State Centralized Data Centers is one of two major government reforms which I have recommended the other is the reform of bureaucratic government. This is coming to fruition in the new Washington state data center being built in Olympia. But there may be some problems.

From The Olympian August 4, 2009
Rep. Reuven Carlyle, a Seattle Democrat and software entrepreneur, says the state is making a mistake with the data-center portion of the project, which accounts for $180 million of the $255 million project cost. Carlyle said it ignores the biggest problem, the state’s aging pieces of information technology that do not have the ability to talk to each other.

Carlyle is correct if this project does not upgrade the states information technology (computers and software) allowing for the ability to talk to each other then this project is one huge boondoggle. The answer is in making computers and software independent. Software should be easily integrated with other software and able to run on any off-the-shelf computer. This allows for the flexibility of upgrading to a newer faster computer from any supplier without having to rewrite all of the software which runs on the current computer.

The Problem and a Solution:
Most states have been developing or purchasing stand alone application programs which store their own data internally. When it becomes necessary to link one application with another a special linking program has to be developed so that an application program can share data with another. This obsolete system is more costly to maintain than a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) using SQL (Structured Query Language). A RDMS has a different architecture, an application program does not store its data within itself but rather stores its data in separate relational databases (RDs). All application programs in the system can access any of the relational databases (RDs) as it needs data for running its application. This means that the amount of stored data in a RDBMS is significantly less since it is not duplicated over and over as it is in the old application programs. If the state of Washington is not using the above architecture or one of similar capability then it is indeed making a $180 million mistake.

Since this software can be universally used on many different computer platforms once it is developed it can be transported to any state computer platform. I have recommended that the federal government pay for the development of this state computer system and then make it freely available to all states for their implementation.

So why would the federal government want to do this?
Homeland Security is trying to find a way to link all of the state’s motor vehicle registration databases through a program called the Real ID. On the surface this appears to be nearly impossible task since nearly all of these databases have been developed as proprietary systems. The answer is to have the federal government fund the development of the software application program for a state motor vehicle Relational Database (RD) and give the software to each of the states. Each state would then load the new RD with the motor vehicle data from their old proprietary database. Since the state RDs are easily linked this would provide a giant national motor vehicle RD which could be easily accessed by law enforcement and Homeland Security. It is an easy step up to having the Federal Government fund a state to develop all the Application Programs and RDs of a completely integrated state computer system. The system could then be made available to all of the states. See my Article 120. Collaborative Innovation between States and Federal Government.