The Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) plans and directs the development, implementation, maintenance, enhancement, and operation of the Smithsonian Institution's information technology (IT) systems. In addition, it operates the Smithsonian Institution's computer facilities, equipment, web infrastructure, web hosting services, telecommunications, and networks. OCIO also provides management oversight of decentralized IT implementations by Smithsonian museums and units.

OCIO staff and their Institutional partners work together to identify ways in which IT can be leveraged to improve how the Smithsonian achieves its mission for the increase and diffusion of knowledge worldwide for students, educators, scientists, scholars, citizen scientists, enthusiasts, and the general public. Our biggest challenges will be to:

• Develop a common vision for the Smithsonian’s web strategy and increase the shared services which can be leveraged by Smithsonian webmasters across the Institution
• Establish the infrastructure to preserve and provide expanded access to the Smithsonian’s ever growing digital assets
• Strengthen scientific computing by providing the tools and storage for the vast amount of data generated by Smithsonian scientists
• Enhance the systems that support the management and delivery of the Institution’s educational offerings
• Consolidate application servers and commodity IT resources in the Smithsonian’s state-of-the-art data center

For most of these challenges, the technology exists today. The challenge lies in developing common standards, defining common requirements, funding, and ultimately building flexible solutions that will support the diversity from which the Institution gets its strength.