Profile of J. Nicholas Hoover

Senior Editor, InformationWeek Government Blog Posts: 1448

Military Plans Multi-Exabyte Storage Cloud

4/8/2013
Defense Information Systems Agency will spend $45 million on a private storage cloud for intelligence and surveillance imagery.
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NASA Pauses Mars Missions To Avoid Interference

4/4/2013
NASA will significantly scale back its Mars missions in April as the Red Planet moves behind the sun as viewed from Earth.
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No Bold Moves On U.S. Cybersecurity Framework

4/3/2013
New cybersecurity framework, to be created per a February Obama administration executive order, likely will draw heavily from existing cybersecurity standards.
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Obama Brain Mapping Project Tests Big Data Limits

4/2/2013
President Obama's just announced Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) project might require handling yottabytes of data.
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Army Falls Short In Mobile Security, Says DOD

4/2/2013
Lack of comprehensive mobile security policy and thousands of unauthorized devices are among the security shortcomings of the Army's mobile efforts.
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DHS CIO Richard Spires Takes Voluntary Leave

4/1/2013
High-profile head of the Department of Homeland Security's IT has been on leave since March 15, but the exact reason for his departure remains unclear.
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Veterans Affairs BYOD Plans On Hold

3/29/2013
Department of Veterans Affairs will delay bring-your-own-device until it solves legal questions involving privacy with personal mobile devices used for work.
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Air Force Seeks Stronger Spacecraft Cybersecurity

3/28/2013
Air Force is looking for cutting-edge research into improved security for spacecraft IT, according to newly released procurement documents.
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U.S. Agencies Told To Share Financial Systems

3/27/2013
Obama administration hopes to save money and development time by pushing agencies toward shared services for all future financial systems.
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Congress Curtails Government IT Purchases From China

3/26/2013
Continuing resolution bars some government agencies from buying IT equipment from Chinese-owned or -subsidized companies without FBI or other approval.
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FDA To Track Illicit Product Trade Online

3/25/2013
FDA will monitor 10,000 sites a year to uncover illegal marketing and selling of FDA-regulated products from drugs to tobacco.
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Federal Reserve To Hire Chief Data Officer

3/22/2013
Appointment would make the Fed another in a growing number of governments and government agencies with chief data officers.
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Amazon-CIA Deal Would Fit Intel Community Strategy

3/21/2013
Reported deal for Amazon to help develop CIA's private cloud infrastructure squares with intelligence community strategy to work with public cloud vendors.
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DOD Reaches 1 Million Users On Cloud Email

3/13/2013
Military expects another 500,000 users on the Defense Information Systems Agency's DOD Enterprise Email by summer 2013.
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Budget Fight Threatens U.S. Cyber Command's Growth

3/12/2013
Cyber Command commander Gen. Keith Alexander says sequestration will lead to furloughs; wider budget conflict will delay efforts to strengthen Cyber Command.
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White House Supports DOD Spectrum Research

3/11/2013
White House support for military research into spectrum sharing furthers White House efforts to open spectrum for commercial use.
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U.S. Cybersecurity Status Weak, Reports Charge

3/6/2013
DOD report says the military is "not prepared" for cyber war, while a White House report says agencies fall short of federal cybersecurity goals.
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NASA Missions Face Triple Whammy Of Glitches

3/1/2013
Space station resupply mission, the Mars Curiosity rover, and the International Space Station itself all have had problems in the last few weeks.
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Predictive Analytics Improve Miami City Services

2/28/2013
Miami-Dade County is partnering with IBM to improve city policing, transportation and parks through predictive analytics.
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Federal IT Reform: Are More Laws Needed?

2/27/2013
Efforts by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., could lead to significant reform of federal IT management and acquisition.
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Pentagon Unveils Secure Mobile Device Plan

2/26/2013
Military releases a new plan to accelerate the adoption of mobile devices and apps for both classified and unclassified use.
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Federal CIO Q&A: Security, Sequestration And More

2/25/2013
Biggest challenge in realizing agile, efficient government IT continues to be the required cultural change, says Federal CIO Steve VanRoekel.
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How Sequestration Could Hit NASA Projects

2/25/2013
Across-the-board budget cuts due to hit March 1, if Congress doesn't make a budget deal, could quickly impact NASA's technology work.
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SEC Makes Big Data Push To Analyze Markets

2/22/2013
Securities and Exchange Commission's new Midas system collects information on all trades in an effort to better understand how the markets work.
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Federal CIO Outlines Next Steps

