According to a recent Cisco report, the number of connected devices per person worldwide will rise 50% from 2.4 in 2018 to 3.6 by 2023. And, at the same time – as we all well know - the days of a government employee logging on just during traditional business hours, in one building, on one or two devices, is over. People bring the “constantly connected” mindset from their personal lives, to work. This mindset forms the expectations that they will have the ability to access all the information they require – anywhere, anytime. For government security teams, it’s a love-hate relationship. On the upside, there are huge productivity benefits. And new opportunities for insights with the data collected and shared. But, as the volume and the variety of connected devices increases, so do potential cyber vulnerabilities.  Read More

The M-19-21 memorandum mandates that all records are created, converted and transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in electronic format by end of 2022. The need, however, does not make the reality any easier to embrace.  Agencies must both find a way to convert legacy records from paper to digital, and put in place processes that ensure all records going forward are created digitally.  Working with constrained budgets, needing to educate personnel, having to develop new processes and choosing the appropriate technology, all contribute to the complexity of achieving this goal by the established deadline.   Read More

It is said that data runs today's world, and we could argue that it is not an exaggerated statement. From important business decisions to process optimization, everything today is data driven. Data has become a necessity of life. Everyone is pursuing increasing volumes of data, but very few understand that this quest for more data must be closely tied to effective, state-of-the-art datacenters. With the growing demand for data, there needs to be an underlying infrastructure that can host queries, process inputs, and feed relevant information, on pace with modern needs. Prevalent IT infrastructures are insufficient; therefore, to make sure that super-fast data communication is done with negligible latency, the establishment of hyper-converged infrastructure is inevitable.  Read More

Security is always evolving and what worked yesterday will not necessarily work today. Security goes far beyond protecting software and networks. Securing your hardware is often overlooked and can have some costly implications, if it becomes compromised. Relying solely on firewalls to secure the infrastructure is bound to end in disaster.  Read More

The term 5G simply implies the 5th generation of mobile network technology. And it’s fast, with a theoretical upper limit 10 Gigabits per second. The potential uses for this new technology are just beginning to be understood, possibilities are endless!  Read More

It is more important than ever for organizations to protect their data and address compliance, without disrupting employee and company productivity. With GDPR, the California Privacy Act, and the Data Protection Act of 2018, organizations now have regulations that mandate how their data is secured. Every organization must take a serious look at how they are protecting their data and align their data protection and compliance strategy with government mandates.  Read More

As cyber attacks have become an ever present occurrence many agencies are still not prepared to prevent all threats. UNICOM Government together with Dell EMC will be showcasing our joint security solution at RSA 2019 that encompasses network and data center security solutions protect high value data and data center resources with threat defense, highly secure virtualization, segmentation and policy control.  Read More

The Federal government is losing billions of dollars each year funding legacy systems. A report from IDC Government Insights shows that some agencies allocate upwards of 90 percent of their IT budgets to operations and maintenance. And, in a recent MeriTalk article, the Government Accountability Office’s Head Gene Dodaro noted legacy IT systems pose a serious obstacle to cybersecurity best practices. The answer is clear: Modernization.  Read More

Feds bring the constantly connected mindset from their personal lives, to work, along with new expectations. For example, the ability to take and share a photo instantly. Instant messaging. Social collaboration. And access to information – all needed/desired information – anywhere, anytime.  Read More

Last week, the House of Representatives passed the “Energy Efficient Government Technology Act,” which will place energy efficiency standards on Federal data centers and require OMB to collaborate with agencies on plans to purchase and use energy efficient data center technologies.  Read More