How Multimodal IT Helps the Public Sector with Agility & Stability 1

How Multimodal IT Helps the Public SectorWith Agility & Stability

RESEARCH BRIEF

2 Research Brief

INTRODUCTION:The Agility-Stability ParadoxIn the ever-changing public-sector landscape, your IT enterprise is expected to be both agile and stable. End users expect flaw-less interactions with applications, while employees and CIOs expect data to be secure and servers to run reliably. In fact, in a recent GovLoop survey, nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of re-spondents indicated both safety and accuracy, as well as speed and agility, as absolute must-haves that when considering new technologies for their organization.

But often times these two fundamental assets seem mutually exclusive: how can public agencies achieve agility without sacri-ficing stability, and vice versa?

There are several hurdles keeping public-sector agencies from enabling agile and secure IT enterprises. First off, many government agencies are still relying heavily on legacy and mainframe systems to house and manage their data. More than one-third (37 percent) of respondents in a recent GovLoop survey indicated that their agency still relies mainly upon traditional IT systems.

Legacy systems are often thought to be the safest and most secure option for government data, but maintaining them can be difficult and expensive, and modernizing can be labor-in-tensive. In addition, data and applications often end up siloed, which hinders operational efficiency. Agencies are often tied down by tight budget restrictions, contractual agreements and personnel deficiencies, which makes overhauling outdated systems an uphill battle.

The most daunting hurdle, however, is that many public agen-cies are resistant to change. It is easy to fall into the mindset that if the legacy system still works and provides the needed stability, then an IT overhaul can wait. But the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mindset is dangerous. Technology has changed

more in the past five years than the previous 20, and is not slowing down any time soon. Ignoring the risks of holding on to antiquated enterprise systems and business models will expose your agency to more risk in the long run.

There is an answer: Multimodal technologies can help your agency solve the paradox of achieving both stability and agility. And there are solutions available to help your agency manage the transition from legacy to newer, agile technologies.

Red Hat and GovLoop have partnered for this research brief to help you understand more. In this research brief, we will:

• Define multimodal IT, and guide you through the essen-tials of adopting it

• Speak with Adam Clater, Office of the Chief Technologist, North America Public Sector at Red Hat, about why and how public organizations are looking toward multi-modal IT solutions – like adopting cloud-based and open-source technologies – to modernize their technological processes

• Share results from a recent GovLoop survey about mul-timodal IT and identify and address common misconcep-tions, concerns and trends regarding moving agency data servers to open-source, cloud-based platforms

• Walk through a case study examining the U.S. Army acceleration of technological performance using Red Hat services

Most importantly, we’ll offer advice on initiating the change to open-source solutions in your organization, and show why Red Hat is one of the leaders is helping public-sector organizations achieve both maximum stability and dexterous agility through-out every aspect of their agency’s unique IT enterprise.

How Multimodal IT Helps the Public Sector with Agility & Stability 3

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FIRST UP: WHAT IS MULTIMODAL IT?In light of the rapidly changing tech scene, many organizations have started to look toward the future and adapt their traditional enterprise systems to new and developing technologies. What is emerging now is an environment where agencies are adapting bimodal or multimodal technologies and platforms. In fact, nearly a third (33 percent) of respondents in a recent GovLoop survey of 600 federal, state and local government employees indicate that their agency is already using a mix of both traditional and agile, modern technologies.

But what exactly is multimodal IT, and how are public-sector organi-zations embracing it?

Multimodal IT is not a new concept – just a new term for some-thing that has been happening in public organizations for quite some time.

“If [your organization has] ever had those sort of divisions where you’ve had teams and infrastructure built very specifically, then you’ve already participated and been successful in this idea of bimodal or multimodal IT,” said Adam Clater of Red Hat.Essentially, bimodal or multimodal IT means expanding beyond just one platform and utilizing multiple infrastructures for differing needs and workloads. It means not relying solely on traditional, mainframe infrastructures and incorporating agile, cloud-based platforms into your organization’s enterprise system. It means treating your IT system not as a collection of siloed teams and platforms – i.e. a Windows team, a Legacy team, a Unix team – but as a horizontally scalable enterprise that runs a variety of applica-tions and services simultaneously.

As Clater noted, public-sector organizations are indeed moving toward multimodal IT. In the GovLoop survey, more than a quar-ter (26 percent) of respondents indicate that their agency is still primarily utilizing conventional IT infrastructures, but proceeding with a keen eye toward adopting innovative and agile technolo-gies. Another third of respondents say they already use a mix of both traditional and agile platforms in their agency. This suggests that a solid majority of public employees are at least open to the ideal of multimodal IT.

