency, the personnel tracker will be able to accept emergency messages from diplomats, send them emails, and activate device microphones to communicate with State Department employees. <P> In terms of nuts and bolts, the system will rely partially on Oracle Database 11g and Oracle Advanced Security. It will include a production server, a test server, and a backup server, and the Department of State is looking for the contractor to provide a number of maintenance and management services on top of the tracking hardware and software. <P> Due to the sensitivity of the data, the agency is only looking for contractors with Top Secret clearances, and anyone who works on the system will be required to have such clearance. Since the system is critical, the agency is looking for 99.9% uptime and a system that is highly secure and will meet security certification and accreditation requirements.2012-10-12T13:04:00ZDefense secretary Leon Panetta says cyberattacks against critical infrastructure at home and abroad--some of which he called the worst to date--should spark urgent action against the hacker threat.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240008972?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/security/14-amazing-darpa-technologies-on-tap/240008013"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/877/01_Aware-camer--prototype_tn.jpg" alt="14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap" title="14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> Hackers have infiltrated the control systems of U.S. critical infrastructure--systems that operate chemical, electricity, and water plants--and the need to develop new cyber capabilities and put in place effective policy to fight and deter attacks is as urgent as ever, secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said in a speech Thursday night. <P> "We know of specific instances where intruders have successfully gained access to these control systems," Panetta said in a speech to the Business Executives for National Security in New York City. "We also know that <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/management/next-diy-stuxnet-attack-should-worry-uti/232200029">they are seeking</a> to create advanced tools to attack these systems and cause panic and destruction and even the loss of life." <P> In his remarks, Panetta confirmed several recent cyber attacks against Saudi and Qatari energy companies that used the sophisticated Shamoon virus, calling the attacks "the most destructive that the private sector has seen to date." As Panetta noted, the Shamoon attacks "virtually destroyed" 30,000 computers owned by the Saudi oil company <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/attacks/saudi-aramco-restores-network-after-sham/240006278">Aramco</a>. "Imagine the impact an attack like that would have on your company or your business," he added. <P> Warning of more destructive attacks that could cause loss of life if successful, Panetta urged Congress to pass comprehensive legislation in the vein of the Cybersecurity Act of 2012, a bill co-sponsored by Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., Susan Collins, R-Maine, Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that failed to pass in its first attempt earlier this year by losing a cloture vote in the Senate. <P> <strong>[ Among many competing priorities in a tight budget, <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/leadership/cybersecurity-tops-federal-it-priorities/240005251?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Cybersecurity Tops Federal IT Priorities List</a>. ]</strong> <P> "Congress must act and it must act now," he said. "This bill is victim to legislative and political gridlock like so much else in Washington. That frankly is unacceptable and it should be unacceptable not just to me, but to you and to anyone concerned with safeguarding our national security." <P> Specifically, Panetta called for legislation that would make it easier for companies to share "specific threat information without the prospect of lawsuits" but while still respecting civil liberties. He also said that there must be "baseline standards" co-developed by the public and private sector to ensure the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure IT systems. The Cybersecurity Act of 2012 contained provisions that would arguably fit the bill on both of those accounts. <P> While Panetta said that "there is no substitute" for legislation, he noted that the Obama administration has been working on an <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/quickview/executive-order-on-cybersecurity-possibl/1711?wc=4">executive order on cybersecurity</a> as an end-around on Congress. "We need to move as far as we can" even in the face of Congressional inaction, he said. "We have no choice because the threat that we face is already here." <P> He added that the DOD has three priorities for improving its own ability to combat cyber attacks: investing more than $3 billion annually in cybersecurity to develop new capabilities, including recruiting and training new cyber warfare soldiers and developing new systems and techniques; pushing forward with new policy, including new cyber <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/security/us-military-readies-cyber-rules-of-engag/232602957">rules of engagement</a> that are close to being finalized; and working ever closer with the private sector and other parts of government. <P> Although Panetta may have urged further action, he was also quick to point out that some gains have been made. For example, he said that the military had developed "the world's most sophisticated system to detect cyber intruders and attackers" and that other agencies had also stepped up to the plate.2012-10-11T15:30:00ZThink big: The Office of Science and Technology Policy and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency are looking for the next 'grand challenge.'http://www.informationweek.com/news/240008930?