Simple, fast and accessible are words that historically have not been associated with government technology systems. Ask any agency leader who balances the burden of legacy IT with demands to rapidly meet mission needs.
But they’ll also tell you that those realities are shifting. Key to this turning tide has been a renewed focus on one of their most valuable assets: data.
“Government technology transformation demands a modern data experience,” said Nick Psaki, Principal System Engineer for North American Federal at Pure Storage. “Our focus is helping the government realize its vision for enterprise data capabilities.”
Psaki and his colleagues view their customers’ pain points and goals from the perspective of a data company. The reality is that IT environments have grown more complex, but agencies can’t afford to be stymied by costly, inaccessible or unreliable systems.
With this in mind, Psaki detailed five priorities he has gleaned from agency customers as they focus on enterprise transformation in 2021 and beyond.
1. Security
Recent high-profile attacks against government agencies and their ecosystem of partners have magnified the ongoing importance of security. It’s foundational to agencies’ enterprise infrastructure, which is the backbone that supports virtually everything they do.
2. Simplicity
“Government customers are looking for ways to streamline,” Psaki said. “They want to treat their enterprise as a unified service, whether they’re modernizing on-premise infrastructure or accelerating a move to the cloud.”
Simplicity is core to the Pure Storage model, he said. “We make acquisition and implementation as easy as possible, whether you want to buy outright [or] subscribe to a service on premise or in the cloud.”
3. Scalability
If there’s one thing agencies learned from 2020, it’s that predicting future workloads can be a precarious task. They need scalable systems that can support small use cases and rapidly expand to meet the demands of enterprise production.
4. Sustainment
Technology needs to be sustainable for agencies. “They shouldn’t be paying for yesterday’s technology with today’s dollars, for tomorrow’s operations” Psaki said. The question becomes how can they upgrade technology in a nondisruptive way to enhance operations without incurring additional costs?
He highlighted the Defense Information Systems Agency’s milCloud 2.0 as an example. MilCloud 2.0 is an integrated suite of cloud-based infrastructure services that rapidly and securely connect to Defense Department networks. It’s built on best-of-breed technology and standardized on Pure Storage’s all-flash data service platform to support high-performance enterprise workloads, DevOps and advanced use cases, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and real-time analytics.
5. Speed
Datasets are getting larger, forcing agencies to be more agile as new applications and services roll out. They need protocols for accessing data quickly from storage devices, for transferring data to applications, and for receiving data from sensors and various devices.
“We provide a singular platform for addressing all those data service needs,” Psaki said. “The goal is to create a modern data experience that drives enterprise transformation.”
This article is an excerpt from GovLoop’s new guide, “Agency of the Future: Common Misconceptions Holding You Back and How to Break Free.” Download the full guide here.
