Today, as I watched the Cisco Data Center webcast “Evolutionary Fabric, Revolutionary Scale: A Nondisruptive Way to Handle Dynamic Data Center and Cloud Environments” I thought about how data centers can provide an advantage for government agencies seeking ways to increase operational efficiency and reduce costs.
In many ways, data centers today have similar characteristics when compared to government organizations with:
isolated silos of information
labor-intensive manual processes
rising costs of service
limited flexibility
mandates to provide open access to information
changing workplace with mobile applications, video, …
requirements to ensure security
In the data center, silos include servers, storage, applications, and network devices. In many government organizations, different agencies often operate independently in separate silos.
The strategic advantage for both government IT organizations and government agencies is to develop holistic strategies that unify the separate parts into a system to deliver better efficiency with higher resource utilization that is easier to manage and costs less.
Along with several key industry players we announced the formation of and participation in ONF, the Open Networking Foundation with the purpose of promoting a new approach to networking, called software defined networking, open standards based of course, and implicitly open source since all compute loads (or clouds) need and want both, as we are continuously reminded.
Last week I had the opportunity to host two groups of visitors: a group of community policing leaders from the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and a delegation of foreign exchange students from Iwata, Japan. I enjoyed meeting all the guests and the conversations we had about the many changes and challenges in our communities.
We discussed the impact of increased diversity and convergence of cultural values, critical budget issues facing government agencies, and the continuing need for citizen services for community safety and emergency response. We brainstormed ideas for how technology can help.
Despite the severe economic and environmental challenges, both groups were optimistic about our future and the potential for technology to play a positive role.
It’s Friday now (in much of the world) and while we may not have a catchy tune to go with this blog post, we do have a catchy video for you to watch before you head off to enjoy the weekend. So pull up a chair and watch the latest from the TalkinCloud site.
The video captures Cisco CEO John Chambers and Cisco Executive VP Rob Lloyd talking frankly about Cisco’s cloud computing strategy and Cloud Partner Program.
Neil Diener and Walt Shaw, the leaders behind Cisco Clean Air technology, are pretty humble when it comes to talking about their innovative contributions at Cisco. But there is no hiding their passion for their work and the impact it has on the industry. Learn more about Diener, Shaw and Cisco Clean Air technology here!
o Handle Dynamic Data Center and Cloud Environments” I thought about how data centers can provide an advantage for government agencies seeking ways to increase operational efficiency and reduce costs.
