Employing Cloud as a Security Tool: This Changes Everything

I will be speaking at the "Open Group Scottsdale Conference" on January 28th. My session will be entitled "Employing Cloud as a Security Tool: This Changes Everything". Here's a brief summary of this session:

There has been a lot of buzz and discussion about the effectiveness and efficiency of the cloud. There have also been many innovations aimed at enhancing the security the cloud itself. Nevertheless, there is a new trend calling for using the cloud as a tool and backbone of security. This emerging concept has many new architectural components that are now being developed to exploit such potentials. 

In this talk, we highlight the architectural principles that must be used to architect such solutions and we provide a couple of case studies as examples. The first case study is focused on a large next generation malware detection in the financial sector and the second highlights the largest implementation of a cyber security shared services platform in the US government.

Conference Event Timetable

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You attendance is welcomed, encouraged and appreciated!

Cloud Reservoirs: a practical cloud consumption model for the federal government

I will be speaking at the "Open Group San Diego Conference" on January 30th. My session will be entitled "Cloud Reservoirs: a practical cloud consumption model for the federal government". Here's a brief summary of this session:

While the Cloud computing buzz continues to take the lion’s share of the federal government visions, strategies, and plans, real adoption is still lacking. Compliance program such as FedRAMP and various GSA or agency level BPAs have increased confidence and made the cloud more attainable. But much of the current cloud workloads are based on development and testing environments, low hanging fruits like online productivity, or smaller greenfield projects. Meanwhile, enterprise and mission workloads are still lagging behind.
One of the problems prohibiting adoption is the need for a good structure to ensure flexibility in accessing various cloud services while reducing risks and ensuring budget predictability.
In this session you will learn about an innovative way for structuring a cloud consumption model that allows government agencies to capitalize on the value and premise of cloud computing while mitigating the risks of budget unpredictability.

Conference Event Timetable

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You attendance is welcomed, encouraged and appreciated!

Named CIOReview’s 20 Most Promising Cloud Solution Providers

I am very proud of all the work and team effort that led us to this recognition... Govplace named CIOReview’s 20 Most Promising Cloud Solution Providers.

https://magazine.cioreview.com/magazines/June2017/Cloud  

IT Optimization: Knowing your baseline and minimizing risks

The recording of the WTOP Federal News Radio Panel on IT Optimization is now available on this link: WTOP LINK

Moderator
Jason Miller, Federal News Radio

Panelists

• Thomas Beach, Chief Data Strategist & Digital Services and Big Data Portfolio Manager, United States Patent and Trademark Office
• George Jakabcin, Chief Information Officer, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration
• Jeff Shilling, Chief of IT and Infrastructure Services, National Cancer Institute
• Majed Saadi, Chief Technology Officer, Govplace
• Bob Nicholson, Business Development Manager, Dell Federal

The ATARC Cloud Workload Management Whitepaper is Out

ATARC has just released an outstanding Cloud Computing White Paper, which features a variety of recommendations to government and was compiled at the ATARC Federal Cloud Computing Summit on July 26. I had the honor of being a participant in the discussions that guided the creation of this whitepaper. 

To view the Cloud White Paper, as well as the Session Outputs/White Boards, please visit: https://atarc.org/project/mitre-atarc-cloud-white-paper-july-26-2016/ 

Here are the list of topic areas discussed in the MITRE-ATARC Cloud Collaboration Symposium and the resulting whitepaper. 

Cloud Challenge Areas

• DevOps vs. NoOps: Managing Public Clouds

• Secure Cloud Access: From APIs to Mobile & IoT Devices

• Workload Management for Cost Savings

• Cloud Category Management

• Cloud Computing in Healthcare

Opening Remarks for Getting the Fix on SLAs

I had the privilege of providing the opening remarks for Dr. Robert Bohn, Cloud Computing Program Manager at National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) at  The FCW Cloud Summit 2016  which took place on August 10th. His session was entitled "Getting the Fix on SLAs".

https://nsp.performedia.com/node/15427?output=frame&p=html5


Here's a brief summary of this session:

One of the foundations of a cloud initiative is the service level agreement (SLA). Yet agencies often have found it difficult to define SLAs that achieve the intended results. In our afternoon keynote, Mr. Bohn will discuss a NIST effort to leverage a forthcoming ISO standard to create a government-wide base model for SLAs that can be tailored to meet the needs of individual agencies..

