Cisco Systems, Inc. Response to White Paper Next Generation Network March 14, 2013 Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Cisco Systems, Inc. Response to Request for White Paper Next Generation Network March 14, 2013 Cisco Systems, Inc. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary . Legal Disclaimer Thank you for the opportunity to provide this White Paper for your consideration. Please note that this White Paper may include proprietary, confidential, and/or trade secret information, which, if included, will be clearly marked as such. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 ii Trademarks Every effort has been made to identify trademark information in the accompanying text. However, this information may unintentionally have been omitted in referencing particular products. Product names that are not so noted may also be trademarks of their respective manufacturers. Cisco is a registered trademark of Cisco Systems, Inc. The Cisco logo is a registered trademark of Cisco Systems, Inc. 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Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 iii Table of Contents The Next Generation Network for Public Sector .............................................................................1 Executive Summary .........................................................................................................................1 Future IT Trends ......................................................................................................................... 2 Current Network Capabilities for Government Services ............................................................ 3 Contract Scope ............................................................................................................................ 5 Procurement Delay...................................................................................................................6 Scope Recommendations .........................................................................................................7 Terms and Conditions ................................................................................................................. 7 Public Sector Use Cases ............................................................................................................. 7 Future IT Trends ..............................................................................................................................8 Network Capabilities for Government Services ............................................................................12 The Way Forward ..................................................................................................................... 14 Architecture Rationale .............................................................................................................. 16 Impact of Commoditization ...................................................................................................... 17 Networking Components .......................................................................................................... 19 Network Infrastructure ...........................................................................................................23 Cloud/Data Center .................................................................................................................23 Collaboration Services ...........................................................................................................24 Physical Security ....................................................................................................................25 Network Management ............................................................................................................26 Procurement and Technology Scope .............................................................................................28 Typical Components of State-Wide IT Procurements .............................................................. 29 Objective ................................................................................................................................29 Purpose ...................................................................................................................................30 Scope of Work .......................................................................................................................30 Definitions of Terminology ...................................................................................................30 Scope Recommendations .......................................................................................................... 31 Products and Services Scope..................................................................................................32 Addition of New, Value-Added Technological Advances during Contract Term ................34 Eligible Users .........................................................................................................................34 Manufacturer’s Fulfillment Partners ......................................................................................34 Terms and Conditions ....................................................................................................................35 Common Contractual Issues and Concerns .............................................................................. 35 OEM as Prime/Contractor Holder with Resellers as Subs.....................................................35 Limitation of Liability............................................................................................................35 Most Favored Nation Language or Similar Language ...........................................................35 Pricing Based on Minimum Discounts versus Fixed Price ....................................................36 Capital Lease Financing .........................................................................................................36 Refurbished Equipment .........................................................................................................36 Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary. Document1 iv Payment Terms ......................................................................................................................36 Delivery, Inspection, Acceptance, and Rejection ..................................................................36 OEM’s Standard Warranty ....................................................................................................37 Standard Maintenance Offerings ...........................................................................................37 Standard Software License.....................................................................................................37 Consequential, Incidental, Indirect, Special, or Punitive Exclusion ......................................37 Liquidated Damages ..............................................................................................................38 Rights and Remedies of State for Default ..............................................................................38 General Indemnity .................................................................................................................38 Patent, Copyright, and Trade Secret Indemnity .....................................................................39 Rights in Work Product(s) .....................................................................................................40 Right to Copy or Modify........................................................................................................40 Stop Work Order ....................................................................................................................40 Returns ...................................................................................................................................40 e-Procurement or Online Catalog ..........................................................................................41 Confidentiality Provisions .....................................................................................................41 Contract Term ........................................................................................................................41 Public Sector Use Cases for the Next-Generation Network ..........................................................42 General Government Operations .............................................................................................. 42 Virtual Citizen Services ............................................................................................................ 43 Health and Human Services ...................................................................................................... 44 Education .................................................................................................................................. 44 Public Safety ............................................................................................................................. 45 Justice........................................................................................................................................ 46 Summary ........................................................................................................................................46 Glossary of Current and Future Technology .................................................................................48 Acronyms .........................................................................................................................................1 List of Figures Figure 1. The Network Is the Foundation ....................................................................................... 4 Figure 2. Trends in Networking and Supporting Infrastructure ..................................................... 8 Figure 3. Cyber Security Is Needed across the Network ................................................................ 9 Figure 4. Applications, Devices, and Support .............................................................................. 12 Figure 5. Application Layers on the Same Network Infrastructure .............................................. 15 Figure 6. User Services Are Supported by the Network Services and Foundation ...................... 17 Figure 7. Underbuilt Network Cannot Support Extra User Services ............................................ 18 Figure 8. Virtualization Enables Network Consolidation ............................................................. 19 Figure 9. The Four Layers of Shared Network ............................................................................. 24 Figure 10. Digital Signage ............................................................................................................ 56 Figure 11. OSI Model ................................................................................................................... 61 Figure 12. WAN and Application Optimization Lifecycle ........................................................... 63 Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary. Document1 v Figure 13. Architecture Overview ................................................................................................ 66 List of Tables Table 1. Vendor Solutions .............................................................................................................. 6 Table 2. Five Technology Areas ................................................................................................... 13 Table 3. Network Capabilities Examples...................................................................................... 20 Table 4. Essential Networking Components Support Government Services ............................... 22 Table 5. Cloud Computing versus Traditional IT ......................................................................... 23 Table 6. Major Technology Categories ........................................................................................ 32 Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary. Document1 vi The Next Generation Network for Public Sector Executive Summary Technologists, business managers, and policymakers in the Public Sector expect Information Technology (IT) to improve service delivery with the same or fewer resources and to contain costs. IT procurement poses unique challenges, because of the rapid pace of technological advances and the lengthy timeframe for competitive processes to take place. Often, contracts are out of date before the procurement process is complete. For example, existing contract vehicles for networking, communications, and data center technology did not foresee innovations such as: Cloud computing The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) to work trend Video and web conferencing for collaboration and training Network-connected sensors for public safety and facilities management. As a result, many Public Sector organizations have had to develop supplemental Requests for Proposal (RFPs) or Requests for Information (RFIs) and reissue or withdraw RFPs, complicating the procurement process and sometimes delaying project starts. This White Paper is intended to share information that may make it easier for public-sector procurement officers to meet organizational needs and provide guidance on how to develop new RFPs to be more flexible. This White Paper describes: Future IT trends that we expect connected governments to adopt over the next decade to increase efficiency, improve citizen services, and reduce costs. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 1 Current network capabilities for government services needed to support user services today and into the future, including the network infrastructure, cloud and data center solutions, collaboration services, physical security, and connectivity to service providers. Scoping the contract to make it flexible. Building flexibility into the procurement process allows Public Sector Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and procurement officers to take advantage of technological advances. It also helps procurement officers take advantage of changes in pricing and licensing models, manufacturing innovations, and catalog changes resulting from acquisitions or spinoffs which occur frequently in a world of consolidation and innovation. Terms and conditions that either increase or decrease the flexibility of the contract. While every Public Sector entity has its own terms and conditions, some make it harder for vendors and system integrators to respond with the best solution and pricing. We have provided some highlights of terms and conditions that cause problems for most technology companies from a “risk” perspective. Contract requirements that are considered non-standard in the IT industry tend to create significant additional financial burden on companies to comply with, which will ultimately impact the pricing of their offerings under the contract. We provide alternative legal language to enable Public Sector procurement officers to protect the public interest, get the products and services their agencies want, meet their legal requirements, and enable the vendor community to do business without undue risk. Public Sector Use Cases help you have a conversation with your stakeholders; we have included use cases for government services, public safety, justice, health and human services, and other departments. Future IT Trends The public and private sectors are at the threshold of a massive transition in how and where work is performed. Just a few years ago, work was a place. You sat at a desk and used a Personal Computer (PC) to access information and applications hosted on servers somewhere in the building. To meet with someone, you took a trip. To learn about departmental news, you went to a meeting or read a newsletter. Today, work is no longer a place, but an activity. An increasingly mobile workforce expects remote access to use voice, video, and data services from anywhere, any time, on any device, including personal smartphones and tablets. Many existing contracting vehicles did not anticipate the contemporary government workplace: Cloud services are supplanting departmental servers to enable IT services sharing A more mobile workforce has given rise to Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies and virtual desktops Video has become a mainstay for collaboration, training, justice, and public safety Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 2 Cyber security is more complex; the result of: more sophisticated attackers the move to cloud services mobile computing remote access Other Key Threats Software Defined Networking (SDN) is helping governments provide better performance with existing bandwidth “Big Data” analytics are enabling smarter government and more personalized citizen service Networks connect people, places, and devices to create an “Internet of Everything.” Read more about future IT trends. Current Network Capabilities for Government Services The old government paradigm where employees sit in offices to perform their work in order to access essential services and perform job functions is obsolete. While there will probably always be capital cities and major city government office complexes, current technology innovations provide government agencies operational efficiencies and increased productivity and enable employees to work anywhere, anytime, on multiple devices as needed to do their jobs. Most employers and employees now see the benefits of anywhere, anytime access to information using any device. These shifts in how and where we work, coupled with innovations in IT, are driving changes in our basic ability to collaborate with one another and get the information we need to meet our needs. More and more flexibility, more remote access, more non-standard, non-IT issued devices and equipment accessing the network means that today’s communications networks must have capabilities that yesterday’s basic data networks never envisioned. The burden to deliver these new capabilities falls largely on procurement officers. As procurement officials meet the needs and challenges presented by a demanding public, a mobile workforce, and agency managers, their new contracts and procurement vehicles must incorporate a broad array of new technology. New contracts must be broad enough and flexible enough to adapt to future changes and innovations in technology. Chief Information Officers and technology professionals understand the pace and changes in technology, and they want contracts that enable them to provide solutions to business problems facing government agencies and current and innovative technology to meet government workforce requirements. Procurement officials can help the technology professionals be successful and enable government to gain operational efficiencies while reducing operational costs. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 3 It all starts with understanding that networks are the foundation upon which all other IT solutions function. Guaranteeing that everything works to its highest level of functionality and meets the security requirements of today’s workforce requires approaching IT procurement from an architectural perspective (Figure 1). Figure 1. The Network Is the Foundation By working with IT professionals to develop a complete architecture, IT procurement will leverage the network to transform day-to-day operations. Utilizing an architectural/solutions based approach to contracting, as opposed to procurements for single point products, will create this IT platform for transformation and provide a foundation to enable future IT services and capabilities. The following includes the Next Generation Network (NGN): NGN Requirements for the Public Sector Low total cost of ownership: Acquisition costs are only a fraction of the total cost of ownership. To lower operational costs, an NGN also needs easy-to-use management and troubleshooting tools and the ability to scale without a network redesign or equipment replacement. Global availability: Availability has a growing impact on the business of government because the network supports critical applications for public safety and citizen services. The growing popularity of cloud services in government requires highly available connections to cloud service providers. Consistent quality of experience: Successfully integrating collaboration capabilities such as instant messaging and videoconferencing into business processes requires a good quality of experience. Without it, adoption suffers. Transport virtualization: Rather than building and maintaining multiple networks for voice, video, energy management, and so on, governments are consolidating to a Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 4 single physical network that supports multiple virtual networks. This lowers costs while also providing economies of scale for management, redundancy, and so on. Cyber security: Attacks are becoming more frequent and more sophisticated. The NGN needs information assurance capabilities that allow high-priority applications to continue functioning even during attacks. Requirements include authentication, rolebased access control, and prevention of attacks intended to bring down servers. Secure mobility: An increasingly mobile workforce needs access to government services from anywhere, from any device — including personal tablets and smartphones. Support for video and other rich-media applications: The NGN needs the performance and management tools to deliver a consistent video experience without interfering with the performance of other applications running over the same network. These are known as medianet capabilities. Energy awareness: To lower energy consumption, the NGN needs to report energy utilization of devices connected to the network, and automatically power them down when appropriate. An example is powering down wireless access points and Internet Protocol (IP) phones when offices are closed. Read about Network Capabilities for Government Services. Contract Scope In the IT world, there are at least two distinct types of procurements: products and/or commodities; and services and solutions. Governments continue to need to make commodity and product procurements. However, in order to make sure that your contract remains flexible enough to enable your customers to acquire the equipment they need, the scope needs to broaden the narrow focus on products to include solutions and architectures. To make sure that your buying vehicles remain relevant as technology, organizational needs, and licensing models change, the scope should frame “the ask” in a way to address specific business requirements or solve specific problems. Instead of specifying a “box” that meets specifications such as speed or number of ports, consider writing requests for solutions that meet a business need such as: Video or Web conferencing solutions to provide distance learning Voice over IP to reduce telephone line costs and leverage the data network infrastructure Data center consolidation and virtualization solutions to reduce costs Interoperable communications solutions that enable public safety employees to talk directly using any type of radio or phone and to also share video and blueprints. Each of these solutions requires a complete architecture, which includes some combination of the components shown in Table 1. Vendor solutions for public-sector business needs require a combination of infrastructure, services, devices, and applications. