New Approach to Addressing Federal IT Challenges

by Skip Liesegang, Vice President, Government Channels Division

Over the past two days, I had the pleasure of attending Brocade’s first Federal Forum lead by Anthony Robbins, the energetic and passionate leader of Brocade’s federal team. The event provided an opportunity for federal IT professionals to discuss their challenges with industry leaders. And, unless you’ve had your head in the sand for the past few years, you know that there are plenty of challenges to be addressed!

This event tackled specific topics such as data center consolidation, cloud computing, virtual enterprises/BYOD, information accessibility, security compliance, and evolving acquisition models.  In my opinion, Brocade really gets it. They’re looking to support the government’s mission critical priorities while also increasing efficiencies and reducing costs. Their product set, pricing models, and innovative approach to solving these needs is refreshing and bold. In fact, Anthony believes that Brocade can help the government save $300-500M over the course of 3-5 years by implementing their new approaches. To learn more about Brocade’s new concepts, check out some of the presentations from the Federal Forum here.

Keep in mind that  in an era of budget austerity, technology is a critical bridge for maintaining mission objectives for the government.  I think Brocade is on the right track here and as a US citizen and taxpayer, I couldn’t be happier someone is building better mousetraps. For partners and the government alike, it’s well worth looking into.