Government Bits

Tracking how technology is transforming interaction between governments and citizens.

Bell Canada’s Private Cloud
Powers Adobe Connect

- outside of the reach of the US Patriot Act

I spent a few days working in the Bell Canada’s Private Cloud infrastructure, (Infrastructure as a Service from Bell Canada), setting up virtual machines, networks and firewalls. I setup the environment after meeting with some Canadian Government agencies where I quickly learned how important it would be to Adobe Connect available in the private cloud – all in Canada.

Now, the Canadian government will be able to test out this Adobe Connect deployment that is “all in Canada”. I’m pretty sure other governments around the world (and some individuals) will also be very interested in this new deployment option.

I engage with a variety of civilian agencies as they prepare to rollout their telework program.  Everyone is looking for a tool to support their mobile worker and provide them with an interactive, rich environment that includes video, audio and desktop sharing among many other features.  Multiple device and cross operating system support is also a requirement.  You never know who you will need to collaborate with online!

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Whether it’s for telework, town hall meetings, e-learning, telemedicine, continuity of operations, or mission critical collaboration, many civilian and military agencies rely on Adobe Connect.  To learn what’s to come in 2012 for this best-in-class solution, we had the opportunity to talk with Guillaume Privat, Director of our Adobe Connect business.

Q: 2011 saw several large government agencies adopt Adobe Connect or expand their deployment. What can you tell us about the plans for the solution in 2012?

A: In 2011, we rolled out Adobe Connect 8, which focused on ease of use and the ability for users to access their meetings, webinars or virtual classrooms on any smartphone or tablet.  2012 will the year of Adobe Connect 9.  We recently announced we were opening up the beta for Adobe Connect 9. We looked at how our customers are using the product and it’s clear that ‘screen sharing’ is not enough.  They are looking for solutions to their business problems.  How can they train faster and measure the effectiveness of that training?  How effective are their town hall meetings or citizen outreach campaigns?  Should they spend more or less money on these activities?  The focus for the future release is to create these end-to-end solutions that will help government organizations measure and report on productivity gains or cost savings.

Q: Are you going to continue your focus on mobile?

This morning, we announced the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), which is an operating unit of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), has awarded an expanded contract that includes Adobe Connect Web conferencing software to enable deployed troops, support personnel, and military leaders to collaborate more efficiently across locations worldwide. You can check out our press release here.

The contract was awarded to our partner, Carahsoft Technology Corp., which works with Adobe Systems Federal, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Adobe.

Carahsoft and Adobe will continue to operate, maintain and enhance Defense Connect Online (DCO), which includes Adobe Connect and has been in place since 2007. The system provides Web conferencing, presence and awareness, video conferencing, and chat capabilities. DCO is used across the DoD and supports over 500,000 registered users who, on aggregate, use the system for in excess of 35 million Web conferencing minutes per month.

You can check out the DCO Facebook page here.

And, as always, stay in touch with us on Twitter @AdobeGov and on our Facebook page here. Our colleagues on the Adobe Connect team are on Twitter @AdobeConnect.

Our recent conversation with Michael Murtha, Adobe Department of Defense Solutions Engineer, continues today with the second of a two-part series.

Today, Mike discusses:

• 0:05 – An overview of the Defense Information Systems Agency’s Defense Connect Online
• 1:30 – Breadth of offering with Adobe Connect
• 2:30 – What the future holds in his market area of focus

If you haven’t yet, check out the first part of the conversation here.

And if you’re reading and watching this, you might also be interested in our recent conversation with Barry Leffew, Adobe’s vice president of Public Sector Sales. You’ll find parts one and two here and here.

To keep up on the latest with Adobe in government, be sure to follow us on Twitter @AdobeGov.

We recently sat down with Michael Murtha, an Adobe Department of Defense Solutions Engineer, to get his perspective on his area of expertise in the public sector. Mike’s work includes supporting the Defense Information Systems Agency’s Defense Connect Online solution, which is based on Adobe Connect.

