Articles by John K. Higgins

It doesn't make too much sense to send a sanitation truck around a predetermined route to empty street-side trash bins if half the bins are empty. It's a waste of employee time and truck fuel for work crews to stop at thousands of bins that don't need attention If the bins could speak for themselves and notify the public works department that they ...

Software developers have long been able to protect their innovations by virtue of a favorable provision of U.S. patent law that gives them almost monopoly power to maximize financial returns. The law also enables developers to take action against any other party that comes close to duplicating or imitating their software programs through court litigation on charges of infringement -- or, alternatively, to obtain handsome licensing fees...

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to jump into a software patent case that could resolve the muddled situation that has been vexing IT companies, legal experts and federal judges for years Specifically, the Supreme Court said earlier this month that it would rule on Alice Corp. Pty. v. CLS Bank International, a case involving the patent status of ...

Innovation often comes slowly to the U.S. government. It has taken several years, for example, for federal agencies to get used to cloud technology -- and it will likely be several more before that technology is fully embraced at the federal level. That pace also seems to be the case for the federal adoption of Big Data and analytics, despite the significant amount of buzz over the past year.

The Obama administration's support of Big Data technology for more efficient and effective government operations was highlighted at a recent White House sponsored conference. Billed as the "Data to Knowledge to Action" event, the Nov. 12 session included presentations on more than 30 public and private sector projects successfully employing Big Data technologies...

Virtually all IT companies favor measures to curb patent abuses, especially those generated by so-called patent trolls. However, the IT community is split on the best way to approach the abuse problem. Patent trolls, otherwise known as "patent assertion entities," or PAEs, generally obtain patents from parties that do not intend to commercialize an innovation.

The U.S. government's Big Data initiative is sparking more investments in data management projects, especially those involving joint efforts between business and government. Under the sponsorship of the Obama administration initiative, the White House showcased more than 30 Big Data projects Nov. 12 at an event hosted by the federal Office of Science and Technology. Many of the projects involved commercial companies, including major pharmaceutical and IT firms...

Companies across the IT sector are in favor of improving the U.S. patent system and generally support efforts in Congress to improve patent protection. However, not all IT companies are in favor of specific proposals to improve the patent process. A current example is a patent reform bill recently introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives A m...

The troubled launch of HealthCare.gov has been costly for President Obama and Democratic supporters of the entire Affordable Care Act program, also known as "Obamacare." The difficulties surrounding the launch have spurred broader criticism about the federal government's management of major IT deployments Estimates of the government's financial inv...

Fending off cybersecurity breaches from external sources is a difficult task -- but when breach problems arise from within an organization, the challenge of protecting information becomes even more difficult While U.S. government agencies have intensified their use of cybersecurity control technologies, it appears that improved technology will fall...

The tough political bargaining over the federal budget underscored by the recent government shutdown portends a continuing emphasis on keeping the cost of government under control. As federal agencies resume full operations after the budget and debt ceiling hiatus, it is clear that the goal of getting more for less" will continue to be a major theme for federal information technology specialists as they manage their budgets...

The only upside for the Obama administration in the troubled launch of the health insurance marketplace is that it is still early days for the program On Oct. 1, the government rolled out its vehicle for providing health insurance to persons currently without coverage. The rollout featured the launch of HealthCare.gov -- a website where consumers c...

While the federal market for cloud technologies promises to be a prime opportunity for vendors, it is becoming clear that providers cannot expect the phone to ring with orders from federal agencies. Instead, vendors will have to make investments in product development, marketing and other activities related to the IT requirements of federal agencies...

The impact of the U.S. government budget impasse on federal information technology operations is likely to be minimal if the duration of the shutdown is relatively short. However, as the suspension of federal agency operations enters its third week, federal IT vendors are finding themselves in an increasingly precarious position Even if the impasse...

In a paperless society, office file cabinets may become an endangered species. However, the need to store documents -- albeit in electronic form -- will remain. The U.S. government, like many private sector companies, is struggling to develop efficient means to retain billions of electronic messages The National Archives and Records Administration...

Vendors seeking to obtain federal information technology contracts are regularly challenged to deal with a variety of complex factors. These include negotiating special IT security requirements, tricky service level agreements, and a growing number of government contracting vehicles that have been developed over the past few years to facilitate IT contracting...

Ambitious plans to improve federal information technology systems could easily founder on the shoals of deficient networks. Government agencies currently are striving to meet the challenges associated with initiatives in five major areas: cloud technology; Big Data management; cybersecurity requirements; data center consolidation; and, increasingly, mobile IT...

Protection of intellectual property is a major element in the highly competitive world of information technology. The scope of protection affects not only providers such as software developers but also the users of software products Software patent litigation has increased significantly, according to a just-released report from the federal Governme...

Any time the U.S. government signals it is embarking on a program to invest tens of billions of dollars, potential vendors take notice -- especially during a time of spending restraint The federal government, through the General Services Administration, has launched a new program for the procurement of a wide range of professional support services...

Federal spending for information technology has peaked. It will decline at a gradual annual pace for at least the next several years, but cumulatively it will amount to a significant amount of money. However, vendors that can provide the IT services that are moving to the top of the government's requisition list will find solid marketing opportuni...