As IT professionals we all know the important of having a robust, healthy, responsive, and fast network with significant bandwidth. Maintaining, building-out, and improving our networks across the IT enterprise is something we contribute great time, energy, and $$$ to doing. If your network is broke, you have a crisis for sure!

As you know, the 2016 GMIS MEETS conference will return to lively Atlantic City, New Jersey, this August. In addition to top-notch peer and vendor-led presentations and break-out educational sessions focusing on management, technical and specialty training tracks, GMIS will welcome the following two keynote presenters, who will focus on topics relevant to government IT leaders and specialists.

The Georgia Chapter of GMIS International recently held its spring conference in St. Simon’s Island, Georgia from May 1st through 5th. It was a considered a huge success, given that fact that it had more member attendees than ever before (72) as well as more sponsors (33). There was plenty of good feedback from both attendees and sponsors, many claiming it was the best conference ever!

GMIS member since: 2014
Number of IT staff: 2
Population: 17,413
IT budget: $50,000

Kristy Dalton, Govtech.com
One of the lessons Kristy likes to teach is that it’s OK to have fun on government social media. However, some social media managers aren’t given the leeway to try new things. Sometimes, the best way to get your elected officials or management to allow you to embrace a particular approach is to show them solid examples of agencies that are rocking it. While it’s best to have an eye for knowing when levity is appropriate, some risk-takers have landed on their feet with even risqué posts.

Sandra Gittlen, StateTech
As security professionals know, log management alone isn’t a solid defense against spear phishing, inside attacks and other malicious acts. Security information and event management (SIEM) software vendors heard users’ frustration with tool limitations and expanded product functionality.

David Streitfeld, The New York Times
The battle for control of the living room just began in earnest. Also, the bedroom, dining room and — it’s a safe bet — the bathroom as well. Google, which knows more things about more people than any other company, organization or government in history, announced on Wednesday a new household device that will use that information to help people run their lives.

Jason Lange and Dustin Volz, Reuters
The U.S. Federal Reserve detected more than 50 cyber breaches between 2011 and 2015, with several incidents described internally as "espionage," according to Fed records. The central bank's staff suspected hackers or spies in many of the incidents, the records show. The Fed's computer systems play a critical role in global banking and hold confidential information on discussions about monetary policy that drives financial markets.

Eyragon Eidam, Govtech.com
How well do you know the cloud? What are the roles and responsibilities of the companies that provide cloud services? What part does the state or local government IT organization play when it comes to cloud technology? These questions and others were at the center of a panel discussion at the Florida Digital Government Summit held May 12 in Tallahassee.