Secure wireless communication is in high demand from every agency, and as application and device options explode, so will the demand for wireless networks. Fortress Technologies is one company hoping to maintain and grow its share of the wireless market in the Federal government, and their President, Janet Kumpu, was my guest on Industry Chatter on In Depth today.

Agencies are finding that collaboration is becoming a key component of executing successful IT projects. And Janet is “seeing a lot more of it. We’re seeing the government embrace industry in a different manner. They used to spend a significant amount of money on government-defined, government-funded products. I think they’re recognizing they can bring better solutions to market, faster, more cost-effectively, and quite honestly, they can meet a greater portion of their mission by collaborating with industry.”

That evolution to commercial, off-the-shelf software – called COTS for short – isn’t the finishing point for what Janet is seeing in the B-to-G relationship. “We call it COTS plus. It’s leveraging the significant investments industry makes in maturing technology that’s generally available, that’s interoperable, that’s standards-based. We look at the con-ops environments of our government users, and recogne what those mitigation issues are, and address them.”

Her company’s business is largely in the defense sector, providing solutions for DoD. She attributes the explosion in wireless demand to the need for making information available anywhere. “I think the government’s made significant investments in maturing the applications they want to use,” Janet told me. “Now what’s becoming critical is making that information accessible, making it real time, allowing for 100% situational awareness.”

Janet spent the entire hour with me today, and you can listen to the entire conversation on the audio link.

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