NGA Exploring “Community Cloud” With NCOIC

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is looking to leverage industry expertise through collaboration with the Network Centic Operations Industry Consortium (NCOIC). NGA provides timely, relevant and accurate geospatial intelligence in support of national security objectives. NCOIC’s  mission is to facilitate global realization of the benefit inherent in Network Centric Operations.  To that end, they seek to enable continuously increasing levels of interoperability across the spectrum of joint, interagency, intergovernmental, and multinational industrial and commercial operations.  Both organizations are looking to this collaborative effort to help enhance worldwide sharing of geospatial intelligence.

The term “geospatial intelligence” (GEOINT) means the exploitation and analysis of imagery and geospatial information to describe, assess and visually depict physical features and geographically referenced activities on the Earth. Geospatial intelligence consists of imagery, imagery intelligence and geospatial (e.g., mapping, charting and geodesy) information. GEOINT is also a crucial component to the success of international humanitarian efforts, such as tracking floods, disaster support, and peacekeeping. 

Through the Multinational Geospatial Co-Production Program (MGCPP), 28 countries share a central database for geospatial information. As a key member, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is currently exploring a strategy for enhancing the MGCPP into an interoperable resource capable of supporting multinational nation building efforts. Their immediate interest is in developing an open standards based “community cloud” that would support the 26 NATO, 10 partner and 2 non-NATO/non-partner countries of United Nations Security Council established International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. 

Current plans are to kick off this collaborative effort during the NCOIC Plenary Meeting in Brussels, Belgium, June 21-25, 2010. On Thursday June 24th NGA would like to explore how NCOIC processes and patterns could be used to achieve this goal. This 2-hr afternoon plenary session will open with NGA representative providing an overview of their challenge. NCOIC IPT and working group representatives will then provide some initial insight into how their processes and/or products could support the NGA strategy.  The session will close with the development of an action plan for developing NCOIC recommendations for presentation during the September plenary session in Falls Church, VA.

The NCOIC June plenary week will also feature addresses from three senior European organization representatives:

• Dag Wilhelmsen, Technical Director, NATO Communications and Information Systems Services Agency (NCSA)
• IGA Patrick Fermier, National co-Vice Chair, NATO Command, Control & Communications (NC3) Agency Board
• RADM Denis Trioulaire, European Defense Agency 

Registration is required for all attendees and there is no conference fee.  For complete agenda information and registration, please go to  https://www.SignUp4.net/Public/ap.aspx?EID=JUNE48E

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