Features July 2017

Turns out, there are perks to being the site of Dell Technologies’ international headquarters. In 1994, Dell relocated its home base from Austin, Texas, to Round Rock, Texas, a smaller city about 20 miles north. Round Rock offered something Austin had run out of: space large enough for a Dell campus; and many of the […]

When University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst IT asked students to help improve their information security messaging, the students had a ready answer. In focus groups, they said: “Stop giving us the same old posters. Stop giving us campaigns that you created. We’re a generation that wants to build with you and you need to make […]

In Westchester County, New York, SMART EDISON isn’t just an ode to the inventor of the light bulb. It makes up connected acronyms that John McCaffrey plugs into while overseeing info-tech in the sprawling county that has New York City at its southern border. That’s SMART as in specific, measurable, accountable, relevant, timely—the five tangibles […]

When a business or developer considers building in Aurora, Colorado, the city often relies on its robust IT department to help seal the deal. So when city planners recently attended RECon, the world’s largest retail real estate convention in Las Vegas, it was the IT department that helped build out the city’s booth, making sure […]

Professional sports franchises have been unsung pioneers of technology for decades. There is a lot of money at stake and a high volume of data-producing traffic at games—conditions that are ripe for data analytics. Chris Pittenturf is vice president of data and analytics for Palace Sports and Entertainment (PS&E), which owns the Detroit Pistons, and […]

When fans pile into Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis to see a Pacer’s game, they think nothing of taking out their smartphones while waiting for the action to start. Thanks to the Wi-Fi antennae under their seats, all of them have high speed internet. Once the game’s started, they stare at massive screens broadcasting statistics, […]

Along with its desert landscapes, high heat and dinosaur relics, Mesa, Arizona, is known for having one of the lowest property taxes in the country. While this benefits property owners, CIO Travis Cutright says it can make his job a bit harder. With fewer tax dollars, which are also subject to the rising cost of […]

The pioneering American educator, Horace Mann, called education “a great equalizer of the conditions of men—the balance wheel of the social machinery.” More than a century later, that still holds true. But today, education has its own equalizer: technology. In order to produce college- and career-ready students, schools must have access to modern, real-world technology. […]

At the Las Vegas International Technology Operations Conference in 2015, David Akridge found himself at a presentation on Cisco’s Digital Ceiling, a Power over Ethernet (PoE) network that connects a building’s systems for HVAC, security and lighting. As CIO for Mobile County Public Schools in Alabama, Akridge was immediately hooked on the technology, especially the […]

Sue Farni has a unique perspective on technology in Mobile, Alabama. It’s the kind of perspective you only get after 39 years on the inside, fighting to make Mobile a forward-thinking tech city. When the City of Mobile launched its first IT department in 1978, Farni was hired as one of its first programmers. She’s […]