2/21/2013
With Obama's first term in the rearview mirror, federal CIO Steven VanRoekel is looking for ways to continue to improve federal IT even in the face of looming budget cuts.
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U.S. Trade Secret Strategy Targets Hackers

2/20/2013
Amidst new reports of theft of intellectual property by Chinese hackers, the White House on Wednesday released a new strategy to fight trade secret theft.
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NASA Reports Space Station Communications Outage Fixed

2/19/2013
Communications are back up between NASA and the International Space Station after a brief glitch happened shortly after a software upgrade.
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Cybersecurity Executive Order Leaves Tough Work Undone

2/13/2013
Government and industry must work together in challenging new ways to implement the White House's executive order on cybersecurity, top federal officials said Wednesday.
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White House Cybersecurity Executive Order: What It Means

2/13/2013
The White House late Tuesday issued a long-awaited executive order to bolster the nation's cyber defenses. But that order leaves some questions unanswered.
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Federal CIO Details Concerns On Looming Budget Cuts

2/12/2013
With huge automatic budget cuts looking increasingly likely, federal CIO Steven VanRoekel and other officials are discussing the effects of sequestration on government IT plans.
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Feds Want Single Mobile Management Platform

2/11/2013
To help accelerate federal adoption of smartphones, General Services Administration plans to offer a government-wide mobile management tools platform.
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Government Braces For Big Data

2/7/2013
Terabytes are growing into petabytes. Your action plan must include new skills, tools and cross-agency collaboration.
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Feds Update Cybersecurity Compliance Handbook

2/7/2013
The federal government will soon finalize the most comprehensive overhaul to its internal cybersecurity guidelines since initial release.
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DARPA Funds Python Big Data Effort

2/6/2013
Department of Defense has dished out $3 million for Python big data analytics libraries from a $100 million fund for big data research and development.
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Feds Update Flu Apps

2/4/2013
Centers for Disease Control have updated their two flu apps -- FluView and CDC Influenza -- for the busy flu season.
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CEOs Voice Support For Cyber Legislation, With Caveats

2/1/2013
Senate report indicates many Fortune 500 CEOs support comprehensive cybersecurity legislation that increases information sharing, but only if sharing is voluntary.
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Immigration Reform Package Includes Tech Workers

1/29/2013
Separate bill would significantly increase the number of H-1B visas issued by the United States.
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Thousands Of Industrial Control Systems At Risk: DHS Study

1/11/2013
Researchers have identified about 7,200 Internet-connected critical infrastructure systems.
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Documents Detail NSA's 'Perfect Citizen' Cybersecurity Work

1/9/2013
Documents confirm National Security Agency's penetration testing of U.S. critical infrastructure control systems and a related five-year contract with Raytheon, but are heavily redacted.
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New Defense Budget Aims To Improve Cybersecurity

1/4/2013
$633 billion package requires the Department of Defense to adopt next-generation cyber defenses and take new steps in secure software development.
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Postal Service Pilots Next-Gen Authentication Tech

1/4/2013
U.S. Postal Service pilots an implementation of the Federal Cloud Credential Exchange to facilitate use of government online services.
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Military Signs Most Comprehensive Microsoft Contract Yet

1/3/2013
Three-year, $617 million deal gives Department of Defense its lowest prices ever on software and services.
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NASA Details 2013 Plans

12/28/2012
NASA plans continued exploration of Mars and the night sky, continued missions to the International Space Station, and numerous satellite and spacecraft missions.
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Feds Issue First Cloud Services Security Authorization

12/28/2012
FedRAMP, 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.
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Optimization Is Key To Federal Data Center Overhaul

12/13/2012
Government agencies must raise server utilization and efficiency as they squeeze more computer processing into less physical space.
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Google Maps Adds NASA Nighttime Satellite Imagery

12/11/2012
Google, NASA and the NOAA have released high resolution nighttime satellite images that illuminate everything from cities to ships at sea.
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DOE, National Labs Reveal Sweeping Cloud Strategy

12/10/2012
Strategy outlines dozens of innovative initiatives underway or planned at the Department of Energy and the 22 national laboratories.
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Mars Mystery: Here's What We Know

11/21/2012
NASA 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.
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6 Ways Amazon Cloud Helped Obama Win

11/16/2012
Amazon Web Services played a starring role in President Obama's quest for a second term.
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Congress Kills Cybersecurity Bill, White House Action Expected

11/15/2012
White House looks primed to take action on its own after Congress again fails to pass cybersecurity legislation.
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NASA's IT Future: Robot Telework, 3-D Printing

