Interoperability Clearinghouse Launches “Agile Cloud” Collaboration

April 28, 2014 / G C Network / Comments Off

Twitter Feed

Watson Crowdsources Cloud Computing

By G C Network | October 20, 2016

Recently I’ve been doing quite a bit of analysis work using the IBM Watson cognitive business platform. The really exciting thing about this opportunity is the way data can seem…

New Horizons® Delivers CloudMASTER®

By G C Network | October 17, 2016

For over 30 years, New Horizons has provided more than 30 million students with industry-leading technical training that delivers the most relevant and intuitive computer courses and certifications. They are…

See You At RSA Conference 2017!

By G C Network | October 11, 2016

JUST ANNOUNCED!! I am personally excited to be delivering the (ISC)² CCSP Two-Day Crash Course at RSA Conference 2017! “The current state of cybersecurity means there are many opportunities for the…

#KnowYourData: The Key to Business

By G C Network | October 7, 2016

Last week’s Strata-Hadoop conference in New York, NY was showcase of how big data is redefining business. Every company, every demonstration and every conversation highlighted how data is driving the…

A New Chapter: “Cloud Musings en español”

By G C Network | October 5, 2016

Since May 2010, “Cloud Musings” has demonstrated, educated and celebrated the use of advanced technology in business. Specific subjects are sometimes varied, but cloud computing and cybersecurity seem to have…

Military Tips On Business Resiliency

By G C Network | September 28, 2016

Photo credit: Shutterstock A steel bar is resistant to stress and is capable of maintaining its form while bearing large loads. While steel is also known as one of the…

Meet Ameet Bakshi: The Insurance CloudMASTER®

By G C Network | September 25, 2016

Powered by Singapore-based Big Data start-up Crayon Data, BigData-MadeSimple.com tapped the insurance industry as being at the forefront of integrating cloud technology into their digital eco system. As stated in…

Understand The Language Of Data: Strata+Hadoop World and TAP

By G C Network | September 19, 2016

Our world is driven by data. It may speak in whispers, but it can also scream insight and information to those that understand it’s language. This is why I’ll be…

Transformative Training for Hybrid Cloud

By G C Network | September 13, 2016

Figure 1- Shawn Bolan, Technical Training Manager, New Horizons of Nebraska, https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawn-bolan-96b8a9103 In a recent CloudTech article multi-cloud, or hybrid cloud, strategy was heralded as “…transformative for businesses, allowing them…

Surviving the coming “Hackerpocalypse”

By G C Network | September 6, 2016

Photo credit: Shutterstock With all the excellent training available on television today, we are all now well prepared to deal with the coming Zombie Apocalypse. Our failure as a society…

« Previous
1
…
10
11
12
13
14
…
73
Next »

Last Wednesday, Maj Gen, USAF (Ret) John T. Brennan, Interoperability Clearinghouse (ICH) Executive Director, kicked off the Agile Cloud collaboration. This industry-wide effort is targeted at developing an open and inclusive cloud service brokerage environment capable of rapidly provisioning innovative technologies to the US Government on a fee for service basis. This cloud services environment will favor existing commercial services over custom development, will incorporate industry standards and will enforce a consistent implementation environment. Additional key characteristics will include:

Interoperable technologies;
A consistent acquisition model;
Standard technical assessment framework; and a
Standardized service level management model.

A key difference between this and other government focused cloud computing efforts is that the Agile Cloud environment will be funded and implemented by industry.

The kick-off event’s keynote speaker was Polly Schaffer, Industry Innovation Advocate for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). Emphasizing the dramatic departure from “business as usual” this model represents, she restated quotes she made at last week’s GEOINT Symposium:

Polly Shaffer addresses GEOINT 2013* Symposium

“We need to communicate NGA’s vision, needs, challenges and opportunities. “To increase transparency, we need to expose more about NGA to prospective partners in an unclassified environment. Connecting with prospective partners will help the agency learn their capabilities, interest areas and ideas.”

“The clearance process is another area that needs to be streamlined to make cleared people available on-demand. The agency must also look beyond the traditional ways of contracting services for innovative ways to compensate partners for their services. We’re talking about pay-per-use and pay-per-impact on mission.”

“The new compensation model will seek to implement agile ways to contract with partners, so that getting a contract could be a simple as clicking a link. We will develop and implement processes and high-performance technical solutions that allow globally distributed virtual teams to be formed on-demand, based on topics, people’s registered skills and security classifications. NGA with its customers and partners will co-create capabilities, content, products and services in an online common environment that builds on our collaboration efforts.”

“The target for implementing these changes is 2017. The era of the [request for proposal] and traditional acquisition is waning. We have to craft a new national defense economic model based on a dis-aggregated supply side.”

Kshemendra Paul, Program Manager,
Information Sharing Environment

Pamela Wise-Martinez, Senior Enterprise Architect, PM-Information Sharing Environment, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, also made a presentation at the event. Her remarks focused on how artifacts and guidance from “Project Interoperability” could be leveraged to make the envisioned Agile Cloud a reality. The goal of Project Interoperability is to help government and non-government organizations identify a baseline of terms, tools, and techniques to connect networks and systems. They represent an architecture-agnostic approach that promises to normalize the way information sharing technology is developed. This project is managed by Kshemendra Paul, Program Manager, Information Sharing Environment (ISE), which is the national office charged with advancing responsible information sharing in support of counterterrorism and homeland security. ISE works with federal, state, local, and tribal government partners, and with the private sector.

This event was the first of three scheduled organizational meetings. The next event is scheduled for May 21, 2014. ICH invites all interested parties to follow this industry collaboration by joining the Agile Cloud Working Group on LinkedIn. Additional information can also be requested via email to [email protected]