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ViON Corporation Secures SBA Contract Award to Support Business Loan Systems; Tom Frana Quoted
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ViON Corporation Secures SBA Contract Award to Support Business Loan Systems; Tom Frana Quoted

ViON Corporation has been awarded a contract with the Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide IT infrastructure supporting the SBA’s small business loan systems, ViON announced on Thursday.

“The SBA serves a critical mission for more than 40 million businesses nationwide. As the country shifts dramatically due to the pandemic, we are enabling the SBA to quickly improve their capacity to process loans for the United States business community,” said Tom Frana, chairman and CEO of ViON as well as a two-time Wash100 Award recipient.

ViON will provide its IT infrastructure to update the systems responsible for guaranteeing hundreds of billions in loans to U.S. small businesses to aid those affected by COVID-19. The company’s efforts will enable the SBA to upgrade the technology supporting their loan systems, including adding capacity to and modernizing some of their existing Oracle SPARC technology. 

ViON has already deployed SPARC M12-2 servers to help SBA meet critical capacity needs. The company will continue to help SBA improve their capacity and capability to process loans as SBA continues to process its loan workload. 

“It is truly a partnership between public and private sector to respond with urgency and accomplish this important mission. As a result, we are modernizing their data center with high-performance servers in a matter of hours – not days, weeks or months,” Frana concluded. 

About ViON Corporation

ViON Corporation is a cloud service provider with over 40 years’ experience designing and delivering enterprise data center solutions for government agencies and commercial businesses. The company provides a large portfolio of IT as-a-Service, including infrastructure, multi-cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions.

Focused on supporting the customer’s IT modernization requirements, ViON’s Enterprise Cloud is changing cloud management for the market, providing a streamlined platform to audit and control technology in an evolving multi-cloud world. The ViON Marketplace™ allows customers to research, compare, procure and manage a full range of Everything as-a-Service solutions from leading manufacturers via a single portal. ViON delivers an outstanding customer experience at every step with professional and managed services, backed by highly-trained, cleared resources. A veteran-owned company based in Herndon, Virginia, the company has field offices throughout the U.S.

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Akima Subsidiary Affigent Achieves Dell Technologies Titanium Tier Federal Partner; Carol Rivetti Quoted
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Akima Subsidiary Affigent Achieves Dell Technologies Titanium Tier Federal Partner; Carol Rivetti Quoted

Affigent, an Akima subsidiary, has achieved the Titanium tier in the Dell Technologies Federal Partner Program for 2020, the company reported on Thursday.

“Dell Technologies is a leader in digital transformation, and we are extremely proud to have reached the Titanium tier,” said Carol Rivetti, president of Affigent. “Our goal at Affigent is to deliver solutions that help customers scale their efforts while simplifying the procurement of IT.”

Affigent has delivered IT products and services to support agencies’ IT infrastructure modernization, security improvements and mission-serving solutions to enable faster responses at a lower cost.

The company was recognized as a Titanium member of the Dell Technologies Federal Partner Program for providing innovative solutions that solve customers’ problems. Affigent has demonstrated high levels of competencies across pre-sales, sales, technology, and services, from the edge to the core to the cloud, which enabled the company to achieve the designation.

“The comprehensive solutions offered by Dell allow us to not only achieve that goal, but also facilitate the rapid adoption of the transformative technologies agencies need to support their increasingly complex missions,” Rivetti added.

Affigent will continue to partner closely with Dell Technologies throughout 2020 to provide and 5G, multi-cloud, artificial intelligence and edge solutions. The company recently integrated Oracle Cloud Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure services to its General Services Administration MAS Contract under SIN 518210C. 

The expansion of Affigent’s GSA schedule (GS-35F-0509S) will ensure that government agencies have direct access to Oracle hardware and cloud services at the best value. Under the GSA Schedules Program, GSA will establish long-term government-wide pre-competed contracts with commercial firms.

GSA Schedule will provide access to over 11 million commercial products and services at volume discount pricing. Affigent will provide products and associated services, training and maintenance. Oracle’s FedRAMP-compliant cloud services span across SaaS, and Iaa. The services will simplify government agencies’ digital transformation of legacy mission systems securely, efficiently and effectively.

About Akima

Akima is a global enterprise with more than 7,500 employees, delivering agile solutions to the federal government in the core areas of aviation, construction, facilities and logistics, IT and mission support, protective services and detention management, and systems engineering. 

As a subsidiary of NANA, an Alaska Native Corporation owned by more than 14,300 Iñupiat shareholders, Akima’s core mission is to enable superior outcomes for our customers’ missions while simultaneously creating a long-lived asset for NANA consistent with our Iñupiat values. In 2019, Washington Technology ranked Akima #38 amongst the top 100 government contractors.