For more information about the session: Conference Home Page

I will be leading a panel discussion entitled: “Workload Management for Cost Savings”

This event is part of the ATARC Federal Cloud Computing Summit which will be held on July 26, 2016 at the Washington Marriott at Metro Center in Washington, D.C.

This educational, one-day symposium will examine the tools and technology the Federal government is using in cloud computing to enhance any agency's mission. For more information about the event, please visit this URL: ATARC Federal Cloud Computing Summit

I will be speaking at Cloud Expo 2016  (June 7-9th). My session will be entitled "Government Cloud Enablement, A Federated Model".

Here's a brief summary of this session:

While many government agencies have embraced the idea of employing Cloud Computing as a tool for increasing the efficiency and flexibility of IT, many still struggle with large scale adoption. The challenge is mainly attributed to the federated structure of these agencies as well as the immaturity of brokerage and governance tools and models. Initiatives like FedRAMP are a great first step toward solving many of these challenges but there are a lot of unknowns that are yet to be tackled. This session focuses on providing a quick update about that state of the cloud in the federal government with an emphasis on current trends and drivers. It also introduces a new Government Cloud Enablement Model which aims which codifies the different functional areas that enablement must confront.

For more information about the session: Conference Home Page

The session was also featured on Sys-Con as part of their OpenStack journal. here's a link to the featured article http://ajax.sys-con.com/node/3836160 

You attendance is welcomed, encouraged and appreciated!

Cancer Genomics in the Cloud

Congrats to ISB and SRA. I am proud to be part of this team.

http://hitconsultant.net/2014/10/16/google-partners-create-cancer-genomics-cloud/

We WON!!! AcuITy takes the win for IT Services & Consulting

Congrats to the SRA AcuITy team for winning an American Technology Award in the category of IT Services & Consulting. I am proud to be a member of the team that envisioned and created AcuITy.

http://www.techamerica.org/american-technology-awards-announces-winners-in-15-categories-awards-breakthrough-technology-of-the-year-to-olympus-3d-videoscope/

Securing the Cloud: A Pragmatic Approach @ Cloud Expo 2014

I will be speaking at  Cloud Expo 2014  (June 10-14th). My session will be entitled "Securing the Cloud: A Pragmatic Approach".

Here's a brief summary of this session:

Fueled by the global economic situation, the government’s focus on data center consolidation and the “Cloud First” initiative, Cloud Computing continues to be the buzzword of the year.  As government agencies start to adopt cloud computing, additional challenges including security in the cloud have become prominent barriers to adoption.
This presentation focuses on providing a quick Cloud Computing technology update with an emphasis on current Cloud Computing security trends and drivers. Examples of these trends include: the utilization and evaluation of Clouds in both active and passive surveillance systems and the use of High Performance Clouds for expanding scientist ability to access data. The presentation also introduces best practices and lessons learned for securing both public and private cloud environments. It offers insight into how Cloud Computing coupled with other technical advancements in mobility and security are changing government IT organizations and provides general guidance and best practices for developing practical and pragmatic cloud strategies.

For more information about the session: Conference Home Page

You attendance is welcomed, encouraged and appreciated! 

The Future of Public Health Informatics @ the 2014 Public Health Informatics Conference

I will be speaking at the 2014 Public Health Informatics Conference (April 29-May 01). The conference is co-sponsored by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

My session will be entitled "Strategic and Future Directions for Public Health Informatics".

More information about the session

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You attendance is welcomed, encouraged and appreciated!

Quoted by SaaSAddict

Use this link to read the SaaSAddict article: http://saasaddict.walkme.com/government-adoption-cloud-services-interview-sra/

Building the Case for a Cloud-Based Government @ the DC Cloud Computing Symposium

I will be speaking at the Cloud for Defense, Intelligence and Homeland Security Symposium (April 24-25, 2014). My session will be entitled "Building the Case for a Cloud-Based Government – Trends, Drivers, Guidance and Best Practices".

Here's a brief summary of this session:

The US Government, as well as governments around the world, is looking to invest heavily in Cloud Computing. The cloud promises a lot of efficiencies and cost savings but it also presents a new revolutionary way to approach citizen services. This session offers insight into how Cloud Computing coupled with other technical advancements in mobility and security are changing government IT organizations. It also provides general guidance and best practices for developing practical and pragmatic cloud strategies.


Conference Home Page

You attendance is welcomed, encouraged and appreciated!

Quoted in the Washington Post: SRA releases new federal cloud service

  Use this link to read the Washington Post article: http://wapo.st/1bmzCIc