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/security/14-amazing-darpa-technologies-on-tap/240008013"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/877/01_Aware-camer--prototype_tn.jpg" alt="14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap" title="14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are looking for groundbreaking achievements. Not just any new ideas, but "grand challenges for the 21st Century," in line with the lunar landing and sequencing of the human genome. And they want your help. <P> The White House and DOD on Tuesday released a request for information seeking suggestions on grand challenges that will require significant advances in science and technology, and seeking those suggestions "from a wide variety of diverse perspectives--young and old, scientist and layperson, domestic and international." <P> In particular, the request for information asks submitters to send presentations of their ideas to DARPA by January 1, 2013. Submissions will need to discuss what the idea is, how it will "capture the public's imagination," success metrics, what trends and technology support the idea that the goal is feasible, what breakthroughs will be needed to achieve it, and what organizations or people could come together to participate in the effort to achieve the goals. <P> <strong>[ Is fear of failure holding back government innovation? See <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/fix-the-fear-factor-in-government-innova/240008743?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Fix The Fear Factor In Government Innovation</a>. ]</strong> <P> While the White House and DOD say they are seeking widespread participation, they chose to announce their request on the relatively lightly trafficked FedBizOpps.gov government procurement website rather than highlighting it on a more heavily used platform such as the White House's own website. <P> This isn't the first time that the Obama White House has sought ideas for "grand challenges." The administration first called for the pursuit of such efforts in its 2009 Strategy for American Innovation, and in February 2010, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Economic Council released a request for information similar to the one released this week by the Office of Science and Technology Policy and DARPA. <P> The 2010 request sought help with the grand challenges that the Obama Administration identified in its Strategy for American Innovation, information on other grand challenges the administration should consider, partners interested in working to achieve these goals, and models for allowing many people to participate in the challenges. <P> More recently, the Office of Science and Technology Policy announced that it planned to hold a conference on grand challenges and made the effort to spark more grand challenges a core piece of its open government strategy. Then, in its fiscal 2014 science and tech policy budget guidance sent to agencies in June, the White House instructed agencies to "identify and pursues 'grand challenges'" as part of their research efforts. <P> <i>Cybersecurity, continuity planning, and data records management top the list in our latest Federal IT Priorities Survey. Also in the new, all-digital <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/081312gov/?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Focus On The Foundation</a> issue of InformationWeek Government: The FBI's next-gen digital case management system, Sentinel, is finally up and running. (Free registration required.)</i>2012-10-11T13:30:00ZStartup Sqrrl preps Accumulo data storage software to go commercial, teams with Hadoop provider Hortonworks to combine technologies. http://www.informationweek.com/news/240008916?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --><div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/security/14-amazing-darpa-technologies-on-tap/240008013"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/877/01_Aware-camer--prototype_tn.jpg" alt="14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap" title="14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div><!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->Accumulo, the data storage software developed by the National Security Agency, has taken another step toward the enterprise market. Sqrrl, the startup launched by former NSA technologists to commercialize Accumulo, has teamed up with Apache Hadoop provider Hortonworks to combine their technologies. <P> It's the latest in a series of developments for NSA's big-data platform over the past 13 months. The <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/enterprise-applications/nsa-submits-open-source-secure-database/231600835">NSA submitted Accumulo</a> to the Apache Foundation in September 2011 for development as open source. In July 2012, a number of NSA employees joined with former White House cybersecurity strategy director Ely Khan to form Sqrrl. Two months ago, Sqrrl announced it had raised $2 million in venture funding. <P> Based on