Wednesday, October 02, 2002

Open Source Security This month's Infragard of the Wasatch presentation was on open source security.  Kerry Cox, network administrator for Bonneville International (parent company to KSL and 10 other companies) presented on the subject.  Kerry, who wrote the Red Hat Linux Administrator's Guide runs Linux extensively in support of his Bonneville operations which support about 5,000 employees.  He maintains a website, All Things Linux, that is a great resource for organizations seeking to cut cost through the use of open source software.  3:43:47 PM

Virginia's Strategic IT Plan This document (executive summary) is inspiring.  Here is the full plan.  It requires bold steps which is what Governor Leavitt has asked from IT workers in the State of Utah.  I will begin to prepare a strategic plan for eGovernment for the State of Utah in an attempt to more clearly articulate our goals and objectives as well as a plan for how to reach them.  We continue to make progress with over 30 agency applications in development right now in addition to the enterprise projects that we are working on.  A few statements from Virginia's plan that we need to consider: Exponential change, not incremental change - I believe this is critical if Utah is to play a role in technology leadership We must act now. - Many would like to slow the process. Consolidate IT infrastructure and provide centralized services as a technology utility. - I've heard this somewhere before. Increase commercialization of intellectual property - First, we need to produce more that is of value Utah IT workers should read this document.  Phil Windley and Governor Leavitt are trying to do the right thing. More highlights include: Consolidating IT infrastructure and providing centralized services from one single state agency, instead of by staff in every agency; Coordinating and developing a unified "customer-facing" Internet portal for all state agencies which can conduct business with citizens online -- without ever involving paper in the process;  Planning, budgeting and tracking IT expenditures by developing a capital planning and funding process for IT;  Increasing federal research and development funding to industry and Virginia's colleges and universities; and  Increasing statewide broadband deployment, especially in rural areas. 10:14:33 AM

Report Card on Higher Education. The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education has released its 2002 State-by-State Report Card for Higher Education.  Overall Utah received an "A" in the preparation category, a "C" for participation, and a "B" for affordability.  The site allows you to compare state performance in a large number of areas.  A live webcast is available right now. 8:57:24 AM

Orem City Crime Reports Lt. Doug Edwards posts daily reports to the Orem City website reviewing crimes that occured that day in the city.  These are quite interesting.  Here's a recent one: 38325 - Attempted shoplifting incident yesterday at Animal Ark at 33 W. Center. A male in his 20's tried to conceal a rope tug toy down his pants but was observed by the female employee, who confronted him. The man pulled the tug toy out and put it down and then attempted to leave the store. The employee grabbed the phone to call the police and went to the door to lock it in an effort to keep the suspect there, but the suspect bit the employee on the hand (didn't break the skin) as she was locking the door and then made his escape. 8:39:41 AM

© Copyright 2003 David Fletcher.