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 5 Table 1. Vendor Solutions Solution Component Examples Infrastructure Routers, switches, compute, servers, storage, wired and wireless Local Area Network (LAN) Services Security policy, role-based access control, XaaS Devices IP phones, immersive video endpoints, sensors and actuators, IP video surveillance cameras, government-owned thin clients and zero clients, personal devices like tablets and smartphones Applications Unified communications, contact center, video surveillance management, interoperability for first responders With the advent of solution based and architectural RFPs, some innovative procurement officials are also incorporating third-party products or services as part of their overall solution in their product catalog contracts. In this way, a solution might be enabled through a single contract which results in a turn-key solution rather than having to develop multiple contracts. Procurement Delay The current proposal process typically does not keep pace with the speed of technology innovation. In most cases, from the time of RFP release to the time the contract has been awarded, the approved products in the contract will have most likely gone through an upgrade, been replaced with newer models, converged with new technologies or even discontinued. For example, many current government contracts did not anticipate the revolution in convergence of voice, video, and data into a single IP network. Current contracts last for 5 years or more. Most procurement officials who were not technologists did not foresee the convergence of voice, video, and data into a single IP network. Many current contracts have limitations that prevent companies from providing comprehensive products and services offerings, which in turn prevent agencies from being able to order complete solutions through the contract. Their inability to procure complete solutions under a contract causes them to issue multiple RFIs and/or RFPs in order to get the complete equipment they need from vendors, which defeats the purpose of the original contract. Alternatively, customers may have to issue multiple purchase orders under multiple contracts in order to get the complete solution. This is where opportunities for efficiency gains can be captured. State contracts were initially designed to save government and education members’ time and money by having a complete parts list that would streamline the procurement process and provide business managers with complete solutions or capabilities. Today the network is the foundation for day-to-day operations of every level of government and should be looked at as a utility. Governments need to upgrade their network at a much faster pace than through the traditional RFP process to realize the gains of technology advances. These contracting problems are not new and solutions have been found at the federal level with the General Services Administration (GSA) contract. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 6 As IT procurement shifts from individual “point” products towards solutions and capabilities that meet business requirements, a complete networking solution is known as an architecture. Networking architectures typically include: Switches and routers Network services that operate in the background to provide a good user experience such as fast application response and smooth video Endpoints connected to the network, such as IP phones, immersive video units, and thin clients used to access “virtual desktops,” IP video surveillance cameras, or sensors Compute and storage capabilities Applications such as voice, instant messaging, or video surveillance monitoring. Switches are not commodities, like printers or cables. The least expensive switches do little more than transport data. In contrast, switches with the right set of advanced features can do much more, quickly paying back the incremental investment. For example, features that simplify management, automate port configuration, and accelerate troubleshooting can lower operational overhead. Similarly, the ability to carry voice and video traffic can eliminate the costs of building and maintaining separate networks. Scope Recommendations This section provides example RFP language that can be used in an RFP to help the Procurement Officer to ask for: The best pricing The broadest feature set Equipment that meets Public Sector agency use requirements today and into the future. The original RFP and awarded contract should contain anticipatory provisions that allow for the future addition of new, supplementary, or converged network-centric IT products, services, software and/or solutions as a value-add. Read more about contract scope. Terms and Conditions Being aware of suppliers’ perspectives on terms and conditions when you craft the RFP can help suppliers offer you advantageous pricing. Examples include authorizing Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to work with certified resellers as subcontractors; basing contracts on minimum discounts rather than fixed pricing; and agreeing to standard OEM warranty terms. Read more about terms and conditions. Public Sector Use Cases Public sector use cases provide a description of common discussions between procurement officers, politicians, government leaders, managers, and CIOs. We have provided some examples Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 7 of use cases to help procurement officers connect these discussions with Network Capabilities that would provide the complete solution for the Use Case. In the end, we hope that we help buyers understand where the technology is headed; what the capabilities of their networks must be to meet current and future government business needs; and how to ask the market to provide these capabilities over the duration of the next contract period. Read more about Public Sector Use Cases Future IT Trends It is a very exciting time to be in the IT field and in particular in government IT. The ongoing promise of IT innovation has been to increase capabilities and/or productivity while decreasing cost for companies and governments alike. Over the last decade, we have seen this happen at a greater rate than ever before as technologies such as PCs, Web/Internet and wireless LAN networks have been integrated into the business of government. This innovation insertion will continue to occur and our governments will provide more capabilities to more citizens at a lower cost. Some of the trends that will impact the future operation of government are described below and shown in Figure 2. Figure 2. Trends in Networking and Supporting Infrastructure Many of these trends are already integrating into state and local governments. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 8 Cyber security: Cyber security is a comprehensive approach to information assurance that encompasses policy, supply chain, IT architectures, and security solutions (Figure 3). Figure 3. Cyber Security Is Needed across the Network Cyber security reduces the risks presented by the pervasiveness and interdependence brought forth by the global network. This is accentuated by the use of cloud and the move to mobile computing. Privacy, identity, and data integrity are all critical elements of a government IT system and should be addressed by good cyber hygiene. However, as we have seen in the recent years, attacks are more directed to specific targets and attackers are more capable than ever before. This puts pressure on all entities, both public and private sector, to secure assets (data and infrastructure) in such a manner to quickly adapt to any cyber threat. Cyber security will continue to be a key priority for all levels in government until a comprehensive, adaptable, and effective defense is systematically delivered to protect our government and citizen assets. Desktop Virtualization: Desktop virtualization/Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is the movement of workloads from PCs to data center servers, creating virtual clients. In this environment, applications and complete operating environments are hosted on servers and Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 9 storage in the data center. This allows users to access their desktop from any location, without being tied to a single client device, since the resources are hosted. For government IT, this means a more centralized, secure, and efficient client environment that is easier to maintain. Some solutions can go beyond traditional desktop virtualization, providing an integrated and optimized multimedia, voice, and video solution that considers the complete workspace: computing, communications, and collaboration. Mobility and BYOD: With the pervasive deployment of high-speed broadband technologies like Wi-Fi, cellular networks, and the parallel advancements in mobile computer devices (smartphones, tablets, and ultra-books), it is no surprise that we are seeing the movement to a mobile workforce. This movement started in the consumer voice market, where mobile phone usage topped landline usage in 2002 and has continued to grow to more that 5x landline usage by 2010. As the mobile devices became more intelligent and capable through compute power and common user interfaces, more typical desktop workloads have been moved to the mobile device. Email and web browsing were the first use cases; however, more and more vertical specific applications are being ported to these mobile devices daily. Today it is typical to see taxis using smart devices for point of sale transactions, realtors using tablets to sell properties, and airline pilots leveraging these devices to replace hundreds of pages of flight documents. Cloud: Simply put, cloud is the umbrella term for enabling and delivering a service offering which has been created to be shared among others to lower costs and allow resource flexibility. In the coming years, states will become cloud consumers, providers, and brokers for themselves and smaller government entities and will have a portfolio of options to choose from. The National Institutes of Standards and Technologies (NIST) have done a great job creating a classification system for the various types of clouds to help consumers, vendors, and providers to have a common taxonomy. http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-145/SP800-145.pdf Video-Enabled Services: The use of videoconferencing and video streaming has become very common in government agencies. However, these technologies are still primarily used in the traditional office sense of providing virtual meetings, distance learning, and the streaming of leadership communications. We believe that video technology will have an ever expanding role in increasing productivity and bringing new capability/services to government agencies. Leveraging video tools to enable remote interpretation services to courts in Florida provides a cost-effective way of delivering critical citizen services. Video cameras along the highways which are networks and connected to analytical engines can provide valuable safety and timely maintenance services. Similarly, video capabilities are changing the way medical consultations occur in remote locations. Video capabilities will continue to be tied to government missions as the best way to allow government services to virtually serve citizens. Big Data: The amount of data in the world is being collected and stored at unprecedented rates. According to a study by International Data Corporation (IDC), the world’s information is doubling every 2 years. In 2011, the world created a staggering 1.8 zetabytes, and it is projected that by 2020 the world will generate 50 times that amount of information. This is a small statistic that shows that data, especially machine-generated unstructured and semi-structured data sets are growing at an enormous rate. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 10 Big Data is defined as, when data sets become so large that traditional technologies, techniques, and tools do not apply for extracting insights in a reasonable timeframe and cost-effective manner. This lends itself to a new generation of technologies and corresponding considerations. These data sets are crucial for making decisions, providing insights, and driving productivitybased growth in the economy. In recent years, federal, state, and local governments have seen their data sets grow exponentially in the volume, variety, and velocity attributes. They are looking for ways to manage, analyze, and extract value from these Big Data sets to support government and citizens. There are several benefits of big data analytics for the government. In Public Sector government, Big Data insights can provide higher quality citizen services; cost savings from operation efficiency; increased government accountability; fraud and cost error reduction; open data source for citizens; and finally, public trust in governments. Furthermore, Government Healthcare and Education can see large benefits from Big Data Analytics. Internet of Everything (IoE): Networks will see explosive growth as everyone understands the benefits of the interactions between people, machines, and sensors. The network as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Many technologies that are currently not networked will become networked such as transportation, building controls including physical security, Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC), and lighting, and eventually there will be an Internet of Everything. The Internet of Everything is the intelligent connection of people, process, data, and things. Today more than 99 percent of things in the physical world are unconnected. In the future, networked connections will be more relevant and valuable than ever before, creating unprecedented opportunities for countries, businesses, and individuals. The Internet of Everything requires a distributed networking, computing, and storage platform to connect people, process, data, and things in ways that were not possible before. The explosion of new connections joining the Internet of Everything is driven by the development of IP-enabled devices, the increase in global broadband availability, and the adoption of IPv6. The network plays a critical role in the Internet of Everything—it must listen, learn, and respond to support billions of context-aware devices. The ability to build, to manage, and to secure end-to-end IP-based platforms for people, process, data, and things will fuel the growth of the Internet of Everything. For example, a bridge could be embedded with sensors to eliminate the need for inspection, while at the same time offering constant real-time data on its safety. IT technology like this and network analytics can eliminate or reduce the costs in other parts of government operations. Each technology will be added as its Return on Investment (RoI) becomes clear. Specifically, as IT equipment capability improves, the management of the network by personnel (which is the biggest part of any budget) is reduced and centralized. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 11 Network Capabilities for Government Services Even if there were no future IT trends, current network capabilities would continue to advance into a Next Generation Network (NGN). Government Services include Government Operations, Virtual Citizen Services, Health and Human Services, Education, Transportation, Public Safety, and Justice. Government Services will be radically altered from the paradigm where employees sit in offices to perform their work to a mobile network that accesses essential services to perform job functions in the field 24/7. The NGN is going to be more integrated, mobile, cloud based, and centrally managed. These trends will enable more capability to be added to the network (Figure 4). Figure 4. Applications, Devices, and Support Everyone wants their organization to be more mobile and focused on productivity through software and mobile devices; however, to make these devices work well, you need to make sure the network can support them. Converged communication networks are one of the top resources that organizations must invest in to allow the organization to meet their mission requirements. A resilient, high-performance network ensures that the organization can successfully pursue its goals; inversely, a poorly designed network hinders an organization. The members of the organization are much more productive if the network can reliably and efficiently address their requirements for collaboration, web conferencing, chat, videoconferencing, email, and data sharing. Organizations that rely on their communication network to support and enable their daily operations must address the following requirements in the network’s design and deployment. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 12 A standardized design that addresses business use cases to eliminate guesswork and reduce idle time for newly purchased equipment: Enterprise-class reliability Flexible architecture to help ensure easy migration and expansion as the organization grows in various ways: sizes of individual sites, total number of sites, and the number of people who comprise the organization, as well as the number and type of endpoints that comprise the network Uniformity of user experience, regardless of the network access method: wired and wireless LAN network connectivity at headquarters, a remote site, or remote-access Virtual Private Network (VPN) Security and high availability for corporate information resources, servers, and Internetfacing applications Continual improvement in WAN performance while reducing the cost of network administration A solution that can be deployed and operated by IT workers who have a moderate level of technical education. Currently, there are many technology areas that are being converged into an all IP network and are relevant to government (Table 2). Table 2. Five Technology Areas Network Infrastructure Collaboration Services Access Routing Unified Communications Managed LAN Switching Immersive video Wireless LAN for the Organization Web Conferencing Network Security Desktop Video Virtualization Service Provider Cloud/Data Center Physical Security Content Security Digital Signage Storage Area Networking Building Controls Software as a Service Video Surveillance Infrastructure as a Service Energy Controls Unified Computing Application Switching Virtual Desktop These areas have seen huge growth over the past several years and, as noted earlier, some of these technologies such as BYOD, cloud, immersive video, and virtual desktop did not exist when many current government contracts were issued. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 13 The network cannot be thought of as parts added on to a core in a piece-meal fashion, but as a network growing in many directions at once. This can be confusing unless you understand the network as a whole and keep it organized based on standard virtual architecture. The core data center has been virtualized and is being expanded into a cloud where network resources are distributed over a wide area. The LAN, WAN, and mobile networks are rapidly being able to offer the same speed as the core. This new capability is an opportunity for new devices and services to be added. Now, the role of government IT officers is evolving into a governance, compliance such as Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), and managerial role of these devices and the people using them. The computing, networking, and storage network are merged into one virtual block that can simply be added as a single unit to expand the network. Big Data is already a part of government IT, but now it can be unlocked from agency siloes and used in the field by phones, tablets, and laptops. Narrow scope on older contracts has limited vendors to bid on routing and switching or another specific category only. As the networking industry consolidated and vendors grew into many adjacent markets, inflexible contract scope meant that vendors were unable to add new technologies to their parts list in the contract and provide comprehensive, turn-key solutions to their customers. New contracts cannot simply play catch up; they need to be flexible going forward in order to incorporate IT expansion into new technology areas. The Way Forward Meeting the changing mission and operational needs of government agencies requires that features and technologies must be implemented and rapidly deployed within what we will call the Next Generation Network for the Public Sector (NGN). The transport network, which used to be limited to moving data and is why most existing contracts for networking equipment were known as “data communications” contracts, must be flexible to provide secure and rapid provisioning of new and emerging technologies (Figure 5). The network empowers government agencies to accomplish their mission while maintaining compliance with government standards and regulations. Embedding intelligence in the network is key to providing these services. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 14 Figure 5. Application Layers on the Same Network Infrastructure Network services such as virtualization, mobility, pervasive security, data analytics, and automation are some of the features that can provide the flexibility to meet these changing operational requirements. Designing architectures with these capabilities in mind now will help future-proof the NGN transport architecture and deliver the mission-critical capabilities that government agencies seek. Changes are rapidly empowering mobility for every user: Mobile workforces expect to use government-provided IT services from anywhere, on any device, at any time. Cyber Security has become more nuanced because cyber-criminals are exploiting older systems with the newest technologies. Governments need pervasive and comprehensive security architectures that are context-aware and need to consider not just the source and destination of the request, but the context such as: who, what, where, when, and how, before they grant access to the service. Video has become a mainstay for collaboration, training, and public safety. Video and immersive video has been used for remote meetings. For example, the cost and time spent by Senators travelling to and from the capitol every week back to their home district for the weekend is enormous. The savings from even 1 year justify putting in this kind of system. Connected Devices connect people and sensors to government networks. Citizens interact with government networks to retrieve information, such as fees or forms, and also to input information, such as payment details and applications. Sensor networks collect information and trigger actions by other devices. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 15 For example, sending a message to turn off lights and lower the temperature when the last person has left the building. Big Data imposes new demands on networks, servers, and storage. Continually adding more bandwidth is prohibitively expensive, so governments need smarter networks that optimize existing resources. Architecture Rationale The purpose of an overall architecture is to provide a technical framework to meet the business needs of today, and be flexible to meet the needs of tomorrow without replacing that framework and impacting the application. An architecture is made up of many interconnected systems, which together bring value to the organization. The architecture is typically dependent on certain specific technologies to ensure stability, resiliency, security, and operational simplicity. These technologies are critical and should be called out in the architecture and not disregarded in procurement because of cost. For example, if an agency leverages a specific protocol to provide resiliency for the overall architecture such as Equal Cost Multipath Protocol (ECMP), if an acquisition occurs of a product that does not leverage that protocol, then the overall architecture is at risk. Additionally, a variety of factors determine whether a user has a good experience with an application. For the web browser: we open a hyperlink, and the page is presented to us immediately. To make this a positive experience, three specific pieces of the network need to function together to provide the web content to the user: 1. A network that provides basic services such as high availability, performance, scalability, and resiliency 2. Network services that operate in the background, improving and enabling the experience without direct user awareness 3. The applications or end-user devices with which a person interacts directly, known as user services. Networks must allow organizations to take advantage of their investment in capabilities that are offered in modern application software platforms at the User Services layer of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model (Figure 6). Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 16 Figure 6. User Services Are Supported by the Network Services and Foundation The network must be seamless and transparent to the end user while providing a robust platform for innovation and service adoption; and to achieve this, the network must first be baselined. Compared to 10 or even 5 years ago, the role of the network has evolved from a simple transport infrastructure to that of a critical services or utility like power or water. These Next Generation Networks must address higher speeds and broader support for application data, particularly regarding voice and video traffic as well as applications hosted on private and public cloud-service platforms. Virtual desktop environments, a wide variety of user endpoints, and tighter integration between the desktop and data center all demand that the network provide a fast, stable platform to ensure that applications perform to meet productivity expectations. Impact of Commoditization Networks can be underbuilt, which delivers disappointing performance, or they can be overbuilt because equipment was bought to provide unnecessary or underutilized capability. As services such as enhanced mobility, unified communications, IP-based video teleconferencing, and other video applications begin to proliferate across government networks, commoditization of the network can decrease the ability to implement new and innovative technologies by the IT professionals that manage the network. When the network is viewed as a commodity providing transport services, the capabilities of the entire enterprise architecture can be limited to the lowest common set of services that the network can provide, resulting in a slow rate of adoption of new services and capabilities across the network, while increasing the operational expense for maintaining legacy equipment. As a procurement officer, organizational or political pressure can force you to make purchasing decisions that add short-term value but cause long-term problems to the network. For example, Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 17 your unified communication system is underbuilt, but there is pressure from executives to add immersive video. The cheapest solution to upgrade cannot support immersive video because the Unified Communications (UC) base is siloed or underbuilt (Figure 7). Figure 7. Underbuilt Network Cannot Support Extra User Services Commoditization also prevents the ability to take advantage of enhanced features and services that should be provided end-to-end within a mission-critical architecture to ensure delivery of critical services and applications. A commodity service is one in which there is no “qualitative differentiation” across the market. In networking/infrastructure terms, the network is built around just meeting a set of industry standards, not around feature/capability innovation. When building an NGN that will transport mission-critical voice and video services, an end-to-end architectural approach is necessary. With commoditization, fewer value-add end-to-end features are available to accommodate current and future next generation services. Commodity switches are for office automation only, and application layering is not possible. The short-term saving you get from buying cheap switches is lost when you must build a second network to support any new business application. For example, if you use commodity switches to build a VoIP network, then you cannot add to that network; therefore, you must build a second complete network for Continuity Of Operations (COOP). Networks are no longer required to be siloed into physically independent infrastructures. Figure 8 shows the network before and after consolidation. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 18 Figure 8. Virtualization Enables Network Consolidation Across the entire network, but each part of the siloed network functions as a separate network. Virtualization and consolidation saves funding through reduction in equipment, maintenance, energy, and support. NGN should be designed to transform government operational processes for the future and provide scalability and seamless adoption of new and emerging technologies. The network must be modular and logical, enabling services across a common transport, rather than creating costly parallel infrastructures. Networking Components The network is critical to the operation of organizations where workforce productivity is based on the expectation of nonstop access to communications, applications, and data resources. Using a services tiered approach to building your network with a tested, interoperable design allows you to reduce risks and operational issues while increasing deployment speed (Table 3). The network is the foundation and there are essential networking components that support the user. Next Generation Networks play an essential role in supporting government daily operations. The network is mission critical. When designing network architectures, one must consider both current requirements and expected future needs. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 19 Table 3. Network Capabilities Examples These NGN architectures must address a diverse range of requirements and mission needs. As the role of the network moves beyond simple transport to a Mission Critical Service Delivery Platform, one must take the following into account: Cost Effectiveness Acquisitions: Networking and storage requirements are steadily climbing. Therefore, it is essential to maximize the effectiveness of acquisition dollars by putting in place an infrastructure that is scalable, flexible, and long-lived. Operations: Operational costs dwarf acquisition costs over time. Therefore, it is essential to create a network architecture that simplifies management, while allowing flexibility and scalability. Scalability: Traffic levels and storage requirements are steadily growing. The network should be able to easily accommodate the growth of applications, traffic loads, and storage without having to redesign the network or to replace existing equipment. Global Availability Mission-critical systems require near perfect availability and convergence times measured in milliseconds to provide resiliency for real-time interactive applications. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 20 Community or Private Cloud services through data center consolidation towards centralized/regional data repositories, increasing the reliance on the network to provide seamless application delivery regardless of data center location. High availability from the network through the application layer due to changing mission operations moving towards globalization and 24x7x365 operations. The Move toward Collaboration and Real-Time Communication Application Services The user experience is becoming a top priority for mission communication systems. As Unified Communications become the primary form of communication/collaboration, end-to-end quality of service and mission system uptime become even more critical. Transport Virtualization Reduction of Capital Expenditures (CAPEX) and Operation Expenditures (OPEX) costs through the virtualization and consolidation of multiple physical networks onto one common Mission Critical Communications infrastructure enables secure segmented services such as multi-tenancy, physical security, energy management, video distribution, etc. Communities of Interest (CoIs) through partitioning network traffic to provide secure, independent environments. Virtualized services that are enabled within the transport infrastructure and which extend through the cloud infrastructure. Information Assurance Secure and Resistant to Attacks Endpoints and network infrastructure must be resistant to attacks in an environment where attacks are becoming more numerous and more sophisticated. High-priority applications should still function even while a security event is occurring. Only authorized users should be granted network and resource access. Critical systems and data must be protected and backed up. Network-based authentication in compliance. Role-based access control standards-based link-layer encryption (802.1ae) to provide additional secure segmentation. Control plane security and policy to prevent denial of service attacks to the transport infrastructure. Secure Mobility Anywhere, anytime access to the network, providing a seamless customer experience when accessing applications. Increased use of portable devices (BYOD) is driving the demand for full featured and secure mobility services. Guest access for partners, contractors, and other guests as mission partnerships and collaboration evolve. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 21 Next-Generation Applications and Medianets Dynamically allocate network resources and adapt to changing network conditions to deliver optimal video quality. Enable multimedia services anytime, anywhere, to any device. Energy Awareness Compliance to reduce energy consumption. Visibility into energy utilization of the network and attached devices. Administer the energy requirements of Power over Ethernet (PoE) devices. Table 4 shows the network as the foundation on the left column by six services that the government typically provides. The cells in the matrix are links that connect to use cases in this document showing the network components needed for the use case. Table 4. Essential Networking Components Support Government Services Virtual Citizen Services *N/A Health and Human Public Services Education Safety TeleDistance Vehicles medicine learning Unstaffed Citizen Service Center Health Virtual Exchanges desktops Creating a force multiplier Mobility Flipped classrooms Enabling Video kiosks collaboration for citizens N/A N/A N/A Remotely monitor video Remote arraignments Server Network Management Consolidation N/A N/A Highperformance Wi-Fi N/A N/A Trends (End- Big Data to-end architecture) N/A N/A Virtual field trips Interoperable N/A communicati on Government Operations Network-based Network Infrastructure training Cloud/Data Center Private Clouds MultiCollaboration Unified Communications channel Services contact centers Physical Security Connected Buildings Justice Video interpretation E-Warrants * N/A = Not Applicable Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 22 Most users perceive the network foundation as a simple transport utility to shift data from one point to another as fast as possible; many sum this up as “speeds and feeds.” In reality, the network affects all traffic flows and must be aware of end-user requirements and the services offered. Today’s networks must be built for intelligent transport and support of critical operations and applications. Network Infrastructure With ever-changing mission requirements and deployment scenarios that are unique to the government, the network must be designed around service delivery, consistent end-user experience, and the ability to insert new technologies and capabilities at a rapid rate. While the initial CAPEX might be lower when considering the access layer as a commodity, there are typically higher long-term OPEX and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) due to the network not being able to provide the necessary capabilities over the lifetime of the deployment. Because Network Infrastructure enables Cloud Computing/Data Center, Collaboration Services, Physical Security, Network Management, and any future trends in technology, it is important to understand the equipment needed at this level of the network. Routers, switches, firewalls and VPNs, Intrusion Prevention System (IPSs), load balancers, and wireless LAN access points and controllers are needed to provide the improvements to the network from end-to-end. Cloud/Data Center The previous trend within enterprise organizations was to construct physical “Data Centers” in an on-demand fashion as new applications and services were required (Table 5). Table 5. Cloud Computing versus Traditional IT Traditional Cloud Consumption Ease of Use Scalability Availability Dedicated Traditional Hardware Procurement New Services Added Manually Manual Repair of System Failure Provisioning Cost Months Incremental CAPEX Purchases Shared Self Service Scale On-Demand Automated Recovery Due to Integration/Interoperability Minutes Pay Per Use This led to the construction of multiple data centers with siloed applications (and infrastructure) that may serve only a single purpose or customer. Cloud technologies and capabilities will be the building block for dynamic shared services in governments. It will be common for a state, large municipality, or agencies to deploy multiple clouds (private, public, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS) based on the use case, cost model, and application dependencies. Some states are building private clouds to provide IaaS to departments, saving money and reducing wait times for new infrastructure from weeks to hours. This requires servers/storage/ Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 23 networking plus automation tools so that departments can self-provision with nominal involvement from the government IT team. Other governments want to use public clouds, either for IaaS, SaaS, or Platform as a Service (PaaS). IaaS can be used to provide services such as web conferencing, email security, or web security. SaaS, the most common form of cloud, is used to deliver application to governments from a public provider; examples include Google mail and Microsoft 365. Connecting to public cloud services requires a network with the necessary performance, flexibility, reliability, and security. Collaboration Services Collaboration is two or more people working together to achieve a common goal. Collaboration has always been the life blood of an organization. The methods people use to communicate over the years have changed, but the ability to work with others inside and outside your organization has always been essential to the success of a business. Technology allows organizations to choose many different modes of communication from a simple instant message to a fully immersive experience that includes high-definition video, spatial audio, and real-time data sharing. Collaboration Services incorporates LAN, WAN, wireless LAN, security, application optimization, server load-balancing, and unified communications technologies to provide complete solutions to an organization’s challenges (Figure 9). Figure 9. The Four Layers of Shared Network Using Role Based Access Control (RBAC), a single physical network can be securely divided into areas for guests/contractors and any number of tenants. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 24 For example, the same campus could be home to federal, state, and local government offices that share a single network. Collaboration focuses on unified communication, video collaboration, and web conferencing. These three elements make up the vast majority of the collaboration use cases for an organization. Two keys to the success of the solution are allowing your employees to be in constant contact with each other and making the most efficient use of your underlying network foundation. A solution-level approach simplifies the system integration normally associated with multiple technologies, which allows you to select the individual components that solve your organization’s problems, rather than worrying about the complex technical details of an overall collaboration solution. Why Collaboration? Some of the benefits of collaboration are: A standardized design that has been tested to reduce capital outlays and operational costs Optimized architecture for organizations with remote sites Flexibility to allow easy migration as the organization grows Seamless support for quick deployment of wired and wireless voice, along with room system video Faster decision making Immediate access to other government experts and productivity gains Travel expense reduction and lower carbon footprint Improved work/life balance for employees. Physical Security IP-based physical security is being deployed in some of the most demanding security environments in the world, including many public and government facilities. This solution delivers the reliability, investment protection, flexibility, and authenticity assurance that municipal organizations require. Physical security can help you achieve the following benefits: Protect Your Assets: With physical security, you can remotely monitor a facility after hours or during closures. The solution lets you use recorded video in conjunction with an alarm system to prevent vandalism, theft, and arson; log in to see live video when an alarm is triggered; and record images during an alarm event and send them to specified users via email. Deter and Prevent Violations: The presence of video cameras and monitoring equipment can serve as a deterrent, effectively dissuading and discouraging violations before they occur. Video equipment has been shown to circumvent the costs and difficulties of theft, vandalism, and other crimes. Attain Easier Management, Higher Availability: Increase regulation compliance and security with high-quality, tamper-proof, digitally watermarked video, while expanding Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 25 your security reach with the ability to scale to thousands of cameras, viewers, and archives; access security operations anywhere, anytime using remote and mobile access; access any camera from any monitoring or recording device for any application. With integrated IP converged system, you reduce downtime with video and system availability; reduce disruption for maintenance, system updates, and upgrades; while protecting your investment through interoperability with third-party equipment. Reduce Expenses: With a single, unified surveillance system, you can eliminate redundant Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) infrastructure and system maintenance costs, while saving on storage and equipment space. In addition, Video Surveillance offers high availability and reliability that translates to less maintenance and increased surveillance capabilities. Protect Your Investment: Video Surveillance preserves your existing investment in surveillance equipment through a smooth “pay as you go” migration approach that enables you to start with a hybrid analog and IP system and then move to an all IP system as your needs dictate. Because you can use your existing displays, controls, cameras, and matrix switches, you won’t need to upgrade that equipment or invest in operator retraining. The standards-based IP solution is also interoperable with equipment and software from many third-party vendors. Network Management The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) network management model defines five functional areas of network management. The ISO network management model’s five functional areas are listed below: Fault Management — Detect, isolate, notify, and correct faults encountered in the network Configuration Management — Configuration aspects of network devices such as configuration file management, inventory management, and software management Performance Management — Monitor and measure various aspects of performance so that overall performance can be maintained at an acceptable level Security Management — Provide access to network devices and corporate resources to authorized individuals Accounting Management — Usage information of network resources. Network management and automation products help you optimize the operation and management of sophisticated and advanced networks. Network management helps simplify and accelerate adoption of market transitions such as unified communications, next-generation video, cloud, and fixed mobile convergence. Intelligent automation of management tasks offloads management from people to the network for data center automation, cloud computing, and IT systems management. It provides management and orchestration capabilities to complement networking and compute solutions for the data center. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 26 Network management solutions include Operations Support System (OSS), network management, and cloud intelligent automation products that provide highly effective tools with which to implement a network. Use these tools to accelerate deployment of innovative network architectures and bring differentiated value to your network operations. Benefits of network management and intelligent automation include: Improved usability and simplified network management Efficient operations through common components and day-one device support Reduced operational and capital expenditures Improved network and service availability Accelerated time to market of services Enhanced end-user experiences. Industry standards results in systems that will easily integrate into your current process and procedures. Network management helps you achieve unparalleled time-to-value for equipment, platforms, and technologies. