Techwire is pleased to welcome F5 Networks to the Techwire family. F5 Networks specializes in delivering and protecting applications — revenue-generating, brand-anchoring applications — from the point at which they are created through the point when consumers interact with them. “When you combine F5 & NGINX’s expertise in powering over half of the world’s applications across all types of environments, with Shape’s insight from mitigating over 1 billion application attacks per day, you have a company that knows how to deliver and secure more applications, and more value, than any company in the industry,” the company says. “This makes the combined forces of F5, NGINX, and Shape absolutely essential to every digital organization in the world, including the world’s largest enterprises, service providers, financial and educational institutions, government entities, and consumer brands.” For more information, visit F5 Networks or contact Marcus Charles via email.
Chad Crowe, chief information officer at the California Department of Human Resources, discusses the many aspects of his work, an ongoing cross-agency Enterprise Human Resources effort, and speeding up procurement.
Transparency is a key principle for the Office of the Inspector General, says Bryan Beyer. As the office's chief deputy inspector general and technology chief, he says, "My focus remains on using the right technology for the right purpose."
The Best of California Awards program salutes IT professionals and projects in California state and local government organizations and educational institutions.
The awards recognize the achievements and best practices of states, cities and counties that are radically improving the experience of government and pushing the boundaries of how citizen services are delivered.
Tara Moran is the first chief executive for the new California Water Data Consortium, which seeks to improve and share data in a way that helps the state manage its liquid assets. The organization’s goal, she says, is to create a strong, data-related foundation to support water policy discussions in the state.
Techwire is pleased to welcome Medallia to the Techwire family. Medallia’s cloud platform is used by hundreds of the world’s largest organizations and leading federal agencies, which trust Medallia to help them capture customer and employee feedback, understand it in real time, and deliver insights and action everywhere. In addition, Medallia has solutions for state and local governments that help innovate at the pace of change, create a dialog with the public and help constituents engage with elected officials. For more information, visit Medallia.com or contact Paul Danielson.
David Noronha, the longtime chief information officer at the California Department of Insurance, discusses how the role of CIO at his department has changed, how technology has increased the pace of change, and major IT initiatives.
Techwire is pleased to welcome Innovative Strategies LLC to the Techwire family. Innovative Strategies helps organizations begin or grow their work with the public sector and build the foundation they need to do business with state and local government. Its services include state and local government contract acquisition, advising on proposal compliance and win strategies; government initiatives; and channel and alliance partner strategies. For information, visit innovativestrat.net or contact Sherri Stanfill.
Chaeny Emanavin, director of the Office of Innovation at the California Health and Human Services Agency, discusses the merger of his office into a new entity, with an enhanced emphasis on data-driven decision-making, better service delivery and looking ahead.
Techwire is pleased to welcome Global CTI Group to the Techwire family. Global CTI, which has offices in Irvine and Bakersfield, describes itself as not just a technology company, but as “communications technology integrators.” Its offerings include business voice solutions, emergency notification technology, managed data solutions, business intelligence, networking, server and storage, security, managed services and support, contact centers and hosted voice. The company, founded by Bakersfield native David Kaiser in 2001, prides itself on its 97 percent customer retention rate. For more information, contact Kelly Fargo or visit gcti.com.
Andrew Hinkle, chief information officer at the California Department of State Hospitals, discusses his agency’s move to telework; how it has enabled televisitations for patients during the time of COVID; and technology projects on the horizon.
Techwire will observe Labor Day on Monday and will not be publishing a newsletter. The daily update will resume Tuesday. The staff of Techwire wishes our readers and friends a safe and meaningful holiday.
Nine of California's 58 counties were winners this year in the 18th Annual Digital Counties Survey, conducted by the Center for Digital Government and published annually by Government Technology magazine. Generally, they exhibited a focus on planning and were underway on initiatives that proved vital when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.
Ahsan Baig, chief information officer at Alameda-Contra Costa County Transit, has a full agenda – and some developing vendor opportunities: "We are in the middle of ERP cloud hosting, big data analytics, and a couple of cybersecurity initiatives. In coming years, we will be looking for more cybersecurity projects, IT modernization, cloud expansion, data center integration, mobile app, big data, ML/AI platforms, etc."
