This has sent a ripple through the federal technology community. On the one hand, this will be a serious burden for the DoD in the next few months; on the other hand, other agencies can see how the DoD handled this challenge.

Federal News Radio recently convened a panel of experts to address this upgrade. Featured guests were Ray Perry, program manager, Air Force enterprise configuration management office, Maxwell Air Force Base Annex, Alabama; Tim McGrail, acting director of network operations, Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, Office of the Chief Information Officer; Wayne Sallurday, services sales director at Dell EMC; and Steve Bilbo, Army enterprise architect at Iron Bow.

The discussion looked at many aspects of the change, including the transition from the perspective of a civilian agency as well as the Air Force and trying to put the CIO’s request in perspective.

The DoD is under constant attack; in fact, it has been estimated that there are over 100,000 attacks per day. Given that situation, it does seem reasonable that an operating system that provides for more security should be installed as soon as possible.

From the civilian perspective, a transition to Windows 10 can provide for an easier way to manage identity, mobile devices, and upgrades. Device Guard was discussed as well as the ability of the operating system to present a similar experience across platforms like tablets and smartphones. Windows 10 has tested out many ways to upgrade the product.

During the interview, panelists gave the distinctions that are made between the current practice and concepts like branch updates and cumulative updates.

Moderator

John Gilroy, Host of Federal Tech Talk, Federal News Radio

John Gilroy has been a member of the Washington D.C. technology community for over twenty years. In 2007 he began weekly interviews on Federal News Radio called “Federal Tech Talk with John Gilroy.”   His 428 interviews provides the basis for profitable referral business. In 2009 he created a successful breakfast club of previous radio guests called The Technology Leadership Roundtable. He has been instrumental in two of his guests forming their own radio shows:  Derrick Dortch with “Fed Access” and Aileen Black and Gigi Schumm with “Women in Washington.”

In 2011 he began teaching a course in social media marketing at Georgetown University; in March of 2014, John won the Tropaia Award for Outstanding Faculty.  John conducts monthly corporate training for large companies on how to leverage social media to generate revenue.

Panelists

Ray Perry, Program Manager, Air Force Enterprise Configuration Management Office, Maxwell AFB-Gunter Annex Alabama

Ray Perry is currently the Program Manager of the Air Force Enterprise Configuration Management Office at Maxwell AFB-Gunter Annex in Montgomery, Alabama.  He has been assigned to this position since 2008, where he is primarily responsible for the oversight of cradle to grave lifecycle support for the Air Force’s Standard Desktop Configuration (SDC) that is installed on over 600,000 Windows-based desktops/clients throughout the Air Force.  He also provides oversight for the AF Information Technology Commodity Council which serves as the contract purchasing vehicle for a variety of Windows-based client systems, cellular devices and digital printing capabilities to support the Air Force.  Additionally, he manages the acquisition portions of the Air Force enterprise licensing agreements for vendor products such as Microsoft, Oracle and Adobe.

Timothy McGrail, Acting Director, Network Operations, Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, Office of the Chief Information Officer

Mr. McGrail is the Acting Director for Network Operations supporting the Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO). He oversees the strategy, operations and maintenance, and management of network operations, Microsoft Azure/Office 365 and Amazon Web Services cloud platforms. Mr. McGrail is responsible for over 250 domestic and international locations by providing technical infrastructure support, cloud application deployment and management, and technical support including the migration and deployment of Windows 10. He was previously employed at the Department of Veterans Affairs in the Architecture, Strategy and Design office developing enterprise design patterns supporting the VA’s enterprise architecture.

Wayne Sallurday, Services Sales Director, Dell EMC

Wayne Sallurday is a Federal Sales Director for Dell EMC Support and Deployment, where he’s responsible for managing a team of Field and Inside Sales Executives who are selling Dell EMC’s Services portfolio to Federal Civilian, Intel, and DoD customers as well as Federal Channel/System Integrator organizations.

Wayne graduated from Lebanon Valley College in 1997 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics.  After graduation, Wayne has worked for several large and small technology organizations, primarily in a sales capacity.  From 2000 – 2005, Wayne was employed by Microsoft, where he sold Microsoft Dynamics Services to Channel Partners and Customers.  Connect with Wayne via LinkedIn.

Steve Bilbo, Army Enterprise Architect, Iron Bow

Steve joined Iron Bow after 18 years of experience in the USFK and USARPAC Theater’s where he served as the Program Manager for the TNOSC-Korea and the TNOSC-Hawaii. He was the USFK Theater Architect responsible for the JIE and JRSS programs and was the lead IT engineer for the $10B YRP/LPP program.  Steve has 20 years’ experience in the IT field, unparalleled understanding of the Pacific Theaters IT infrastructure, and a strong understanding of systems integration, interoperability, engineering and the military’s operational environment. Steve is a recipient of the Bronze Order of Mercury. Steve was the strategic luminary for TNSOC-K and was critical in the TNOSC-K selection as the very first, “TNOSC of the Year” by NETCOM. Steve was awarded the BAE Systems Chairman’s Award for Customer Support 5 years in a row.

Currently, Steve is the Army Enterprise Architect for Iron Bow Technologies, focusing on the Army National Guard, Unites States Army Corps of Engineers, United States Army Cyber Command, the Pentagon and PEO-EIS.

Steve has attended Montana State University, Central Texas College and the University of Maryland. Steve holds the following industry certifications; CISSP, PMP ITIL Foundations v5, and is certified under numerous vendor programs; Oracle, McAfee, Brocade, Polycom, Cisco, Dell, Remedy (BMC), Palo Alto and F5.

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