Seems like Fed IT innovators are tied to the rails as the big-iron locomotive careens down the track. A new MeriTalk study, “Innovation Inspiration: Can Software Save IT?,” tells us what we already know - we spend too much money updating and maintaining legacy systems - 79 percent of IT budgets. But, based on a survey of 152 Fed IT execs, the study gives us X-ray vision - providing new insight on the “what?” behind that scary number - as well as the “why?” we’re so challenged to change. But, this isn’t all a doom-and-gloom story - there’s a glimpse of a super-hero option.
Mired in the Mundane
Traditional hardware processes are like kryptonite - draining Uncle Sam's time and money. Data center folks spend 33 percent of their time cracking their knuckles, provisioning for and prepping routine events - and a total of 42 percent of their workday performing routine events. Storage and network environments are also huge time draws. That’s why 63 percent of Fed IT execs report that they don’t have enough budget to keep up with required standard maintenance.
Purchasing Pariah
Feds assert today’s acquisition models are Lex Luthor - 54 percent say they can’t buy IT quick enough, with average upgrade cycles at 31 months.
Holy Leveled Silos
Feds propose a software-defined solution. In a software-defined world, data centers' compute, storage, and networking are pooled and elastic. Think of the agility and efficiency of accessing resources anywhere across your agency - or Holy Leveled Silos Batman - among agencies. This is the secret sauce in cloud. Beyond Software-Defined Networking, Feds are thirsting for the agility of software-defined Everything - IT-as-a-Service. Approximately one half of respondents assert software-defined models will unlock cost and performance improvements.
Man of Software More than a comic book fantasy, the software shift is real in government today. Twenty-six percent of Feds have a transition roadmap. More concrete, 65 percent have implemented some software-defined servers.
This article was originally published on MertiTalk.
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SolarWinds (NYSE:SWI), a leading provider of powerful and affordable IT management software, today announced that the SolarWinds® Orion® Suite for Federal Government v4.0 is undergoing evaluation for Common Criteria to Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL) 2+ under the Netherlands Scheme for Certification in the Area of IT Security (NSCIB).
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By Mav Turner, VP, Product Management, SolarWinds
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