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In Government …

Government Technology's Top Stories of 2010

Years from now, the 2010 calendar year could be seen as a turning point — when state and local governments, faced with flat budgets and dwindling resources, moved toward a new paradigm in which shared services, e-government and other efficiency efforts are the norm.

These trends are reflected in many of the year’s top news stories, our most-viewed pages of the year, listed in descending order. Take a moment to browse them, as they are a sampling of the year that was — and an indicator of what may lie ahead in 2011.

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White House deputy CTO leaves, will target state and local collaboration
Former Google exec also plans to support start-ups in developing countries

Andrew McLaughlin is resigning from his job as deputy White House chief technology officer to start two companies, one of them to develop collaboration tools for state and local governments, Kim Hart writes in Politico.

McLaughlin was appointed to the job in 2009, after working as chief global public policy for Google. He also was a senior adviser to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, working on the early development and implementation of ICANN’s policies.

In addition to developing collaboration tools, McLaughlin told Politico he would be launching another company to support start-ups in developing countries.

McLaughlin’s White House appointment had raised eyebrows among Google’s critics, who claimed that his relationship with the company could unduly influence the White House’s position on things such as net neutrality, Politico reported. In his job as deputy CTO, McLaughlin worked on Internet policy issues.

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U.S. CERT: Technical Cyber Security Alerts

In Technology …

Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen tries again with patent megasuit

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has renewed his patent fight with a large contingent of the tech industry this week. Per a federal judge’s orders, Allen’s Interval Licensing LLC filed an amended patent infringement suit on Tuesday which spells out how Apple, Google, Facebook, and eight other online companies violate its patents.

Interval originally filed a patent infringement lawsuit in late August, zeroing in on companies that make use of three main concepts: browser use for navigating through information, managing a user’s peripheral attention while using a device, and alerting users to items of current interest. The four related patents asserted by Interval collectively address the general concept of presenting searched-for information to a user along with related news articles, media, status updates from friends, or other data. For instance, Apple’s iTunes allegedly infringes on the patents in question with its system for recommending other songs and artists that a user might like that are comparable to the currently displayed artist or album.

The patents were originally awarded to Interval Research, a tech R&D firm founded by Allen and former Xerox executive David Liddle in 1992. The firm was folded in 2000, and the patents were later transferred to Interval Licensing.

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Microsoft warns on IE browser bug

Microsoft has issued a warning about a serious vulnerability in all versions of its Internet Explorer (IE) browser. If exploited by a booby-trapped Web page, the bug would allow attackers to take control of an unprotected computer. Code to exploit the bug has already been published though Microsoft said it had no evidence it was currently being used by hi-tech criminals. A workaround for the bug has been produced while Microsoft works on a permanent fix. The bug revolves around the way that IE manages a computer’s memory when processing Cascading Style Sheets .Microsoft has produced updates that improves memory management, but security researchers discovered that these protection systems are not used when some older parts of Windows are called upon. In a statement Microsoft said it was “investigating” the bug and working on a permanent fix. In the meantime it recommended those concerned use a protection system known as the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit.

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Current Electricity Sector Threat Alert Levels

In Utilities …

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NRC asks for cyber threat info from Vermont Yankee

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) requested additional information December 21 from the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant about its plan to combat computer hackers, according to a NRC spokesman. “In general, we found the Vermont Yankee plan to be consistent with the revised Nuclear Energy Institute guidance template,” the spokesman wrote in an e-mail to the Reformer. “Our questions center on terminology used by Entergy in describing various systems and actions in the area of cyber security.” Entergy, which owns and operates the nuclear power plant in Vernon, must respond to the Request for Additional Information by February 15, 2011, he wrote. In March 2009, the NRC issued a new cybersecurity rule that required companies that own and operate nuclear power plants to submit a new cybersecurity plan and an implementation timeline, the spokesman wrote. The plan must show how the facility identified, or would identify, critical digital assets and describe its protective strategy by late November 2009, he wrote. All of the plants, including Vermont Yankee, submitted a plan by the deadline, but Yankee and other plants withdrew their plans, “because they were based on incomplete Nuclear Energy Institute guidance,” and submitted a revised plan this July, he wrote.

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Removing Barriers to Renewable Energy
Green part of an overall mix
by Bill Opalka

Senator John Thune had a challenge for renewable energy developers the other day - to work to remove regulatory barriers to clean energy development. The problem would have widespread support in any forum since projects take years to develop and exorbitant costs drive up project prices and delay deployment.

But there’s a catch. Thune said those same barriers apply to “traditional” energy sources, though he didn’t specifically mention coal, oil and natural gas.

The American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) held its annual Policy Forum on Capitol Hill last week and one of the keynoters was Senator Thune, a Republican from wind-rich South Dakota.

“Clearly, we need to take a long look at the regulatory environment facing our domestic clean energy industry and make tough choices to streamline regulations at every opportunity,” he said. “I want to challenge everybody in this room to start thinking about the similarities between the barriers faced by the renewable energy industry and those confronting other sectors of domestic energy production.”

Thune said renewables have a significant role in the domestic supply, but it’s a source that has to be part of an overall mix.

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Smart grid roadmap 2.0
Austin Energy's Karl Popham discusses utility smart grid essentials
by Kate Rowland

Just before Christmas, I sat down by telephone with Karl Popham, Austin Energy’ s chief information officer, to talk about the utility’s approach to implementing smart grid technologies.

Austin Energy is a collaborative contributor in the widely known Pecan Street Project, but the nation’s ninth largest community-owned electric utility has also branched out throughout its 440-square-mile territory over the years with a number of projects designed to build the utility’s (and its consumers’) energy efficiency and intelligence.

I asked Popham what key issues utilities need to consider as they plan their own smart grid roadmaps and begin to implement smart grid technologies.

“I would say, understand first what you want from a business perspective, and then work your way there,” he told me. “There is a lot of discussion out there about what smart grid is, and it means a lot of different things to different people. So first, understand where you need to go, because there are different strategies [depending upon] what you want to accomplish.”

Defining those metrics, and then building a roadmap with them firmly in mind, is essential to success, Popham said.

For Austin Energy, the roadmap began with Smart Grid 1.0, which Popham defined as utility-centric smart grid activities involving meters through generation, focusing on what the utility could be doing to become more efficient.

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