This is the first segment of a two-part interview. In today’s video, Mike discusses:

• 0:05 – His current role and background
• 0:28 – A typical day
• 1:03 – Key market trends in his area of focus
• 3:05 – The role and importance of customer experience

In part two, which we’ll post in the next couple days, Mike covers:

• An overview of Defense Connect Online
• The breadth of offering with Adobe Connect
• What the future holds in Mike’s market area of focus

Keep your eyes on this space for the second part of the conversation, or follow us on Twitter to be sure you catch it.

For the Bainbridge Island Police Department, Adobe Connect has become an integral part of the department’s ability to conduct live and on-demand meetings to communicate sensitive information and respond faster to emergency incidents.

According to Detective Trevor Ziemba, Bainbridge Island officers and law enforcement partners can collaborate instantly with Adobe Connect, further enhancing public safety. Ziemba and the other detectives appreciate the fact that Adobe Connect requires little to no training and can be used easily and reliably across diverse teams. This means officers and law enforcement partners can start collaborating right away to get to the bottom of cases and quickly resolve critical incidents.

With Adobe Connect, Bainbridge Island Police Department and its safety partners are collaborating in real time. Many of the officers also have individual, persistent meeting rooms, so they can engage their peers and partners when and where they need to. To learn more about how Adobe Connect has transformed the way law enforcement officials help keep the community safe, see the full story here.

Earlier this month, Adobe and Emergent hosted the first in-person event of the Adobe Connect Public Sector Users Group. We wrote about the new Users Group earlier in the year in this post.

The first event focused on Adobe Connect 8 usability, and included discussion on what’s new with the technology, accessibility, best practices, and more on the new Users Group itself.

We attended and captured some video footage, including a few words each from our colleagues, Heyward Drummond and Emily Timmerman.

Check out the Users Group blog for a few follow-up posts to the first event – one includes several links to helpful resources and the other more detail on integrating video in a web meeting.

And if you haven’t already, considering joining the Users Group; check out their site for more details.

Our colleagues on the Adobe Connect team announced today that they’ve released a new XMPP multi-user chat pod for Adobe Connect 8 meetings.

This is a new meeting extension that lets Adobe Connect users participate in multi-user XMPP-based chat sessions – chatting directly with users participating in the chat using other tools like Jabber or Adium. This extends the collaborative possibilities of Adobe Connect into existing presence and IM systems, allowing text chats to integrate with, and escalate into, the richer Adobe Connect meeting environment.

There’s more detail available on the Adobe Connect blog, and you can download the extension directly from the Adobe Exchange here.

You can keep up-to-date on everything Adobe Connect by following our colleagues @AdobeConnect.

Hi – Bryan Muntzer here. I’m manager of Adobe solutions at Emergent, an Adobe partner. We’re a Public Sector IT Solutions Provider, with over 75 years of experience providing government customers with solutions to enhance their IT infrastructure.  For the last four years, the Emergent – Adobe team has spent the majority of its time helping customers improve the way they collaborate – by demonstrating to them the capabilities and benefits of Adobe Connect.

Because the government world is unique in so many ways (when compared to the private sector), we decided to start a users group for individuals in government agencies using Adobe Connect today (and we know there are a lot of you out there…).

The Public Sector Adobe Connect Users Group was created so folks at government agencies can continue to collaborate, and discuss best practices—and any issues—around using Adobe Connect in a complex IT environment. Whether its dealing with Section 508 compliance, certification and accreditation, best practices around contracts and procurement, or any number of other creative use cases – this Users Group will allow you to stay current on what’s new with Adobe Connect, but importantly also discuss how you and your peers are using the solution today.

The Users Group features information about upcoming events, active discussions among members, and a variety of related resources. We encourage you to check out the site, become a member, and start engaging with your peers and us. We look forward to see and “talking” with you there.

Cheers,

Bryan