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In Government …

California CIO Teri Takai Touts Successes, Says Much Work Remains

In what could be her last major speech as California’s technology chief, CIO Teri Takai invoked Psychology 101 when explaining how the state has improved its technology services and management during the past two and a half years, and what remains to be accomplished in the future.

Takai told an audience of private-sector IT executives on Thursday, Sept. 9, that California has made much progress on a range of issues -- from speedier procurement methods to the adoption of an enterprisewide information security plan -- during her tenure as CIO. But she said the state still has more ground to cover to meet its “basic” technology needs and position the next gubernatorial administration to focus on business-line applications instead of technology infrastructure.

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GIS Delivers During The Largest Earthquake Drill in U.S.

At 10:00 a.m. on November 13, 2008, millions of people throughout Southern California participated in the Great Southern California ShakeOut Drill, the largest earthquake preparedness exercise in U.S. history. The drill simulated a magnitude 7.8 earthquake along the San Andreas Fault in Southern California. ESRI supported participating agencies with software, staffing, and resources used during the exercise, which modeled assessment, rescue, relief, and recovery efforts. Geographic information system (GIS) technology was used to help build an accurate, continuously updated emergency information repository; aided decision support and resource management; and enhanced multijurisdictional communication.

A GIS-based common operating picture provides continuous data updates. Understanding hospital occupancy levels helps officials direct emergency medical service crews transporting new patients.A GIS-based common operating picture provides continuous data updates. Understanding hospital occupancy levels helps officials direct emergency medical service crews transporting new patients.

“We worked diligently to create a realistic exercise that helps us see where we are with our response capability in the event of a major earthquake,” says John Ellison, agency technology officer and geographic information officer (GIO)/California Environmental Resources Evaluation System (CERES) director, California Resources Agency. “By upgrading to ArcGIS Server 9.3 and ArcGIS API for Flex, we have an easy-to-use Web-based viewer suitable for this purpose. We are very pleased with our GIS experience including during the exercise.”

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Marin County's $30 million ERP failure

Marin County voted to stop an ongoing SAP project, implicitly accepting that it wasted over $30 million on software and related implementation services from Deloitte Consulting.

The Board of Supervisors in California’s Marin County voted to stop an ongoing SAP project and seek a replacement solution, implicitly accepting that it wasted over $30 million on software and related implementation services from Deloitte Consulting.

The dramatic decision to replace SAP comes after relations between Marin and Deloitte Consulting, the implementation consultant on this project, deteriorated to the breaking point. Marin filed a lawsuit against Deloitte “seeking actual and compensatory damages of at least $30 million, along with unspecified punitive and, or exemplary damages and interest.” Deloitte has countersued Marin for approximately $550,000 in unpaid fees and late charges.

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Government
Technology
Utilities

U.S. CERT: Technical Cyber Security Alerts

In Technology …

Mobile App Helps Emergency Crews Assess Damage During Disasters

With oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster nearing the coast in Florida’s Santa Rosa County, emergency management officials had to find a way to track it.

Since April, crews from various agencies have been flocking to the Gulf of Mexico to protect hundreds of miles of wetlands from the massive BP oil spill. But in Santa Rosa County, even after officials deployed a water beacon team, they didn’t have the tools to track the flow of oil, said Sheryl Bracewell, the county’s emergency management director.

“When we started receiving impacts from the oil, we decided to establish a water beacon team to go out and make sure the oil wasn’t reaching any of our sensitive areas,” she said. “When they went out, they could say what they saw, but there was a chance it would move by the time someone got there to clean it up.”

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State, local agencies will increase IT spending through 2015

State and local governments are projected to increase their spending on information technology systems and services by a compounded rate of 3.1 percent a year through fiscal 2015, according to a new report from Input Inc., a market research firm in McLean, Va.

State and local agencies are forecast to spend $61.5 billion in 2015, up from $52.8 billion this year, the report said, as new IT systems are used to increase productivity and to address growing demands for transparency and performance.

The report foresees a gradual stabilization of state and local revenue streams as the recession eases, along with a continued decline in federal economic stimulus funding.

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Toshiba recalls 41,000 laptops for overheating

The Consumer Product Safety Commission September 2 issued a recall of 41,000 Toshiba laptops after reports of some overheating and even melting. Toshiba posted its own recall of several models of its Satellite T130 laptops on its product support forums the week of August 23. The CPSC said 129 instances of “overheating and deforming the plastic casing area around the AC adapter plug” had been reported. Two of those reports resulted in “minor burn injuries that did not require medical attention” and two in minor property damage. Toshiba said on its Web site that the problem stems from a “faulty DC-In harness,” which can lead to the computer melting where the AC adapter plugs in. The solution is a BIOS update, which the company recommends users of the affected models implement right away. The update is available on Toshiba’s Web site.

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Government
Technology
Utilities

Current Electricity Sector Threat Alert Levels

In Utilities …

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NIST Finalizes Initial Set of Smart Grid Cyber Security Guidelines

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued today its first Guidelines for Smart Grid Cyber Security, which includes high-level security requirements, a framework for assessing risks, an evaluation of privacy issues at personal residences, and additional information for businesses and organizations to use as they craft strategies to protect the modernizing power grid from attacks, malicious code, cascading errors, and other threats.

The product of two formal public reviews and the focus of numerous workshops and teleconferences over the past 17 months, the three-volume set of guidelines is intended to facilitate organization-specific Smart Grid cyber security strategies focused on prevention, detection, response and recovery.

“As we modernize the nation’s electric infrastructure to make it smarter, more efficient, and more capable, we need to make it more secure from end to end,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said. “These new cyber security guidelines will help government and industry meet this important responsibility.”

“The development of common Smart Grid standards is a national priority, and these cyber security guidelines are an important step toward that goal,” said U.S Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “If we are to truly modernize our electrical grid, we must have electricity producers, distributors and consumers all speaking the same language and all working together to make our grid more secure. Cyber security is an integral part of the grid.”

The new report was prepared by the Cyber Security Working Group (CSWG) of the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel, a public-private partnership launched by NIST with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding from the Department of Energy.

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State Regulators Approve SDG&E Solar Power Initiative

The California Public Utilities Commission today approved a San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) solar power initiative that provides for 100 megawatts (MW) of photovoltaic (PV) solar energy.

Under the initiative, 26 MW of utility-owned generation would be slated for construction on existing SDG&E property, with the remaining 74 MW to be purchased from independent power producers.

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Thousands of gallons of raw sewage dump in Hudson

The mayor of Cohoes, New York, said the city does know what caused three sewage pumps to break down August 31. Animals are abundant along the Salt Kill in Cohoes and experts said they could be in danger. The morning of August 31, a major pump breakdown sent 27,000 gallons of nasty black ooze directly into the waterway that leads to the Hudson River. It is bacteria-ridden raw sewage and it smells as bad as it looks, people indicated. The mayor said the spill started when the city’s main sewage pump and both backups failed one right after the other. The city said someone flushed several towel-like dish rags that got caught up in the system and blew out each of the new pump motors. Downriver, some said they did not know about the leak. The mayor said the city has already ordered three replacement pumps. He expects them to be in by 2 p.m. September 1.

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