In the last 18 months, state governments have assumed greater responsibility for delivering digital citizen services. As states modernize IT systems and continue to expand digital citizen services, the readiness of the underlying infrastructure has never been more important.
At first glance, thinking about the health and security of network infrastructure when trying to deliver more digital citizen services on the same budget seems counterintuitive. Surely, investments in AI, cloud computing, and modern applications would seem to be the foundation of success. But as Dave Lovelace, National Director – SLED Technology Strategy at Lumen shared in a recent conversation with Government Technology Insider, without investment at the network layer, none of those other pieces will provide a strong return on investment alone. “As states innovate at scale, modernizing legacy applications and adopting hybrid architectures to deliver more digital services, without a commensurate investment in an agile network infrastructure these projects will be delayed or fail,” he explained. “Investment in an agile network, one that is flexible, resilient, secure, and data capable, should be a priority for state governments.”
Regardless of the role AI might play in the economy of the future, the fact remains that data is fueling our work and the economy today. “The data that is needed to deliver government services more effectively and optimize myriad other vital functions is already in the cloud and as AI becomes part of our daily workflows, more and more network traffic will be machine to machine,” said Lovelace. “As Lumen’s CEO, Kate Johnson, has shared, data needs access to compute and compute needs access to network. If we’re going to get the most out of our data and unlock its value, we must make it actionable by making it easy to move and apply.”
With the costs associated with network modernization, the question of why existing networks aren’t capable comes to mind. “Traditional telecom networks weren’t built to support AI at volume and speed,” explained Lovelace. “A surge in activity or a data spike, such as during benefits enrollment or following a natural disaster as residents file for aid, can result in a service outage or functional crash. Equally, we’ve seen thousands of instances over the last few years where ransomware has crippled state governments and resulted in billions of dollars in downtime costs. Both types of network failure are unacceptable and damage the delicate trust relationship between government and citizen.”
In comparison, modernized network infrastructure isn’t fixed hardware, it’s a service that can expand and contract on demand to manage ever-changing data volumes, provides multicloud connectivity, is low latency because it operates on state-of-the-art fiber, and is secured with network layered defense and consistent policy enforcement. “When Lumen was designing its next-generation network, it was essential that we provided not only a reliable network that was built for the data volumes we knew our public sector customers would be facing,” shared Lovelace. “We also wanted the network to minimize costs by simplifying provisioning, automating cloud connectivity to all the major hyperscalers, and reducing overall operational complexity.”
With the pace of technology and citizen expectations about service level and quality both evolving at a rapid rate, it is the right time for state governments to take a close look at their network. “Way back when, isn’t 5 years ago anymore when it comes to technology and citizen service delivery,” Lovelace concluded. “At most it’s 18 months and getting shorter by the minute, which compounds the strain on both the infrastructure and citizen trust. Reimagining the network not as hardware but as a service that can scale, connect, and manage whatever comes next, should always be seen as an investment and not a cost. Cost is what comes when a network fails in a moment of need, or a state is held hostage by a ransomware attack.”