The country’s mailing agency has kicked off an initiative to connect its drivers and vehicles to the Internet through mobile devices with an eye toward the “Internet of Things.”
Randy Miskanic, the Postal Service’s acting chief information officer, told Federal News Radio USPS plans to deploy 225,000 devices for letter carriers and other staff to transmit information on packages to senders and receivers in real time.
Honeywell received a $250 million contract to help the Postal Service implement the devices, which will work to help managers and carriers create routes as they wish.
“It allows us a lot of opportunities to consider what is next for the future as we look to vehicles and the Internet of Things,” Miskanic told the station.
“What else could we potentially have that could be tethered to a vehicle to increase reach, range and processing capability.”
Enterprises take an additional risk every time they connect a device or a piece of infrastructure to a network and this move toward an “Internet of Things” will accelerate as those links increase, Parsons’ Biff Lyons told ExecutiveBiz in May.
Lyons, senior vice president of Parsons’ national security division, said that convergence of infrastructure with the Internet makes it difficult for industry and agencies to emphasize one area of security over another.
“If people don’t take the right steps to fully understand the threats and implement protections to mitigate those threats, there could be significant damage to their enterprise and its ability to perform its mission,” said Lyons.
“There will be a continued emphasis on security and the convergence of those operational technology systems with the network and the cyber protections required.”
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The Internet of Things will be the main talking point at the Potomac Officers Club’s June 16 summit, which will feature discussions on how the Internet has converged with appliances, automobiles and building systems.
Vint Cerf, widely recognized as a “father of the Internet” and Google’s chief Internet evangelist, will address the executive audience at the half-day event in McLean, Va.
John Pescatore, director of emerging security at the SANS Institute and a speaker at POC’s 2013 cloud summit, will return to offer his perspective on how agencies and businesses can collaborate to protect connected devices and networks.
Other speakers include Dan Doney, chief innovation officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency, and Kevin Kampschroer, GSA’s director of federal high-performance green buildings.
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