Increasingly it's clear, cybersecurity is everyone's concern. And banding together can help bolster cyber protection. Those themes of active engagement and collaboration will be explored July 11 at the seventh annual GTA Technology Summit. With a theme of Strengthening Georgia's Cyber Defenses, the 2018 summit will be held in Augusta, Georgia, at the state's Hull McKnight Georgia Cyber Center for Innovation and Training.

 

Session topics will include the dark web, cybercrime, cybersecurity workforce development, cyber ranges, encouraging innovative defenses, and security policy. Experts from across the cybersecurity field will speak, including representatives from the many entities that have partnered with GTA in creating the Georgia Cyber Center.

 

The center is the right setting for this discussion. Signaling leadership in the critical cybersecurity discipline, the state of Georgia is investing $100 million to create the Georgia Cyber Center. It will become a focal point for building Georgia's cyber defense capabilities, from a skilled workforce to innovative tools, to tested and proven processes. At the summit we will dig into the cybersecurity landscape and its pervasive risks, as well as state efforts to stay ahead of them - efforts that will soon be woven into the programs of the new center.

 

The Technology Summit is once again directed toward business leaders as well as technology professionals from Georgia's state and local entities. Agencies' information security specialists, and business leaders partnering with them, will all find the subject matter particularly relevant. There is no registration fee to attend the summit, and lunch is included. Summit seating is limited, and registration is on a first-come, first-served basis.

 

Summit participants are also cordially invited to the center's grand opening celebration the evening prior, Tuesday, July 10, beginning at 8 p.m. Gov. Nathan Deal will lead a ribbon cutting followed by festivities along the Augusta riverfront.

With things like data encryption or firewalls or server backups, most "regular folks" do appreciate their importance. And, they expect someone else (i.e., the IT team) will take care of it. But end user computing (EUC) services are something altogether different. When it comes to the PCs on people's desks, their laptops or tablets, it quickly gets personal.

So there's a lot riding on the recent re-procurement of EUC services for the state's GETS shared IT services program. And when incoming EUC provider NTT DATA begins service provision July 1, they will take on a personal relationship with 40,000 GETS PC users, each of them with a very visible stake in the game.

NTT DATA doesn't shy from the challenge. First as Dell and more recently under their newer name, they've been the hands behind EUC services in GETS since the program's introduction in 2009. They send the deskside technicians to fix computer problems. They coordinate the refresh cycle to swap out aging PCs. They know the community and the needs.

But NTT DATA won't just be carrying on the status quo. Come July 1, in coordination with GTA and GETS services integrator Capgemini, they will usher in enhanced EUC services. And once their new offerings are fully in place, you'll see some brand new services as well.

One of those planned enhancements is an expanded EUC hardware depot to be managed by NTT DATA. The depot will house a ready supply of EUC hardware and devices, allowing quicker deployment of equipment like laptops when GETS agencies request additional computers or replacements.

Also envisioned is a new offering called tech bars -- a sort of micro EUC support center that can be ordered and situated right on the premises of an agency's office space. Some of the particulars are still to be fine-tuned, but the NTT DATA-operated tech bars will be another option for agencies that see this as a good way to meet EUC support needs of their staff. Additional information will be shared in the lead-up to the July 1 commencement of EUC services by NTT DATA.