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John Frith

John Frith is a Folsom-based writer and editor with a background in state, local and federal legislative affairs as well as journalism and public relations.

News

Fresno County Nears Completion of Realignment, Separating IT from General Services

County officials hope the restructuring will make its IT function more focused and streamlined.

Insider
February 04, 2025
· John Frith
News

Fresno County, Dell Partnership Yields Savings Through Leasing Rather Than Buying IT

“You can almost look at it like a software subscription,” said Eric Matthews, the county deputy CIO. “It’s very common for organizations that don’t do leasing to hang onto equipment well past their end of life because of the huge expense it costs to replace it.”

Insider
January 30, 2025
· John Frith
News

Shopping List for Planned UC Medical Campus Includes New Tech, Telecom

UC Davis is now about halfway through design development for the $171.7 million, 11-acre facility in Folsom and expects to start construction in early 2023. Vendors will be selected from existing standard agreements and vendor lists for the majority of equipment purchased.

Insider
August 11, 2022
· John Frith
News

Sacramento Light Rail on Track for New Payment Technology

Watch for an RFP this summer as the light rail agency becomes the state’s first to accept credit cards, debit cards and other payment methods for fares.

Insider
June 11, 2021
· John Frith
News

‘Workplace Road Map’ Helped State Parks Department Navigate Shift to Remote

Planet Technologies and Microsoft were the vendors for the project, which allowed the state agency to make the transition easily. Lucky timing was also a factor.

June 09, 2021
· John Frith
News

State Agency and OnStar Set to Roll Out 911 Data Upgrade

Cal OES is partnering with RapidDeploy and General Motors’ OnStar subsidiary to provide dispatchers at the state’s 450 public safety answering points with real-time accident information within seconds of an accident occurring.

Insider
April 19, 2021
· John Frith
News

San Jose Reinvents 311 With Help from IT Vendors

The Silicon Valley leader successfully brought technology to bear on a 311 system that was underutilized and creating pressure on the city’s 911 system — and longer emergency response times.

Insider
February 23, 2021
· John Frith
News

Silicon Valley Collaboration Helps Target Broadband Delivery

Since the pandemic took hold, a Silicon Valley County, its school districts and a technology provider have used data to better understand where broadband is needed and focus their deployment.

February 04, 2021
· John Frith
News

Cities Find Way to Streamline RFPs, Contract Management

Some California government agencies have found that cloud technology has vastly reduced the turnaround time on procurement. In this instance, the vendor, ProcureNow, started with an RFP-writing tool but found it had to expand its offerings to be competitive.

December 15, 2020
· John Frith
News

Creating New Site for State Yields Silver Lining for Vendor

“The analytics are telling us we’re getting more traffic, and we’re using it as a site to point more students to,” said Paul Feist of the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. “And we’re really grateful it was finished before COVID took hold. I don’t think the old site could have handled all the material we’re using it for.”

November 22, 2020
· John Frith
News

State, Data Group Seek to Expand Mapping With Lidar

An $80 million plan intended to serve as the foundation of efforts to map the entire state of California with lidar technology fell victim to the state budget crisis earlier this year, but the idea is still alive. The new California Water Data Consortium and the state Department of Conservation are spearheading the effort.

November 01, 2020
· John Frith
News

Financial Innovation Agency Expands and Rebrands, Looks to Fintech

The Department of Financial Protection and Innovation's new Market Monitoring, Consumer Research, Insights and Analytics Office – itself part of a new Division -- will probably account for most purchases of IT products and services, as the function will be built from scratch.

October 06, 2020
· John Frith
News

CTO Says State Working toward Newsom's Goal of 70% Permanent Telework

Ellen Ishimoto, the state's acting chief technology officer, said the remote-work convention, forced by COVID-19, has been a success for the state and is changing norms. It'll also save money, she said.

September 29, 2020
· John Frith
News

App Expands to Include COVID-19 Risk, but Pandemic Stalls California Expansion

The Folsom Police Department is the first agency in the state to adopt the technology. Yolo County has also signed on, but the pandemic has stalled talks with several other Northern California jurisdictions.

May 11, 2020
· John Frith
News

State Senators Hear from Both Sides in Data Privacy Issue

Privacy advocates, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, are worried that even anonymized trip data can in some cases be linked to an individual, and that information can reveal sensitive data.

February 26, 2020
· John Frith
News

After Folsom, Tech Firm Set to Expand First-Responder App

Vitals Aware Services, which contracts with the Folsom Police Department and more than 70 other public safety agencies and school districts in five states, is announcing a new partnership Wednesday with other law enforcement agencies and schools in the Sacramento area,

February 10, 2020
· John Frith
News

AI, Data Network Are Part of Utility's Anti-Fire Plans

The California utility is planning a major step beyond the work it has already done by launching what it’s calling Fire Safe 3.0, which will include the use of artificial intelligence, satellite data and a completely rebuilt weather station network.

December 11, 2019
· John Frith
News

Newsom Boosts State's Satellite Initiative with Eye to Expansion

Gov. Gavin Newsom is moving forward and expanding another of former Gov. Jerry Brown’s pet projects — a California satellite to track methane emissions, in response to the Trump Administration’s skepticism on climate change. Newsom's administration is looking at ways to gather information beyond methane emissions — and to potentially pay for additional units.

September 15, 2019
· John Frith
News

Sacramento Seeing Success in Digital Plates Pilot

Less than a year after unveiling its digital license plates in California, Foster City-based Reviver Auto is excited that new Gov. Gavin Newsom is working to streamline public-private partnerships to make tech more efficient.

February 24, 2019
· John Frith
News

Is 'Silver Tsunami' in State Workforce a Real Problem?

Some IT executives in both the public and private sectors say the fears of a "Silver Tsunami" of baby boomer retirements is somewhat overblown and that the state has already begun taking steps for what to do when legacy coders hang up their keyboards.

January 29, 2019
· John Frith
News

SF Tech Firm Has Inside Track on State's Satellite

Gov. Jerry Brown announced last month that California would boldly go where no state has gone before and launch its “own damn satellite” to monitor greenhouse gases, in particular methane. But what's that mean for the California IT industry? For state IT governance?

October 16, 2018
· John Frith