Government shutdowns are a costly business. The 2013 shutdown cost $24 billion in lost economic output while the 1996 shutdown resulted in $2.1 billion in government costs. We are yet to learn the impact, if any, of the three-day 2018 shutdown.

But, what we do know is that shutdowns are not universal. For many critical government employees, the lights never go out. Here’s just a shortlist:

Veterans Affairs (VA) remained operational.

Public sector leaders are facing an uphill battle when it comes to managing data. Their needs are growing while their budgets are often shrinking. How can federal agencies do more with less?

Leveraging enterprise open source solutions is part of the answer. They can help agencies close this gap and meet today’s needs—whether that’s analyzing warfighter data or building Smart Cities—while also planning for tomorrow’s challenges.

The U.S. Government spends trillions of dollars on benefits programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid each year. Unfortunately, billions of those dollars are improperly paid, reducing the benefits to those who most rely upon them. In 2016, the White House estimated these losses at $144B.

Improper payments, fraud, and abuse takes many forms, consider some of these examples of Medicaid fraud and abuse:

With a constant influx of data, one of the biggest challenges facing government agencies is determining “What is the right data?” or “What data does my agency need for mission success?”

Then, once the data is discovered, how do you make that data actionable? How do you integrate and visualize it for better insights?

As federal, state and local agencies amass more and more structured and unstructured data, the use of data analytics can help save time and resources in making informed decisions based on that data. However, challenges remain as agencies struggle to find the right skill set and manage the complexity of implementations for multi-structured data platforms.

When your agency detects a network attack, you need to act fast to understand what’s going on. But getting the insights and analytics you need takes time and often doesn’t trace threats back to the source.

This All-Star Team Plans to Jumpstart 100 Cybersecurity Companies in 3 Years

How are BIM, cloud, big data and data management technologies changing the way our utilities infrastructure is designed and managed? Here are four fast facts:

1) BIM

Sure, BIM has made it easier to share 3D intelligent models of infrastructure design projects, but BIM is more than a 3D model. It's and entire process for creating and using that model across planning, design, and infrastructure management phases.

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.

Weeding out fraud is a big priority for the public sector. From unpaid and fraudulent taxes to benefit fraud, governments are turning to data to hit back.