It’s no secret: America’s communications networks are changing – fast. But how well is the federal government keeping pace with the change? This year may well hold the answer, as more public sector agencies finally make the move to IP, says Rocky Thurston, client executive vice president of AT&T Global Business – Public Sector Solutions.
“As the world moves to an all-IP foundation, so too will agencies and the military see the need – and the opportunity – to transition from legacy TDM to all-IP, software-defined networks,” says Thurston. “IP-based networks bring very compelling economics and innovation opportunities,” he adds, “and help customers achieve their missions cost-effectively.”
In the midst of that transition, the resiliency of IP networks in emergencies will be essential. “It is becoming increasingly imperative for … IP-based systems [to]provide the optimal infrastructure to support mobility, cloud, cyber, and IoT solutions while also providing opportunities for innovation and cost efficiencies,” says Thurston. Here’s how his team is helping the public sector modernize – and transform – operations, so they can connect at the place, and the time, of their choosing.
WashingtonExec: What top challenges are you seeing among your global public sector clients?
Rocky Thurston: As 2016 progresses, we are seeing the continuation of last year’s challenges but also seeing a marketplace that is moving to address them. Challenges include constant pressure to improve mission effectiveness while reducing costs, coping with the pace of technology changes, and ensuring rock-solid security for IT systems.
We are helping our global public sector customers cope with these challenges, offering them solutions that help them improve efficiencies and reduce costs. For example, we know military and defense customers are looking for more cost effective ways to manage their network operations globally. We offer them networking services and outsourcing solutions that can help them drive down costs while providing them the highly secure capabilities they require.
WashingtonExec: What new technologies is AT&T leveraging to help global public sector clients change the way business gets done?
Rocky Thurston: We’ve been doing quite a bit with our Internet of Things (IoT) expertise to help our global public sector customers. Two recent examples include the fleet management services we offer to agencies through a blanket purchase agreement with the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Office of Fleet Management and the services we are providing to the U.S. Census Bureau. Through GSA Fleet, federal agencies can buy our GPS vehicle tracking, vehicle monitoring and diagnostics capabilities.
These tools can help agencies improve operator safety while improving their ability to manage fleet fuel usage and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Also, organizations within the Department of Defense could benefit from our Internet of Things solutions to help them manage fuel supply chain logistics, for example, and track and monitor connected devices and assets. We are also helping civilian and military customers consume cloud resources from major cloud vendors by providing them highly secure, high-speed, private access through our AT&T NetBond solution.
WashingtonExec: What’s the focus at your five innovation centers?
Rocky Thurston: Since 2011, we’ve opened five AT&T Foundry innovation centers with locations in Silicon Valley (Palo Alto), Tel Aviv, Atlanta, and two in the Dallas area. These spaces are where we collaborate with developers, startups, and our business and government customers to quickly take ideas to reality.
Hundreds of businesses including customers, partners, and application developers have innovated with us in these centers. This has resulted in dozens of AT&T Foundry-developed applications and services that have been deployed, including those that address cloud infrastructure, machine-to-machine communications, big data, application programming interfaces (APIs), and healthcare solutions.
WashingtonExec: What innovations are you tracking in the cybersecurity space?
Rocky Thurston: We have developed a four-layered approach to help customers deal with today’s cybersecurity threats. The four layers are the Device Layer, Connectivity Layer, Data/Application Layer, and Threat-Analysis Layer.
At the Device Layer, we protect the hardware (the “thing” that is connected) through measures we take with the device manufacturer and AT&T/third-party built-in security controls like certificates and mobile device management.
At the Connectivity Layer, the AT&T network helps protect connections in a highly secure manner through AT&T Virtual Private Network, Private Access Point Name, Private SMS User Groups, private home Wi-Fi networks and device authentication.
At the Data/Application Layer, we protect the data and apps that are connected to the network through firewall, data loss prevention, intrusion detection, machine controls, enterprise mobile device management (XMDM), encryption and user authentication.
We also provide a Threat Analysis Layer, using context aware/behavioral analytics to understand how hardware is being used, where it is being used and who is using it. We can do this at the connectivity, device, or data/application level by analyzing the traffic coming in and out of that device, connection or application and identifying abnormalities (such as an unauthorized user in a different location), to prevent, detect and respond.
In addition, one of our many innovations in cybersecurity is AT&T NetBond, which lets federal government agencies make fast, private and highly reliable network connections to cloud service providers. AT&T NetBond isolates traffic to provide more protections from security risks on the internet. It can also help improve latency performance by as much as 50 percent compared to traditional internet.
WashingtonExec:What’s next in mobility, cloud, cyber, IoT and legacy system transformation for global public sector clients?
Rocky Thurston: Mobility and connectivity are key drivers of innovation in the modern world and government clients want to take advantage of both.
Estimates vary widely on how many “things” are, or will be, connected as part of the Internet of Things. Some estimates go as high as 75 billion connected things by 2020. Needless to say, IoT is a transformative innovation. As evidenced by the GSA Fleet and Census Bureau solutions we are delivering, our global public sector customers are beginning to invest in IoT solutions.
In short, we expect to [continue to]see agencies accelerate their use of mobility, cloud, cyber and IoT. We also expect to see more agencies make the transition from legacy TDM-based networks to IP-based networks.
