5 Takeaways from Nutanix .NEXT
Top IT officials at Nutanix .NEXT discussed their digital modernization efforts including cloud, data, artificial intelligence and more. They explained how modern IT infrastructures are essential to the acceleration and adoption of emerging technologies.
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Faster acquisition promotes innovation in the public sector.
Young Bang, former principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, explained how he sees the Defense Department moving from a compliance-based mindset to a risk-based approach to accelerate response time, improve mission outcomes and adopt innovative technologies.
Innovation in acquisition has long been a focus in government, and today’s leaders are making moves. Bang said new acquisition tracks specifically for AI would ensure that the Pentagon can quickly implement emerging technologies and maintain a competitive edge.
“When Secretary Hegseth came in, he pushed the whole notion of accelerating acquisition and driving the software pathway, which I think is amazing,” Bang said at the conference. “On the AI side, the cycle in AI and the algorithm development and the training goes way faster. Looking at the software acquisition pathway may be an area that they explore.”
Modern IT infrastructure benefits security and services.
The U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC) is overhauling its IT infrastructure to improve system reliability, cybersecurity and the delivery of medical services.
Mike Taylor, the service’s hospital ship joint task director, said that the ship is transitioning to the federal electronic health record system, MHS Genesis, to unify military health care efforts.
In discussing the tech stack powering this movement, Taylor emphasized the importance of continuity, especially when lives depend on the ship’s medical capabilities.
“We have to keep the hospital running at all times. Service members’ lives will probably depend on it. If we’re on a humanitarian mission, the people that we’re taking care of are going to depend on those services as well,” said Taylor.
Air Force Intelligence modernization plan boosts resilience.
Retired Col. Michael Medgyessy, former CIO of Air Force Intelligence, noted Air Force Intelligence’s infrastructure overhaul to support distributed services, enhance mission resilience and streamline operations during an interview at the conference.
Medgyessy detailed how Air Force Intelligence transitioned from legacy systems to a more agile, resilient IT environment. He described the shift toward distributed services and the adoption of technologies like hyperconverged infrastructure and software-defined storage, which serve as the backbone of continuity and rapid recovery.
He also reflected on how scalable platforms enable agencies to boost speed and agility, emphasizing the importance of an “invisible” infrastructure for end users to reduce complexity across security domains while maintaining operational flexibility.
Disruptive technologies help agencies move beyond outdated and siloed legacy systems.
Greg O’Connell, vice president of Nutanix Federal, highlighted how federal agencies can simplify IT migrations by leveraging tools that offer flexibility and control over their infrastructure upgrades.
IT officials are eyeing disruptive technologies to adopt more modern, agile and scalable solutions; however, these modernization efforts require strategic planning. O’Connell shared insights on how AI is shifting the federal landscape and discussed Nutanix’s evolving role as a core platform for driving AI-powered innovation.
“We’ve always been about reducing complexity at the edge, wherever it might be. Reducing space, weight, power requirements, providing automation and simplicity for the administrators and the user of the platform,” O’Connell said during an interview at the conference.
New modernization priorities impact federal government incentives.
Sean O’Lone, Navy Business Group CTO at SAIC and former senior military assistant to the Department of the Navy CIO, explained how the incentive structure is changing within DOD as emerging tech continues to evolve, forcing the services to make faster moves.
The historic risk-averse DOD is starting to embrace a new mindset that views managed risk as a pathway to mission advantage rather than a liability. This cultural shift is opening new doors for collaboration between government and industry, particularly in areas like software delivery and edge computing.