11/14/2012
NASA 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.
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Vets. Dept. Signs $36 Million HP-Microsoft Cloud Deal

11/13/2012
Department 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.
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Time To Deliver On Federal IT Reform

11/13/2012
First 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.
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Astronaut Drives Lego Robot Via 'Interplanetary Internet'

11/9/2012
Astronaut aboard the International Space Station used a new NASA-developed deep space networking technology to drive a small robot in Germany.
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Election 2012: New Voting Tech Caused Some Headaches

11/7/2012
President Obama was re-elected on Tuesday, but not without glitches and malfunctions reported by users of digital voting technologies.
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EPA Chooses Cloud For Email

11/1/2012
Environmental Protection Agency moves to Microsoft 365, adds to stream of government agencies choosing cloud-based email and collaboration services.
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Hurricane Sandy: Government Data Tools Assist

10/31/2012
Federal, state, and local information technology and data are on the case in the ongoing recovery from Hurricane Sandy.
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FBI Expands Cybercrime Division

10/30/2012
Federal Bureau of Investigation will hire computer scientists, build new tools and boost collaboration to help catch malicious hackers.
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Energy Dept.'s Titan Supercomputer: Record Breaker?

10/29/2012
Oak Ridge National Laboratory turns on new 20-petaflop Titan supercomputer, which may be world’s most powerful.
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DOD Pushes Military's Mobile Strategy Forward

10/26/2012
Defense Department is serious about getting smartphones into soldiers' hands, according to new mobile device management and app store vendor solicitations.
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Humanoid Robot Challenge Kicks Off At DARPA

10/25/2012
Inventors compete to build DARPA robot that can use human hand tools, drive vehicles, and climb ladders in a disaster scenario.
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BlackBerry Loses Its Grip On Federal Government

10/24/2012
RIM's BlackBerry platform has maintained a strong following in government for years, but that is changing.
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After Benghazi, State Dept. Seeks Diplomat Tracking Technologies

10/18/2012
Following deadly attacks on diplomatic facilities in Libya, the Department of State wants new technology to track employees working in the field.
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DOD: Hackers Breached U.S. Critical Infrastructure Control Systems

10/12/2012
Defense 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.
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White House Wants Ideas For Next Moonshot

10/11/2012
Think big: The Office of Science and Technology Policy and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency are looking for the next 'grand challenge.'
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NSA's Big Data Platform Faces Enterprise Test

10/11/2012
Startup Sqrrl preps Accumulo data storage software to go commercial, teams with Hadoop provider Hortonworks to combine technologies.
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Amazon's Share Of Government Cloud Computing 'Accelerating'

10/10/2012
As 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.
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NIST Scientist Wins Nobel For Quantum Computing Work

10/9/2012
National Institute of Standards and Technology scientist David Wineland shared a Nobel Prize for Physics for work that could help the development of powerful quantum computers.
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Jeff Bezos, U.S. Intelligence Invest In Quantum Computing

10/5/2012
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and In-Q-Tel have invested in D-Wave Systems, a company marketing what it calls the first commercial quantum computer.
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Obama Vs. Romney: 6 Tech Policy Differences

10/5/2012
With the 2012 election drawing near, InformationWeek Government compares the tech plans of President Obama and the Democrats and those of Governor Romney and the Republicans.
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'MegaDroid' Tests Android Security At City Scale

10/4/2012
Department of Energy launches MegaDroid, a network of 300,000 virtual Android devices, to study mobile security and stability at a city-sized scale.
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14 Amazing DARPA Technologies On Tap

9/27/2012
Go inside the labs of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for a look at some of the most intriguing technologies they're developing in computing, electronics, communications, and more.
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Feds Want Wider Use Of Health Records Applet

9/25/2012
'Blue Button' web applet that provides personal health records has been popular with U.S. veterans; White House now promoting use by private sector insurers.
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Cyber Warfare Still Poses Legal Questions

9/18/2012
A body of accepted international law on cyber warfare slowly is emerging, but more needs to be done to address new world of aggression, civilian and military officials said Tuesday.
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American Airlines Pilots Drop Flight Bags For iPads

9/12/2012
Airline expects to save $1.2 million on fuel annually by swapping 35-pound bags of manuals and directories for lightweight Apple iPads.
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FBI Sentinel Case Management System Actually Over Budget

9/11/2012
Audit finds FBI failed to include $60 million in operations and maintenance expenses in calculating the cost of a system that agency has been developing for more than a decade.
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Military IT's Future Stresses Cloud, Mobile

