U.S. Government Functional and Technical Modernization.

Transcription

1 U.S. Government Functional and Technical Modernization. January 2018

2 Innovation is necessary. Purposeful, connected technology is impacting how people live, businesses operate, and societies evolve. This trend of a connected world is driving innovation at a rapid pace. Sprint has prepared this paper as a guide to help you understand how you can apply current and emerging technologies that can benefit the federal government. Sprint s expertise as a carrier, and our alliance with the SoftBank Group, allows us to offer unique insights into federal government technology needs and advanced solutions. New networking and computing technologies along with the increased use of sensor technology have improved operational efficiencies tremendously in the private sector, and the same can be accomplished for the federal government. Government employees can utilize this same technology to shorten the time it takes to accurately complete any task by leveraging better data and better processes. The core of this paper covers five key technologies that can deliver immediate benefits to the federal government and can help future-proof deployed solutions. For more than 30 years of its 110-year history, Sprint has implemented successful integration deployments in the U.S. government, and we are committed to continuing to solve problems by offering relevant and custom solutions. Opportunities to innovate. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has isolated 30 key government topics, in which 243 issues have been identified as requiring a new solution. Of these issues, 77 are deemed high risk which accounts for a sizable 32 percent of total recognized issues. * By embracing the latest computational and networking technologies, federal government agencies have significant opportunities to achieve meaningful objectives for the Trump administration: Manage and reduce costs Improve operational efficiencies Enhance data security Improve the citizen experience * Source: GAO United States Government Accountability Office, Report to Congressional Committees, HIGH-RISK SERIES, Progress on Many High-Risk Areas, While Substantial Efforts Needed on Others, February With new technologies, citizen confidence in the security of systems can be vastly improved. When it comes to data security, newer systems and networks have significantly improved protection capabilities. This is critical in an age when every federal government network, and every computer, is a target for hackers and foreign governments. Security, in any fashion that sustains safety and privacy, must have the highest priority in any solution investigated. A unique view of advanced security involves new technology embedded at the chip level that supports layer 7 applications. In addition to chip-based security, use of carefully crafted, distributed-ledger technology will immutably protect data while allowing for selective interdepartmental transparency. 2

3 5 top technologies that can have an immediate impact. There are many technologies available that could have a major impact on federal government efficiency and costs. The five technologies highlighted here could be implemented immediately and drive significant results. 1. Mobility: The advantages of mobility could be better leveraged by agencies across the entire government. Agencies (such as the Interior Department, for instance) have people in the field at all times, and by giving these employees more capabilities via their devices plus a robust and secure network to support their communications productivity and efficiency could be vastly improved. Another breakthrough in mobility technology is Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. These satellites offer high data rates with low latency, and will soon be placed into orbit to supplement satellites already in higher space. The uniqueness of the LEO satellites is that they will efficiently disperse current federally leased Macro Spectrum to any spot in the US, and eventually globally at an effective price point. As a result, areas that languished with spotty macrocellular coverage in the past will receive instant, high-speed access via fiber from the sky. 2. Smart buildings: By taking advantage of current sensory network element technology, the Trump administration could not only reduce heating and air conditioning costs in federal buildings, it could also reap significant environmental benefits as well due to reduced power consumption. Sensors can measure presence, power, motion, pressure, and temperature and reduce the need for human monitoring by applying assimilated intelligence to make adjustments based upon this data. 3. Fleet and asset tracking: The federal government maintains one of the largest fleets of nonmilitary vehicles in the world. Sensor technology can make operation of that fleet as well as other government assets far more efficient with the use of analytics. Plans for future Integrated Roadway Systems include adjoining wireless networks, offering programmable network rules to enable efficient transportation of automobiles and heavy transport. The total addressable market for road improvements is between $1 trillion and $6 trillion. And the larger this figure grows, the more dramatic the need will be for revolutionary approaches to improving public infrastructure. * Historically, society has relied upon taxes or tolls to fund road improvements. While these are familiar and comfortable, they are also wildly insufficient, and new revenue options have emerged that are enabled by on-demand technologies. Digital mobility (for-fee wireless services) is a potential funding enhancement. The so-called autonomous car is really not autonomous it needs a continual wireless network connection to ensure safety, trust, and reliability. Next-generation mobility requires new sensor, data, and connectivity services (effective in future 5G systems). Leveraging the demand for these new services to generate revenue that pays for road improvements and infrastructure technologies is a reasonable approach. Shifting revenue sources away from a political levy, using digitized automotive systems, enables revenues to grow in response to increasing demand, precluding future funding shortages. 4. Mobile forms: Filling out forms may sometimes seem like a primary functional requirement for government agencies. Forms are essential, but there is a better way to deal with them. By migrating to mobile electronic forms, citizen experiences can be improved and data collection workloads for federal employees can be streamlined. With a mobile forms solution, new forms can be created quickly in response to changing organizational needs. And since forms can be integrated with any software or database, secure transmission and storage of forms can be expedited. 3 * Source: ASCE 2017 Infrastructure Report Card

