In early November, Red Hat sponsored their annual Red Hat Government Symposium 2022 at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C. With an overarching theme of “Innovation Unleashed,” the one-day event was packed with eight insightful keynotes and panels delivered by nearly 20 industry and government leaders, plus a half-dozen drill-down breakout sessions.
As the day unfolded, the following themes emerged:
Deploying and scaling at the mission edge
The modern battlespace involves satellites, drones and sensors that send and receive data at the extreme edge. Symposium attendees heard from Winston Beauchamp, deputy CIO of the Air Force, and Michelle Davis, director of DoD Solution Architects for Red Hat, about ways the military is using edge compute and data management to accelerate critical decisions and dominate the battlespace.
We also learned about deployment-ready edge technology from Mark Valcich, civilian general manager of Public Sector for Intel, and Dylan Conner, vice president and product manager for Archon. They described standards-based technology that’s enabling rapid edge implementations with stronger security capabilities today.
Achieving automation and insights
Machine learning (ML) and other forms of artificial intelligence (AI) are showing up in more places. Justin Taylor, vice president of AI for Lockheed Martin, and Chris Edillon, solution architect for Red Hat, described how intelligent technologies are transforming the capabilities of drones.
Conference-goers learned about other advanced analytics capabilities in a panel discussion by Jesus Caban, chief of Clinical Research Informatics at Walter Reed Medical Center, and Amanda Purnell, director of Data and Analytics Innovation for the Department of Veterans Affairs. These government leaders provided first hand stories of how AI and ML are helping agencies solve real-world, critical challenges.
Building cyber-resilience
Cybersecurity is now central to innovation. A multilayered defense can help stack the cyber-risk deck in your agency’s favor, noted panelists Ken Bailey, section chief of threat hunting for CISA; Jon Boyens, deputy chief of computer security for NIST; and Sandra López, CTO for Leidos. They shared insight into how organizations can build resilience into their networks and minimize downtime in the face of a breach.
Quantifying quantum computing
Finally, Vishnu Parasuraman, lead of the federal HCT OpenShift offering at IBM, and Michael Epley, chief architect, Public Sector, at Red Hat, explored the vast potential of quantum computing. Combining the results of quantum algorithms with classical computers can unleash a wealth of real-time data to support government missions. These innovations are moving within reach.
