GTA Update - Jul-Aug 2023

Update newsletter

Jul-Aug 2023 | Vol. 15, Issue 4

State CIO's column

It's a matter of choice, and

GTA gives you more of them

When it comes to choices, more are generally preferred to less. That doesn’t mean fishing out the best option from a larger pool is simpler than from a puddle. But the odds increase for hooking the choice that’s just right for you.

It’s a simple idea, and it helps guide GTA’s approach to providing technology services. As we partner with agencies and entities across Georgia’s state and local government, we’re moving deliberately toward presenting more choices. We want to work with you to connect your organization with the IT service options that best suit your unique needs. Options that enable your agency to better serve constituents.

Cloud computing services offer an example. We started the state's cloud journey with the Amazon Web Services cloud platform. More recently we’re putting the pieces in place to offer government entities access to GTA-administered environments with other cloud providers. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) is the latest. We’re establishing a Microsoft Azure cloud environment too.

Choices. Because the cloud provider that’s just right for the departments of Revenue or Human Services may not be the best fit for your organization. With cloud and elsewhere, GTA aims to bring you a range of quality IT service options, and always with a focus on promoting customer service and improving constituent engagement.

Those are ongoing emphases for GTA. As we enter a new fiscal year, we also continue to prioritize strengthening the state’s cybersecurity posture. We do that by making security services and tools (e.g., CrowdStrike and Bitsight monitoring) available, as well as through cybersecurity awareness training programs. GTA’s Office of Information Security works to ensure that across all of state and local government, as well as educational institutions, no one has to go it alone when it comes to cybersecurity.

Rounding out GTA’s emphases for FY2024 – collaborating with agencies to implement transformational IT solutions, and supporting digital systems that enable a modern work environment. Transformative IT sometimes equates to disruption, but as we’re doing with cloud transformation, we’ll work with you through the challenges to get to the benefits we’re all after.

July marks two years I’ve enjoyed collaborating with you through the Georgia Technology Authority. The GTA organization I have the privilege of leading is as committed as I am to being an effective technology partner in Georgia government. We look forward to continuing to explore with you the many promising choices technology presents for enabling efficient government.

Shawnzia Thomas

State Chief Information Officer

GTA Executive Director

Not quite cloud nine, but multiple cloud platforms planned

One cloud simply does not fit all. And GTA aims for state and local agencies and entities to be able choose the cloud platform that best suits their unique needs. That motivates new work to build infrastructure allowing GTA customers access to multiple cloud environments. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) is newly added to the list and will join Amazon Web Services (AWS) among GTA cloud offerings. A Microsoft Azure option is also in the works.

The planned GTA Oracle Cloud environment grows from a project to shift the State Accounting Office's PeopleSoft system to OCI while they prepare to move to a different software longer-term. The Oracle cloud platform will provide capabilities parallel to what GTA offers with AWS. That’s a multi-tenant environment where agencies can operate independently, while also benefiting from volume discounts and GTA assistance if needed. The Azure set-up is still being discussed, and several agencies are expressing interest in that platform.

Like it has done with AWS cloud, GTA will also offer training and other resources to help agencies get started with Azure and OCI. That could range from self-guided training to instructor-led sessions and more.

The ongoing GTA-led cloud-first campaign that gained momentum last year has focused in its initial push on migrations from on-premises servers to AWS cloud. Wrapping up in spring 2023, that first phase saw more than 100 servers transition to AWS across nine agencies. From Community Health and Public Health, to Administrative Services and Corrections, these Georgia departments are now operating in the cloud.

Complementing that work, GTA has prioritized preparing agency IT staff to operate successfully in AWS. That has come not just through the self-guided and instructor-led training mentioned already, but also through twice-monthly GTA-hosted lunch ‘n’ learns on technical cloud topics geared toward IT staff doing the cloud work. This spring also brought an inaugural college course (AWS SysOps) available to agency IT staff. Offered via a partnership between GTA and the Technical College System of Georgia, this debut class was completed by 18 students from agencies. More courses in this GTA/TCSG program are envisioned for fall semester. GTA covers tuition costs, as well as cost of a corresponding professional certification exam for students who opt to take it.

For more information about GTA’s cloud services, contact your GTA Customer Success Manager. You’ll find a listing of CSMs by agency served on GTA’s website.

State's data center computing footprint not set in stone

When state systems transition to cloud, they slip the bonds of earth. Sort of. In IT speak, they’re no longer confined to rack space on the raised floor at the state’s data center. Makes sense then that as more and more state agencies shift to cloud platforms, Georgia’s on-premises computing footprint is shrinking.

In tandem with Georgia’s ongoing cloud transformation, a space optimization and upgrade project is also under way for the state’s leased space at the North Atlanta Data Center (NADC). That GTA-led effort anticipates a consolidation in 2024 into a significantly trimmed 6,000 square-foot grid at the data center. A new floorplan will be implemented, along with an updated power supply design to serve on-premises computing needs remaining after cloud transformation.

GTA has announced a target of January 2024 for agencies to have their NADC-based systems migrated to cloud, excepting cases where a GTA-approved exception has been secured to continue on-premises. That will then allow the space optimization to proceed in full. In the interim, GTA continues to collaborate with agencies to address remaining on-premises servers and systems.

In a related initiative, the state’s mainframe, currently housed at the NADC, will also transition to AWS cloud. Targeted for completion in early 2024, that migration will further reduce on-premises space needs.

Briefly ...

Agencies that procure their Oracle software licensing through GTA have an opportunity to consult with licensing experts to devise an agency-specific Oracle licensing strategy. The consultation would come at no cost to agencies and would help them prepare to manage their own Oracle licensing approach effective with an August 2023 license renewal. With changes to the computing landscape (cloud migrations key among them), GTA anticipates discontinuing the Oracle license bundle program it has operated. Focus will shift instead to readying agencies to manage their own Oracle license approach. Changed pricing would begin to be evident on invoices in FY 2025. Questions can be directed to your GTA Customer Success Manager (CSM).

Mark your calendars for the annual Georgia Digital Government Summit, coming on October 3. Planned as a one-day, in-person event this year, it will be held at Atlanta's Marriott Marquis. The summit provides an opportunity for state and local government IT staff and business leaders to get inspired. Along with leading IT service providers, they explore options for harnessing technology’s potential to meet business needs. They describe innovative tactics, share successes, and discuss common challenges. Registration information is available via the link above.

Artificial intelligence is changing both the possibilities and the responsibilities for managers of government entities’ websites. On the one hand, AI opens a whole new range of capabilities for information sharing targeted to individual site visitors’ interests. On the other, it creates novel needs for information supervision. The Spring 2023 GOVTalks conference for state and local government digital managers explored the promising potential of AI, as well as the risks that come along with it. You can access GOVTalks session recordings and summaries published by GTA’s Digital Services Georgia team on their website. DSGa hosts the informational conference, now in its 10^th year, to promote top-notch web presence built around user-centric content for Georgia’s state and local government entities, as well as educational institutions.

As part of a $42B federal investment in broadband expansion nationwide, Georgia is set to receive $1.3B to help bring high-speed internet service to unserved locations across the state. These funds are expected to significantly bolster expansion projects in Georgia communities already sprouting from grants awarded through the state’s Capital Projects Fund Grant Program. The most recent round of such grants -- $15M toward expansion projects in four largely rural Georgia counties – was announced in June by Governor Brian Kemp’s office. That followed $234M in grants for service expansion in 28 counties announced earlier in 2023. These grants and the sizeable investments they spur from internet service providers and municipalities stand to bring reliable new broadband service to tens of thousands of previously unserved locations in Georgia.