Technically Speaking

According to federal CIO Tony Scott, the U.S. government spends 76% of its $88 billion IT budget on operating and maintaining out-of-date technologies – that’s three times what is spent on modern systems. And while the proposed Modernizing Government Technology Act seeks to change all that with a centralized fund that agencies can apply for, in the meantime, aside from money, why are federal agencies so resistant to switching out old IT?

If you’re a government user of Autodesk software, hold on to your hats. Autodesk is about to make some significant changes to the way its software can be procured. What’s Changing? Effective January 31, 2017, Autodesk will no longer sell perpetual licenses for most of its products, including AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Inventor, Revit, and more. You can view the full list of products affected here.

In some ways, data has become just as much a colleague to federal IT managers as the person sitting next to them. Sure, data can’t pick up a burrito for you at lunchtime, but it’s still extraordinarily important to agency operations. Data keeps things going so that everyone in the agency can do their jobs – just like your fellow IT professionals.

As Autodesk software gets more sophisticated and purchasing models change, users are getting access to new features as they become available and experiencing more seamless interoperability between products.

Halloween may be behind us, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some scary things creeping up on federal IT professionals and security managers as the year winds down. Chief among these haunts is the dreaded specter of network downtime. It lurks in the background, ready to pounce at the most unexpected and inopportune moments. It brings with it the nightmare of slow application performance, lost productivity, and average hourly costs that can swell into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Flooding is one of the deadliest natural disasters. Few places can escape the wrath of excessive rain, ruptured dams or levees, rapid ice melt, or storm surges. Even states that we’d consider “dry” are vulnerable to the effects of flooding.