9/5/2012
Military's IT agency has released a plan for Department of Defense's belt-tightening and shifting strategies during the next five years.
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Feds' Cloud Email Deal Paves Way For Agencies

8/31/2012
General Services Administration taps 17 vendors to provide cloud email from Google, Microsoft, IBM, and Zimbra to government agencies from federal to local levels.
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Air Force Seeks Offensive Cyber Weapons

8/30/2012
Agency solicits proposals on capabilities ranging from attack to mapping networks.
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FAA Reconsiders Airplane Mobile Device Ban

8/28/2012
Federal Aviation Administration study may change airlines' requirement that passengers turn off electronic devices for significant portions of flights.
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Android Smartphones To Power NASA Satellites

8/27/2012
NASA plans to use Nexus Android smartphones as the on-board computers on tiny, low-cost satellites.
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Feds Give Agencies More BYOD Advice

8/24/2012
New guidelines lay the foundation for more federal agencies to begin allowing employees to bring their own iPhones, iPads, and Android devices to work.
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White House Innovation Fellows Tackle Federal IT Projects

8/23/2012
Innovation Fellows program aims to improve access to health records, make it easier for start-ups to do business with the feds, create a one-stop federal website, and more.
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Apple, Feds Ink E-Book Deal

8/22/2012
Apple and the Government Printing Office strike deal to make hundreds of government documents and manuscripts available on iTunes in e-book format.
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Federal Agencies Devise Shared Services Plans

6/7/2012
The Office of Management and Budget is requiring federal agencies to tap into a more efficient IT delivery model.
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ID Theft, Online Fraud Rose Slightly In 2011

5/14/2012
Internet crime reports increased 3.4% in 2011 as compared to 2010, finds Internet Crime Complaint Center. Some old scams remain popular.
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Military Formalizes Defense Contractor Cybersecurity Program

5/11/2012
Defense and Homeland Security Departments are expanding and formalizing the Defense Industrial Base program, an information-sharing effort aimed at helping defense contractors secure their networks.
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DOD Certifies 6 BlackBerry Devices For Military Networks

5/10/2012
BlackBerry remains the platform of choice for government agencies, even as Research In Motion's market share slips with businesses and consumers.
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Pentagon CIO Talks Security, Mobility, Shared Services

5/10/2012
Budget cuts and cybersecurity demands have led the Department of Defense to push increasing resources into a long-term strategy to create shared IT infrastructure across the military, CIO Teri Takai says.
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Interior Department Chooses Gmail Over Microsoft Cloud

5/1/2012
Two-year battle comes to an end with a $34.9 million contract to bring Gmail to the Department of the Interior's 90,000 email users.
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Congress Raises Alarm On Iranian Cyber Threat

4/26/2012
United States should pay attention to threat of Iranian cyber-attacks, say members of Congress and panelists.
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Salesforce.com Government Cloud: What's Inside

4/25/2012
Salesforce.com unveils government-focused suite of services, app marketplace, and small business partner program for customers in federal, state, and local agencies.
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Asteroid Mining Plan Revealed

4/24/2012
Planetary Resources, a new company with backers including current and past Microsoft and Google execs, shared its strategy to create a new industry in mining asteroids.
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Federal Cyber Overhaul Cost: $710 Million Through 2017

4/24/2012
Changes to the Federal Information Security Management Act would set the federal government back $710 million over the next five years, according to an estimate by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
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Obama Authorizes Sanctions Over Iran, Syria Internet Crackdowns

4/23/2012
Executive order would punish countries or companies that help Iran and Syria use communications networks to track dissidents.
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Feds Banish Oracle From Popular Contract Vehicle

4/20/2012
Federal government cancels Oracle's services contract on the General Services Administration's IT Schedule 70. Feds spent $388 million on Oracle products and services through Schedule 70 in fiscal 2011.
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NYC Selects BigApps Contest Winners

4/19/2012
New York City's third annual developers' contest awarded $50,000 for apps that help users take advantage of what the city has to offer.
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Google, Tech Execs Accelerate Space Privatization

4/19/2012
Google's Larry Page and Eric Schmidt and ex-Microsoft exec Charles Simonyi are backing Planetary Resources, a new space exploration company to be unveiled April 24.
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IRS Database System Makes Tax Deadline, Finally

4/18/2012
After long delays and multiple false starts, IRS delivers on a new database to speed up returns processing and delivery of refunds, plus improve fraud detection.
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Hillary Clinton Lauds Global Open Government Efforts

4/17/2012
Secretary of State says countries that are open with data will flourish, while closed nations will have trouble with stability and security.
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