Google's BigTable data model, Accumulo is a distributed key/value store for structured and unstructured data. When NSA began developing Accumulo in 2008, many of the big data management platforms--Hbase, MongoDB, Cassandra, and others--were new or had not yet been released, unproven, and unlikely to meet the agency's rigorous security requirements. So NSA decided to develop the data management software it needed internally. <P> "By bringing data sets together, it's allowed us to see things in the data that we didn't necessarily see from looking at the data from one point or another," said Dave Hurry, head of NSA's computer science research section, in an interview with <em>InformationWeek</em>. Accumulo gives NSA the ability "to take data and to stretch it in new ways so that you can find out how to associate it with another piece of data and find those threats, those nuggets you were looking for," he said. <P> <strong>[ Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/information-management/nasa-issues-big-data-challenge/240008575?itc=edit_in_body_cross">NASA Issues Big Data Challenge</a>. ]</strong> <P> NSA sought security, scalability, and speed from its database. Accumulo's cell-level security makes it possible to set access control for individual pieces of data using "visibility tags." Without that capability, valuable information might remain out of reach for the analysts who need it, or time might have to be spent creating a sanitized data set. Sqrrl CEO Oren Falkowitz said he met with a large financial institution that lets only three people access a data cluster of sensitive data. With Accumulo, that kind of exclusive arrangement shouldn't be necessary. <P> That could prove to be a significant advantage for Accumulo. "There's nothing else out there that remotely pretends to be an alternative for a secure BigTable database," said Benson Margulies, who both worked on Accumulo as CTO for Basis Technology, an NSA contractor, and helped get the Apache Accumulo project going. <P> Through a feature called iterators, Accumulo supports in-database processing, which means it's able to aggregate and summarize data even as new data is added. "The way the system is architected, you're able to do a lot of 'compute on the fly,'" said Antonio Rodriguez, general partner with Matrix Partners, one of the VC firms that recently invested in Sqrrl. Atlas Venture is the other. <P> NoSQL databases like Accumulo let users add new data types even if they're not part of the original data model, and data attributes can be defined in a more granular way and with greater flexibility than is possible using conventional relational databases. "It's an architecture that allows people to solve the problem they want to solve as it presents itself, and not have the architecture put bounds on what they can do," Hurry said. "One of the powerful side effects is that we no longer have to spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to normalize the data." <P> Accumulo's other big selling point is its scalability. NSA doesn't talk about the size of its databases, but the agency's aggregated data is measured in the petabytes. NSA's largest cluster, Rodriguez said, is "much larger than anyone has ever run in Hbase." Sqrrl COO Falkowitz said the software is "ready for quadrillions of records and thousands of nodes." <P> Accumulo is central to NSA's big data strategy, and other U.S. defense and intelligence agencies, including the CIA, have begun to experiment with Accumulo. In March, the Apache Foundation designated Accumulo as one of its top-level project. The Accumulo development community continues to grow, and has been holding hackathons and meetups. <P> Sqrrl's commercial version of Accumulo is called Acorn. In addition to the database itself, the startup provides consulting on enterprise deployment and training for developers. It's also adding capabilities to Accumulo by developing its own additional capabilities and through partnerships with other vendors. In September, Sqrrl joined with MapR to bring commercial support to Accumulo and MapR's Apache Hadoop combination. <P> Sqrrl's target markets include financial services, health care, energy, Internet companies, and government. Falkowitz said potential customers include financial institutions and an oil company. <P> Accumulo is a relatively new platform, but its jumpstart in federal intelligence should work in its favor. "It's a very mature technology in terms of building a secure data store for one of the most secure customers in the world: NSA," said Chris Lynch, a partner with Atlas Venture. <P> At the NSA, Accumulo has moved beyond the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/nsa-using-cloud-model-for-intelligence-s/218501405">pilot stage</a> to become a core element of its big data strategy. The agency is using Accumulo to create a "<a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/leadership/nsa-cio-pursues-intelligence-sharing-arc/229401971?pgno=2">data cloud</a>" that makes its easier to manage, analyze, and share information. Given Accumulo's roots, the development community behind the platform is largely composed of federal agencies, including the Department of Defense. Increased diversity and commercial support will be important to the open source project's success. <P> Lawmakers are keeping an eye on that. The Senate's 2013 Defense authorization bill requires that Accumulo mature into "a successful open source database with adequate industry support and diversification" before being adopted within DoD (with the exception of NSA). The bill would also require that the NSA help ensure that HBase and Cassadra developers get the technical assistance needed to facilitate adoption of Accumulo's security features. <P> <i>More than half of federal agencies are saving money with cloud computing, but security, compatibility, and skills present huge problems, according to our survey. Also in the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/100812gov/?