On Monday Cisco announced that Michigan is the first state to join Cisco’s State Digital Acceleration (SDA) program, a 3-year targeted collaboration program to advance the state’s digital agenda. Cisco announced the SDA initiative in Detroit at the 2017 North American International Cyber Summit hosted by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder.
FirstNet released its Tribal Consultation Policy, which outlines the consultation process FirstNet will use with tribal nations regarding the deployment of the nationwide public safety broadband network. The new policy will give tribes an avenue to express their public safety needs through a nation-to-nation relationship between FirstNet and the 567 Federally recognized tribes, according to a FirstNet release.
With a desire to improve cross-agency communication and streamline IT service delivery, Ohio turned to ServiceNow for an enterprise IT service management tool.
Washington CIO Michael Cockrill is moving to the private sector later this month. After being appointed by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee in 2013, Cockrill oversaw the creation of Washington Technology Solutions, the agency created in 2015 to centralize state IT and improve services for the people of Washington through technology. Cockrill spoke with MeriTalk State and Local about his time as CIO and the jump to rejoin the private sector.
The Federal Communications Commission announced that states that want to opt out of the FirstNet radio access network for first responders must do so by Dec. 28. Opt-out notices must be sent by the governors of the states or territories to FirstNet and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
Esri has deployed the CrowdRescue Puerto Rico Infrastructure Map, which displays crowdsourced reports about damage from Hurricane Maria affecting the U.S. territory. The map enables a visualization of closed roads, collapsed bridges, flooding, mudslides, areas where communication is unavailable, areas that don’t have power, areas without drinking water, and areas with downed power lines.
Ahead of its annual conference Oct. 1-4 in Austin, Texas, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers, along with the National Association of State Procurement Officials, released a road map advocating for state IT procurement reform.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation announced a deployment of analytics software that is expected to improve customer service and reduce costs across the department. The NCDOT chose to partner with SAS to deploy its SAS Platform, including SAS Viya.
As Hurricane Irma struck, the state of Georgia worked to standardize its statewide damage reporting system by introducing the Georgia Emergency Management Agency Engaged Citizens Damage Assessment GeoForm.
Georgia citizens were able to submit an online form to report the damage to their property during and after Hurricane Irma. The website was launched on Sept. 7 and GEMA received 210 reports in a 48-hour period from the beginning of the hurricane.