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 27 Procurement and Technology Scope Today’s procurement processes and perhaps the underlying reasoning that governs IT procurement are out of sync with the pace of technology change occurring in the marketplace. One does not need to know anything about government IT procurement to understand that it is difficult to stay current when Apple is on a 6-month refresh of its core iPhone and iPad platform, or Android’s competitive platform’s refresh rate. The RFI to RFP timeline, which can take up to 18 months, is too slow compared to a technology refresh rate of 6 to 18 months. By the time an RFP is awarded, the technology might be out of date. CIOs and procurement officers generally agree that Public Sector contracts need to include language that will allow vendors to help procurement officers to procure the right technology at the right time. Contract scope that is specific enough and yet broad enough to ask the market to provide the best-of-breed products and solutions or functional equivalents along a continuum without having to go back to the market to ask for the next version or refresh or innovation is desirable. It is also becoming broadly accepted that vendors and procurement officials need to be able to have conversations among all parties involved to answer questions such as: What do I need in my parts list? What is the right technology? Does this really address my need or solve my business problem? Yet in most jurisdictions, communications between procurement officials and the vendor community is limited or non-existent once an RFP is on the street but not yet awarded. One early trend in procurement has State CIOs and procurement officials requesting proposal responses from equipment manufacturer’s for: Data, voice, and video communications products and services All related software and OEM maintenance Training to provide turnkey solutions along specific architectural lines Full product and services catalogues updated as often as monthly to ensure availability of the most current products and solutions. Another trend is to create multi-vendor awards to establish multiple contracts with qualified IT vendors who will supply data, voice, and video communications equipment and related software including OEM maintenance and training, or maintenance authorized by a third party to qualified contract purchasers. For example, the current Western States Contracting Alliance (WSCA) data communications contract award takes this approach to ensuring the widest availability of the most comprehensive products and services manufactured by world-class companies to its member states. And yet another approach which mirrors some federal procurement vehicles is simply to ask the vendor community to provide discounts to their entire catalog of offerings in Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 28 specific product or solution categories to allow the broadest opportunity for buyers to access the products and services of the market leaders. In order to ensure that equipment and solutions are designed and installed by certified and trained experts with local geographic presence, prime contractors are allowed to provide a list of subcontractors for each member contracting authority for each contract. Subcontractor participation will be governed by individual participating procurement officials and the prime contractor. The contracting entity has the sole discretion to determine who will accept services from a subcontractor. To be successful in procuring the right products and services in support of the business of government, procurement officials must be great communicators. Given the nature of executive appointments and professional government employees, there is sometimes a disconnect between the CIO and the business manager and the procurement official who must support both by asking the vendor community to supply complex products, services, and solutions. Executives ask for a capability that the CIO then tries to fulfill. Often times, the CIO has no budget authority and must therefore make a business case and uses a chargeback model to finance a solution where the chargeback can be blocked by a business manager. There are many factors in a decision process, but one issue repeatedly comes up in which a business manager makes an IT decision based on cost avoidance without looking at the whole IT budget or the total cost of ownership. When it comes to communications infrastructure, an end-to-end solution always brings a better ROI, because it addresses the network as a whole and the IT manager seeks to maximize the performance and security and total capability of the utility rather than addressing a specific agency capability. Moving forward, technology will be more integrated, and point solutions will always cost the network more over the lifetime of the solution. For perspective, on average, equipment is only 20 percent of a network’s cost. Eighty percent goes to management, electricity, and other expenses. An end-to-end solution always simplifies management, and virtualization reduces the electricity, HVAC, and space requirements. To understand the issue better, the business manager must understand the impact any new capability has on the network. The user must be able to access the application, endpoint, service, and network. This transaction process across all layers of the network means that an end-to-end solution must be considered to sustain the network. Cheaper point products, in the short run, will simply add expense somewhere else in the network or IT budget. Typical Components of State-Wide IT Procurements Objective The objective of new procurement contracts is to obtain deeper volume price discounts than are obtainable by an individual government entity. This discount is based on the collective volume of potential purchases by the numerous state and local government entities. The contracts resulting from this type of procurement should always be able to be used by all branches of government and political subdivisions, such as city and county government, and Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 29 public and higher education. The contracts may also be used by authorized non-profit organizations within a state who are engaged in fulfilling services or programs which would otherwise be delivered by a Public Sector entity. Purpose The broad purpose of a communications contract should at a minimum be to provide for Network-Centric Information Technology, Networking, Telephony, Security, Voice, Video and Data Communications products, system solutions, and systems hardware and software. Any solution(s) must satisfy the requirements for interoperability, compatibility, and resource sharing of existing legacy networking equipment and current state-of-the-art Internet Protocol (IT) networking solutions. The contract should be designed as a flexible end-user solution to embrace diverse current and future network-centric information technology requirements in support of a next generation or converged IP network. The contract should ensure interoperability through standards-based technology and it should implement a constant evolution of state-of-the-art technology and system solutions through a system of regular contract and product review. The review process should be designed to add to the existing contract new and innovative IP networking and network centric solutions without having to return to the market through time consuming requests for proposal. Provision for the introduction of New Network-Centric Information Technology Services and/or products such as New Network-Centric IT product, service, and/or solution within the scope of the original request for proposal, but not currently available under contract, is needed. These technologies may be added to the existing contract as long as the product or service is commercially available and is available through the contractor’s then current price book. These technologies are added at the discretion of the contracting officer upon periodic review. The addition of any new product or service by the contracting officer shall make that product or service available to any or all Public Sector buyers utilizing the master agreement established as a result of the original request for proposal. Scope of Work The scope of new contracts should be to obtain contracts directly with data communication and security related equipment manufacturers to provide a full range of equipment, software, maintenance, training, and services represented by their entire price list as periodically updated at the deepest discounts possible for all participating Public Sector entities (states and their political subdivisions) on an as-needed basis. All products, related software, solutions, or services may be supplied by local equipment and service resellers as approved and listed by the manufacturers. Definitions of Terminology Here is a list of definitions to be used in a proposal, to help procurement officers use the same language as CIOs, System Integrators, and Vendors: Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 30 Next-Generation Network means a packet-based core, Internet, and access networks that leverage high-speed protocols such as IP, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), and Ethernet to transport data, voice, video, and other multimedia services on a converged content-, service- and application-aware network. The next-generation network is a single telecommunications network that’s able to transport all information and services, including voice, data, and multimedia. Equipment refers to data, voice, and video communications products and related software specific to this RFP; LAN/MAN/WAN routing, switching, wireless LAN, voice, video equipment, and/or software and associated management, monitoring, and security solutions. Products shall mean Contractor’s commercial networking products as identified in the Commercial Price List, including hardware products with embedded Software and Software Products in object code form, associated end-user documentation (the “Documentation”), and other related materials, if any, supplied to Purchasing Entity in a commercial package. Purchasing Entity means a State or another legal entity, such as a political subdivision, properly authorized by a State to enter into a contract for the purchase of goods described in this solicitation. Unless otherwise limited in this solicitation or in a Participating Addendum, political subdivisions of Participating States are Purchasing Entities and Participants authorized to purchase the goods and/or services described in this solicitation. Services shall mean the support and maintenance services provided by Contractor, or its authorized subcontractor, to Purchasing Entity pursuant to Contractor’s Purchasing Entity support plans described in the Support Program. Software or Software Products shall mean Contractor’s software products and the software embedded in or bundled with Contractor’s hardware products. Specifications shall mean the applicable technical specifications for the product as set forth in the end-user documentation applicable to such product. Scope Recommendations This section provides example RFP language that can be used in an RFP to help the Procurement Officer to ask for: All components necessary to provide the current and future networking capabilities of the Public Sector buyers The best pricing The broadest feature set Equipment that meets Public Sector agency use requirements. Given the capabilities required of today’s networks to successfully and securely support the uses and demands placed upon a Public Sector communications infrastructure, government Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 31 procurement vehicles today must be set up to allow for total end-to-end communications delivery capabilities. In order to achieve robust and flexible IT procurement contracts, the original RFPs for these agreements must be thoughtfully developed to capture current business needs and requirements (based on existing technologies available), but also anticipate and allow for easy adoption and inclusion of new emerging capabilities during the contract terms. Due to the rapid speed of technological advances, the current challenges for most IT Procurement Offices are to ensure that their contracting vehicles do not inadvertently: Become outdated in a year or 2 after contract award Contain gaps that prevent end users from efficiently purchasing whole solutions under one contract Limit the ability to “add” new pertinent, related new technologies or services. In addition, State-wide contracting vehicles should continue to be available for usage by all executive, legislative, and judicial branch agencies of that respective State and any or all political subdivisions (such as city and county government, and public and higher education) allowed under that State law. Many political subdivisions are heavily dependent on State-wide Indefinite Date/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts for their procurement purchases, especially with severe budget constraints and limited procurement resources. In order for many global manufacturers under direct contracts with States to adequately support Public Sector customers, they rely heavily on the use of resellers, as subcontractors, to take, to process, and to fulfill orders. Such hybrid models have been successfully implemented under many state-wide procurement vehicles across the United States (U.S.) and should continue to be an option for manufacturers to offer in their bid responses. Products and Services Scope The scope of the next generation networking or data communications RFPs needs to be broadbased, solutions-oriented, flexible, and effectively address the convergence of technologies into the IP network. Therefore, it is highly recommended that the next generation of RFPs should request equipment manufacturers to provide comprehensive proposals for networking products and network-centric information technologies, solutions, and value-added services, including but not limited to, the following major categories (Table 6). Table 6. Major Technology Categories Network Infrastructure (Hardware, Software, and Services) Access Routing Managed LAN Switching Wireless LAN for the Organization Network Security Optical Networking Virtualization Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 32 Other Related Management/Monitoring Tools, Solutions, and Software Maintenance Services, Installation and Configuration Services, Professional Services, and Training Cloud/Data Center (Hardware, Software, and Services) Content Security Servers and Storage Area Networking Software as a Service (SaaS) Infrastructure as a Service Unified Computing Application Switching Virtual Desktop Maintenance Services, Installation and Configuration Services, Professional Services, and Training Other Related Management/Monitoring Tools, Solutions, Software, and Services Collaboration Services (Hardware, Software, and Services) Unified Communications (Voice over Internet Protocol [VoIP], Web-Based Tools) Audio and Video Conferencing (Desk-Top and Immersive) Web Conferencing Maintenance Services, Installation and Configuration Services, Professional Services, and Training Other Related Management/Monitoring Tools, Solutions, Software, and Services Physical Security (Hardware, Software, and Services) Building Controls Energy Controls Video Surveillance Sensor Networks Maintenance Services, Installation and Configuration Services, Professional Services, and Training Other Related Management/Monitoring Tools, Solutions, Software, and Services Ideally, manufacturers should be able to provide their entire pricebook in support of the entire compute, storage, and networking requirements of modern governments; provided, however, that the offerings meet the scope of the RFP and are network-centric IT related products or services. In any event, all offerings must satisfy the requirements for interoperability, compatibility, and resource sharing of existing legacy networking equipment and current state-of-the-art Internet Protocol networking solutions. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 33 Addition of New, Value-Added Technological Advances during Contract Term The original RFP and contract awarded should contain anticipatory provisions that allow for the addition of new, supplementary, or converged network-centric IT products, services, software and/or solutions that are value-added. Contracts should provide a process whereby manufacturers can request the addition of new technologies to their awarded contract offerings, regardless if those new offerings were developed in-house or obtained through product or company acquisitions. The Federal GSA product modification is an example of this type of process. All additions to an awarded manufacturer’s contract offerings must be products, services, software, or solutions that are commercially available at the time they are added to the contract award and fall within the original scope and intent of the RFP (i.e., converged technologies, value adds to manufacturer’s solution offerings, etc.). Eligible Users The resulting state-wide contract(s) from the next generation network RFP should continue to be available to all governmental entities within each State subject to applicable laws, including but not limited to state offices, agencies, departments, boards, bureaus, commissioners, institutions, and colleges and universities. The state-wide contract(s) should also be accessible on a convenience basis by other “down-stream” governmental entities such as state authorities, local governments, municipalities, cities, townships, counties, school systems (K-12 school districts), and other political subdivisions of the applicable State. Manufacturer’s Fulfillment Partners In order for manufacturers under direct government contracts to satisfactorily provide their customers with optimal local support and technical expertise, many manufacturers will need to continue to utilize their certified resellers/partners as subcontractors. These resellers are authorized to accept and process orders directly from customers, including invoicing and collecting payments. Under this hybrid model, the certified resellers are strategically deployed by the manufacturers to provide “feet on the street” and end-to-end customer support as well as the specialized product and service certifications necessary to support installations and deployment of today’s complex IP networking solutions. Therefore, it is critical that the next generation of RFPs and contracts continues this best practice and allow the usage of certified resellers as fulfillment agents of the manufacturers. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 34 Terms and Conditions The following identifies common, recurring contractual issues and concerns that many global technology companies experience with prime contracts or IDIQs. By sharing the supplier’s perspectives on key terms and conditions, we hope to further facilitate full transparency, meaningful dialogue, and productive contracts negotiations with Procurement Offices on the next generation of IT contracts, which will clearly be even more complex compared to several years ago. Please note that many of these issues, as stated, represent varying degrees of additional financial exposure to OEMs, which would have a direct impact on any discounts offered. Common Contractual Issues and Concerns OEM as Prime/Contractor Holder with Resellers as Subs As a result of the success of many contracting vehicles or IDIQs where the OEMs are the contract holders, OEMs will continue to pursue their direct relationships with Public Sector customers, wherever possible. However, in order to satisfactorily provide customers under the prime contracts with optimal local support and technical expertise, many OEMs will also need to continue to utilize their certified resellers/partners as subcontractors. These resellers are approved to accept and process orders directly from customers, including invoicing and collecting payments. Under this hybrid model, the certified resellers are strategically deployed by the OEMs to provide “feet on the street” and end-to-end customer support. For Public Sector customers who are currently unable to support such hybrid model due to system or administrative challenges, resolution of these challenges is highly recommended in order to enjoy the many benefits of going direct with OEMs with authorized resellers underneath. Limitation of Liability OEMs’ standard terms generally provide for a reasonable liability cap that is consistent within the IT industry. For products, the liability of each party should be reasonably limited to the greater of: (a) One hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), or (b) The money paid to the OEM under the contract during the 12-month period prior to the event that first gave rise to such liability. However, in the case of any professional services performed under a Scope of Work contract (“SOW”), the liability of the OEM should be limited to the amount paid by the customer pursuant to the relevant SOW during the 6 months preceding the event or circumstances giving rise to such liability. Most Favored Nation Language or Similar Language Global OEMs must be able to reserve their right to change their Global Pricing Catalogue (pricelist) and provide discounting as they deem necessary to compete and maintain the viability of their commercial offerings in the marketplace. The firm price requirement is inconsistent with Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 35 many global OEMs’ standard commercial practices. OEMs do factor other contractual considerations (i.e., volume commitments, fair and reasonable Ts & Cs, etc.) when determining and offering discounts or special pricing. Therefore, it is actually difficult to compare contracts for Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) purposes, given the many variables (i.e., legal and business terms, global customer base, etc.) that make up and distinguish each opportunity. Pricing Based on Minimum Discounts versus Fixed Price Given that technology products generally depreciate over time and go through typical product lifecycles, it is more favorable for customers to have prime contracts be based on minimum discounts off the OEMs’ commercially published pricelists versus fixed pricing. In addition, OEMs must have the ability to update and refresh their respective price books, as long as the agreed-upon discounts are fixed. Minimum guaranteed discounts do not preclude an OEM and/or its authorized resellers from providing deeper or additional, incremental discounts at their sole discretion. Capital Lease Financing Given severe budget constraints that many Public Sector agencies and organizations are experiencing, capital lease financing is a viable payment option that gives many IT departments the ability to procure the necessary equipment for their organizations. Where permitted by law, government contracts should allow for manufacturers to offer capital lease financing arrangements under their awarded contracts. Refurbished Equipment Many IT manufacturers offer refurbished equipment at a substantially lower cost with attractive warranties that also address risk concerns some customers may have with refurbished gear. By allowing manufacturer-certified refurbished equipment to be available for procurement under government contracts, IT departments would have another budget-friendly option to consider and use to balance budget limitations versus necessary purchases. Payment Terms Standard commercial payment term is NET 30 days. Since many OEMs use resellers under their prime contracts as subcontractors, any payment term that exceeds 30 days will impose a financial hardship on these resellers, many of whom are small- to medium-size businesses. These resellers need reasonable payment cycles in order to keep their businesses afloat. Delivery, Inspection, Acceptance, and Rejection Publicly traded technology companies whose core business consists of product offerings must be able to timely recognize revenues. Therefore, any contractual language that requires inspection, formal acceptance, and/or rejection for every product order and delivery will delay an OEM from recognizing its sales in a timely manner. Since purchasers are typically protected by the OEM’s standard warranty and shipping terms (i.e., FOB Destination) for any product defects and/or Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 36 damages during transit, contract terms that require formal acceptance and/or inspection periods are unnecessary and create additional financial burden for the OEM. OEM’s Standard Warranty Each OEM has standard warranties for its hardware and/or software that are sold worldwide. In order to support such standard warranties on a global basis, each OEM has to build and implement complex systems, tools, and business processes. Any modification or change to an OEM’s standard warranties would create a significant operational and financial burden for the OEM and would impact the overall pricing of its product offerings. Most OEMs’ global backoffice operations are not set up to manage or track non-standard warranties (i.e., “one-offs”). Most likely, additional resources and manual processes would need to be established and implemented at an additional cost incurred by the OEMs to support any non-standard, unique warranties that are contractually required. With the introduction of manual processes, there is also a greater risk for error. Note that in the federal procurement space, most IT OEM products qualify as commercial items pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 2.101. As such, purchasers are only entitled to obtain products under the OEM’s standard commercial license and warranty terms (see FAR 52.227-19). Standard Maintenance Offerings Global OEMs build standard maintenance offerings in order to provide consistent and uniform level of service to all its customers. In addition, the standardization of an OEM’s maintenance offerings allows it to keep costs down for its customers through efficiency gains and scaling capabilities. Any non-standard maintenance that is contractually required can be costly and difficult to implement and integrate into the OEM’s existing systems, tools, and business processes. Standard Software License Again, this is a similar issue as above. Given the large sales volumes and customer base, global OEMs must, as a necessity, standardize their software license(s). Accordingly, it is not feasible nor financially prudent for any global OEM to agree on unique software license terms for a specific set of customers, since operationalizing such non-standard, software license terms would essentially require the OEM to set up separate internal systems, tools, and resources. Consequential, Incidental, Indirect, Special, or Punitive Exclusion It is standard in the IT industry to exclude consequential, incidental, indirect, special, or punitive damages in contracts since such potential damages could subject OEMs to liabilities that far exceed the value of such contracts. Such potential risk exposure is too great for any publicly traded company to assume and could easily exceed insurance coverage limits as well. