5 Must-Know Government Technology Trends in 2025

by  Salesforce

Salesforce industry experts share their perspectives on the direction of the public sector industry over the next twelve months.

Technology is rapidly transforming how governments operate and engage with constituents. As expectations evolve, governments are under pressure to deliver digital experiences on par with those of private businesses. Our Connected Government Report revealed that 75% of people expect the quality of digital government services to match the best private sector organizations. By 2025, significant technological advancements are anticipated, with over 75% of governments expected to manage more than half of their workloads using hyperscale cloud service providers. While public sector organizations have made significant strides in recent years to modernize their operations and services, there is more to do.

From increased governance around AI to cultivating a more data-centric approach for mission success, here are five key areas where technology will impact the public sector in 2025:

1. Governments will prioritize trusted AI governance

2. Actionable data and AI insights will drive government decision-making

3. Autonomous AI agents will power the proactive government of the future

4. The agentic AI future will create new, more specialized roles

5. Standardizing security and compliance will be a global effort

 Read full story at GovernmentTechnoly…

If COBOL Is So Problematic, Why Does the US Government Still Use It?

by  Steven Vaughan-Nichols

If you've gotten cash from an ATM, you've interacted with a COBOL-based system. Here's why this old programming language will probably outlive us all.

This article highlights the Social Security Administration's (SSA) use of over 60 million lines of COBOL code to process claims, where peculiarities like non-standard date handling (e.g., placeholder dates like May 20, 1875) lead to errors, such as apparent 150-year-old recipients—an issue misread as fraud by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Beyond SSA, COBOL powers critical systems at the IRS (160 applications, including the Individual Master File), Department of Defense (e.g., the 67-year-old MOCAS), and Medicare, as well as 45 states' unemployment and tax programs.

COBOL persists due to its reliability and efficiency in handling large-scale data processing—95% of ATM transactions and 43% of banking systems rely on it. The article notes its strengths: precise data manipulation and uptime, making it indispensable for government and finance. However, challenges include a shrinking programmer pool, poor documentation, and the complexity of replacing billions of lines of code (220-800 billion globally). Modernization efforts, like the IRS' stalled 2028 plan or state unemployment fixes post-COVID, falter due to funding shortages and risks of disrupting vital services. While some, like the UK' DWP, have migrated away, the U.S. government's inertia suggests COBOL could endure for decades, outlasting critics due to cost and complexity rather than obsolescence. DOGE's 2025 scrutiny may flag this as “waste,” but the real issue is underinvestment, not the language itself.

 Read full story at ZDNET…

Pentagon Plans for Unified Digital Access Tools Across Military This Year

by  Lauren C. Williams

The Defense Information Systems Agency is working on a streamlined identity solution that spans the military departments.

According to this article in DefensOne, the Pentagon's IT agency, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), is working to unify identity verification and system access tools across the military's unclassified networks into a single solution by the end of fiscal year 2025. Starting with the Army, set to complete by March 2025, DISA aims to streamline Identity, Credentialing, and Access Management (ICAM) across all military departments—Navy and Air Force to follow by October—then extend to other DOD components.

The initiative, called federation, began with the Army in October 2024 and uses National Security Agency tools for attribute-based access control, tagging data with attributes like clearance level or device status to enforce precise permissions. This unification enhances visibility across the Department of Defense and aids collaboration with allies.

 Read full story at DefenseOne…

Just What Is an 'IT Worker' Now? The Definition Is Changing

by  Lucas Mearian

As emerging technologies like generative AI continue to advance across various industries, and tech leaders and workers collaborate more directly with the business side, IT roles are changing fast. That's especially true for developers.

The definition of an IT worker has expanded significantly from its traditional focus on hardware, networks, and software development within centralized IT departments. Today, IT professionals are embedded across company divisions, driving business strategy through digital transformation, product development, data-driven decisions, and enhanced customer experiences. Their responsibilities now include cybersecurity, risk management, and oversight of AI and automation tools, such as generative AI (genAI), while adapting to the rise of no-code/low-code platforms that empower non-technical staff.

Experts like David Foote from Foote Partners highlight the shift toward customer-facing roles and the emergence of “business technologists”—non-IT-trained individuals using technology strategically to influence company decisions, from cost-cutting to revenue growth. Meanwhile, genAI is reshaping developer roles, speeding up coding (up to 60% faster) but requiring new skills to evaluate AI outputs and manage tools effectively. This shift may push developers toward product management and quality oversight in the next six to seven years.

 Read full story at Computerworld…

Microsoft Unveils Majorana 1, the World's First Quantum Processor Powered by Topological Qubits

by  Chetan Nayak,

Built with a breakthrough class of materials called a topoconductor, Majorana 1 marks a transformative leap toward practical quantum computing.

Chelan Nayak reports that Microsoft introduced Majorana 1, the world's first quantum processing unit (QPU) powered by topological qubits, marking a significant step toward practical quantum computing. This breakthrough leverages a new material called a “topoconductor,” combining indium arsenide (a semiconductor) and aluminum (a superconductor) to create topological superconductivity—a state of matter previously theoretical. This enables the formation of Majorana Zero Modes (MZMs), quasiparticles that store quantum information via electron parity, offering inherent protection against environmental interference.

Key advancements include:

Topological Qubits: These qubits are small, fast, digitally controlled, and shielded from errors, with an error rate of 1% in initial measurements (with plans to improve further). They use a measurement-based approach with quantum dots and microwave reflectometry, simplifying quantum error correction (QEC) compared to traditional analog methods.

