Bob Friday and Sampak Garg, Juniper Networks | ITModTalks 2022

0:07 i'm y cash with scoop news group and

0:09 we're here at fed scoops itmod talks

0:12 with bob friday cto and co-founder of

0:15 miss systems a juniper company now and

0:18 some packgarg associate general counsel

0:20 and senior director at juniper networks

0:23 bob and sam pack thank you so much for

0:25 joining us

0:26 thank you for having us thank you it's

0:28 pleasure to be here so soundpack let me

0:29 start with you you know we're a little

0:31 more than a year now into the biden

0:33 administration and in that time i'd be

0:35 interested to get your perspective on

0:37 where you've seen some of the greatest

0:39 progress in i.t modernization

0:42 well thank you for the question why i

0:44 think from my perspective at the policy

0:45 level we've seen a great deal of

0:47 interest in administration and

0:49 and moving ahead on modernization in

0:51 terms of the cyber security executive

0:53 order from a year ago

0:54 that really pushed for more ai-based

0:56 tools for zero trust architecture

0:58 deployments

1:00 we saw a measured approach from the

1:02 white house in the last month or so on a

1:04 zero trust strategy for example

1:07 a lot of input was taken from industry

1:08 and other stakeholders so we think

1:10 they're really

1:11 a politicized at least really

1:13 trying to move the ball forward in that

1:14 regard

1:16 and then maybe just to follow up on that

1:18 how has it modernization also helped

1:20 federal agencies

1:22 get a better handle on securing their

1:24 most valuable systems and assets

1:28 well bob can certainly talk more about

1:29 the real

1:31 the details of that but from what i've

1:32 seen

1:33 they really are getting a sense that ai

1:35 can help and modernization ai can help

1:38 with

1:39 security the security aspects of network

1:41 modernization

1:43 one example we've had with one

1:44 particular agency where they we realized

1:46 that the security instructions that

1:49 pnc had for its network operators were

1:52 really behind the times didn't take into

1:54 account

1:55 the new ai based tools that are coming

1:57 out

1:58 we've been in talks with an agency about

2:00 modernizing that guidance so that

2:02 vendors like juniper and others can

2:04 provide

2:05 more modernized innovative technologies

2:07 to the agencies while keeping the

2:10 security interests in mind

2:12 well bob let me bring you in here

2:15 you know the white house issued both a

2:17 cyber security executive order but also

2:19 more recently an executive order on

2:21 customer experience so i'd be interested

2:23 in getting your take on how federal

2:25 agencies are you know delivering steps

2:27 um to give better digital services more

2:30 securely to the american public

2:33 yeah you know if you look at

2:35 the white house has basically asked what

2:36 35 critical federal services to kind of

2:39 like improve their customer experience

2:40 and i think from our own personal

2:42 experience you know whether it's with

2:43 your amazon bank or your grocery store

2:46 you know we all see how technology is

2:49 advancing in the service community you

2:50 know even personally for myself right

2:52 when it comes to e-commerce and payments

2:55 you know i'm now able to what pay my dmv

2:57 bill my property tax even my bridge

3:00 tolls all that can be done in 10 minutes

3:03 and so i think you know when you look at

3:04 the focus on customer experience it's

3:06 really about you know the federal

3:07 government starting to adopt these

3:08 technologies we see in the commercial

3:10 space you know and it ranges to

3:11 collaboration and zoom you know

3:13 especially in this post-covert era where

3:15 we're starting to see the government

3:16 make it easier for our veterans to

3:18 interact with their doctors with zoom

3:20 technology so i think you know when you

3:22 look at the federal government services

3:24 uh i think that executive order they're

3:26 going to basically be adopting the same

3:28 technologies we're seeing in our

3:29 commercial personal space already even

3:31 faster now

3:33 and then lastly

3:34 what across the federal i.t landscape

3:36 stands out to you most as having the

3:39 biggest potential or need for

3:41 modernization in the coming year or two

3:44 yeah you know i think you know working

3:45 with the federal government it's always

3:47 you know they always have a they want to

3:48 adopt what's going on in the commercial

3:50 space but they only have to always have

3:52 to balance national security with the

3:55 adoption of these commercial

3:56 technologies and probably the latest two

3:59 that are really going to have the most

4:00 potential on affecting uh cut government

4:03 i t is going to be around cloud

4:05 technologies and ai

4:07 you know and the cloud technologies are

4:09 basically just a better way of

4:11 maintaining developing operating

4:12 software and it's really going to be a

4:14 key to security because ultimately when

4:17 you adopt these cloud technologies you

4:19 can respond to security threats on the

4:21 order of hours and days as opposed to

4:23 weeks and months right and so i think

4:25 that's one of the biggest potentials

4:27 we're going to see the government you

4:28 know i think historically

4:30 you know fips has always been that

4:31 security hurdle to adopting commercial

4:33 technology in the federal space uh we're

4:36 starting to see the federal government

4:37 start to adopt fedramp right you know

4:40 how are they going to base securely

4:41 start to embrace these cloud

4:42 technologies and get the benefit of it

4:44 and then on top of that is ai you know

4:47 because ai is what's really going to

4:48 allow the government to really start to

4:50 bridge across these different data silos

4:53 and really start to help our you know

4:54 help the citizens get access to

4:56 different across different sales so i

4:58 think cloud and are going to be the two

4:59 technologies we're going to see have the

5:01 most potential inside the federal

5:02 government space right now to really

5:04 change the customer experience and tie

5:06 back into that executive order right

5:09 absolutely well uh bob friday and sam

5:12 pacquiao thank you so much for taking a

5:14 few minutes to join us here and sharing

5:16 some of your insights on i.t

5:17 modernization in the federal government

5:21 thank you it was a pleasure to be here

5:22 yep thank you for having us

5:24 and look for more of our coverage on it

5:26 modernization on fedscoop.com thanks for

5:29 tuning in