Virginia ready to build off decadelong centralization effort

Nearly one decade has passed since Virginia began a major IT consolidation effort, and now state leaders are ready to refresh infrastructure across the state.

Back in 2006, IT in Virginia “used to be 80 executive branch agencies, all on distributed computing platforms, distributed data centers,” according to Steve Radabaugh, director of technology services, at the Virginia Information Technologies Agency.

But now Radabaugh believes his staff “can really see and manage the IT infrastructure very well,” and is ready to start bringing in new technology to revamp its centralized structure.

“What’s exciting now, 10 years into that project, is looking ahead at the art of the possible,” Radabaugh told StateScoop at the National Association of State Technology Directors’ annual conference in August. “What else is out there, what’s the marketplace moving to, how are things being done differently in the service delivery space than they were 10 years ago when we began this initiative? We’re still in the early stages of the RFI initiative, basically reaching out to other suppliers, other service providers, [asking] what is the art of the possible, how are things done and what is best practice today?”