Speaking at a Spy Museum breakfast today, Secret Service assistant director Steve Colo said the new Homeland Security Department will consolidate all its component agencies' software licenses "for the greater good," looking first at large contracts with vendors such as Microsoft Corp. and Oracle. . .
Speaking at a Spy Museum breakfast today, Secret Service assistant director Steve Colo said the new Homeland Security Department will consolidate all its component agencies' software licenses "for the greater good," looking first at large contracts with vendors such as Microsoft Corp. and Oracle Corp.

Colo said HSD "must quickly stand up an enterprise architecture," and the components' CIOs "know where they want to go." He predicted HSD agencies will see a lot more of the kind of total IT outsourcing pioneered by Transportation Security Administration systems chief Patrick Schambach. But Colo said it will take time--probably three to five years--before there is much consolidation of the very different systems. He also predicted that physical security and IT security issues will merge.

In the communications area, Colo said, HSD needs a priority wireless system for emergencies and interoperable wireless equipment for law enforcement agencies. "The government's selling off spectrum, and that could affect us," he said. "It's a finite item, a major issue."

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