4 5. Virtualization: With the advent of 5G wireline and wireless capabilities, network harmonization, orchestration, and virtualization will allow the federal government to function and integrate on several public or private networks and utilize virtualized cloud-based systems. The mature notion of centralized storage below or above a firewall is being challenged with new systems that immutably protect the data, ensure truly trusted endpoints, and indemnify secure network transport. Cloud systems are entering an era of technical transformation, and close association with a technically advanced network will be important. Unleashing new opportunities. The current environment may represent a once-ina-generation opportunity for this administration to bring about real change in the ways that the federal government operates and in the ways that it uses and purchases technology. The improvements and the strategies that the administration can put into place now could influence the federal government s approach for years to come, making government operations more efficient and more responsive to citizens needs from now into the distant future. Mastering evolving trends within the ecosystem. Partnering with Sprint means more than just taking advantage of the most future-capable, robust, and secure network available. It also means partnering with an extensive ecosystem of providers. That is the key to customizing solutions capable of transforming the operations of agencies across the federal government. 4

5 Innovation Success Stories The following examples of public and private organizations that have leveraged the new technology ecosystem offer a view into ways that the federal government can capitalize on new trends. Smart City Kansas City, Missouri. Earning a reputation as one of the country s smartest cities, Kansas City is blending sensor technology, intelligent systems, and communications to improve life for citizens while reducing costs. Sensors and data analytics help the city to streamline vehicle traffic flows and adjust street lighting to real-time needs by detecting the presence of pedestrians. A managed Wi-Fi mesh network is leveraged to ensure that the real-time data needed to adjust city systems is up-to-the-minute and flowing at all times. Sprint s smart city solutions integrate multiple network technologies to deliver: Internet of Things connectivity and platform Secure communications Improved efficiency Increased economic development Interactive kiosks Free Wi-Fi for citizens Better quality of life Automatic Injury Detection McAllen Independent School District Police Department. In the border town of McAllen, Texas, the school district s police department will be implementing an advanced way to securely communicate between, and among, officers in order to better secure their safety. The solution includes integrating smartphones, in-vehicle computers, and an Automatic Injury Detection (AID) application woven into the officers body armor. Sensors in the body armor detect damage and issue immediate alerts if an officer is injured. This is a major advantage in situations where an officer can t communicate. Officer response teams can use AID data to easily collaborate through group texts, by leveraging smartphone hot spot capabilities, and by accessing AID data via in-vehicle computers. Automatic Injury Detection can translate into: Improved EMT response times Providing lifesaving data in seconds about officers Enhanced situational awareness Reduced loss of lives Smart Power Grid Solution Varentec. As the nation transitions to renewable sources of energy, Varentec which provides smart power solutions for utilities and is a recipient of Department of Energy support has implemented Edge of Network Grid Optimization (ENGO). To optimize energy and maintain a healthy power grid, ENGO control systems must constantly communicate unit data. Sprint collaborated with Varentec to connect every ENGO unit to the network. This enables the company to leverage secure and robust wireless capabilities, guarantee near-real-time communication, and reduce costs. The Sprint network solution for Varentec provides: Smart grid control Improved system efficiencies Rapid outage alerts Reduced costs Cardiac patient monitoring BioTelemetry. BioTelemetry is the world s leading wireless medical technology company, delivering health information for health care providers to monitor and diagnose patients accurately and cost-effectively. The company determined that traditional patient monitoring was ineffective in detecting cardiac arrhythmias because they occur too infrequently. By implementing a sustained, secure, and reliable means of near-real-time patient monitoring, doctors were able to greatly improve arrhythmia identification. BioTelemetry leverages the Sprint Command Center Platform to deploy more than 16,000 secure wireless monitoring devices, increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of diagnosis and treatment. The Sprint Command Center Platform enables BioTelemetry to manage the Internet of Things to provide: Remote patient monitoring Accurate, timely diagnosis Improved patient care 5

