One of the most maddening aspects of being a software developer, and specifically a Java software developer, is the constant task of ensuring your application platform is up to date so that your application is not exposed to security or other defect vulnerabilities. It is challenging enough to ensure your code meets the customer requirements and is maintainable by different resources by ever-decreasing timelines over the course of its life.

The federal IT landscape is continually changing – consolidation initiatives, the Joint Information Environment (JIE), security directives and policies, and technology adoption all add to its fluctuating nature. With all of these variables, it is important that federal IT pros are equipped with the right tools to gain a full understanding of the health and performance of their environment. But where do you even start?

Hot on the heels of a report from Gartner that states that the burden of legacy technologies is stifling government IT innovation, a new survey from DLT partner, SolarWinds, identifies some more surprising barriers to new technology adoption.

I had the pleasure of moderating a panel session last week at Symantec’s Annual Government Symposium titled “Data Governance: Foundation for IT Success.” Panelists included Doug Matthews, Vice President of Information Availability Products for Veritas; Damon Davis, Director for the Health Data Initiative, Department of Health and Human Services; and Ryan Swann, Director of Data Analytics

At DLT we’re very bullish about cloud technology in the public sector, and I spend much of my time talking with folks about the different cloud technologies and the best way to leverage these tools in support of their missions. Most of the people with whom I’ve spoken have a pretty good grasp of IaaS and SaaS and if they aren’t already using these technologies, they are exploring them.

By Chris LaPoint, VP of Product Management, SolarWinds

Altruistic hackers are slowly becoming more prominent in pop culture, specifically in TV shows in which they are young geniuses using their skills to help those in need. Their derring-do involves taking control of everything from airplanes to traffic signals, all in the name of good. And they do it with style.

It doesn't matter if your agency or department has one server or thousands. Deploying, configuring, and updating systems and applications can be drudgery.

No more. Through DLT’s new partnership with Ansible, Inc., the leading provider of simple, agentless orchestration and configuration management tools to IT and DevOps organizations, developers and system admins will find it easier than ever, and even fun, to deploy software.

The “Internet of Things” isn’t exactly a new concept, Kevin Ashton coined the term the Internet of Things as far back as 1999. Now, 15 years later, the Department of Defense (DoD) is eager to exploit it.

What is the Internet of Things?

Essential Network Monitoring Needs for Today’s Complex Federal IT Infrastructure

By Chris LaPoint, SolarWinds

It was all about the network

Central IT within academic institutions has many customers – students, researchers, administrative bodies and more. So when a large public university noticed a service offering gap for campus customers needing environments to develop and host university-related web applications, they knew that a traditional solution – that of deploying virtual machines with operating systems and software stacks managed by the customer – was an unsustainable solution.