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 37 Liquidated Damages Standard terms in the IT industry do not encompass such damages. Any additional damages language will represent material, non-standard commercial risk and exposure for any OEM, which is generally not contemplated under its standard terms and discount structure. Rights and Remedies of State for Default It is standard for global OEMs to provide their customers with remedies for default. However, it is unreasonable to ask OEMs to assume additional liability on “any loss or damage” incurred by a customer, since such damage is equivalent to consequential, incidental, indirect, or special damage. General Indemnity A common concern for technology companies is when prime contracts have overly broad indemnity provisions that may be unenforceable. The scope of the indemnity should be reasonably limited to the OEM’s products and services supplied under the prime contracts. In addition, the extent of the indemnification obligations should be apportioned relative to fault. Suggested Language: 1. Subject to governmental immunities of the Customer, each party shall defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the other, its corporate affiliates and their respective officers, directors, employees, and agents and their respective successors and assigns from and against any and all claims, losses, liabilities, damages, and expenses (including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or in connection with a claim, suit, or proceeding brought by a third party based upon bodily injury (including death) or damage to tangible personal property (not including lost or damaged data) arising from the negligent or intentional acts or omissions of the indemnifying party or its subcontractors, or the officers, directors, employees, agents, successors, and assigns of any of them. 2. In the event that the indemnified party’s or a third party’s negligent or intentional acts or omissions contributed to or caused the injury or damage for which a claim of indemnity is being asserted against the indemnifying party hereunder, the damages and expenses (including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys’ fees) shall be allocated or reallocated, as the case may be, between the indemnified party, the indemnifying party, and any other party bearing responsibility in such proportion as appropriately reflects the relative fault of such parties, or their subcontractors, or the officers, directors, employees, agents, successors, and assigns of any of them, and the liability of the indemnifying party shall be proportionately reduced. 3. The foregoing indemnification obligations are conditioned upon the indemnified party promptly notifying the indemnifying party in writing of the claim, suit, or proceeding for which the indemnifying party is obligated under this Section, cooperating with, assisting and providing information to, the indemnifying party as reasonably required, and Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 38 granting the indemnifying party the exclusive right to defend or settle such claim, suit, or proceeding. Patent, Copyright, and Trade Secret Indemnity There is the same concern as above with overly broad IP indemnity clause. From the OEMs’ perspective, the terms, scope, and breadth of the OEMs’ indemnification obligations should be clear and reasonable, including the conditions or events that trigger such obligations. It is common for technology vendors to require certain exceptions or exclusions to their IP indemnification obligations. For example, an OEM would not be responsible for indemnifying if its product was modified by a third party or by the OEM itself, or in accordance with the buyer’s specifications or instructions. In addition, because OEMs are now faced with potentially large damages that may far exceed the contract value, it is reasonable for OEMs to require limitations of liability with respect to the scope of its IP defense and indemnification obligations. Equally important, OEMs, as the IP owners of their product offerings, should be able to control the defense of any indemnity claim, including settlement negotiations. Suggested Language: a. Claims. OEM will defend any claim against Customer that a Product infringes third-party patents or copyrights (“Claim”) and will indemnify Customer against the final judgment entered by a court of competent jurisdiction or any settlements arising out of a Claim, provided that Customer: (a) Promptly notifies OEM in writing of the Claim; and (b) Cooperates with OEM in the defense of the Claim, and grants OEM full and exclusive control of the defense and settlement of the Claim and any subsequent appeal. b. Additional Remedies. If a Claim is made or appears likely, Customer agrees to permit OEM to procure for Customer the right to continue using the Product, or to replace or modify the Product with one that is at least functionally equivalent. If OEM determines that none of those alternatives is reasonably available, then Customer will return the Product and OEM will refund Customer’s remaining net book value of the Product calculated according to generally accepted accounting principles. c. Exclusions. OEM has no obligation for any Claim based on: (a) compliance with any designs, specifications, or instructions provided by Customer or a third party on Customer’s behalf (b) modification of a Product by Customer or a third party (c) the amount or duration of use which Customer makes of the Product, revenue earned by Customer from services it provides that use the Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 39 Product, or services offered by Customer to external or internal customers (d) combination, operation, or use of a Product with non-OEM products, software, or business processes d. Sole and Exclusive Remedy. This Section states OEM’s entire obligation and Customer’s exclusive remedy regarding any claims for intellectual property infringement. Rights in Work Product(s) Such rights are generally only appropriate if the customer is hiring an IT vendor or OEM to create, develop, and/or build new, original, unique hardware and/or software. Although OEMs may provide some customization to its product offerings based on the buyer’s technical requirements, such customization is typically limited in nature and do not justify providing buyer with rights into the developed work products. More importantly, OEMs are generally not in the business of building custom software code for individual purchasers. Again, in the federal arena, most IT OEM products qualify as commercial items pursuant to FAR 2.101. As such, purchasers are only entitled to obtain products under the OEM’s standard commercial license and warranty terms (see FAR 52.227-19). Right to Copy or Modify Technology companies are generally very reluctant to allow third parties, including customers, the right to copy or modify its hardware or software for any reason, unless it’s a formal licensing arrangement with royalties or licensing fees included. Absent such specific business arrangement, granting customers the right to copy or modify under an IDIQ contract would undermine that technology company’s intellectual property rights and control of its assets. Stop Work Order Stop Work Order provisions create significant revenue recognition issues under accounting rules for publicly traded corporations. As such, any proposed Stop Work Order terms represent material, non-standard commercial practice for OEMs. Returns For enterprise IT products that are not “off the shelf” (i.e., non-consumer products), returns would only be acceptable for defective items that are still under OEM warranty. Because these enterprise IT products are often configured per customer’s technical requirements, they could not be readily resold if returned for non-defective reasons. Therefore, it is standard practice for OEMs to have an “All Sales Final” term, subject to their warranty provisions, which would still allow for the repair or replacement of defective products. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 40 e-Procurement or Online Catalog As discussed above, some OEMs’ products offerings are not “off the shelf” products and do require some degree of configuration or customization. Therefore, online catalog requirements would not be appropriate or applicable. The concept of the shopping cart buying method is not feasible for many enterprise IT products that require complex configuration during the manufacturing process. Many IT products, such as networking equipment, should not be considered “commodities” or be compared to products like PCs, printers, or office supplies. In addition, many OEMs have complex pricelists that cannot be easily translated or implemented into an online catalog format. Substantial implementation costs would need to be incurred by the OEM, which will, subsequently, have a direct impact on the overall cost of the product offerings or discounts offered. Confidentiality Provisions Technology companies understand the importance of maintaining their customer’s information confidential and often agree to reasonable confidentiality provisions. However, technology vendors also expect that the confidentiality provisions are mutual/reciprocal given that they are routinely asked to share proprietary information regarding their product and services offerings in response to RFPs, Request for Quotation (RFQs), and other project proposals. Contract Term The supplier community supports the existing practice of most customers in issuing multi-year prime contracts or IDIQs, with automatic 1- or 2-year renewals or simple extensions. Given the amount of time and resources for both a customer and the awarded vendors to operationalize any new agreement, it is mutually beneficial for all parties involved to have a reasonable multi-year contract term so that there is minimal disruption to the end users. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 41 Public Sector Use Cases for the Next-Generation Network The following use cases are representative of the business environments common to most governments and are provided as a context for procurement officials to engage in a conversation with department business leaders about their business needs over the next contract period. Then you can align their business needs with the IT capabilities they might need over the duration of the next contract period. General Government Operations The network supports more effective and efficient back-office processes, including communications, training, finance, administration, general services, printing, and human resources transactions and other functions typical of most government employees. Unified communications: Replacing the Private Branch Exchange (PBX) or Centrex system with a modern unified communications system eliminates local and long-distance charges for interdepartmental calls, and also avoids service provider fees of $150 or more for every telephone-extension move, add, and change. Centralized unified communications systems eliminate the need for separate voice systems in branch offices. The RFP needs to include routers for these branch offices. Self-service web sites for common business functions: Examples include vacation requests, travel arrangements, benefits selection, and expense reimbursements. Network-based training: Training costs typically decrease when participants and trainers interact face-to-face over the network instead of traveling to a meeting room. Participants can join the training session from their desktop to see and hear the presenter, collaborate on documents, join breakout sessions, and more. People who can’t attend the live session can click a link to view the recorded sessions, including video and shared documents. Connected buildings: Connecting all systems, devices, and sensors to a unified IP network enables them to work together to accelerate event detection and response. For example, if a fire occurs in a library, the fire system can immediately signal the airflow system to close the dampers, restricting airflow. At the same time, it can signal the building access system to release all door locks; instruct elevators to return to the nearest floor, open, and cease operating; and instruct video surveillance cameras to begin streaming live video; and initiate a phone call to the fire department, faculty, students, and staff. Automating these actions can help to save lives and limit property loss. Florida’s Ave Maria University took this approach in a new building. Savings amounted to more than $1 million on redundant cabling for building systems; $350,000 annual personnel cost avoidance by enabling the IT team to also manage building systems; and an estimated $600,000 in annual energy savings from monitoring and control of air conditioning and lighting systems. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 42 Private clouds, collaboration technologies, and BYOD initiatives can quickly pay for themselves and provide subsequent ongoing savings. In the coming decade, Public Sector organizations that have not done so already are likely to introduce some of the following technologies. Server consolidation: Consolidating multiple application servers on a virtualization platform lowers capital and operational costs (space, power, cooling, and management). Minnesota Department of Transportation saved more than $300,000 in hardware costs by replacing 350 rack servers with 25 blade servers. The department also lowered energy bills and qualified for utility rebates. Private clouds: Building a private cloud to offer IaaS saves significant staff costs to procure, install, cable, and configure servers and storage. Employees request infrastructure through an online service catalogue, and the infrastructure is provisioned automatically, without involvement by the IT department. Arizona Department of Economic Security lowered 5-year server costs by 81 percent, from $8500 to $1600 with IaaS. The state of Alaska lowered the rate it charges departments for computing resources by nearly 50 percent. And both organizations became more agile, giving staff the infrastructure to start new projects the same day instead of waiting weeks or months. Desktop virtualization: When employees’ applications and files are housed in the data center instead of on the device, they can access their virtual desktops from any device, including a personal tablet. Security and management costs can decrease significantly because IT staff define and update policies and applications just once for all devices. Telework: Encouraging employees to work from home some or all of the time reduces real estate costs. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office saved $11 million in office space over the 13 years that its employees have teleworked. Increasing revenue by harnessing big data: The idea is to bring together all citizen data in one place. When a citizen visits a web site to renew a driver’s license, an application can look to see if they owe taxes and offer to accept credit card payment. The application can also offer to accept payment for a fishing license renewal due the following month, or offer a vanity license plate. Virtual Citizen Services State and local governments are aiming to reduce the costs of citizen interactions while maintaining or improving existing service levels. The following are several ways governments are using their networks to improve citizen interaction. Multi-channel contact centers: A citizen who wants to check on eligibility for a government program can dial a three-digit number providing access to all services or visit the web site and click the Chat button. Agents who need an answer from an expert consult an online directory to find an expert who is currently online, and then just click to send an instant message, call, or initiate a web collaboration session. Phone, web, and email interactions can be managed in the same queue, helping to make sure all citizens receive a timely response and keeping agents productive. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 43 Oregon Employment Department lowered staffing costs by joining three previously separate contact centers, sharing resources such as foreign-language speakers. The State of Texas Health and Human Services Commission began saving an estimated $400,000 annually after consolidating its separate contact centers. Unstaffed citizen service center: State agencies can also deploy video kiosks to deliver services to rural areas without additional staffing. A citizen who needs advice about licensing and taxes for a home-based business might visit one of these centers. An IP video surveillance camera detects the citizen’s presence in the room and alerts a virtual concierge in the central citizen services center. After greeting the citizen on an immersive video system, the concierge invites the citizen to take a ticket from the queuing system. Health and Human Services With growing case loads, limited resources, and fixed budgets, health and human services agencies need creative solutions to provide vital services to citizens in need, including those in rural communities. Proven strategies include: Mobility for eligibility-determination workers, inspectors, home health nurses, and other field workers: When mobile workers can retrieve and input case information from the field, government reduces travel time and costs while also lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Health exchanges: In response to the Affordable Care Act, some government agencies will build health benefit exchanges or health information exchanges over the next few years. The challenge is making sure that the cost model is sustainable. States are considering cloud computing because each healthcare provider or insurance provider needs only one connection—to the cloud—instead of one connection to every provider in the exchange. Requirements include a scalable cloud platform, a network with the security characteristics to transmit private information, and collaboration tools. Telemedicine: Government hospitals and clinics working with patients experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder and other issues use immersive video technology to see more patients in a day. Providing a video setup in veterans’ homes saves them from having to make arduous trips, and also eliminates the considerable expense of ambulance rides. Used in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, telehealth saved taxpayers $13 million by eliminating the costs of transporting inmates long distances under guard to see specialists. Education School districts and higher education institutions are adopting new approaches to engage a generation of learners who expect more video, more interactivity, and the freedom to learn from anywhere, not just inside the classroom. The public education system is taking advantage of IT for programs such as: Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 44 “Flipped classrooms,” where students view video lectures before class so that valuable class time can be spent on group projects, discussion, and labs. Distance learning using immersive video or a video and web-sharing cloud service, enabling students and faculty to join audio and high-quality videoconferences and share their desktops from anywhere, with any device. Virtual field trips, exposing K-12 students to destinations and experts anywhere in the world. High-performance campus Wi-Fi networks that take advantage of the BYOD trend to deliver digitized textbooks, interactive quizzes during class time, review of video lectures between classes, and more. Virtual desktops stored in the cloud, giving students the freedom to use any personal device to work with specialized applications that previously were available only in labs. At Volunteer State Community College, in Gallatin, Tennessee, students previously had to come to campus to work with lab applications. Now the college hosts lab applications as virtual desktops that students can access from personal devices. The project has lowered per-user desktop costs by 30 percent while also increasing agility. Public Safety The network has become critical to the gamut of public safety programs: crisis management, urban security, border control and critical infrastructure protection, and situational awareness at mass venues and events. Examples include: Vehicles: Enabling public safety officers in their vehicles to access law enforcement databases, hazardous materials databases, mug shots, building floor plans, and more, increasing situational awareness to plan an effective response. Creating a force multiplier: When a bridge collapsed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2007, the city saved an estimated $500,000 by monitoring the site with video surveillance instead of deploying police officers 24 hours a day. Enabling police officers to remotely monitor video feeds from schools, shopping centers, or other densely populated areas. Interoperable communications: Enabling first responders and government officials involved in incident response to communicate directly using any type of radio technology, traditional or IP phones, mobile phones, softphones, any device to any device regardless of platform. Accelerating incident detection by filtering out false alarms. Enabling collaboration within city government, with partner agencies, and with the private sector. The city of Joliet, Illinois, deployed outdoor IP video surveillance cameras after receiving a four-to-one matching grant from the federal government to secure the area Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 45 along the port of Chicago. The city can share video with the Illinois Department of Transportation if barges cause damage to bridges. To foster economic development, the City of Baltimore, Maryland, bid successfully to host the 2011 Grand Prix street race, expected to attract 100,000 people and inject the local economy with an estimated $70 million. Rather than funding a separate video surveillance system, the city invited 20 federal, state, local, and private organizations to share their video surveillance camera feeds and first responders’ locations for the event. Justice The network plays a growing role in judicial agility and public spending control: E-Warrants: In the city