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Oracle Announces Q4 & FY 2020 Financial Results; Safra Catz, Larry Ellison Quoted
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Oracle Announces Q4 & FY 2020 Financial Results; Safra Catz, Larry Ellison Quoted

Oracle Corporation has announced fourth quarter (Q4) and fiscal year (FY) 2020 full year results on Wednesday, reporting revenues of $10.4 billion.

“Our overall business did remarkably well considering the pandemic, but our results would have been even better except for customers in the hardest-hit industries that we serve such as hospitality, retail, and transportation postponing some of their purchases. Still, for the third year in a row, we delivered double-digit constant currency earnings per share growth in FY20,” said Oracle CEO, Safra Catz.

Oracle’s cloud services and license support revenues were $6.8 billion and cloud license and on-premise license revenues were $2 billion. The company’s Q4 GAAP operating income was up 1 percent year-over-year (YoY) to $4.3 billion, and GAAP operating margin was 41 percent.

The company’s non-GAAP operating income was down 2 percent YoY to $5.1 billion, and non-GAAP operating margin was 49 percent. GAAP net income was $3.1 billion, and non-GAAP net income was $3.8 billion. GAAP earnings per share was $0.99, while non-GAAP earnings per share was up 3 percent YoY to $1.20.

Oracle’s Short-term deferred revenues were $8.0 billion and operating cash flow was $13.1 billion during the latter twelve months. For FY 2020, total revenues were $39.1 billion, down 1 percent YoY and flat in constant currency. Cloud services and license support revenues were $27.4 billion. Cloud license and on-premise license revenues were $5.1 billion.

“In Q4, non-GAAP earnings per share grew 5% in constant currency driven by strong performances in both our cloud infrastructure and cloud applications businesses,” “Leading the way was our Fusion Cloud ERP Suite that grew 35% in constant currency, and our Fusion Cloud HCM Suite grew 29% in constant currency,” added Catz.

Oracle’s FY 2020 GAAP operating income was $13.9 billion, and GAAP operating margin was 36 percent. Non-GAAP operating income was $17.4 billion, and non-GAAP operating margin was 44 percent.

GAAP net income was $10.1 billion, while non-GAAP net income was $12.7 billion. GAAP earnings per share increased 4 percent to $3.08, while non-GAAP earnings per share was up 9 percent to $3.85.

“In Q4, we launched a vastly improved version of our Exadata Cloud@Customer service,” said Oracle Chairman and CTO, Larry Ellison. “Exadata Cloud@Customer now enables our existing on-premise database customers to run the Oracle Autonomous Database in their own datacenter… Enabling all our on-premise database customers to upgrade and run Oracle’s latest and best database technology in their own data center should dramatically accelerate the rate of adoption of the Oracle Autonomous Database.”

About Oracle

The Oracle Cloud offers a complete suite of integrated applications for Sales, Service, Marketing, Human Resources, Finance, Supply Chain and Manufacturing, plus Highly-Automated and Secure Generation 2 Infrastructure featuring the Oracle Autonomous Database.

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DoD Unveils Defense Space Strategy; Mark Esper Quoted
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DoD Unveils Defense Space Strategy; Mark Esper Quoted

The Department of Defense (DoD) has launched a new strategy that outlines how DoD will advance and leverage space capabilities to compete, deter and counter potential adversaries in the space domain. “This strategy identifies a phased approach on how we are going to achieve the desired conditions in space over the next 10 years,” Esper added. 

“The Defense Space Strategy is the next step to ensure space superiority and to secure the Nation’s vital interests in space now and in the future,” Mark Esper, DoD secretary and a 2020 Wash100 Award winner, said in a statement published Wednesday. 

The Pentagon has set three objectives to advance spacepower: maintain space superiority; ensure space stability; and provide space support to joint, national and combined operations.

The strategy outlines four lines of effort to address challenges, threats and opportunities and reach the desired conditions: build a comprehensive military advantage in space; integrate military spacepower into national, joint and combined operations; shape the strategic environment; and cooperate with allies, industry, partners, and other U.S. government departments and agencies.

To achieve the first line of effort, DoD calls for the expansion of space warfighting culture and expertise; improvement of command and control and intelligence capabilities; development of capabilities that counter the hostile use of space; and further support for the U.S. Space Force.

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AFRL, University of Dayton School of Law Unveil Intellectual Property Training Effort
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AFRL, University of Dayton School of Law Unveil Intellectual Property Training Effort

The Air Force Research Laboratory partnered with the University of Dayton School of Law to develop an online training initiative that will work to help government employees mitigate the loss of data rights and intellectual property.

The training effort utilizes visual thinking guides and animation to present the application of contractual agreements, negotiations, intellectual property and data rights laws, the U.S. Air Force said Tuesday.

The initiative builds on a three-year educational partnership agreement signed by UDSL and AFRL for the provision of intellectual property legal training to the laboratory's engineers and scientists.

