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Federal-civilian agencies have dedicated substantial time and resources to the complex transition from the legacy Networx contract to the government’s Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) vehicle. The magnitude of that effort often left little bandwidth for broader network transformation initiatives.
Now, with the EIS transition reaching completion in 2026, agencies are shifting focus from contract migration to modernization — upgrading network infrastructure, enhancing performance and security, and adopting the next generation of networking technologies needed to support mission demands.
“Federal agencies are behind the commercial environment by probably five to seven years in technology, and now it’s time for a major network transformation,” said Jason Tolbert, vice president of federal civilian at AT&T.
In practice, this transformation extends far beyond traditional network upgrades. Federal agencies are modernizing their technology environments to support a wide range of mission requirements, including cloud adoption, AI deployment, workforce collaboration, application modernization and enhanced citizen services.
Key initiatives include implementing softwaredefined wide-area networking (SD-WAN), adopting Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) architectures, migrating applications and workloads from data centers to the cloud, transforming legacy voice systems into unified communications and contact center platforms, and replacing aging copper infrastructure with fiber-based connectivity.
Agencies are also evaluating emerging access technologies such as Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite services and fixed wireless solutions to improve connectivity diversity, resilience, and cost efficiency. Strengthening cybersecurity remains a top priority objective, but it is one element of a broader effort to build more agile, scalable, and mission-ready network infrastructures.
“As mission requirements and cybersecurity challenges become more complex,” Tolbert said, “the old methodologies just aren’t going to cut it.”
This content is made possible by our sponsor AT&T; it is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Gov Executive's editorial staff.
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