Multimodal IT means treating your IT system not as a collection of siloed teams and platforms but as a horizontally scalable enterprise that runs a variety of applications and services simultaneously.

How would you describe your agency’s current IT architecture?

Conventional - We primarily rely on traditional & legacy systems (37.4%)

Conventional - But with an eye toward techn-ologies that enable innovation & agility (26.2%).

Innovative - We primarily use new, agileand cloud-based technologies (3.8%).

Mixed - We use both innovative & conventional IT systems (32.6%).

How Multimodal IT Helps the Public Sector with Agility & Stability 5

HOW MULTIMODAL ITMEETS AGENCY PRIORITIESPublic organizations have a wide variety of needs and priorities, and face more stringent budgets and security regulations than most private corporations while still needing to meet high com-puting expectations from both internal and external constituents.

As mentioned, 37 percent of GovLoop survey respondents said that their agency is still relying solely on traditional IT models. When then asked about their organization’s top IT priorities, more than half (53 percent) indicated that modernizing their IT capabili-ties and infrastructure is of utmost importance.

Multimodal addresses this priority by allowing modern, agile technologies to be integrated with the existing system. It allows modernization without a complete overhaul, which is often more well-suited to labor and resource availabilities.

Nearly a third (30 percent) of survey respondents said that en-abling more agile processes is also a top priority at their agen-cy. In the realm of agility, moving mission-peripheral – or even mission-critical, if appropriate – applications out of the traditional mainframe setting and running them on a cloud-based platform both speeds up and improves performance. More so, 26 percent of respondents said that consolidating disparate technology solutions is a top IT priority. Red Hat’s open-source software

improves speed and performance of your computing capabilities by increasing the interoperability between the different envi-ronments of your agency’s IT enterprise. For example, Red Hat’s JBoss middleware provides the scalability to run applications in an open-cloud environment across physical, virtual, mobile and cloud environments. Thus, multimodal technologies can help your agency solve the paradox of achieving both stability and agility.

Finally, 32 percent of respondents said that reducing IT costs and labor is a top priority. Multimodal platforms build automation and security monitoring into the system. Not only does this free up your agency’s IT staff to focus on other projects, but it also creates peace of mind.

“Automation,” said Clater, “is going to help clean up that infrastruc-ture, make things more repeatable and then hopefully give us a lot more personnel resources to start leveraging toward other priorities.”

Less reliance on aging legacy systems means less costly mainte-nance and updates. Reductions in your agency’s bottom line may not be significant immediately, but Clater said the investment in open-source multimodal IT is worth it in the long run “in order to reap the benefits.”

When considering new technologies for your organization, which attributes

are most important to you?

What are your organization’s top current IT priorities? (select up to 3)

Agility & Speed (4.6%)

It depends on the project (16.1%)

I require all of the above (64.7%)

Safety & Accuracy (14.6%)

Modernizing our IT capabilities & infrastructure

Enhancing Cybersecurity 54.2%

51.8%

31.9%

31.7%

29.5%

26.1%

8.4%

Connecting employees & users

Enabling more agile processes at our agency

Reducing costs and/or IT labor

Consolidating disparate technology solutions

Other

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HOW MULTIMODAL IT ADDRESSES AGENCY CONCERNS & CHALLENGESThere are also many IT challenges and concerns that govern-ment employees face that can be solved by adopting multimodal IT. According to the GovLoop survey, more than a quarter (26 percent) of survey respondents indicated that their agency does not have the budget to deploy new, agile tools. There are many ways that Red Hat can help your agency work around budget restrictions. Instead of charging large upfront cost for their codes and programs, Red Hat runs an open-source software subscrip-tion model. The subscription gives customers access to the code and programs, as well as any updates that are released – which proprietary vendors will charge extra for. Furthermore, the sub-scription offers continual support and mentoring from Red Hat to help your staff throughout the transition and beyond. Beyond re-ductions in upfront licensing costs, the automation features that many open-source technologies offer will reduce strain on tech staff, and potentially eliminate the need to acquire and train staff.

Another challenge public-sector organizations face with their IT is a siloed workforce and siloed workloads. Forty-one percent of survey respondents said that organizational siloes impede their organization from modernizing IT, while another 40 percent indicated that a disjointed workforce also prevents them from enhancing cybersecurity efforts.

Multimodal IT breaks down these walls and encourages the IT enterprise to operate as a horizontally scalable unit. Take Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), for instance – Red Hat’s premier open-source cloud-based operating system – runs in highly scalable systems and is able to support your agency’s high de-mand and diverse set of workloads and applications. Integrating disparate workloads onto one all-inclusive server also brings the IT staff together; instead of having an applications team, a data storage team and a security team all working separately, they are now all united by enterprise multimodal systems.