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Cloud Business Case</a> issue of InformationWeek Government: President Obama's record on IT strategy is long on vision but short on results. (Free registration required.)</i>2012-10-10T15:20:00ZAs Amazon announces new services for government customers, it says the 1,800 government and education customers that now use Amazon Web Services prove "rapid" adoption of its cloud computing products.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240008848?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --><div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/government/policy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228201002"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/540/GeneralDynamics_tn.jpg" alt="Top 20 Government Cloud Service Providers" title="Top 20 Government Cloud Service Providers" class="img175" /></a><br /><span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view)</span><br /><div class="storyImageTitle">Slideshow: Top 20 Government Cloud Service Providers</div></div><!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->As government agencies continue to adopt cloud computing, Amazon is among those reaping the rewards: the company announced Wednesday that more than 300 government agencies and 1,500 educational institutions now use Amazon Web Services. <P> According to Amazon, the 1,800-plus customers represent its "rapid growth in the public sector." <P> "Government agencies and education institutions are rapidly accelerating their adoption of the AWS Cloud," Teresa Carlson, VP of Amazon Web Services' public sector business, said in a statement. <P> Amazon's growth isn't surprising. State and local governments have been moving quickly to cloud services as a way to save money. Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel and his predecessor Vivek Kundra have been championing the adoption of cloud computing at the federal level to cut costs and improve government IT services with a <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/federal-agencies-struggle-to-meet-cloud/240003700">Cloud First mandate</a>, which requires federal agencies to consider cloud computing as part of most new information technology acquisitions. <P> <strong>[ Related: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/management/5-ways-amazon-web-services-protects-clou/240008405?itc=edit_in_body_cross">5 Ways Amazon Web Services Protects Cloud Data</a>. ]</strong> <P> The announcement of continued growth in Amazon's public sector business came as the company also announced new features for government customers at Amazon's AWS Public Sector Summit in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. The new features are for <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/amazon-launches-cloud-services-for-gover/231500093">AWS GovCloud</a>, a dedicated community cloud for U.S. government customers that meets strict federal arms control regulations. <P> Likely chief among the new features is the high-performance computing capability made available through Amazon's Compute Cluster Instances, which has already been used for things like molecular and genomic modeling and analysis, and which can leverage big data technologies such as MapReduce. Even before launching a government version of this service, government agencies have used Amazon for supercomputing: The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, for example, has used Amazon to simulate a gas turbine and related airflow dynamics. <P> Among the other new offerings are elastic load balancing, auto scaling, CloudWatch alarms, the Simple Notification Service, and the Simple Queue Service. Amazon says that the addition of these features should make it easier for government customers to scale their cloud services and to ensure those services' reliability. "With the new services and features added today in AWS GovCloud, public sector customers now have greater capabilities to rapidly design, build, and deploy high-performance applications," Carlson said. <P> A wide array of government agencies, from <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/nasa-mars-mission-fueled-by-amazon-web-s/240005286">NASA</a> to Douglas County, Nebraska, and from the University of Oxford to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are now among the customers of Amazon Web Services. Some of the recent services hosted with Amazon include CDC BioSense 2.0, a service that collects information from health facilities as part of an effort to improve official response to diseases and healthcare trends. <P> <i>More than half of federal agencies are saving money with cloud computing, but security, compatibility, and skills present huge problems, according to our survey. Also in the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/100812gov/?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Cloud Business Case</a> issue of InformationWeek Government: President Obama's record on IT strategy is long on vision but short on results. (Free registration required.)</i>