Autonomic, Red Hat Expand Cloud Govt. Partnership; Paul Smith Comments

Autonomic Resources is now a certified Red Hat partner and cloud solutions provider to the federal market, Autonomic announced Tuesday. 

Paul Smith, Red Hat’s public sector business vice president and general manager, said the companies have previously partnered to produce solutions such as Enterprise Linux, Enterprise Virtualization and JBoss Enterprise Middleware.

Smith said the…

Farm Service Agency Seeking Cloud-Based Geospatial Data

The Farm Service Agency wants industry advice on how to deliver geospatial imagery data through a cloud-based web service.

In a Thursday request for information, the FSA asked vendors to to submit commercially-available technology that can support imagery data.

The agency awards contracts on a three-year cycle under the National Agriculture Imagery Program, managed and distributed through the Aerial…

Intel Officials Talk Cloud Collaboration, Policies at Industry Briefing

Intelligence agencies will have to collaborate on solutions and policies as they transition to cloud computing, a panel of intelligence officials said Friday.

The panel addressed an AFCEA briefing in Arlington, Va., Defense Systems reports.

Neill Tipton, director of information sharing and partner engagement for the deputy defense under secretary for joint and coalition warfighter support, said policies that make data…

Army Invests in Private Data Centers, Mobile Cloud

Earlier this year, the Army awarded a $250 million contract to assist with the elimination of 185 data centers by 2015.

The move correlates with the Army’s goal of centralizing centers in fewer locations and maximizing potential of computing power and storage, Defense System reports.

Lockheed Martin, HP Enterprise Services, General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman…

CSC Teams with Oracle to Deliver Cloud Services

Computer Sciences Corp. has launched a service program to help customers migrate their business applications to a secure and private cloud infrastructure, the company announced Tuesday.

CSC’s Foundation Services for Oracle will utilize Oracle hardware and software products for the migration.

The Falls Church, Va.-based company said it will provide…

Army Program Exec: Contract Strategy, Cloud, Biometrics Top Priorities

The U.S. Army is prioritizing industry partnerships and maintaining progress in cloud computing, data centers and biometric processes, according to a top Army officer. 

Doug Wiltsie, the Army’s program executive officer for enterprise information systems, told Defense Systems his main priority is to build relationships with industry in order to improve the Army’s…

VA, Pentagon to Merge Health Records on DISA Data Center

The Defense Information Systems Agency is set to integrate health records systems of the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, according to Federal News Radio.

In January, the VA said in January it would move its EHR system on DISA-hosted data centers starting in March. 

VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker told Federal News Radio…

Vivek Kundra Gives Preview of Social Government

Former Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra joined social cloud company Salesforce in January and is now championing a move into social government, according to NextGov. 

Kundra, now Salesforce’s executive vice president of emerging markets, said cloud computing is no longer a debate.

Kundra said most are moving toward a cloud infrastructure. 

Kundra said the…

NJVC Paper Outlines Potential Benefits of Custom Cloud Software; Kevin Jackson Comments

Federal agencies that use platform-as-a-service in their cloud computing strategy can cut development costs by 50 percent, according to a recently released white paper by NJVC and Virtual Global.

In “Platform as a Service (PaaS): What Is It? Why Is It So Important?,” authors Kevin Jackson and Cary Landis outline why they believe PaaS…

IBM to Expand International Presence Through Green Hat Acquisition

IBM will proceed with the acquisition of U.K. based software company Green Hat, as the companies have entered a definitive agreement.

According to a IBM release, once final, Green Hat will join IBM’s Rational Software business, which will focus on helping businesses integrate applications, create virtual protocols and engage third-party software.

Green Hat was founded in 1996 and…