(Photo Credit: Steveness/Flickr)

Today, former Microsoft executive, Steven VanRoekel, was announced as the replacement for the inaugural Federal CIO, Vivek Kundra. Kundra announced in June that he would resign this month for a fellowship at Harvard University. VanRoekel  was most recently with the U.S. Agency for International Development, after a post as managing director of the of the Federal Communications Commission. At the FCC, VanRoekel headed the agency’s new media efforts and spearheaded the redesign of FCC.gov to take advantage of cloud computing.

Since Kundra announced his intention to leave for the hallowed halls of Harvard, technology pundits have been playing armchair analyst, suggesting where the incoming Federal CIO should place his focus. Some wonder whether VanRoekel will continue tackling the challenges of Kundra’s 25 point plan for Federal IT reform. In addition to these challenges, VanRoekel inherits a host of new challenges, including:

• Migration of more applications to the cloud
• Consolidation of Federal data centers to achieve operational efficiencies
• Sophisticated cyberterrorism threats
• Lack of budget for upgrading antiquated Federal IT environments; and,
• Growing consumerization of Federal IT

In Government, it’s hard to find areas of common agreement. If you were the incoming Federal CIO, which part of the complicated IT agenda would you tackle first?

If the new Federal CIO were to ask his peers in IT agencies across the beltway, there’d be no argument. In a recent survey by Federal News Radio 67-percent of Federal agency CIOs said that mobile computing was the technology area agencies need to improve to better meet their stated missions. Mobile computing is not just transforming Federal IT – its transforming government.

Mobile computers, tablets and mobile phones enable work to take place in the field, anytime, anywhere and on any device. The General Services Administration calls this move its A3 initiative.  Agency directors and senior officials carry tablets while frontline workers call for more flexibility and durability to their work lives through rugged mobile computers. While security concerns remain for IT administrators, recent advancements in secure access, coupled with the long term productivity benefits point to mobile computing not being a question of “if” but “when?”

With that said, we think mobile computing is going to be the biggest opportunity for Federal CIOs. If we were CIO for a day, we’d look at upgrading antiquated Federal IT environments with future-proof mobile solutions. But, that’s our take. What’s your take on the government’s IT agenda? Where should the new Federal CIO focus his efforts?

Provide your comments below.

So why e-tools over paper TOs, and why now? Understandably, O&M personnel see the advantages of not having to lug four or five heavy books of paper TOs in and out of aircraft. In fact, e-tools will eventually replace more than 13 million pages of technical orders, in turn eliminating countless hours of taxing manual labor and making better use of maintainers’ time on the flight line. It appears that the Air Force has already begun to experience the benefits of integrating this technology, which include ease of use on the flight line, increased efficiency in processing data, a unified network of information and heightened connectivity.

It is clear that the Air Force is committed to providing maintainers on the flight line with the best equipment. A recent Military.com article discussed the replacement of paper TOs at Robins Air Force Base and several other bases in Air Force Materiel Command, noting that they’re testing how laptops work in a variety of environments, while also weighing in on potential issues related to battery power and screen brightness.

In order to ensure reliable and efficient management of digital TOs, it is vital that the devices selected be properly tested and deemed fit for the e-tools job. As the largest provider of e-tools to the Air Force, Panasonic Solutions Company works closely with them (and other military branches) to ensure Toughbook laptops and handheld computers are optimized to not just survive the rigors of maintenance environments, but deliver new levels of efficiency as well.

Dignitaries at the ceremony included Attorney General Eric Holder and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer

Our nation’s police officers take great risks, and make extraordinary sacrifices, in order to keep America’s streets safe. Many have made the ultimate sacrifice. This week’s groundbreaking of the National Law Enforcement Museum in Washington, DC formally kicked off an important project to help our citizens honor the fallen, as well as the tireless contributions of everyone who wears a badge.

Scheduled to open in late 2013, the 55,000-square-foot institution will be a world-class experiential Museum with high-tech interactive exhibitions, including a vast collection of law enforcement artifacts and dedicated spaces for research and education. It was conceptualized by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, a private non-profit organization dedicated to increasing public support for law enforcement by honoring the service and sacrifice of America’s law enforcement officers; and to promoting officer safety.

Every day, Panasonic Solutions Company works closely with thousands of police departments around the country, and the dedication of law enforcement officials has continually inspired us. We believe the National Law Enforcement Museum is a meaningful tribute to their service, and have donated $1 million to assist with its construction.

