Social Security Urged To Move To Open Platform Computing

From Federal Computer Week:

The Social Security Administration should replace its outdated mainframe computer with proprietary architecture and move to a more open platform, according to recommendations released in a white paper by the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA). ...

CCIA commissioned the paper because the SSA’s Future Systems Technology Advisory Board is considering how to modernize the agency’s IT infrastructure. ...

The white paper alleges that the SSA’s systems are vulnerable because they are too reliant on outdated technology and a single supplier. A better structure for long-term accessibility would be systems available from multiple and competing sources, the paper said.

Another recommendation in the paper is for the SSA to use its buying power to insist that its current supplier for hardware, IBM Corp., work closer with hardware and software makers in the systems development life cycle.

An IBM spokesman said the CCIA’s membership includes many of IBM’s competitors, including Microsoft. “So it is hardly surprising when the CCIA makes an anti-IBM argument,” said Steve Eisenstadt, a spokesman for IBM.

There is a similar story on NextGov.