Finally, according to the GovLoop survey, many public-sector em-ployees don’t believe that adopting new multimodal technologies fits into their agency’s IT system strategy. According to our survey, more than 40 percent of respondents do not think open source fits in with their current IT architecture. Agencies of all types, how-ever, have successfully adopted open-source, multimodal technol-ogies, and Clater believes there is indeed a place for open source at your agency regardless of the sector: “There’s always some-thing that we can be doing to help [your agency], whether it’s integration between disparate systems, using something like our fuse middleware and integration system or ... handling messages between your mainframe and your more modern systems, or even a place for you to port applications into a Java stack, there’s certainly somewhere in your infrastructure [for Red Hat].”

Neutral (21.6%)

At your organization, how confident are you regarding the effectiveness of your cybersecurity technologies & strategies?

What challenges have you faced as you work to modernize your IT

infrastructure? (select all that apply)

46.8%

57.6%

40.5%Organizational silos impede process

25.6%My organization doesn’t prioritize modernization

26.2%New solutions aren’t as reliable or accurateas my organization requires

13.4%Other

How Multimodal IT Helps the Public Sector with Agility & Stability 7

Cumbersome technology acquisition processes

HOW MULTIMODAL IT BOLSTERS SECURITYSecurity has always been of utmost importance within the public sector, as many agencies work with highly sensitive and classified data. Indeed, a majority of GovLoop survey respondents (55 percent) indicated that cybersecurity is one of their agency’s top priorities.

It is commonly perceived that the physical server is the safest place to house and manage sensitive data, and that utilizing web-based platforms inherently puts your organization’s data at risk. While a mainframe system does provide the security of being physically located in a secure place, that doesn’t mean that a cloud-based system cannot provide the same – or better – safeguards against potential threats. One benefit of multimodal technologies is that your agency’s legacy system can still be a major part of the enterprise. Mission-critical applications and data can remain on the mainframe, while more peripheral applications that manage less sensitive data can be moved to a cloud-based platform. This way, the peace of mind of keeping the legacy sys-tem’s safeguards remains.

Multimodal technologies are already built with security in mind from the start. Cybersecurity thresholds are essentially built into every aspect of these new, agile technologies, said Clater.

“[At Red Hat], we’re really looking to build that level of security and security remediation into the tooling and infrastructure [of these new technologies] as we move forward,” he said, “because it’s one thing to identify how we should [stand] from a security posture today, but it’s something completely different to identify a bug and fix that bug across my [entire] infrastructure tomorrow.”

A majority of survey respondents (54 percent) said one of the main ways they are working to increase security efforts at their agency is by employing more continuous network monitoring – something multimodal IT can help with by utilizing more automation. With traditional mainframe systems, continuous monitoring typically means hiring more staff to be present around the clock to watch over the server. Most agencies, however, simply cannot hire all of the IT staff needed to accomplish this goal. Automation allows IT staff to focus more on other pertinent tasks, but alerts staff when there is a security risk that demands human attention. Not only does this put in a system of continuous monitoring, but also enhances real-time threat mitigation – something that 32 percent of respondents said their agency is pursuing to increase security.

53.5%

35.9%

35.7%

31.7%

22.6%

7.4%

Enhance perimeter defenses

Implement continuous network monitoring

Perform risk-based analysis of systems

Increase real-time threat mitigation capabilities

Organizational silos

Incompatibility among tools & technologies

Overwhelming amount & variety of network data

Legacy systems don’t provide enough security

39.6%

46.8%

39.1%

32.8%

39.1%

29%

26.2%

13%

What initiatives are you pursuing to increase cybersecurity at your organization? (select up to 3)

What challenges impede your organizations’ cybersecurity efforts?

(select all that apply)

Other

Other

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HOW OPEN SOURCECAN SUPPORT YOUR AGENCY’S MULTIMODAL ITA major reason multimodal technologies offer so many benefits is that they incorporate open-source platforms into the existing IT infrastructure. Open web-based platforms provide a much more scalable system than the mainframe that can manage multiple types of workloads at once. Thus, cloud-based platforms – like Red Hat’s Enterprise Linux – allow organizations to shift some of their applications or servers to the cloud, while still incorporating and communicating with mainframe systems. Linux is the core of your agency’s wide array of applications and workloads, said Clat-er: “So if you’re running a large Oracle database implementation, or a large SAP implementation ... those are all running on Linux.”