The National Crime Prevention Council cited in a report that 45 percent of U.S. businesses reported losses due to IP theft. The Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property also noted that estimated annual costs in pirated software, trade secrets and counterfeit goods have reached more than $225B.

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GSA’s Allen Hill: IT Modernization for Large Agencies Takes Time
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GSA’s Allen Hill: IT Modernization for Large Agencies Takes Time

Allen Hill, acting deputy assistant commissioner for category management at the General Services Administration (GSA), has said the federal government must deploy agile networks to enable operations without the human element, Federal News Network reported Tuesday.

Hill told the publication in an interview that agencies should learn how to work around their limited budgets for modernization and drive efforts to transition away from legacy systems that are not information technology-based.

He noted that there are small- and medium-sized agencies like the Small Business Administration (SBA) that have been successful in modernizing their current assets.

“Large agencies are not that simple,” said Hill. “Those organizations are much more difficult because they have infrastructures and applications that are diverse and complex.”

Implementing and building out next-generation monitoring and management technologies such as 5G communications will take extensive planning and a lot of time, he added. 

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Sens. Rob Portman, Martin Heinrich Present Bill to Boost DoD AI Workforce
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Sens. Rob Portman, Martin Heinrich Present Bill to Boost DoD AI Workforce

Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., have introduced a bill that aims to fortify the artificial intelligence workforce at the Department of Defense.

The Artificial Intelligence for the Armed Forces Act, a bipartisan bill, would require DoD to create and implement a program for AI training and certification, Portman's office said Tuesday.

The bill would also task the secretary of defense to implement guidance on AI talent capture via direct-hire authority, and receive direct reports from the Joint AI Center's director.

“The American military should utilize every tool available, including artificial intelligence, to carry out its mission," Portman said.

The bill builds on the National Security Commission on AI's recommendations issued in March.

Portman and Heinrich both serve in the Senate AI Caucus.

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DOE to Fund Cost-Shared Carbon Dioxide Utilization Projects
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DOE to Fund Cost-Shared Carbon Dioxide Utilization Projects

The Department of Energy will use $17M to finance 11 cost-shared research and development projects that tackle the use of carbon dioxide as industrial fuel.

DOE said Tuesday its Office of Fossil Energy selected efforts to develop and demonstrate technologies under the Carbon Utilization Program that aims to repurpose carbon waste into effective products and decrease emissions.

The department will fund projects that seek to synthesize value-added organic products, produce inorganic carbon solids, boost algae production via CO2 and convert carbon residue into concrete.

DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory will oversee projects under the funding opportunity.

“DOE’s Carbon Utilization Program is investing in cutting-edge technologies to allow us to capture carbon oxides, which will reduce emissions and then recycle them into economically valuable services like enhanced oil recovery or products like plastics and carbon fibers," said Mark Menezes, undersecretary of energy.

The following parties will perform work under the projects:

  • Gas Technology Institute

  • North Carolina State University

  • SkyNano

  • Susteon

  • University of California, Los Angeles

  • University of Delaware

  • University of Kentucky Research Foundation

  • University of Louisiana at Lafayette

  • University of Louisville Research Foundation

  • University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science

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DARPA Eyes Auction-Based Asset Mgmt Tool for Warfighters
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DARPA Eyes Auction-Based Asset Mgmt Tool for Warfighters

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is looking to deploy a tool based on e-commerce concepts that will enable warfighters to identify resources for tactical-level operations, C4ISRnet reported Wednesday.

As part of the Adapting Cross-Domain Kill-Webs (ACK) initiative, DARPA intends to implement a marketplace-based platform for warfighters to share a set of capabilities such as sensors and weapons.

Tim Grayson, director of the Strategic Technology Office at DARPA, said at a recent conference that ACK will use an “online auction” framework to visualize available assets. 

He noted that his team is working with the U.S. Air Force to coordinate ACK with the service branch’s Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS).

Lisa Sanders, director of science and technology at the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), said during the same event that ACK could benefit special forces seeking to improve decision-making activities. The ACK effort also complements USSOCOM’s Hyper Enabled Operator (HEO) resource management program, she added.

Grason and Sanders’ comments come after the command announced plans to solicit artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies for the HEO effort in September.

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Rear Adm. William Galinis Named NAVSEA Commander
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Rear Adm. William Galinis Named NAVSEA Commander

Rear Adm. William Galinis, former program executive officer for ships at the U.S. Navy, has been assigned to lead Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). Galinis will also receive a promotion to the rank of vice admiral and perform his duties from Washington, D.C., the Department of Defense (DoD) said Tuesday.

He held various engineering, management and shipbuilding supervision roles throughout his Navy career. The experienced sailor joined the Navy after his graduation from U.S. Naval Academy in 1983. His career includes damage control work for the USS Vreeland frigate and various naval inspection and trial efforts.

Galinis also held roles with the program offices of the USS Zumwalt destroyer and the USS San Antonio amphibious transport dock.

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