6 Shaping the future. There are several important emerging technologies that could be of great value to the federal government over the next two to 10 years. They range from what seems futuristic now such as an immersive virtual reality or Distributed Ledger Technology to more familiar technologies, such as drones or a digital platform by which some federal agencies could do business with citizens. Here is a brief rundown of what is on the horizon and how the federal government can soon put these new technologies to work. Immersive experiences: Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) will become far more sophisticated, offering a truly immersive experience beyond what existing technology can deliver now. VR and AR have applications that have the ability to help many federal agencies better understand the systems, practices, and operations that they are regulating. VR and AR also offer the ability to vastly improve the citizen experience. These technologies could offer, for instance, a way to experience National Parks beyond anything that even extended in-person visits could provide. The result Citizen education and instruction could be significantly enhanced. It is no secret that some federal websites offering information can be daunting. Using adaptive applications, education and information transfer could be customized by demographic or academic levels. Assimilated intelligence: Cognitive networking could revolutionize every facet of government operations, from virtual desktop assistants to applications that can govern large systems. Artificial intelligence- (AI) based applications with their ability to perform certain tasks far better than humans could reduce backlogs, cut costs, overcome resource constraints, free workers from mundane work, improve the accuracy of projections, and inject intelligence into scores of processes and systems. The result Analytics is the fundamental engine that will drive results from virtual, AI, and predictive capabilities. Being able to gauge cause and effect of policy with advanced analytics can create more effective policy. 6 Digital platforms: Digital platforms take many forms, from Amazon to social media to ride-sharing services. Use of digital platforms could infinitely upgrade the citizen experience of interacting with the federal government. Well-designed and secure platforms could actually make it easy to do business with the government, whether as a citizen or a vendor. The result Digitization, or Smart Enablement, lowers barriers between government agencies and functional silos, the result of which is improved information sharing security, concrete identity, and data safety. The 2020 census, which essentially is a human inventory, would benefit even more profoundly than what current digital plans detail. Another use case for digitization: An issue not on the GAO list, is identity theft prevention specifically theft of government issued Social Security Numbers (SSNs) which are the ultimate target for any hacker or fraudster. Is it time to replace the SSN? The identities of more than 15 million United States residents are used fraudulently each year. Close to 100 million additional Americans have their personal identifying information placed at risk of identity theft each year when records maintained in government and corporate databases are lost or stolen. Replacing the valuable SSN with a resilient Identity Proxy (using distributed ledger technologies on a network) will eliminate the vulnerable nature of the SSN. This new form of identity can be used openly for all identification needs without the worry of theft and could be accessed safely on any network in any location. The immutable and concrete identity of a U.S. citizen would be backed by a government-sponsored ledger platform that is systemic and would be more respected than the current SSN platform. The future of the connected machine also raises the specter of identification. Cars acting as a corporation and not owned by corporations is a sobering thought. Machine intelligence using digital platforms will have the capability to make decisions for their owners.