of San Antonio, Texas, detectives who need a search warrant right away use an in-vehicle laptop with software for high-definition videoconferencing to connect to a judge. Obtaining the search warrant at the point of need instead of waiting up to 12 hours helps detectives take advantage of a window of opportunity to execute the warrant. Remote arraignments: Transporting prisoners from the jail to the courthouse can be very costly and also has the potential to put employees and citizens in harm’s way. Collin County, Texas, is saving money and reducing the risk of escape or violence by transporting inmates to a video arraignment room in the jail. The inmate appears before the judge on high-definition video, accompanied by an attorney if appropriate. The judge, who can work from any county office or home, views pertinent documents on one screen and the inmate on another. Video interpretation: For decades, the federal government has required courts to provide interpretation services for criminal cases. Now the requirement is extending to non-criminal cases, including those tried in civil as well as family, probate, and juvenile courts. As a result, county courts face the prospect of triple or quadruple the number of cases requiring an interpreter. To avoid skyrocketing costs and judicial delays while overburdened contract interpreters travel between courtrooms, courts can adopt video interpretation. States can use the same investment in endpoints and underlying network for visitation, education, telepsychiatry, and arraignments. Video kiosks for citizens: Citizens appreciate the option to appear for motions or testimony from a video kiosk near their home or workplace. Judges in any location can hear the case, helping to reduce case backlog and use scarce resources and expertise more effectively. Summary Government is complex and government is diverse. Employees need access to the most advanced tools and platforms to do their jobs. More is expected of everyone in government service today. Employees must be enabled to do their jobs anywhere, anytime, using any device, across Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 46 multiple platforms. The network that connects them to everything and everyone they need must be invisible and transparent, and always on. As the demands on network services and resources continue to evolve, so will the requirements on network technologies. An example of the complexity and the sophistication embodied in today’s network infrastructure relates to the network access layer. In the past, the access layer provided connectivity to centralized network services. Today, the access layer is the intelligent demarcation point between the network infrastructure and the computing devices that leverage distributed network services. The network access layer provides a secure, services-oriented, and policy-aware trust boundary. It is the first layer of defense in the network security architecture and the first point of negotiation between end devices and the network infrastructure. When looking at the overall enterprise architecture, the access switch provides the majority of the first-hop services required in an end-to-end architecture and is a key element in enabling next-generation services. Having a feature rich access layer provides capabilities that reduce operational costs by reducing operational complexity. This includes the ease of replacing/upgrading/configuring switches through zero- touch deployment. Streamlining and accelerating deployment of video and other collaboration capabilities through media-centric network helps ensure optimal user experience for those capabilities during daily operations. It also enables the government to meet energy mandates and reduce IT energy costs through energy management. This feature-rich access layer can also contribute to increased defense-in-depth for network cyber security, which provides pervasive security throughout the network. When planning an RFP for communications and networking equipment or a network upgrade, procurement officials need to keep in mind that approximately 80 percent of the network’s Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) consists of continuing operational expenses, whereas only 20 percent of the costs are from initial one-time capital expenses. Asking the vendor community the right questions and securing vendor partners who can meet the current and future network capabilities is an essential element of doing more with less and guaranteeing operational excellence. The initial promise of lower costs up front from commoditizing the access layer is deceiving. Funds saved in taking a commodity- or productcentric approach to your network will be lost by the increased daily operational costs the government will experience for years to come when new capabilities and services are needed to be implemented across the network. A product-centric approach is too narrow and purchasing is too focused on initial savings. With enough planning put into procurement, the best-of-breed products and services with a solutions and architecture approach will lead to success. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 47 Glossary of Current and Future Technology To help explain the technology presented in this White Paper, a glossary of terms was created. Each term is defined by what role it plays in Government Services. Access Routing (Internet Edge) Today, the network edge is becoming more important to the day-to-day functions of your organization. As people work in the field, work while traveling, or work from home, they need real-time access to data in the data center. To achieve this, they need access routing to bring data to the edge. The WAN can be made to operate almost as fast as the core, which enables teleworkers to access the small amount of data they need at any given moment. Police officers, social workers, and construction crews working in the field can operate in real time if you make simple adjustments to your network design. Government demand for IT connectivity has increased steadily over the last few decades; for many organizations, access to Internet-based services is a basic requirement for conducting dayto-day activity. Email, web access, remote-access VPN and, more recently, cloud-based services, are critical functions enabling government agencies to pursue their missions. The government network that supports these services must enable the organization to accomplish its operational goals. A well planned and designed end-to-end network will save time, funds, and increase the capability of the organization. The network infrastructure is the foundation of the services that employees and citizens will use. Network Infrastructure enables Cloud Computing/Data Center, Collaboration Services, Physical Security, Network Management, and any future trends in technology. Three factors define the operational requirements for an organization’s Internet connection: Value of Internet-based activity: Cost savings/revenue realized from Internet activity Savings realized by Internet-based services. Time/funds and revenue impact from loss of Internet connectivity. Capital and operational expense of implementing and maintaining various Internet connectivity options. The organization must identify and understand its Internet connection requirements in order to effectively meet the demands of Internet-based business activity. Organizations must meet the following requirements and address these issues: Organizations need to provide users access to Internet services (email and web). Users need access to services inside the organization from remote locations. Organizations need to provide controlled access to data and/or services for the public, partners, and customers. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 48 Organizations need to improve employee productivity by restricting Internet access to non-work-related locations. Organizations need to manage security risks associated with Internet connectivity. The Internet Edge provides connectivity for traffic traversing between the organization and the Internet. This includes traffic to and from the organization, the Internet, and Demilitarized Zones (DMZs). An organization’s Internet Edge deployment needs to enforce the organization’s security policy and function as a real-world representation of that policy. The services that the Internet Edge provides are connectivity to the Internet Service Provider, resiliency for Internet services, and access control for services like email, instant messaging, and web. As part of this access, appropriate use of Internet services by employees is an important consideration, as it helps to maintain productivity, avoid legal issues, and reduce costs associated with work-related bandwidth consumption. The Internet Edge also provides users remote access to the services and data they require to perform their role, from any location. In borderless networks, a user could be an employee, a contractor, a partner, or a customer. Each user has different needs for access, data, and services. As users’ Internet access requirements broaden, the risk associated with such access has to be managed. There are three main types of risk that need to be managed: Attacks against services Attacks against clients Phishing attacks that involve tricking a user into clicking on a malicious web site or opening a file that contains malicious code. The result of not protecting the organization against this activity includes loss of intellectual property, data theft, or even potential legal liability. Application Growth Virtual computing model provides for using a simple Graphical User Interface (GUI) for rapid deployment of additional physical servers that share common attributes. Using a virtual computing manager service profile, you can define the configuration of an individual server including: Boot characteristics Interface addresses Firmware versions. Each profile can be done separately from any physical hardware. You can also generate service profiles from a template and keep them linked to the template to facilitate updates across multiple servers in the future. This gives you the ability to create a new server by cloning an existing service profile or using a template. It also means that it only takes a Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 49 few minutes to deploy a new server, and you can limit physical server hardware to a flexible and common pool of spare parts as your data center grows. Application Switching Through a broad set of load balancing and content switching capabilities, coupled with unique virtualized architecture and granular user access control, application switching provides time and cost reduction for application deployment, build-out, and performance or security enhancement. IT departments and end users benefit directly through faster application rollout, improved response time, and long-term investment protection. Application Availability: To increase application availability, application switching uses Layer 4 load balancing and Layer 7 content switching algorithms coupled with highly available system software and hardware. Application switching can provide a state-ofthe-art failover system with an extensive set of application health probes that helps ensure that traffic is forwarded to the most available server. To help ensure data center availability, application switching can be integrated with a data center availability system. Data center switching provides connection failover between data centers and helps ensure business continuity. Application performance: Application switching is designed to accelerate the application experience for all users, whether they are in the office or on the road. To enable optimal application performance for remote and traveling users, application switching can use a range of acceleration capabilities to improve application response time, reduce bandwidth volume, and improve the efficiency of protocols. Security: Application switching is designed to serve as a last line of server defense. Application switching provides protection against application threats and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks with features such as deep packet inspection, network and protocol security, and highly scalable access control capabilities. Customer Benefits: Application switches offer several customer benefits: Reduced ongoing cost of application infrastructure and increased server efficiency Better end-user productivity through improved application availability Up to 500 percent faster response times Up to 400 percent lower power and cooling expenses Up to 75 percent more rapid application deployments and build-outs. Application Switching Layers 4 to 7 Data centers are evolving to adopt a cloud service model. Cloud computing is increasing demands on applications, and the application-delivery infrastructure (Layer 4-7) must meet the challenge. Application switches allow enterprises to meet this challenge via four primary IT objectives: Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 50 Increase application availability and scalability Accelerate performance of Web-based applications Enable data center consolidation through fewer servers, load balancers, and firewalls Improve application and data center security. Availability and Business Continuance Virtual computing data centers are designed to ensure availability with the use of resilient network devices, links, and service models. Virtual computing extends this resiliency to the servers themselves. A virtual computing model uses service profiles to provide a consistent interface for managing all server resource requirements as a logical entity, independent of the specific hardware module that is used to provide the processing capacity. The service profile approach is applied consistently on both virtualized servers and “bare metal” servers, which do not run a hypervisor. This approach increases overall availability and dramatically reduces the time required to replace the function of an individual server module that has failed. Big Data Big Data will continually transform society by enabling science and business to inform and decide. Supply chain logistics, financial data, and university researchers will continually need to manage Big Data. Government will provide the backbone of the network and continue to benefit from the analysis of data the government generates. Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Bring Your Own Device is a network design that allows employees to use any device anywhere and at any time to connect to your network. Today laptops, Apple, and Android devices need to be used on your intranet and to VPN into your network from anywhere in the world. This can be done by setting up security in-depth and role-based access control. This can save funds on equipment purchases and maintenance and enable employees to do their job better with less stress. Building Controls Building controls are currently siloed into separate systems that do not communicate with each other. Building controls need to be converged to address a pervasive need to reduce costs. Convergence reduces Capital Expenditures (CapEx) and Operating Expenses (OpEx) by reducing the duplication of components performing similar functions. This reduction applies to components at every level, from the types of wiring used to the human skills required to install, operate, and maintain the components. Convergence can also increase business value for the real estate promoter and developer. A Building Management System (BMS) is a computer-based system, consisting of both hardware and software, which controls and monitors a building’s mechanical, electrical, and electronic equipment such as air conditioning, lighting, power, fire, and security systems. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 51 A BMS extends the network as a platform to transform the way buildings are built, operated, and experienced. The BMS: Helps reduce energy usage across global operations Leverages your network expertise in collaboration, convergence, and security to foster sustainable energy use Provides flexible integration of new technologies that deliver energy efficiency, clean energy, and environmental stewardship. The BMS collects data from the building, IT, energy supply, and energy demand systems, which use different protocols that are otherwise unable to communicate. It then normalizes the data into a common data representation. This enables the BMS to perform any-to-any protocol translation and to provide information to the end user in a uniform presentation. This network-based framework creates a common, standards-based, open platform that then allows enterprise applications, cloud services, and building/IT systems to communicate. The BMS is protocol-agnostic (open source) and extends the network to serve as an effective foundation for sustainability management. Cloud Computing Cloud computing will provide a seamless connection between employees and data. The network will store data and have computing power that workers can access from anywhere, anytime, on any device through Web apps. Workers can complete their job in the field. Government can use commercial apps and develop apps for specific functions to enable their employees. Cloud Definitions The NIST offer the following Cloud definitions: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provides users with processing, storage, networks, and other computing infrastructure resources. The user does not manage or control the infrastructure, but has control over operating systems, applications, and programming frameworks. Platform as a Service (PaaS) enables users to deploy applications developed using specified programming languages or frameworks and tools onto the Cloud infrastructure. The user does not manage or control the underlying infrastructure, but has control over deployed applications. Software as a Service (SaaS) enables users to access applications running on a Cloud infrastructure from various end-user devices (generally through a Web application). The user does not manage or control the underlying Cloud infrastructure or individual application capabilities other than limited user-specific application settings. NIST defines the following Cloud deployment models: Private clouds are operated solely for one organization. They may be managed by the organization itself or by a third party, and they may exist on-premises or off. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 52 Public clouds are open to the general public or a large industry group and are owned and managed by a Cloud service provider. Hybrid clouds combine two or more clouds (private or public) that remain unique entities but are bound together by technology that enables data and application portability. Community clouds feature infrastructure that is shared by several organizations and supports a specific community. They may be managed by the organizations or a third party and may exist on-premises or off. Children’s Internet Protection Act Content security is ideally suited to help U.S. public schools and libraries adhere to the requirements of the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), a federal law that was enacted by the U.S. Congress in December 2000 to address concerns about access to offensive content over the Internet on school and library computers. CIPA imposes certain types of requirements on schools or libraries that receive funding support for Internet access or internal connections from the E-rate program, which makes certain types of technology more affordable for eligible schools and libraries. In early 2001, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued rules for the implementation of CIPA: An Internet safety policy must include technology protection measures to block or filter Internet access on computers that are accessed by minors for pictures that: (a) are obscene, (b) are child pornography, or (c) are harmful to minors. Schools subject to CIPA are required to adopt and enforce a policy to monitor online activities of minors. Schools and libraries subject to CIPA are required to adopt and implement a policy addressing the following: (a) access by minors to inappropriate matter on the Internet; (b) the safety and security of minors when using electronic mail, chat rooms, and other forms of direct electronic communications; (c) unauthorized access, including so-called “hacking,” and other unlawful activities by minors online; (d) unauthorized disclosure, use, and dissemination of personal information regarding minors; and (e) the restriction of minors’ access to materials harmful to them. Content security can provide a full featured set of protections consistent with the requirements of CIPA. Connected Government Connected justice, healthcare, and other agencies will always be on and able to perform. A completely digital system will enable new ways to connect different locations to each other. For example, prisoners do not have to leave the prison to meet with a judge if they use Immersive video. Doctors can see patients via Immersive video. Physical security and travel time are big Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 53 costs for justice, and a specialist doctor now has a much wider area that he can meet with patients, but have come in if necessary. Content Security Businesses strive to maximize business continuity and security, increase employee productivity, control information theft and legal liabilities, and reduce operational expenses and management burden. Most businesses find it difficult to attain these business goals, given the steady stream of Internet threats that target client systems. Content security solutions provide strong protection and control for business network communications. They stop network threats such as viruses, worms, spyware, spam, and phishing; and control unwanted email and web content, while reducing the operational costs and complexity of deploying and managing multiple point solutions. Viruses and other malicious code can overwhelm your IT resources, disrupting business operations and impacting business transactions. The onslaught of spyware and unwanted Internet content can seriously impact employee productivity and expose individuals to identity theft. Providing comprehensive malware protection and content control, content security allows enterprises to make full use of the Internet without the risks and costs associated with infections and threats impacting client systems. Combining a firewall with high-quality malware protection, content security: Provides protection and control for network communications Stops network threats such as viruses, worms, spyware, spam, and phishing Controls unwanted email and web content while reducing the operational costs and complexity of deploying and managing multiple point solutions. Content security provides you with: Enhanced business continuity by preventing malware infections and security breaches from disrupting business-critical applications and services Cost savings by reducing the need to remove spyware, viruses, and other malware Increased employee productivity due to reduction of spam, spyware, and related distractions Efficient use of network resources by removing non-business relevant traffic and content Optimized for small and medium-sized organizations and remote branches through its simplified deployment and ease of use. Cyber Security The network needs to be protected in-depth. Each employee and citizen needs to access government networks anytime and anywhere, but that access should be limited based on role and security to prevent hacking. New approaches to security make this possible by securing the network. A CIO can have one policy that applies to intranet, wireless LAN, and cellular network Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 54 access. VPN can be installed on any device and that device can be provisioned according to its status and the user’s role. Desktop Video The immersive video-collaboration experience is a perfect example of using technology to bring people together. Try to imagine just 5 years ago, when “meeting” someone for the first time over video was not a good experience. Today, you can talk with someone across the world as easily as if you were both sitting in the same room. The vivid expressions on their full-size images are very clear, their body language tells you a lot about what they are thinking, and their voice comes from the side of the room on which they are sitting. There are no remote controls or complicated procedures for starting a meeting. You just sit down and work together without technology getting in the way. After meeting with them, you feel as though you have met them in person because the experience was very life-like. This is the reality of collaboration. Video collaboration allows your organization to reap the budgetary and productivity gains that a remote workforce allows—without compromising the benefits of face-to-face interaction. The following are benefits of video collaboration in a work environment: Make decisions faster Provide immediate access to experts Bring employees in remote offices closer together Interview job candidates remotely Enhance employee reviews Improve telework programs Get real-time feedback from suppliers directly to the manufacturing floor Record training sessions and executive messages for later playback over the corporate network Improve work/life balance for employees and their families. An end-to-end video-collaboration solution incorporates a full suite of endpoints, infrastructure components, and centralized management tools. You can expand it even further by integrating with external devices, digital signage, and productivity tools. Digital Signage Digital Signage provides eye-catching multimedia content on large screens connected to your existing network (Figure 10). You can deliver the same content to all signs on the network, such as reminders of events, or deliver different content to different groups. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 55 Figure 10. Digital Signage Promotes events and provides emergency updates within the same building, you might display meetings on one digital sign and information about an upcoming bond election on signs in the lobby. Popular uses of digital signage for schools include: Emergency notifications and instructions Government news from the state or local office Event announcements, such as meetings, hearings, and more Room assignments for events In-service training. Energy Controls Rising energy costs, environmental concerns, and new government directives have increased the need for sustainable IT operations. Governments, companies, and consumers are more aware of issues like energy and climate change, air and water pollution, resource depletion, human health and safety issues, and waste disposal. Networked energy management can help address these issues. Networked energy management can automatically discover devices to manage, then enables in measuring, reporting, and reduction of the power consumption of network infrastructure and attached devices using specific policies. The power of the network can achieve lower energy costs and better sustainability. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 56 IaaS Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provides users with processing, storage, networks, and other computing infrastructure resources. The user does not manage or control the infrastructure, but has control over operating systems, applications, and programming frameworks. Immersive Video Organizations the world over are experiencing the transformational impact of faster decision making, stronger working relationships, cost control, and improved productivity delivered by Immersive video. Immersive video consists of a multiple codec video system, where each meeting attendee uses an immersive video room to “dial in” and can see/talk to every other member on a screen (or screens) as if they were in the same room. This brings enormous time and cost benefits, versus travel. It is also superior to phone conferencing as the visual aspect greatly enhances communications, allowing for perceptions of facial expressions and other body language. Immersive video is no longer just for the boardroom. What once was thought of as a technology out of reach for many is more accessible than ever. The innovative applications and ways that people are now using the technology are endless. Immersive video solutions address the human factors that are required in a virtual meeting, such as communication and collaboration from geographically dispersed locations, where the visual experience is critical. Meeting human factor requirements is fundamental in the system design, which results in the creation of a two-way visual communication experience that makes the participants feel like they are sitting across from each other. In addition, the image and audio quality is important, resulting in life-size images of people with all of their body language, including verbal and nonverbal communication such as eye contact. A complete video collaboration solution includes some or all of the following endpoint products: Immersive video: Creates the most realistic in-person meeting experience and provides an ideal platform for communication and interaction. Meeting participants feel as though they are having a conversation with a colleague right across the table, even though they may be miles or continents apart. Multipurpose room systems: These high-quality systems are designed to be used in meeting rooms, boardrooms, auditoriums, and other shared environments. Highdefinition, multipurpose video collaboration solutions can offer the same clarity of picture and sound as immersive video systems, and they are great for team meetings and collaborating in groups. Internet of Everything (IoE) The Internet already handles people-to-people, people-to-machine, and machine-to-machine data, but 99 percent of things is not connected to the Internet today. Sensors in everyday objects, buildings, and vehicles will bring capabilities that can provide economic opportunity for businesses, individuals, and countries. For example, sensors in bridges and roadways can provide a new level of safety for citizens. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 57 Key Threats The following are some of the key threats that affect government networks. Service disruption — Botnets, malware, adware, spyware, viruses, DoS attacks (buffer overflows and endpoint exploitation), Layer-2 attacks, and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks on services and infrastructure. Unauthorized access — Intrusions, unauthorized users, escalation of privileges, IP Spoofing, and unauthorized access to restricted resources. Data disclosure and modification — Sniffing, Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) attacks of data while in transit. Network abuse — Peer-to-peer and instant messaging abuse, out-of-policy browsing, and access to forbidden content. Data leak — From servers and user endpoints, data in transit and in rest. Identity theft and fraud — On servers and end users, phishing, and email spam. LAN Switching The core layer of the LAN is the communications hub of the network. It provides client access to headquarters and the backbone connectivity for the WAN, data center, and Internet edge, making it a critical component in the network. The LAN needs to be highly available to support missioncritical applications and real-time media. In the past, high availability meant paying for links that were redundant and sat unused. Data networks are critical to enterprise organizations’ viability and productivity. Online workforce-enablement tools are only beneficial if the data network provides reliable access to information resources. Collaboration tools and content distribution rely on high-speed, lowlatency network infrastructure to provide an effective user experience. The LAN needs to: Offer reliable access to organization resources Minimize time required to absorb technology investments Allow workforce mobility Provide guest access Reduce operation costs. New technology can impose significant costs, from the perspective of the investment in the equipment, as well as the time and workforce investment required to deploy the new technology and establish operational readiness. Organizations constantly pursue opportunities to reduce network operational costs, while maintaining the network’s effectiveness for end users. Operational expenses include not only the cost of the physical operation (for example, power, cooling, etc.), but also the labor cost required to staff an IT department that monitors and maintains the network. Additionally, network outages and performance issues impose costs that are more difficult to quantify, in the form of loss of productivity and interruption of business continuity. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 58 Managed LAN By allowing a third party to manage network assets, organizations can control CAPEX and staff levels, leaving management free to focus on key business goals. Outsourcing LAN management can help improve service and network performance, and reduce total cost of ownership. Coordinated LAN management can also reduce the risk of deploying converged networks and emerging technologies. Mobility Computing By 2015, over 80 percent of the handsets sold in mature markets will be smartphones (Gartner). The mobile network is merging with the wired and wireless LAN network. Employees will be able to work from anywhere and connect to the network with the best available connection. The demand for bandwidth will always increase as more video, immersive video, and big data become available on the web. Government can use video in many ways to generate reports and for communication. Network Analytics Network analytics is the ability to collect, analyze, and act on data to make better decisions. Performing network analysis enables you to make your network work better and better across the network lifecycle. Analytics should be broken down into three categories: Descriptive analytics using historical data to describe the business. This is usually associated with Business Intelligence (BI) or visibility systems. In supply chain, you use descriptive analytics to better understand your historical demand patterns, to understand how product flows through your supply chain, and to understand when a shipment might be late. Predictive analytics using data to predict trends and patterns. This is commonly associated with statistics. In the supply chain, you use predictive analytics to forecast future demand or to forecast the price of fuel. Prescriptive analytics using data to suggest the optimal solution. This is commonly associated with optimization. In the supply chain, you use prescriptive analytics to set your inventory levels, schedule your plants, or route your trucks. These methods can improve your network and organizational performance. The benefits of network analysis include: Ensure Network Stability: Complete internetwork communications can be easily obstructed if a network device such as a server or a single segment in a LAN becomes unreachable. Many different scenarios can cause problems in a large network and being able to maintain stability is a paramount concern of network managers. Ensure Network Reliability: Many upper-layer applications present in today’s enterprise networks require connection-based processing during communications from one device to another. Maintaining a consistent connection is essential when critical communications take place between network devices, such as a workstation and a server. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 59 There is no one single source of information for baselining your network and applications. IT organizations will need to use different monitoring instrumentation data in order to gain a solid understanding of the normal behavior of the applications, the network, and IT resources. Optimize the Network: Once you have end-to-end visibility of the network and the applications, you can then determine which optimization tools and technologies to utilize to best meet the requirements. The second step is to apply the optimization or control techniques to enhance application performance. Measure, Adjust, and Verify: Continuously monitoring and collecting information about the network and application behavior, and comparing the behavior before and after successive WAN optimization initiatives. Measuring application response times for key applications both before and after WAN optimization and control techniques allows IT organizations to determine if the changes achieve desirable results. At the same time, it allows IT organizations to determine if the changes cause unacceptable impact on the company’s other key applications. Deploy Changes: IT organizations regularly deploy new applications and updates to existing applications to meet changing business needs. As new applications are deployed or changes are made, new baselines need to be established. The application optimization cycle must start all over again. Device Instrumentation Monitoring: Understanding and addressing application performance issues brings visibility into how an organization actually uses the network resources, and with abilities to measure how well applications are performing. Network Security Network security works when the network is secured at each layer. Security services help you address both protection and enablement needs such as protecting data, enabling secure access, assuring regulatory compliance, and thwarting intrusion. Whether your challenge is securely connecting multi-site, multi-tenant physical and virtual environments; providing secure access to applications and data from any device; protecting information and privacy; or enabling secure collaboration anywhere; you plan, build, and manage pervasive security across the network and within and between clouds to protect your organization. Office Automation A network that is always connected to citizens can redefine the work flows and processes within an organization. Office automation and web apps that can operate without employees will become standard. This frees up time to do better work. Instead of having employees collecting data they can be analyzing it. OSI Layers Model The OSI Model of the seven layers of the network. (See Figure 11.) Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 60 Figure 11. OSI Model The OSI model provides an understanding of how the network transports data. PaaS Platform as a Service (PaaS) enables users to deploy applications developed using specified programming languages or frameworks and tools onto the Cloud infrastructure. The user does not manage or control the underlying infrastructure, but has control over deployed applications. Processing Resources Some applications require enough processing and memory that you might decide to dedicate an entire server or even a cluster of servers to support the workload. Other applications may start out on a single server where the processor and memory are underutilized, resulting in excess or wasted resources. In the case where applications need a separate operating environment but not an entire server for processing and memory resources, server virtualization is the key to combining applications and optimizing resources. Server virtualization technologies insert a hypervisor layer between the server operating systems and the hardware, allowing a single physical server to run multiple instances of different “guest” operating systems. This increases the utilization of the processors on the physical servers, which helps to optimize this costly resource. The architecture of virtual computing is optimized to support the use of hypervisor-based systems or the direct installation of a base operating system. The service profile structure of virtual computing, along with a centralized storage model, allows Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 61 you the portability of server definitions to different hardware, with or without a hypervisor system in place. Profiling and Baselining The first step to WAN and application optimization is to profile network activity by establishing a reference from which service quality and application delivery effectiveness can be measured. The profile of a network describes the traffic patterns and resource bottlenecks of a network. This identifies for the network operator the links and protocols that are the best candidates for optimization. Through profiling, a network engineer can focus on only those network components whose optimization will help improve and develop baselines as a performance benchmark. Baselining is the establishment of acceptable network behavior, which includes: Understanding available bandwidth Identifying a normal pattern of network behavior such as network delays and what applications are running on the network Understanding each application’s behavior (and requirements) on the network Measuring application response times. There are key monitoring instrumentation technologies that provide essential information, and sources of data for meeting the needs of performance management disciplines that optimize the networks and applications. Performance monitoring tools provide data that network management software consume. Figure 12 outlines a general process that can be used to incrementally increase understanding of one’s network and progressively deploy measurable improvements and adjustments as required. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 62 Figure 12. WAN and Application Optimization Lifecycle With proper baselining, administrators can differentiate between consistent network behavior and anomalous (candidates for improvement) network behavior. Role Based Access Control (RBAC) The role you play within the organization determines the access you are granted. This limits the network’s exposure to threats. Internal threats and phishing scams can cause major damage to an organization, but they can be mitigated because that employee only has access to specific parts of the network. With some internal firewalls and network redesign, RBAC is an easy upgrade to the network. Remote Access/Teleworker/Virtual Private Networks In 2010, IDC estimated that there were over 30-million teleworkers (also known as telecommuters) worldwide. Teleworkers differ from mobile workers in that they require a more office-like environment and typically work from a single semi-permanent location, in most cases their houses. Today, teleworkers are becoming more productive and connected, enabling companies to recruit the best talent, regardless of their location. At the same time, teleworking allows the workers to find the optimal life-work balance and job satisfaction while maintaining productivity and business continuity. Providing employees access to networked business services from a residential environment poses challenges for both the end user and IT operations. For the home-based teleworker, it is critical that access to services is reliable and consistent, providing an experience that is as similar to sitting in a cubicle or office in the organization’s facility. Additionally, solutions must support a wide range of teleworking employees with varying skill sets, making it critical to have a streamlined and simplified way to implement devices that allow for access to the corporate environment. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 63 Remote access is a subset of teleworking where the end user accesses government services through their Laptop, Smart Phone, or Tablet using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) service. Remote access has become a must-have service for employees who work from the road or from home. More and more organizations are allowing contractors remote access to their networks to service systems more cost effectively. Virtualization can support both Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and IP Security (IPSec), VPN for remote access, and site-to-site VPN, providing employees and partners a secure way to connect to the network from the Internet. SSL VPN offers maximum flexibility, offering secure connectivity for employees and citizens back to the internal network even from assets outside the organization’s control. If an existing remote access solution is deployed, the architecture is flexible and can support traditional IPSec VPN clients. Organizations have been using Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs) and IPS to detect and block malicious traffic on networks for years, but recent laws and private sector compliance standards have moved these systems from a nice-to-have to a must-have in government networks. Virtual IPS can be deployed on its own as a standalone service with appliance-based solutions for highperformance LAN and server deployments, or integrated into the firewall for network perimeter protection. Some IPS systems support inline and promiscuous modes that allow the agency to inspect traffic and either send alerts when malicious traffic is detected or block the traffic in real time. Security The Enterprise Network is the portion of the infrastructure that provides network access to end users and devices located at the same geographical location. It may span over several floors in a single building, or over multiple buildings covering a larger geographical area. The campus typically connects to a network core that provides access to the other parts of the network such as data centers, WAN edge, other campuses, and the Internet edge. Security is an integral part of every network deployment. With the need to have secure and reliable networks, protect information assets, and meet regulatory compliance requirements, an organization needs to deploy security services designed into the network rather than added on as an afterthought. With most networks connected to the Internet and under constant barrage from worms, viruses, and targeted attacks, organizations must be vigilant in protecting their network infrastructure, user data, and customer information. Achieving the appropriate level of security is no longer a matter of deploying point products confined to the network perimeters. Today, the complexity and sophistication of threats mandate system-wide intelligence and collaboration. To that end, government IT organizations must take a defense-in-depth approach, where multiple layers of protection are strategically located throughout the network, but under a unified strategy. Event and posture information is shared for greater visibility, and response actions are coordinated under a common control strategy. From a security perspective, the following are the key requirements to be satisfied by the Enterprise design. