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Government IT Trends in 2012

By Doug Krueger, Blue Coat Federal

Originally published on the BluePrint blog

It’s hard to believe that 2011 is coming to an end and that we are ramping up for the New Year. Around this time of year, our favorite publications are full of their predictions and while they are interesting to read, this year I thought to pull together my own list.

So what major advances do I believe will impact government IT in 2012?

Out with the old and in with the new.

I’m sure that a majority of government workers (and everyone else too) who doesn’t already have an iPad is asking Santa for one this holiday season. IT departments are going to see an influx of tablets and mobile devices trying to connect to the network in the New Year and with it will bring both security and bandwidth issues.

Mobility in the government workforce.

The adoption of the newest technology gadgets will also lead to an increasingly mobile workforce. While the enterprise is leading the way in creating mobile workforces, the government is starting to see the benefits of giving employees the freedom of working from anywhere. Major telework initiatives will continue in 2012 and with the adoption of new policies, employees will need secure and reliable network connections from their devices for productivity.

Looking to the clouds.

The new Federal CIO, has made it clear that he will be moving forward with his predecessors plan to implement cloud initiatives across the government. Steven Van Roekel believes that the cloud will serve as a primary computing platform for government IT but that the right tools must be in place before agencies migrate. We believe that both security and WAN optimization will play a part in this transformation.

Streaming directly to you.

Video continues to take off and I suspect that this will only increase in 2012. From what we affectionately call “ego-casting” to training and video teleconferencing, video will have a daily role in agency life and as a result, bandwidth will be impacted.

Getting social.

The government is one of the fastest adopters of social media, according to Market Connections annual report on social media in the public sector. Government employees and contractors are using social media more than ever before, both for personal and professional use. In 2012 we expect that this will continue, as will the number of sites that are infected with malware.

Did I miss any trends that you believe will impact government IT in 2012?

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