INDUSTRY INTERVIEW: Dynamic Systems
MIT 2010 Volume: 14 Issue: 1 (February)
Mardi Norman
President and Chief Executive Officer
Dynamic Systems
Q: What do you see as the biggest identity management problems facing the military, and does Dynamic Systems have any offerings to address these issues?
A: Information can be a powerful weapon. In our opinion, providing the right information to the right person at the right time is the most pressing identity management issue facing our military.
Dynamic Systems deploys state-of-theart hardware, software and services to ensure successful identity management solutions. We are currently engaged in a number of identity management initiatives for the military. Our solutions start with a thorough understanding of the customer’s unique requirements. We then build customized identity solutions to address security, privacy, compliance and provisioning requirements. We leverage an open, integrated infrastructure that provides secure, unified identity and access management across databases and heterogeneous, complex IT environments. The benefits include centralized security, enforcement and automation audit policies, while substantially increasing the efficiency of the provisioning process.
Q: What benefits do you see for military users for enterprise consolidation, and how are you helping them achieve it?
A: We have seen a definite increase in enterprise consolidation projects for the military over the past few years. Besides the obvious ROI and cost savings benefits, there are many synergies realized from consolidation efforts in the data center, including reductions in footprint (physical space), power and cooling, and maintenance requirements. Through our multi-vendor support services and Contract Management Center, we are bringing another form of enterprise consolidation to our military customers—the administrative consolidation of support service contracts. Time efficiencies and cost savings can be realized when all assets, across all vendor platforms, are consolidated on a single support contract.
Q: What unique capabilities would Dynamic Systems bring to the table if selected to participate in the Navy’s Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES) program?
A: Dynamic Systems addresses the unique information technology challenges of all our Department of Defense customers. We offer solutions to help our military achieve their mission objectives through a combination of hardware, software and support services. We have a longstanding relationship with the Navy and fully understand their requirements around security, reduced footprint and energy consumption, customized deployments and the need for ruggedized hardware. Dynamic Systems has the resources, engineering expertise, and procurement and deployment processes to deliver mission critical IT solutions to support the CANES program.
Q: Your company has been a contractor for the DoD-wide ESI SSTEW contract for several years now. How has the program evolved over the years, and what are you doing to enhance its value?
A: The SSTEW blanket purchase agreement [BPA] contract evolved from DoD’s Enterprise Software Initiative (ESI) group’s desire to assist military and intelligence customers struggling to manage warranty, support and maintenance contracts for hardware and software assets. Government organizations routinely procure hardware or software combined with a request for support. Each of these frequent purchases creates separate multi-year contracts and a host of asset management, procurement and support challenges, from managing the procurement cycles of hundreds of small delivery orders to avoiding the high costs of an emergency T&M call for a lapsed support contract.
As a result, the SSTEW BPA successfully created a vehicle with incentives for consolidating and co-terminating contracts at a significant cost saving for all Sun Microsystems support. In addition, Dynamic Systems developed a secure online tracking portal called the Customer Management Center, which gives customers and contracting officers the ability to view, track and manage their data center assets with ease at no additional cost. This online tool and our awardwinning customer service combined with the SSTEW BPA’s unique design and discounts have made the SSTEW BPA a very successful ESI agreement for DoD and intelligence community. Dynamic Systems is proud of our ability to offer this strategic service for almost eight years now.
Q: What are some of the other innovative services you are developing to meet the needs of military customers?
A: We have been able to successfully leverage our automated tools, our partners and our experience in supporting technology infrastructures within DoD to seamlessly expand our capabilities into the multi-vendor service support space.
Dynamic Systems combines a dedicated team of customer service personnel and service provider relationships worldwide to ensure a cost-effective, “best in class” service solution through a single point of contact. Imagine having 10 different contracts, with 10 different vendors and varying end dates that require 10 different procurements, 10 different support models and 10 different call-in numbers. It can be an overwhelming thought for any IT professional. Our multivendor service solution solves this problem through an easy-to-use online asset tracking tool for viewing, modifying and managing IT environments. It adds simplicity and efficiency by centralizing information that benefits both the technical and financial personnel within the military. ♦
