Russian cyber forces have “underperformed” in their attempts to cripple Ukrainian networks, which has forced them to fall back on destroying the country’s critical infrastructure through kinetic means, which makes data centers both a digital and physical target, a top Defense Department (DoD) cyber official said last week. […]

Sens. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Gary Peters, D-Mich., introduced bipartisan legislation on July 28 to strengthen Federal data center security to protect against cyberattacks, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks.   […]

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has determined that data centers offer a prime opportunity for the Federal government to cut energy consumption while agency demand grows to embrace cloud services and modernize legacy IT systems. […]

Federal Agencies are reporting “mixed progress” meeting their goals to optimize existing data centers in recent months due to technical and budget constraints, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).  […]

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) has awarded General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) a potential 10-year, $4.5 billion contract for IT and data center services. […]

DHS Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) is pivotal to improving government cybersecurity. While it’s critical, it has a lot of moving parts–and that can make it difficult to follow. MeriTalk sat down with Kevin Cox to get a handle on the state of CDM, as well as an understanding of where the program goes from here. And, it’s quite a story–so I hope you’re sitting comfortably, feel free to grab a cup of coffee. […]

Welcome to MeriTalk News Briefs, where we bring you all the day’s action that didn’t quite make the headlines. No need to shout about ‘em, but we do feel that they merit talk. […]

We sat down with Jeff Henry, president of ViON, in his office in Herndon, Va. The typical tech provider surroundings belied the epic changes at ViON, as it morphs from leading data center reseller to delivering government IT modernization as a service. […]

As the new year begins, Alfred Rivera, director of the Defense Information Systems Agency’s (DISA) Development and Business Center, will retire from the Federal government. Rivera, who stepped down today, has been in the Federal service for 35 years, and spent all but 10 of those years at DISA. Rivera will begin consulting following his retirement from the public sector.  […]

In order for agencies to meet Data Center Optimization Initiative requirements, many are choosing Data Center Infrastructure Management Solutions to help them visualize what’s going on inside their data centers. “We were looking at optimization before DCOI and DCIM was cool,” said Pruitt Hall, project manager for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s DCIM implementation. […]

Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, said that he almost turned down then-Rep. Jason Chaffetz when he asked him to head up the IT Subcommittee in his freshman year in Congress. But “my mama said don’t be a part of the problem, be part of the solution,” Hurd said at Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Roadmap: Tomorrow’s Data Center in a Cloud-Driven Digital World event, produced by MeriTalk, on Oct. 24. […]

Hewlett Packard Enterprise will discuss how it helps agencies plan for the IT modernization process at the MeriTalk produced event Road Map: Tomorrow’s Data Center in a Cloud-Driven Digital World on Oct. 24. […]

The new administration has left little doubt that consolidation is a top priority. The first budget calls for deep cuts across most agencies. If achieved, these reductions are likely to put the squeeze on already stressed IT budgets. The search for creative solutions can and must intensify. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is pursuing a hybrid cloud model that will simultaneously address optimization, security and budget priorities—blazing a trail for other Federal agencies to follow. […]

The problem with IT modernization is often a people problem. “There’s a cultural challenge within the IT community,” said Department of Homeland Security Acting CIO Stephen Rice, at the AFCEA Homeland Security Conference on Sept. 13. “Changes aren’t just within the technology but also within the culture of those managing the technology.” […]

The Government Accountability Office found that of the 24 agencies required to participate in the Data Center Optimization Initiative, 22 said they were making limited progress toward the 2018 performance targets. […]

In order for Federal agencies to make the best decisions about moving to the cloud, they have to optimize their data centers, according to IDC researchers. The Federal government is moving to a cloud-first approach when it comes to IT infrastructure, which makes CIOs reluctant to invest in a Data Center Infrastructure Management solution to optimize their data centers to meet Data Center Optimization Initiative requirements. […]

For agencies to achieve the data center of tomorrow, they must first understand the data that they have today, according to industry experts speaking at MeriTalk’s Data Center Brainstorm on Thursday. […]

Agency chief information officers see the benefits of a potential IT Modernization Fund, but they still have questions, such as what are the penalties for not paying the money back in time, and how long will agencies get to pay it back. […]

Cormant announced that the company is offering a full suite of Data Center Optimization Initiative metrics, including dashboards and reports that will help agencies meet Federal standards. […]

Platform-based cloud models will be a “major impetus” for Federal agencies in the next few years, while Software-as-a-Service models will move more slowly, says Doug Bourgeois of Deloitte. Bourgeois will be speaking at MeriTalk’s Data Center Brainstorm on March 23. […]

One way for agencies to adhere to the new data center energy efficiency policy is to upgrade legacy IT systems, according to Rob Davies, ViON’s executive vice president of operations. […]

Energy Savings Performance Contracts are a good way for Federal agencies to reduce their data centers’ energy footprint, according to Timothy Unruh, director of the Federal Energy Management Program for the Department of Energy. […]

The key to data center consolidation success is communicating and committing to an aggressive plan, according to Department of Justice CIO Joseph Klimavicz. […]

To dig deeper into the many factors that have contributed to the current state of affairs in the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative, MeriTalk spoke with some of the leading agency authorities about the many data center challenges facing chief information officers, and the plans and policies that hold the most promise of helping the government achieve its data center consolidation goals. […]

To drive down Federal spending and waste, the Office of Management and Budget has released its official Data Center Policy, designed to streamline the process of reducing the number of Federal data centers. By 2018, 52 percent of Federal data centers will close. […]