At its core, open source is simply a method of non-hierarchical collaboration, which tears down siloes and allows those from different disciplines to work together toward a common goal. Some contend that open source actually dates back to the World War II era, where the government sponsored engineers, scien-tists, mathematicians and more from non-government sectors to work together to create technologies such as the atomic bomb, submarines and, eventually, computers.

Despite open source’s deep roots in government, some may still doubt the reliability and security capabilities of open-source technologies. In fact, 34 percent of GovLoop survey respondents think that open source doesn’t provide enough security for their agency’s data and applications.

However, the “open” aspect of open source means that the codes and programs shared within the open-source community go through several rounds of critique and peer review. Open-source codes and programs are not simply publicly available for anyone to view and use; collaborators are required to share any improve-ments or adjustments made to open-source code. Thus, the creator will always know if the code has been altered, will be able to respond and adapt to any changes made and will likely benefit from any suggestions made to the code.

Another 12 percent of respondents doubted open source be-cause they believed that open-source providers do not under-stand their security needs and provide enough ongoing support. Red Hat recognizes this concern, and embeds security measures into every one of its products and services.

“Security from a Linux and open-source perspective,” said Clater, “especially when you’re working with an enterprise class imple-mentation like what Red Hat provides, is certainly not a backburn-er, but [is] something that’s on the forefront of our consideration, something we bake into all of our products.”

Sharing code with other developers allows errors to be caught quickly and for a more rapid response time when there is a se-curity threat at hand. For example, data from Mil-OSS.org shows that the Firefox project team fixed security issues three times more quickly than the Microsoft team took to remedy security concerns found in their Windows line of products.

Besides security, budget restrictions are another top concern regarding open-source technologies. Twenty-six percent of survey respondents said their agency does not have the budget to deploy new open-source tools. Open source, however, offers potential cost savings as opposed to traditional, proprietary software packag-es and programs. With proprietary code, the licenses to codes and programs can be purchased from the original developer – usually for a hefty upfront fee. Then organizations are often charged more fees for service, maintenance and any system updates.

Over time, this ends up costing agencies a lot of money, and leaves them tied down by the proprietor’s cost structure and ownership of the code. Open-source software and programs, though, are often provided via a subscription plan, like what Red Hat offers to its clients. With this model, clients pay a flat subscrip-tion fee, which eliminates cost hikes when updates are released. The subscription model encourages continual usage and sharing of code, and frees users from the hands of a sole proprietor.

The communal aspect of open-source technologies has allowed IT workers across sectors to come together to develop, share, edit and utilize high-quality codes and programs. And the expanse of cloud-based platforms and services developed by today’s thriving open-source community is the real driver behind the shift to multimodal IT, said Clater.

How Multimodal IT Helps the Public Sector with Agility & Stability 9

DEPLOYING OPEN SOURCE AT YOUR AGENCYThere are many steps public-sector CIOs and IT managers can take when adopting open-source technologies. First, it is best to introduce multimodal technologies in small doses, instead of in-stigating an entire IT overhaul at once. Start with moving non-mis-sion-critical applications to an open-source cloud platform. Clater even recommends starting with customer-facing applications, as errors and areas of improvement will be identified quickly via rapid constituent feedback.

Second, CIOs need to make sure their organization understands why open source benefits them, and why it is the optimal course of action for the organization as a whole. Instigating the cultural shift from a traditional tech mindset to an agile perspective is one of the largest barriers CIOs and IT professionals will experience when adopting open-source technologies at their agency.

“For any of these major shifts,” said Clater, “it’s people, process and technology – it’s not just one. And you’ve got to embrace the culture and cultural change in order to make that successful transition.”

Finally, organizations should work with a qualified broker to help along the way and provide ongoing support. Public organizations cannot go in on the move to multimodal IT alone, and that is where Red Hat can help. Red Hat is a global leader in providing open-source platforms and services to customers in both the private and public sectors. Utilizing a community-sourced, cloud-based suite of products, Red Hat provides world-class solutions to help bridge the technological gap in your agency. With such a robust portfolio of products and services, Red Hat is well equipped to assist your agency transition from traditional IT to agile and stable open-source technologies, all designed to meet your agency’s specific needs.

8.7%

26.1%We do not have the budget to deploy new open source tools

27.2%

8.7%We have too much data to process with an open source tool

9.8%Open source tools don’t provide the type of customized functionality my organization requires

12%

41.3%

33.7%Open source doesn’t provide enough security

I’m not sure (67%)

No (16%)

Yes (17%)

Does your organization currently use any open source technologies?

What capabilities do you support with open source technology?

Why not?

