Interoperability Clearinghouse Launches “Agile Cloud” Collaboration

April 28, 2014 / G C Network / Comments Off on Interoperability Clearinghouse Launches “Agile Cloud” Collaboration

Cloud Acquisition Strategy, Customized to the Right Cloud Model

By G C Network | March 17, 2015

by Melvin Greer Managing Director, Greer Institute  This year has brought big news, significant changes and increased awareness of the adoption of cloud computing in Government. In fact Cloud computing…

Women leading us to the cloud

By G C Network | March 14, 2015

By Jodi Kohut Government Cloud Computing Professional   By Jodi Kohut Government Cloud Computing Professional March is Women’s History Month. As we celebrate women and their role in our history, our…

CSCC Cloud Privacy Summit – Reston, VA March 26th

By G C Network | March 12, 2015

Please join the Cloud Standards Customer Council in Reston, Virginia on Thursday, March 26th for the Cloud Privacy Summit. This all day symposium will stimulate lively, interactive discussion and deliver…

Bangladesh: A country transforms with IT

By G C Network | March 9, 2015

Born out of a nine-month war of liberation in 1971, Bangladesh is a parliamentary democracy and a predominately Muslim country. After years of being a center for textile manufacturing, the country of…

Introducing CloudTek University

By G C Network | March 5, 2015

Visit us at https://www.CloudTekU.com Cloud Computing Basics https://sqz.co/Fs34AaX Cloud Technologies https://sqz.co/s2ACt68 Cloud Security https://sqz.co/Mp7m3TE Business Innovation https://sqz.co/j4NZb37 Cloud Computing Pilots https://sqz.co/e5HFy24 Cloud Operations https://sqz.co/p5CJo24 CloudTek Overview https://sqz.co/k9S4Ewt ( This content…

The Emerging Science of Digital Forensics

By G C Network | February 24, 2015

By Melvin Greer Managing Director, Greer Institute for Leadership and Innovation Without question, the rise in cyberleaks, nation-state cyber terrorism and the beach of consumer data across multiple industry domains…

African-Americans and STEM careers: Getting a foot in the door

By G C Network | February 16, 2015

By Sandra K. Johnson Technology leadership is driven by the innovation and creativity of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) professionals. STEM careers offer some of the highest-paying jobs and the…

U.S. Department of Defense sets its cloud security guidelines

By G C Network | February 12, 2015

By Jodi Kohut Those watching federal cloud security in the defense space were pleased to learn the Defense DOD Cloud Computing Security Requirements Guide (v1) (SRG) last month. This 152-page document outlines…

Circles are good for the economy

By G C Network | February 9, 2015

Contrary to what your mother may have told you, going in circles is sometimes a good thing. When it comes to our economy, it is actually a great thing. Throughout…

2015 National Chief Information Security Officer Survey

By G C Network | February 4, 2015

Cybersecurity breaches are seemingly making headline news every day. Recent cases have highlighted identity theft, the loss of personal financial data, and the disclosure of sensitive national security information.  The…

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]

Bookmark and Share

Cloud Musings

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS – © Copyright Kevin L. Jackson 2012)
–>

Follow me at https://Twitter.com/Kevin_Jackson
Posted in

G C Network

Cloud Computing

Cybersecurity