This week's roundup of interesting reads isn't necessarily something you'd print out and bring to the beach for a lazy summer vacation. But these nuggets are what we found as we searched and surfed in search of news from the world of government technology. Herewith, our takeaways:
LOOK INLAND FOR TECH ECOSYSTEM: “Want to see California on the rise? Look inland,” says the headline in the UC Riverside News website. The story explains: “Stretching from Riverside and San Bernardino counties through the Central Valley and up to Sacramento, Inland California is experiencing rapid population and economic growth. Its more than 11 million residents account for nearly 30 percent of the state’s population — a portion also larger than the populations of 43 states.” And now a group, Inland California Rising, wants to bring the overlooked region its due: its business, government, higher education, nonprofits, philanthropy — and technology. One element of the effort is the Inland Empire Innovation Ecosystem, through which the university will work with nonprofits and others to devise strategies for driving further investment in the region’s biotech, clean tech and IT sectors. The details are here.
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WHY CISOs LOVE THEIR JOBS: Being a chief information security officer (CISO) is a job that’s often fraught with risk and, well, insecurity. The average tenure for a CISO is about half that of a chief information officer (CIO) — about 2.5 years for a CISO and 4.3 for a CIO. When a security breach occurs, it’s often the CISO who takes the fall. With all this risk and exposure, why are CISO jobs so highly valued and coveted? Gary Hayslip, a veteran CISO who’s a member of the Forbes Technology Council and the San Diego CISO Roundtable, among other affiliations, notes that there are five good reasons why CISOs love their jobs.
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LEAST FLASHY, MOST IMPORTANT: Working from a premise that data is “the heart and soul of a smart city,” a commentary explains that data centers are “the least flashy, most important element of a functional smart city.” But, says the commentary in smartcitiesdive.com, “making the most of smart city technologies is about more than just collecting the right information; it depends on putting this data to good use — and doing so in the most efficient way possible. … While traditional centralized data centers will still be an important part of any smart city’s digital computing infrastructure, smaller decentralized data centers spread across an entire urban area will be an essential supplement to a smart city’s processing power.”
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LOFTY FINISH FOR FOUNDER: Pondera Solutions founder and CEO Jon Coss has learned that he wasn’t selected as the Entrepreneur of the Year by EY. Coss was a finalist in the awards contest — a huge feat in itself, given the historically stiff competition, which “recognizes entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies who excel in areas such as entrepreneurial leadership, innovation, and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.” Indeed, previous award winners form the Northern California Region include James Park with Fitbit, Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner with LinkedIn Corp., Eric Wu with Opendoor, and Jessica Herrin with Stella & Dot. Coss was quick to share credit with his Pondera team for his nomination and ascension to the finals. “I am delighted to be named a semi-finalist for this this award,” Coss said when he made it to the semi-finals. “Being recognized for innovation in a region that includes Silicon Valley is a testament to the creativity, hard work, and dedication to the mission of all Pondera employees.” Coss, who’s active in philanthropy, founded Pondera as a start-up that targeted waste, fraud and abuse of government, and his company recently added private health care to its portfolio of clients. Here’s a video interview with Coss.
Reading List: What We Found While Surfing for Tech News
It's not exactly summer beach reading — or is it? Here are some interesting reads (and one watch) that we've come across lately while surfing online for tech news.