55.6%

50.5%

42.4%

36.4%

36.4%

33.3%

10.1%

Data management and/or analytics

Website & content management

Collaboration

Application development

Cybersecurity

IT infrastructure

“For any of these major shifts it’s people, process and technology – it’s not just one. And you’ve got to embrace the culture and cultural change in order to make that successful transition.”Adam Clater, Office of the Chief Technologist, North America Public Sector, Red Hat

Other

Other

CASE STUDYOPEN SOURCE AT THE HEART OF DEFENSEThe federal government is a longtime pioneer of multimodal IT. Red Hat has worked with myriad agencies for more than a de-cade developing, testing and promoting innovative open-source technologies. For example, in the early 2000s, NASA, NOAA, the Department of Energy and the National Weather service all began moving their workloads to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Many proj-ects from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DAR-PA) are even publicly housed on GitHub, one of the most popular open-source headquarter sites, according to Wired magazine. The most long-lasting and fruitful partnership, however, is the 15-year collaboration between Red Hat and the Department of Defense’s (DoD) own U.S. Army.

In 2002, the Army first adopted Red Hat Enterprise Linux for its Blue Force Tracker System, a complex data tracking and analytics system that operated abroad in jeeps and tanks on the battlefield in the Middle East. The agile Linux operating system allowed the vehicles to manage vast amounts of data, all while keeping the mission-critical data safe.

The Army also utilized Red Hat’s OpenShift platform-as-a-service (PaaS) applications, which allows each user-developed applica-tion to run as its own element or gear inside a Linux container. Containerization, Clater said, allows more rapid computing and scalability. Instead of each application utilizing its own machine, a PaaS platform such as OpenShift allows all of these applications to be run as a container on the Linux server.

“Containerization is really acting as a forcing function between all the different types of cloud technologies,” said Clater.

Instead of just providing the infrastructure, (Linux) OpenShift delivers needed cloud-based services on the infrastructure itself. Overall, implementing Red Hat’s solutions ended up saving more than $5 million.

In addition to the scalability Red Hat’s products and services offer, they also have achieved military-grade security certification. Red Hat Enterprise Linux received Common Criteria certification in 2006, and has since earned more than 15 additional security certifications. RHEL also falls within the regulations outlined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and many government security technical implementation guides (STIGs). In 2009, DoD even released an official memo, “Clarifying Guidance Regarding Open Source Software (OSS),” asserting the value of im-plementing open-source software and assuring that open-source software are indeed secure enough for defense-level applications and data.

The 21st century has brought increasingly difficult demands on our government’s defense agencies. Budget cuts, media scruti-ny, strict security requirements and mission-critical operations mean that the U.S. Army does not have any room for error when choosing enterprise systems and solutions. That’s why to this day, Linux is one of only two preferred operating systems the Army uses enterprise-wide.

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ABOUT RED HAT ABOUT GOVLOOP

CONCLUSIONToday’s IT landscape is evolving quickly, and public-sector or-ganizations need to keep up. Though many organizations have already started adopting modern, agile technologies, there are many that have yet to take the plunge and are wary of the transition away from their long-lasting legacy systems.

Multimodal technologies allow agencies to keep their legacy systems, while moving only appropriate applications and data to open-source platforms. Additionally, multimodal technolo-gies harness the computing power of open-source platforms to greatly increase speed and agility. Multimodal and open-source technologies also have security features built in every layer to ensure your agency’s data is safe.

Multimodal IT offers your agency not only agility, but also stability and cost savings, and can set your agency up for what is to come in the IT future.

Red Hat® is the world’s leading provider of open source solu-tions, using a community-powered approach to provide reliable and high-performing cloud, virtualization, storage, Linux® and middleware technologies. Today, Red Hat is at the forefront of open source software development for enterprise IT, with a broad portfolio of products and services for commercial markets. That vision for developing better software is a reality, as CIOs and IT departments around the world rely on Red Hat to deliver solutions that meet their business needs. Solutions that provide technology leadership, performance, security, and unmatched value to more than 90 percent of Fortune 500 com-panies. Learn more: http://www.redhat.com/en/technologies/industries/government

GovLoop’s mission is to “connect government to improve government.” We aim to inspire public-sector professionals by serving as the knowledge network for government. GovLoop connects more than 250,000 members, fostering cross-govern-ment collaboration, solving common problems and advancing government careers. GovLoop is headquartered in Washing-ton, D.C., with a team of dedicated professionals who share a commitment to connect and improve government.

For more information about this report, please reach out to info@govloop.com.

How Multimodal IT Helps the Public Sector with Agility & Stability 11

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