Techwire is pleased to welcome Prodigy Consulting LLC to the Techwire family. Prodigy Consulting was founded on 16 years of collective experience assisting California state and local governments in adopting cloud technologies. The company is a certified Small Business with the California Department of General Services and is a supplier on the California Multiple Award Schedule (CMAS) and in the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) Spring-Fed Pool. Prodigy offers the latest solutions to cloud and on-prem challenges, whether in automation, security, architecture, governance, operations, or project management. For information visit consult-prodigy.com or contact Daniel Bender.
The awards recognize California state and local government and education organizations for their contributions in IT. All government and education officials, executives and staff in California are invited to submit nominations.
Jason Piccione, chief information officer and deputy director of the Office of Information Services at the California Department of Consumer Affairs, discusses business modernizations in a time of reduced budgets, and positive changes to procurement.
Techwire is pleased to welcome Robert Half to the Techwire family. A specialized staffing company with operations in more than 400 locations around the world, Robert Half deploys contractors to support state and local government and their partners. Through Protiviti, its consulting practice, Robert Half offers subject matter expertise in areas that include tech, business process improvement, risk and compliance, analytics and internal audits. Founded in 1948, its $5 billion enterprise is considered to be the first and largest in specialized staffing; its unique managed solutions are informed by its consulting expertise and staffing size. For information,contact Dustin McQuaide or Jack Batchelor or visit roberthalf.com.
Gary Renslo, chief information officer at the California Department of General Services, explains how his role has evolved with the department and discusses DGS' embrace of automation and e-signature among other initiatives; and its ongoing move to cloud.
The California Highway Patrol has been upgrading its communications capabilities this year, including new dispatch console equipment, video and audio recording gear, and antennas.
Techwire is pleased to welcome Adobe to the Techwire family. Adobe aims to change the world via digital experiences. It offers public-sector agencies the solutions they need to deliver services efficiently, improve citizen engagement and modernize their customers’ digital experience. In July, Adobe was named a Leader by Gartner Inc., in the “Magic Quadrant for Personalization Engines.” The company also has been working with IBM and Red Hat to help enterprises speed up their digital transformations and strengthen real-time data security. For more information, visit adobe.com or contact Meenu Thind.
Russ Nichols, chief information officer and director of Enterprise Information Services at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, discusses how the role of CIO at his department has transformed to that of a business leader, and looks at tech's potential for positive change within the agency.
Evolv, which has worked with Oakland International Airport and a transit authority in Southern California, has started offering technology to screen people for elevated temperatures associated with COVID-19.
The judging panel is composed of top government IT officials selected from state agencies, local government and higher education. The judges will consider a variety of aspects when evaluating entries, including Productivity/Performance, Innovation (Wow Factor), Functionality, Savings/Value Add and Usage Rate.
Techwire is pleased to welcome Informatica Corp. to the Techwire family. Informatica, a global leader in enterprise cloud data management, helps the public and private sectors accelerate data-driven digital transformation. The Informatica Intelligent Data Platform offers departments a comprehensive, versatile data platform capable of powering current apps, analytics and AI with intelligent automation and governance; its next-gen analytics solutions help governments wield big data, cloud, and visualizations for instant answers. For more information, visit informatica.com or contact Scott Reilly, whose focus is state departments and agencies; or Clayton Lewis, whose focus is statewide local government and education.
Rico Rubiono, chief information officer for the California Department of Motor Vehicles and deputy director of its Information Services Division, discusses the department's ongoing tech modernization, how his role has changed, his favorite projects and how procurement might be improved.
Techwire is pleased to welcome Couchbase to the Techwire family. Couchbase is an award-winning, distributed NoSQL cloud database that offers scalability, performance and value in on-prem, cloud and hybrid deployments. The company provides an enterprise-class, multicloud to edge database with the robust capabilities needed to run business-critical applications. As a distributed cloud-native database, Couchbase is at home in customer or managed-as-as-service cloud environments. Built on open standards, it blends key attributes from NoSQL and SQL, simplifying transitions from mainframe and other architectures. Clients include such household names as Comcast/Sky, United Airlines, Verizon and hundreds of others. For more information, visit couchbase.com or contact Curt Phare.
Al Wanger, chief information officer at the California Coastal Commission, discusses his role, going digital at an agency that leaned heavily on paper, and a key systems integration project.
