Ohio Courts Data Warehousing

Keeping track of Ohio residents' run-ins with the law is about to get easier for court officials and law enforcement.

The Ohio Supreme Court is conducting a pilot project to store all case data from 17 courts in one centralized data warehouse. Until now, more than 350 state courts operated independently, with no way of sharing data.

The pilot will also connect to partner agencies, such as the state's Motor Vehicles Bureau and Rehabilitation and Corrections Department.

"A user of the system will be able to do a search by name or credentials and pull up [court] case information, [and] also driving records, law enforcement activity and court history," says Robert Stuart, director of information technology for the Ohio Supreme Court.

With the help of Unisys Corp., Stuart expects to integrate 10 percent of the courts' documents by next summer, and 80 percent of all case records into the system within two years. Once the integration is completed, courts will have access to the network's statistical analysis and search capabilities.

Cities Sense New Wireless Benefits

Wireless sensor networks, which gather data in the field and report conditions to a central location, have captured the interest of municipalities worldwide. Cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oakland, Calif., are using the technology to manage traffic, parking and utility meter reading, and even to detect the sound of a gunshot on the street.

More municipalities are expected to adopt WSNs in the next 18 to 24 months, according to a survey of 220 North American municipalities and public safety organizations by wireless research firm ON World in San Diego.

The study found that 35 percent of municipalities are highly interested in adopting a wireless traffic management system. Some 41 percent are highly interested in wireless parking management. Nearly half of the surveyed municipalities indicate that they are planning to adopt advanced automated meter reading (AMR) within the next 18 months.

"As more cities adopt wireless broadband, they are becoming more interested in technologies such as wireless sensor networking to increase public safety, reduce costs and improve efficiencies of providing municipal services," says Mareca Hatler, ON World's director of research.

Wireless broadband technologies such as mesh Wi-Fi and WiMAX provide a ubiquitous backbone for machine-related services. As cities become more attuned to the benefits of wireless networking, they are likely to be more receptive to WSN innovations for streetlight monitoring, parking management and public safety, Hatler adds.

Massachusetts Embraces Office Open XML

Amidst controversy, the Massachusetts Information Technology Division officially added Microsoft's Office Open XML document format to the commonwealth's Enterprise Technical Reference Model. The ETRM provides an architectural framework to identify the standards, specifications and technologies that support the state's computing environment.

Massachusetts is the first state to adopt a policy encouraging open XML-based document formats so data can be stored in an open format. The state had long embraced the OASIS Open Document Format but faced pressure from Microsoft, which has since added the Open XML format to the Office application suite.

Henry Dormitzer, undersecretary of administration and finance, and Bethann Pepoli, acting CIO, issued a statement thanking the 460 individuals and organizations that submitted comments as part of the public review of ETRM v.4.0. They said concerns about Open XML will be handled through the standard- setting process.

The announcement states that open document formats will help ensure that the state operates efficiently and effectively.

Real ID Compliance Deadline Looms

State leaders who must comply with the Real ID Act aren't happy about the fast-approaching deadline of May 11, 2008, or the mandate's price tag. The act creates national standards for the issuance of state driver's licenses and identification cards.

At the National Governors Association annual meeting in July, state leaders issued a statement saying the estimated cost of Real ID will exceed $11 billion over five years, including $1 billion in up-front costs to create systems and processes necessary to implement the law and prepare to re-enroll all 245 million driver's license and identification card holders. To date, Congress has appropriated only $40 million to assist states.

The NGA also recommended that Congress extend the compliance deadline, provide states with the federal electronic verification systems necessary to comply with the law, require states to employ electronic verification systems only as they become available and adopt uniform naming conventions among system files.

Utah and Wisconsin Make Most Mobile Investments

Public workers in Utah and Wisconsin have access to more mobile technologies for working in the field than do workers in other states. That's the finding of a State and Local Government Technology Investment Curve report by CDW Government.

Public safety, creation of paperless systems, and a desire to bring government services to citizens are chief among the reasons for purchasing a range of mobility technologies, such as wireless notebooks, handhelds and wireless communication devices.

Of all 50 states, Utah leads in mobile technology purchasing, spending 257 percent more than the average state. Wisconsin follows with an investment profile 210 percent higher than the average. "These states demonstrate significant, committed investment in mobility technologies at all levels of government and over the entire four-year assessment," says Jim Grass, CDW·G senior director of state and local government sales.

Government CIOs who want to promote best practices in mobile technology should highlight public safety initiatives, look for ways to speed information to responders on the scene and focus initially on already-mobile workers before expanding to other uses, the report suggests.