Page 10 - Federal Computer Week, May/June 2019

IT Modernization
Government agencies are navigating the challenging terrain of IT modernization with the help of ever-evolving tools and techniques
Air Force’s innovative Kessel Run project has delivered about 12 software solutions that are used daily in combat, including
an app called Kronos that was created to alleviate problems with the F-35 fighter jet’s Autonomic Logistics Information System. Kronos could form the basis for a future cloud-based version of the system.
Many of those apps incorporate automation to free personnel for higher- value activities. According to an Air Force news release: “Air Force-led software teams have saved warfighters 1,100 man-hours per month by automating labor-intensive data entry at operations centers where combat is orchestrated.”
Regardless of where they are on their modernization journeys, agencies need tools that support new approaches to IT infrastructure, cloud adoption and data protection.
Some agencies are saving money and streamlining IT activities through the use
of hyperconverged infrastructure. HCI is a software-defined IT platform that combines and virtualizes computing, networking
and storage into a pre-integrated package that allows for unified management. The clustered infrastructures pool physical resources and share them between virtual machines running on any host in the cluster.
THE DUAL EMPHASIS on IT modernization and digital transformation is having a
revolutionary impact on government. The benefits are well-known — streamlined operations, reduced costs and increased innovation, to name a few. However, to achieve those benefits, agencies must go beyond updating IT systems to modernize every aspect of government.
Some agencies are already making progress. In a 2018 survey by MeriTalk
and ACT-IAC, 69 percent of respondents said their agencies were working on IT modernization in a “more integrated, holistic way than ever before.” Furthermore, 77 percent of respondents said they believe that the wholesale change modernization requires is feasible in the next five years.
That progress is being driven by a variety of laws and policies, including the Executive Order on Strengthening the Cybersecurity of Federal Networks and Critical Infrastructure, the Cloud Smart Strategy, the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act and the Modernizing Government Technology
(MGT) Act. Such top-level support is crucial for ensuring that agencies have the resources they need to modernize.
The MGT Act, enacted in 2017, empowered agencies to deploy next- generation technologies and capabilities and authorized the creation of the Technology Modernization Fund — a pool of money from which agencies can borrow to pay for modernization projects.
In addition, the new Cloud Smart Strategy underscores the key role that cloud technology plays in modernization. The strategy focuses on improvements to security, procurement and the workforce so that agencies can take full advantage of cost-effective, secure, mission-centric cloud solutions.
A more flexible, powerful infrastructure
Policies aside, agencies across the government are embracing modern approaches to software development because they offer the ability to quickly solve complex problems. For instance, the
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