FOCUS CIO INTERVIEW
Issue 12, Oct/Nov
potential for reduction. I expect to see that. That said, [our experience in doing it] within the DHS [shows it] is not easy to do.
The technology issues are not the diffi cult ones. It’s dealing with the culture, dealing with people feeling they control those assets now and you’re going to move them into some enterprise data center, where they won’t have as much control over those physical assets.
You have to get over those cultural issues and build that trust. Some [agencies] are already consolidated. The Social Security Administration is already consolidated, but other departments, frankly, have not tackled this.
DCDF: How is consolidation going to be achieved for most agencies? Will it be through technology refreshes, by moving equipment around, or both?
RS: I think it’ll be a combination. Our approach – and I don’t want to say that everybody will do the same – is to leverage the technology refresh as we look at migrating systems. Bring them into a common operating environment, where we can virtualize and try to really modernize – at least the infrastructure – as we do that.
That said, I don’t want to speak for every agency and how they’re going to go about doing it. I also would like to point out that we talk about consolidation in government data centers, but we’re also urging agencies to look at cloud computing alternatives that are offered by the private sector, where it makes sense.
DCDF: What response have you had to the encouragement of adoption of commercial cloud off erings?
RS: At the CIO Council – at the federal level – there’s a lot of interest in it. Right now, we’re trying to work through the security issues. We have something called the FedRAMP (Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program) initiative. That initiative really looks at how we can, in essence, do certifi cation and accreditation [of cloud-service providers] on the security level and then have government agencies, as they subscribe to those services, not having to go through [the process] themselves.
It’s essentially pre-certifying. They might have to do specifi c things based on their own use of those services, but they won’t have to start from scratch, and that’s the whole idea of the FedRAMP initiative.
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We’re still going to have a vast need for government-owned or government-operated data centers, but I think that over time you’re going to see some of the more basic capabilities, particularly those that are not at a sensitive or classifi ed level – you’re going to see some of those capabilities move to more cloud offerings in future.
The challenges are more about the cultural challenges that agencies which have not embarked on any kind of consolidation or
rationalization effort of their IT infrastructure face
DCDF: Will agencies receive any additional funding to implement their consolidation plans and what will the process of obtaining that funding be like?
RS: It would be premature for me to try to answer that question. As we go into the budget cycle for [fi scal year] 2012, OMB is going to be working with the agencies on their data center consolidation plans and [it will determine] what, if any, funding requirements are needed for those particular plans. At DHS, we have funding specifi cally – through our appropriations – to support our consolidation efforts.
DCDF: Have you seen an increase in interest from private-sector contractors following the announcement of the federal data center consolidation initiative?
RS: A lot. I don’t have any specifi cs other than I’m approached quite a bit, in my role as one of the co-chairmen of the federal data center consolidation initiative.
DCDF: How hands-on has the federal CIO Vivek Kundra’s approach to this initiative been?
RS: He has really helped drive this initiative. He feels it’s very important. We all agree the path we were on – regarding continued development of data centers specifi c to a particular mission or agency – could not have continued. We need to rationalize and he has spearheaded that. He asked myself and [Michael] Duffy (former CIO of the Treasury Department) to really lead that effort from the CIO Council perspective, but he is quite involved and keeps abreast of what’s going on and helps give us guidance as we embark
on working with each of the agencies on their plans.
DCDF: What challenges have you met with so far and how do you expect these to change in future?
RS: The challenges are more about the cultural challenges (rather than technical ones) that agencies which have not embarked on any kind of consolidation or rationalization effort of their IT infrastructure face. The DHS was in that place a number of years ago.
I think everybody can intellectually appreciate that consolidation makes sense, especially for an organization such as the DHS. But when it comes down to mission need and making sure those applications are running and properly maintained, you have to show you’ve got the capability to do that.
I think we’re at that tipping point now at DHS. Those data centers have been in operation now for three-plus years. We’ve moved mission- critical applications in. They’re working well. We’ve built out the disaster-recovery capabilities. I believe we’re in this position and we’ve got to the point where trust is building so there’s not as much reluctance to move into these data centers as we consolidate and shut down these older facilities.
I think it’s very important that the federal government take this on. We need to change the cost curve, frankly. And I don’t just say “consolidation” – let me call it “IT infrastructure rationalization” because it’s more than just about the data center. Even when you look at the next layer – providing services and trying to provide enterprise-wide services – those are all critical to changing that cost curve and providing capabilities to support the mission of the agency much more effectively than we do today.
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