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 64 Service availability and resiliency Prevent unauthorized access, network abuse, intrusions, data leak, and fraud Ensure data confidentiality, integrity, and availability Ensure user segmentation Enforce access control Protect the endpoints Protect the infrastructure. Service Provider Some states have started to act as the service provider for all state and local government agencies. The state sets up one contract with a system integrator such as Verizon or AT&T and they provide service to each building as needed. Sensors Sensors can refer to any device that measures something in the environment such as temperature, light, sound, pressure, Radio Frequency ID (RFID), and for public safety: chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear. These sensors are usually simple and passively send their data over a wireless network to a computer that aggregates many sensors’ data and then analyses it. Sensor Networks A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) consists of spatially distributed autonomous sensors to monitor physical or environmental conditions, such as temperature, sound, pressure, etc., and to cooperatively pass their data through the network to a main location. The networks are bidirectional, also enabling control of sensor activity. The development of wireless sensor networks was motivated by military applications such as battlefield surveillance; today such networks are used in many industrial and consumer applications, such as industrial process monitoring and control, machine health monitoring, and so on. Sensor networks will enable various manual tasks to be automated and become continuously monitored. For example, sensors could be put in bridges to monitor them and inform employees that the bridge needs to be inspected or repaired. This would help prevent bridges from collapsing unexpectedly. Shared Services/Multi-Tenancy One of the essential characteristics of a cloud architecture is the ability to pool resources. The provider’s compute, network, and storage resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to consumer demand. There is a sense of location independence in that the user generally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of the provided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher level of abstraction (e.g., country, state, or data center). Examples of resources include storage, processing, memory, network bandwidth, and virtual machines. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 65 Each tenant subscribed to compute, network, and storage resources in a cloud is entitled to a given Service Level Agreement (SLA). One tenant may have higher SLA requirements than another based on a business model or organizational hierarchy (Figure 13). For example, tenant A may have higher compute and network bandwidth requirements than tenant B, while tenant B may have a higher storage capacity requirement. Figure 13. Architecture Overview The main design objective is to ensure that tenants within this environment properly receive subscribed SLA while their data, communication, and application environments are securely separated, protected, and isolated from other tenants. The key to developing a robust design is clearly defining the requirements and applying a proven methodology and design principles. The following four requirements were defined as pillars for the Secure Cloud Architecture. Availability allows the infrastructure to meet the expectation of compute, network, and storage to always be available even in the event of failure. Like the Secure Separation pillar, each layer has its own manner of providing a high availability configuration that works seamlessly with adjacent layers. Security and availability are best deployed from a layered approach. Secure Separation ensures one tenant does not have access to another tenant’s resources, such as Virtual Machine (VM), network bandwidth, and storage. Each tenant must be securely separated using techniques such as access control, Virtual LAN (VLAN) segmentation, and virtual storage controllers. Also, each layer has its own means of enforcing policies that help reinforce the policies of the adjacent layers. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 66 Service Assurance provides isolated compute, network, and storage performance during both steady state and non-steady state. For example, the network can provide each tenant with a certain bandwidth guarantee using Quality of Service (QoS). Management is required to rapidly provision and manage resources and view resource availability. Siloes Network siloes are architectures devoted to one task, application, or government entity. They cause networks to be overbuilt and underutilized. For example, a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) phone system is siloed from the rest of the network. A TDM system cannot be integrated into a VoIP system and now they are obsolete. They are the opposite of a virtualized network with shared resources. Software as a Service (SaaS) Budget stability is always an issue for government. By moving CapEx costs to OpEx budget, the CIO can achieve a more stable budget year to year. With SaaS, you can offer more services to citizens and employees without incurring up-front costs to roll out new capability. SaaS removes risk and is faster to implement and is not more expensive in the long run because your management costs are fixed. SaaS can be installed on premise or hosted by a system integrator offsite. Software Defined Network SDN is an approach to network design and deployment where the devices can be dynamically programmed to adjust to the needs of applications or network users. There are several use cases for SDN in the Public Sector including data center/private-cloud coordination of network services and campus slicing (common in a research environment in higher education). As this technology becomes more mature, more use cases will come to light. One promising area for SDN is to enable mission-specific applications to manipulate network resources to ensure proper delivery of the data/application. Virtualization has simplified and increased the capacity of servers while reducing costs. This same idea is now being implemented for routing and switching to make it virtual also. The SDN will reduce the amount of physical routers and switches to a minimum but will increase the amount of routing and switching that can be done on a specific task by allowing bandwidth to be used as needed. This allows government to use excess bandwidth for data transfer and backup. Also, big data tasks can be done by the network as a whole instead of dedicating a new array of routers and switches to a task. The task can be computed in the background when other smaller tasks consume bandwidth. Storage Area Network A Storage Area Network (SAN) is a dedicated network that provides access to consolidated (restricted access), block level data storage. SANs play a vital role in enabling businesses to adopt new technologies and applications to help them grow. For many businesses, increased user Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 67 expectations along with government regulations for data recovery make it imperative for 24-hour access to critical information. Storage costs continue to grow faster than server costs, resulting in the need for more efficient and cost-effective storage and lifecycle management. SAN applications enable centralized, storage-vendor-neutral solutions including data encryption, data migration, and acceleration of backup and replication performance between distant data centers. Storage Requirements The most efficient way to manage the investment in additional storage capacity is to move to a centralized storage model. Virtual computing decouples the computing functions of the server farm from the storage systems, which provides greater flexibility for system growth and migration. System storage and boot disk are accessible from either the local disk that is available on each server or through access to centralized storage located on the Ethernet IP network or SAN. Unified Communications The VoIP revolution is just beginning. Each year more features are added to VoIP systems to make them better and to integrate them with other IP technology. Connecting to web meetings and maintaining a presence online has never been easier. Turn a chat into a phone call or a web meeting all on a mobile phone. UC is enabling the workforce to be free from the desk, but still able to do the work that is necessary. Unified Communications products deliver high-quality voice and video communications that scale from a few people to tens of thousands. Organizations select the features and functions to meet their specific needs, from simple dial tone and voicemail to complex call centers. The following are benefits of using Unified Communications services: Scales as the organization grows from 10 to 30,000 users Can be tailored to suit the needs of your organization, from basic call functions to complex call centers with video agents Builds on your current messaging systems, creating a platform for collaboration Supports single-line voice endpoints all the way up to multi-screen, high-definition video endpoints. Unified Communications supports users that are located at headquarters, regional sites, or a remote site. It also supports teleworkers or mobile workers in wired and wireless LAN configurations. The solution integrates the benefits of voice and video communications with messaging into a modular architecture. Consolidating these services on a single network creates a cost-effective solution that is simple to set up, manage, and use, thereby helping to lower the TCO and providing a foundation for other service and business process integrations. Unified Computing As an organization begins to grow, the number of servers required to handle the informationprocessing tasks of the organization grows. Using the full capabilities of the investment in server Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 68 resources can help an organization add new applications while controlling costs as they move from a small server room environment to a more scalable data center design. Server virtualization has become a common approach to allow an organization to access the untapped processing capacity available in processor technology. Streamlining the management of server hardware and its interaction with networking and storage equipment is another important component of using this investment in an efficient manner. Scaling a data center with conventional servers, networking equipment, and storage resources can pose a significant challenge to a growing organization. Multiple hardware platforms and technologies must be integrated to deliver the expected levels of performance and availability to application end users. These components in the data center also need to be managed and maintained, typically with a diverse set of management tools that have different interfaces and approaches. In larger organizations, often multiple teams of people are involved in managing applications, servers, storage, and networking. In many smaller organizations, the lines between these tasks are blurred and often a single, smaller team — or even one individual — may need to handle many of these tasks in a day. Business agility in the data center is a growing concern for organizations. The ability to reduce the time necessary to deploy new applications or expand existing applications to a larger footprint to handle increasing workloads contributes to the success of a project. The compute environment needs to be consistent to reduce operational requirements, yet flexible to accommodate the different requirements of applications and the operating system. Application availability is key to an organization. Users depend on reaching the systems and information that are required to run the business just as much as they depend on having lights in the office or a power outlet to plug in a PC. Unified Computing System (UCS) As an organization’s mission changes, the network should be able to adapt. By converging the network routing and switching with servers into one virtual environment, the network becomes simpler to manage, uses less boxes and less electricity for cooling, and is faster to provision. Virtual servers replace physical servers so that many applications can run on one machine. You need a network that is designed to work together to eliminate server farm sprawl, because point products that are cobbled together are expensive in the long run, even though they seem to offer short-term savings. Video Surveillance Video surveillance solutions enable your administrators and security personnel to view, manage, and record video locally and remotely using the IP network and a standard Internet browser. With this solution, you can access video securely at any time and in any location, enabling faster response, investigation, and resolution of incidents. You can also record and store video locally and offsite, as well as manage and combine it with video from multiple locations. Video surveillance can be used to integrate a wide range of third-party vendor devices and applications, such as video analytics, providing a solution that is cost effective to deploy, fits budgets, and enables new capabilities. Furthermore, video surveillance products are designed to Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 69 work with customers’ existing proprietary cameras, analog control keyboard, and matrix switches for a smooth transition to network-based video surveillance. Whether you are upgrading an existing surveillance system or building an entirely new one, an IP networked based video surveillance can meet your specific needs and protect your technology investment. Virtual Desktop Organizations are being driven by industry and regulatory compliance (Payment Card Industry [PCI], Sarbanes-Oxley ]SOX], Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act [HIPAA]) to be able to report on who is accessing the organization’s information, where they are accessing it from, and what type of device they are using to access it. Government mandates like Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) and Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) are also requiring agencies and entities working with government agencies to track this information. In some cases, an organization may choose to limit access to certain information to adhere to these regulations. This information is also key data that can be used to generate advanced security policies. Organizations see this as a daunting task requiring the use of several advanced technologies, and often delay implementing a solution simply because they don’t know where to begin. In today’s environments where BYOD has become prevalent, you can use a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) to accommodate users without the need to certify application across multiple operating systems and device types. The first phase is to allow users to access the network with their personal device using their existing network credentials. After authentication, the device is granted access to the portions of the network required to access the VDI. VDI allows a client to access a virtual desktop hosted in the data center. This allows the user to access the same desktop from a variety of different endpoints. This simplifies network policies by providing a common environment for users and then applying policy centrally in the data center. The second phase is to provision the device with a digital certificate and network configuration prior to gaining network access. Once provisioned, the device has full network access. Virtualization Virtualization will change the way government operates on a daily basis by transforming multiple siloed current physical networks into one seamless network. The capability to handle data, voice, video collaboration, and immersive video will enable government agencies to operate in real time 24/7/365 around the world. Information will always be accessible and always secure because role based access control will limit each person on the network to information pertinent to their role. The goal is to build a pervasive, scalable infrastructure that bridges previously siloed domains and unifies them into a fabric of shared, virtual services that can be provisioned in a fraction of the time it takes to configure a traditional application environment. Network virtualization creates a foundation for virtual services added on top. In the design, VLANs are used to create logical, secure, and reliable segmentation between voice, video, data, wired, wireless LAN, and Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 70 management functions on the network. The design also supports virtual servers and storage in the server room/data center. Virtualization technologies can help your organization treat all IT resources as a set of shared services that can be combined to improve efficiencies and scale quickly. The more efficiently your organization can use its existing IT assets — servers, storage, networking, and other equipment — the better your return on investment. Efficient use can also help you defer the cost of new equipment and significantly reduce power and cooling costs. The data center, servers, routing, and switching will be virtualized. Virtualization is typically seen as a way to increase the workload capacity of servers, and to a degree, storage. Yet greater efficiencies can be gained by applying virtualization to your entire network. With some key technologies combined with reconfiguration of operational processes and structures, the network can play a key role in creating a virtual infrastructure for increased efficiency. Web Application A lightweight Web application is software that has been optimized for a specific use. The programming language can execute quickly and reuses its own code through object-oriented programming. The app is only a few Mb in size and does one task through the Web. For example, Kayak.com accesses many sites through your smartphone and finds travel information based on your input. It can give you real-time data from the mobile cloud. Government can move to this operations model by having cloud computing and developing specific apps for specific needs. This can be far more cost effective when compared to other business models. Web Conferencing Web conferencing is a service that allows conferencing events to be shared between remote locations. The service is made possible by Internet technologies, particularly Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) connections. The service allows real-time point-topoint communications as well as multicast communications from one sender to many receivers. It offers information such as text-based messages, voice and video chat to be shared simultaneously, across geographically dispersed locations. Applications for web conferencing include meetings, training events, lectures, or short presentations from any computer. As government organizations reduce operation expenses and increase operational efficiencies, they require new ways of doing business. It is simply not feasible to travel to all locations to meet colleagues, fellow executives, and citizens. It is inefficient and expensive, and it hampers productivity. Increasingly, workers are trading cubicles at headquarters for remote offices, mobile workplaces, and virtual rooms. Travel budgets continue to shrink while the need to work collaboratively with global teams continues to amplify. These new global realities can be challenging, but they also bring tremendous opportunities. A variety of factors determine whether a user has a good experience with an application or endpoint running over the network. Consider the various components and services that have to work together to make a simple IP-based video call. The device plugs into the network and uses Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 71 various services to find the remote endpoint. When everything works as designed, the person you called is presented as a clear video image, with natural sounding audio. Three specific layers need to function seamlessly to provide the user with a consistently positive experience: A highly available network foundation for the network services and user traffic Network services that operate in the background, improving and enabling the experience without direct user awareness The applications or endpoints with which a person interacts directly, known as user services. Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) A great way to increase collaboration at the office is to install a wireless network tied into your current LAN. A Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) implements a flexible data communication system that augments, rather than replaces, a wired LAN within a building or campus. WLANs use radio frequency to transmit and receive data over the air, minimizing the need for wired connections. Staying connected regardless of location has become a mainstay of business and daily life. Few buildings have enough wired networking ports to support every location and every person who needs to connect to an organization’s assets. Wireless LAN networks help enable the users to stay connected and keep the flow of information moving, regardless of physical building limitations. Wireless LAN connectivity at the headquarters and remote sites uses Wi-Fi technology for the transmission of voice, video, and data throughout the building. The components provide the following benefits to an organization: Network flexibility extends the boundaries of the network without the need for additional wiring Centralized control of the wireless LAN infrastructure reduces the management burden A network core, preconfigured for access points to be connected to any access port, simplifies deployment. To meet the requirements for mobility in the architecture, the design incorporates specific products and configurations to provide a secure, flexible, scalable, and cost-effective solution. Providing comprehensive wireless mobility services at the headquarters and remote sites, while also maintaining ease of use and low cost of ownership, can be challenging if access points are deployed in a standalone mode. Autonomous access points multiply the number of devices you need to configure, monitor, and manage. Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 72 Acronyms BI BMS BYOD CAPEX CCTV CIO CIPA CoI DDoS DMZ DoS ECMP FAR FCC FIPS FISMA GSA GUI HIPAA HVAC IDC IDIQ IoE IP IPS IPSec ISO IT LAN MFN MITM MPLS N/A NGN NIST OEM OPEX OSI OSS PBX Business Intelligence Building Management System Bring Your Own Device Capital Expenditures Closed-Circuit Television Chief Information Officers Children's Internet Protection Act Community of Interest Distributed Denial of Service Demilitarized Zones Denial of Service Equal Cost Multipath Protocol Federal Acquisition Regulation Federal Communications Commission Federal Information Processing Standard Federal Information Security Management Act General Services Administration Graphical User Interface Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning International Data Corporation Indefinite Date/Indefinite Quantity Internet of Everything Internet Protocol Intrusion Prevention System IP Security International Organization for Standardization Information Technology Local Area Network Most-Favored-Nation Man in the Middle Multiprotocol Label Switching Not Applicable Next Generation Network National Institutes of Standards and Technologies Original Equipment Manufacturer Operation Expenditures Open Systems Interconnection Operations Support System Private Branch Exchange Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 1 PC PCI PoE QoS RBAC RFI RFID RFP ROI SAN SDN SLA SOW SOX SSL TCO TCP/IP TDM UC UCS VDI VLAN VM VoIP VPN WAN WLAN WSCA WSN Personal Computer Payment Card Industry Power over Ethernet Quality of Service Role Based Access Control Requests for Information Radio Frequency ID Request for Proposal Return on Investment Storage Area Network Software Defined Networking Service Level Agreement Scope of Work Sarbanes-Oxley Secure Sockets Layer Total Cost of Ownership Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol Time Division Multiplexing Unified Communications Unified Computing System Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Virtual LAN Virtual Machine Voice over Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network Wide Area Network Wireless Local Area Network Western States Contracting Alliance Wireless Sensor Network Cisco Systems, Inc. - Proprietary Document1 2