It has been an honor to partner with the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and help make the National Law Enforcement Museum a reality. I can’t wait for the Grand Opening.

Today, we announced a partnership with Reality Mobile to pair the ultra-mobile rugged Toughbook U1 tablet with Reality Mobile’s RealityVision software platform, providing government agencies with improved technology for situational awareness and crisis response.

Together the technologies allow users to instantly create a shared vision of an event or location by streamlining the communications process between field personnel, an operations center and senior management. RealityVision allows the Toughbook U1 handheld to securely send and receive live video streamed over wireless networks including cellular and satellite. As a result, field personnel can push live video captured by their rugged Toughbook U1 device to a control center, as well as any other user on the network.

We are very excited about this collaboration with Reality Mobile and expect our joint solution to open up a new window of possibilities for our highly-mobile customers.

For more information, you can view an assortment of How-To videos on the Panasonic Toughbook U1 handheld tablet via our YouTube channel.

Some of the most prominent takeaways of the report include:

• The importance of designing a rugged product from the inside-out, not just adding a rugged exterior.

• How rugged tablet computers are offering greater functionality and heightened performance

• How Hill Air Force Base is interested in rugged tablets for eTools flight line maintenance

Rugged technology is no longer just a feature or option for field workers: it is nothing less than essential.  Ultimately, the solutions discussed in the Snapshot are changing the ways in which the public sector operates. I would encourage officials in all levels of government to read this report and recognize the possibilities for enhancing their mobile workforce.

For example, the “office tools and suites” section of the site includes word processing and spreadsheet applications. The “surveys” section contains applications which offer employees the ability to gather feedback to improve services. The site even contains applications for collaboration, meetings and conferencing, designed to help users conduct meetings and presentations over the Web.

The shift toward Web-based applications for government workers is not limited to the federal government. The New York Times reported earlier this year on the growing trend of police departments to integrate customized social-networking platforms with their traditional crime-fighting tactics.

Government agencies are also attracted to the security benefits of cloud computing and Web-based applications. A recent article from Computerworld illustrated the CIA’s adoption of this approach, while specifying that classified data will be hosted within the agency’s firewalls rather than Apps.gov.

To ensure reliable access to Web services wherever someone’s work takes them, embedded mobile broadband modems are now a must-have feature for professionals’ laptops in both the public and private sector. Embedded modems provide better wireless signals than external cards, and also provide an added layer of reliability by avoiding loss, theft or damage.

It will be interesting to see how quickly the government workforce adapts to these changes, and which Internet applications become the most popular. We’ll be following it closely and continue enhancing our products to meet this growing need.

The Toughbook 30 was also declared “the fastest laptop in the review” and “the most rugged laptop in this roundup.” We’re honored to be recognized with GCN’s Reviewer’s Choice designation, although it probably won’t surprise our customers in the military, law enforcement, fire/EMS and other mission-critical government positions who rely on the Toughbook 30 every day.

The current issue of Government Computer News features an in-depth review of the latest Toughbook® 30 model, by Lab Director John Breeden.  It provides an excellent summary of how the latest upgra

des, such as a brighter screen with anti-glare and anti-reflective coatings, support government users who require a notebook that will operate under any conditions.

The Toughbook 30’s concealment mode is a new feature that can be easily overlooked, but figured prominently in the review due to its significance for the police and military. GCN saw firsthand how easy it is for a user seeking to remain undetected to shut off all external lights while leaving the computer fully running. It’s a great example of how Panasonic engineers its computers to meet the specific needs of end users.

Having rugged Toughbook notebooks en route and at the scene enables the FDNY to respond quicker and with more information than they’ve ever had, including a seamless link to other local and federal agencies during major incidents and disasters.

For years, rugged has been defined, measured and misunderstood in many ways, causing confusion for those trying to understand whether they should purchase products with this distinction.  The GCN report paints a clear picture, explaining the history of rugged, how rugged technologies have grown, how ruggedness is measured, and how users can determine if and how they should deploy rugged technology.

Areas addressed by the report include:

• How rugged technologies are expanding beyond laptops
• Understanding rugged testing
• Why it’s not just the computer that needs to be rugged
• The 12 recommended steps for considering a rugged device
• Rugged products being developed for specific operating environments

The report shows that rugged technologies will be developed to support the many environments government and military personnel find themselves in.  As a result, public sector employees need to understand how rugged technologies can positively impact their jobs.  The GCN Rugged IT Report is a great guide for this, so I’d encourage you to give it a read and discover new methods for boosting job productivity and performance.