7 Machine learning: This is a type of assimilated intelligence in which a computer or system can learn on its own, without being specifically programmed. Machine learning includes other systems that can understand, and even teach themselves, highly complex processes. The result The explosion of sensory network elements, and the data they will generate, will create a daunting task of assimilation. The effect of machine learning will be such that machines will have the ability to distinguish relevant information, act upon it within programmed guidelines, and inform the proper network of valid results. Robotic entities will soon play a significant role in concierge, information gathering and dispensation, and security systems. Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT): While it is associated with cryptocurrencies in the public s view, such as Bitcoin, there is far more to keeping an ironclad, truly reliable, and highly secure record of transactions. DLT offers great potential in dealing with U.S. currency, in voting, in the Census, in General Services Administration procurement, in patents in federally issued identity credentials, and in countless other uses. The result For instance, the Department of Defense (DOD) manages about 4.9 million secondary inventory items, such as spare parts, with a reported value of $91.7 billion as of September Effective and efficient supply chain management is critical for supporting the readiness and capabilities of the armed forces, and for helping to ensure that the DOD avoids spending resources on unneeded inventory that could be better applied to other defense and national priorities. However, the DOD has experienced weaknesses in the management of its supply chain, particularly in the following areas: Inventory management Materiel distribution Asset visibility Specially crafted and extensible DLT Ledger technology would enable the DOD to create a powerful Inventory of Things (IoT) supply chain system. Predictive Analytics: Future quantum compute capabilities will find usage in three functional network elements: The Core, the Edge, and the Point. Integrated network coverage, capability, and speed will be adjusted in real time and on an as-needed basis. The power of knowledge to predict outcomes on an advanced network will mean the difference between being marginally useful and being wildly effective. The result Using currently available and future observation tools (drones, for instance) will optimize network usefulness in terms of gathering information (deep learning) and in terms of useful analysis (deep thinking). Seizing the opportunity. All journeys begin with a single step. The federal government can and should take that first step with the assistance of Sprint, as soon as possible. America has always been a leader in technological innovation, and the federal government can once again lead the way, as it did with the moon landing in the 1960s and the initial development of the Internet in the 1980s. We recommend beginning with technology solutions that can deliver the highest impact in the shortest time period. What is done within the next year or two can lay the groundwork for a long-term migration by the federal government into an advanced environment of mobility, sensory technology, artificial intelligence, and other solutions. Sprint is part of the SoftBank Group. SoftBank is our largest shareholder, with close to 85 percent ownership. Being part of the SoftBank Group allows us to access its capabilities, know-how, and intellectual property. It also allows us to participate in the application of the SoftBank Vision Fund, a $100 billion investment fund that our chairman, Masayoshi Son, uses to invest in IoT businesses around the world. It s a very exciting journey, and being part of this group allows us to think outside of the box in order to go far beyond the solution portfolios that our competitors bring to market. 7

8 We envision a new age of partnership between Sprint and the federal government, building on Sprint s three decades of work with the federal government. This partnership opens the door to a huge array of customized solutions, each of which can improve government efficiency in any agency while enhancing the citizen experience. To have an effective problem-solving strategy it is useful to use a four quadrant approach to determine a solution: 1. What Network(s) will the solution use? 5G systems will enhance almost every network capability. 2. What is the nature of the Application? What effect of the executable is desired, and why? 3. Appliance. What change in endpoints, servers, gateways, mobile devices, and firewalls will be needed? 4. The Service is the overarching policy component of any solution. How the application is provisioned and secured, and how the policy is applied, is important. We invite you to innovate with Sprint Business by contacting Michael.Suess@Sprint.com or visiting Sprint.com/Federal. 8