Several of the projects are secured. A new data center, for example, was fully funded by the Legislature. Some projects, such as VoIP telephony, are in the research phase, but other projects -- such as the statewide wireless system -- are long-term efforts with years to go before completion, and New York is among 36 states that face a gubernatorial election this year. Governor George Pataki has said he will not run for a fourth term, so a change of administration is a certainty, as well as a potential change in political party.
So how does New York's CIO assess the situation? He gave Government Technology a status report today on the plan, and an assessment of the coming election's effects on the projects.
"We've had a strategic plan for several years," said Mittleman, "but we do annual updates on it." This year's updates were "substantial" he said. Some projects were mentioned before as possibilities, but this past year, budget sessions with the Legislature brought projects into better focus. "The plan needed to reflect that."
Statewide Wireless Network
"The statewide wireless network is an overnight success that was about five or six years in the making," said Mittleman. "There was a huge RFP that went out that required a forklift to handle all the paperwork, and then an award was made, then there were contract negotiations, and all that happened, it's fully funded."
The network is for first responders throughout the state -- fire, police, ambulance, etc. -- and the contract calls for 97 percent coverage within five years. Use is voluntary by local governments, and there are various levels of engagement, said Mittleman.
"They can phase in their participation," said Mittleman, "so if they are replacing 20 percent of their equipment in a given year, for example, they can go over to the digital stuff, while maintaining their legacy equipment, and the gateway handles all the translations back and forth."
The equipment and the infrastructure will be owned by MA-COM, and the state will lease it, said Mittleman. "It's a sort of lease purchase agreement, so at the end of the lease, the state will eventually own everything." That way, the state and the company share the risk.
The state has been holding meetings, and is getting the word out about the system, he said, answering questions. "There's a great deal of interest from first responders and government groups," said Mittleman. "All the equipment will be on state contracts, so they don't have to worry about that kind of thing, and the prices are quite competitive." The system is designed for both voice and data, he said, so if a first responder needs GIS information or other datasets, it can travel concurrently with voice traffic.
The first phase will see the wireless system deployed by the end of this year in Chautauqua and Erie counties in Western New York, as well as the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
"This is a dream many people have had in this state for a very long time," said Mittleman," so you can imagine we are all thrilled it's finally coming to pass."
Voice Over Internet Telephony
The VoIP project is in its early stages, said Mittleman. Several agencies have been experimenting with IP telephony, but the state Office for Technology runs all the switches and maintains the voice systems for the Capital area, across all state agencies and some local governments. Some staff have been moved over to begin working on IT telephony, he said, but a business case needs to be built, and some careful evaluation done as to what parts of IP telephony "are still frail."
"We're going to be trailing behind some of the agencies on this," said Mittleman, explaining that this is the backbone of all voice communications throughout state government, "so it has to be right. We need the dial tone to be as reliable as it is today with switching equipment," he said. "The network administrators that work in the server world were not raised in the same culture of reliability and conservatism that characterizes legacy voice systems. Legacy voice had a 100-year head start."
Consolidation
"The Office for Technology runs between 1,500 to 2,000 servers," said Mittleman. Also many state agencies have their own servers. OFT does not generally do applications, he said. Agencies do that, and so they have an estimated 4,000 servers for application development, test beds, etc.
"If I have a server that is running at 40 percent utilization, I should be able to have that box handle multiple applications," said Mittleman "That's what we're hoping to do with this consolidation. There is no brand of server or no version of software that you have ever heard of that we don't have at least one copy of. And that's a management nightmare, because it's impossible to keep the critical mass of technical expertise for every single version." And the expertise resides with people who are retiring, he said. So standardizing architecture and making the enterprise more homogenous are some of the objectives for the consolidation.
"A few years ago we could have talked about virtualization of servers," said Mittleman, "and have everybody say it's a great idea ... Now the question is how many virtual servers can we put on a single box, and what's the business case for it? If I put a mainframe out there or a large super server, and I can get 500 servers to work on it in a virtual way, am I better off than buying 500 servers?" As part of the consolidation project, he said, the state is doing virtualization tests, cataloging all the software versions and types of machines to figure out the optimal mix for the state.
Last legislative session, said Mittleman, funding was provided for a new state data center, and the server study is part of making sure the equipment that will go in is right for the state, and "not a storage shed for the potpourri that we have now."
Continuity
When questioned about the extent of support for these projects, and if they will survive a change of administration and perhaps political party, Mittleman said the short answer is yes.
Over the past five years or so, he said, the New York State CIO council -- 80 plus CIOs from state agencies, and selected counties -- has acted as a governing group and has selected those ideas that have traction and broad agreement. "An example is the enterprise financial management system," he said. "Every agency agrees that they need some kind of a financial management system. So the next question is, 'do we need 62 systems to support, or are we better off with a common infrastructure that is maintained centrally but has the logical breakouts for each agency?'
"The plan and the annual updates," he said, "are reflective of a consensus-building process that has gone on throughout the year and is reflective of the concerns and support that the council members have identified.
"This is management by consensus," said Mittleman, "and that's why I think it will survive a change of administration. The strategic plan was not developed by a personality cult. It is reflective of the needs that everybody perceives in the enterprise."