Scalability: Majorana 1 is designed to scale to a million qubits on a single chip. Microsoft demonstrated a “letron” device with eight topological qubits, showing basic operations like superposition and entanglement, paving the way for scalable QEC.

DARPA Partnership: Microsoft is in the final phase of DARPA's US2QC program, aiming to build a fault-tolerant prototype (FTP) of a scalable quantum computer in years, not decades—a timeline validated by DARPA's rigorous evaluation.

Roadmap: The next steps involve a 4x2 tetron array to demonstrate entanglement and error detection, with custom QEC codes reducing overhead tenfold, enhancing efficiency.

 Read full story at Microsoft…

Threat Posed by New VMware Hyperjacking Vulnerabilities Is Hard to Overstate

by  Dan Goodin

Just one compromised VM can make all other VMs on that hypervisor sitting ducks.

Three severe vulnerabilities in VMware's virtual-machine products—ESXi, Workstation, Fusion, Cloud Foundation, and Telco Cloud Platform—could allow hackers to escape a customer's virtual machine (VM) and take control of the hypervisor, potentially compromising multiple customers' sensitive networks. These flaws, identified as CVE-2025-22224 (9.3/10 severity), CVE-2025-22225 (8.2/10), and CVE-2025-22226 (7.1/10), enable a “VM escape” or “hyperjacking” attack, where an attacker breaks out of an isolated VM to access the hypervisor managing all VMs on a host. This could grant access to other customers'VMs in shared environments like managed hosting or private clouds.

VMware and security experts, including Kevin Beaumont, warn that these vulnerabilities—already under active exploitation—impact all supported and unsupported versions of the affected products. Exploitation doesn't require local access; an attacker with internet access to any compromised VM could target the hypervisor, bypassing traditional security boundaries.

 Read full story at arsTechnica…

Aquiline Drones—Pioneering Drone Technology for Energy and Utility

by  Commercial UAV News Staff

Aquiline Drones announced a strategic partnership with Drone Volt to introduce and expand the capabilities of the LineDrone to the US market.

The LineDrone, developed through a collaboration between Hydro-Quebec and Aquiline Drones, is an innovative unmanned aerial system (UAS) designed to transform the inspection and maintenance of high-voltage power lines. This advanced drone can land on live power lines (up to 315,000 volts / 2,000 A) and uses a unique motorized rolling system, along with LineOhm and LineCore probes, to assess the condition of overhead conductors without requiring power outages. Equipped with AI, state-of-the-art sensors, and cloud technology, the LineDrone performs precise diagnostics—such as resistance measurements, corrosion assessments, and splice evaluations—enhancing grid reliability and efficiency.

Hydro-Quebec, a leader in hydroelectric power and robotics research via its Institute de recherche d'Hydro-Quebec (IREQ), partnered with Aquiline Drones, which brings expertise in autonomous drone operations and regulatory compliance. The LineDrone reduces the need for expensive helicopter inspections and risky manual work, offering a safer, cost-effective, and eco-friendly solution. Aquiline Drones plans to deploy this technology across the U.S., targeting the country's 600,000+ miles of transmission lines, while also training a workforce of professional LineDrone service providers (LDSPs). This collaboration aims to set a new standard for power line inspections, improving safety, efficiency, and sustainability in the energy sector.

 Read full story at Commercial UAV …

Texas Electric Co-Op Teams Up With Tesla for Utility-Scale Virtual Power Plant

by  Sean Wolfe

Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative (GVEC) announced a partnership with Tesla, making the cooperative the first in Texas to participate with Tesla as a utility-scale virtual power plant resource in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) Aggregated Distributed Energy Resource (ADER) pilot program.

Through the ADER program, the integration of distributed energy resources (DERs), such as battery storage systems and other controllable devices, is being explored as dispatchable generation into the Texas wholesale energy market to improve year-round grid stability and reliability. Recent updates show the ADER program has registered approximately 17 MW in generation from companies like Tesla with their residential battery customers.

GVEC is a cooperative that delivers electricity, internet, AC/Heating, solar and battery, and electrician services. The cooperative currently serves over 130,000 customers covering a 3,200 square mile span of South-Central Texas. With “growing consumer interest”” in alternative energy sources, GVEC expanded its offerings to become a certified installer of Tesla battery systems in 2019.

 Read full story at Factor This…

US Utilities Ramp Up Investment For The AI-Driven Power Demand

by  Finimize Newsroom

Electric companies are planning big spends to meet the growing energy needs from data centers, while tackling regulatory hurdles and grid demands.

US electric utilities are ramping up their investment game, pouring tens of billions into boosting power supplies and upgrading grids to cater to the soaring energy demands of AI-driven data centers and cloud computing.

With AI and cloud computing driving an unprecedented surge in energy needs, utilities like PPL Corp, Dominion, and Exelon are significantly increasing their capital investments. PPL Corp plans a 40% hike, raising its total to $20 billion by 2028 to meet growing demand. Dominion, serving the bustling data center hub in Northern Virginia, is enhancing spending plans too. American Electric Power is considering an additional $10 billion on top of its $54 billion roadmap through 2030. This investment push comes as the US Energy Information Administration anticipates record electricity demand driven by data centers, manufacturing, and transportation. However, regulatory hurdles and debates over who should shoulder grid expansion costs—utilities or large-scale customers—persist.

 Read full story at Finimize…