California Natural Resources Agency IT director Tim Garza and his management team on Tuesday discussed in-depth a wide range of projects, initiatives and goals that are in flight at the agency and the 33 organizations beneath it.
During the Techwire Industry Briefing in Sacramento, Garza described how the agency is moving to create a software-defined data center and a hybrid cloud that will help transform how the agency delivers technology services to its customers.
Garza mentioned that the agency maintains 11 petabytes of active data, perhaps the largest footprint of any state organization. The agency maintains approximately 3,000 sensors across California. With that in mind, Garza said the agency is creating a big data analytics platform that can be utilized enterprisewide.
"We need a better way of taking that data and orchestrating decisions out of this disparate data," Garza said.
Garza said the agency and the Department of Water Resources (DWR) are interested in technology that enables energy response management. The agency is the No. 2 consumer of energy in the state and the No. 3 generator of power, he said. (Much of that energy is consumed and produced by the reservoirs and canals within the State Water Project managed by DWR.)
This year Garza said the agency also would like reduce the amount of time it takes to provision compute power, improve and optimize how it manages GIS solutions and is focused on bolstering cybersecurity, especially given that the agency manages critical infrastructure.
Departments are working on several projects, such as new reservation system and wireless initiative at State Parks, and a system to collect fracking data from the oil and gas industry.
The Natural Resources Agency also is interested in further leveraging productivity tools and improving digital transformation in business functions like human resources and facilities management, Garza added.
A video of the full presentation will be posted on Techwire Insider.
