US Navy Experiments With Secure Cloud Computing

August 20, 2009 / G C Network /
An image of a light shining through a tunnel.

Transformation Network

By pwsadmin | May 15, 2021

The Achilles heel of every transformative business model is their reliance on ever increasing amounts of data that need to be transported quickly across wide area networks and processed at…

A person holding up three frames in front of their face.

Essential Characteristics of Cloud Computing as Digital Transformation

By pwsadmin | May 15, 2021

Hybrid IT blends traditional datacenters, managed service providers, and cloud service providers to deliver the necessary mix of information technology services. This IT consumption model enables a composable infrastructure which…

A mosaic of hands and flowers on the wall.

Transformation Innovation

By pwsadmin | May 15, 2021

4 Factors Driving Digital Transformation ROI The critical assessment factors for cloud ROI risk probability are the following:      Infrastructure utilization Speed of migration to cloud Ability to scale business/mission processes…

A neon sign with a handshake on it.

Transformation Frameworks

By pwsadmin | May 15, 2021

Digital transformation necessitates changes in an organization’s operational processes. According to Harvard, a focus on operations can lead to business process optimization and entirely new revenue streams. Three common routes…

A group of people standing in a room with wires hanging from the ceiling.

Transformation Infrastructure

By pwsadmin | September 26, 2020

Hybrid IT enables a composable infrastructure which describes a framework whose physical compute, storage, and network fabric resources are treated as services. Resources are logically pooled so that administrators need…

A close up of the pattern on a solar panel.

Essential Characteristics of Cloud Computing as Digital Transformation

By pwsadmin | September 25, 2020

A survey of 2,000 executives conducted by Cognizant in 2016 identified the top five ways digital transformations generate value:      Accelerating speed to market      Strengthening competitive positioning      Boosting revenue growth      Raising…

A close up of the trees in the sky

Embrace Transformation

By pwsadmin | September 22, 2020

From a business perspective, differentiating business processes and quality customer service are central to overall success. Business leaders must therefore clearly identify and measure how information technology contributes to the…

An image of a person's eye in a computer screen.

Computer Vision Advances Zero-Defect Manufacturing

By pwsadmin | July 25, 2020

by Kevin L. Jackson Electronics manufacturers operate in a challenging environment. It’s hard enough to keep up with the ever-accelerating rate of change in the industry. Now customers want increasingly…

A blue bus driving down the street with people crossing it.

Real-Time Analytics Power the Roadway of the Future

By pwsadmin | July 25, 2020

By Kevin L. Jackson The complexities of citywide traffic are pushing the limits of existing transportation management systems. Outdated infrastructure is based on proprietary, single-purpose subsystems, making it costly to…

A businessman standing on top of a cliff with his arms raised.

Thriving on the Edge: Developing CSP Edge Computing Strategy

By pwsadmin | March 6, 2020

Communications Service Providers (CSPs) are facing significant business model challenges. Referred to generally as edge computing, the possibilities introduced by the blending of 5G networks and distributed cloud computing technologies are…

This week in San Diego, CA the US Navy held the initial planning conference for Trident Warrior ’10. The Trident Warrior series is the premier annual FORCEnet Sea Trial Event sponsored by Naval Network Warfare Command (NETWARCOM). FORCEnet’s experimental results are incorporated into a definitive technical report used to develop Military Utility Assessment (MUA) recommendations. This report is provided to the Sea Trial Executive Steering Group (STESG) for consideration and acquisition recommendations.
The primary goal of FORCEnet experimentation is to influence accelerated fielding of improved Command and Control (C2) capabilities to the fleet through Program of Record (POR) acceleration or transition of new technologies into PORs. Additional goals include evaluating Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTP) that best exploit, promote, expand, and incorporate new FORCEnet capabilities in support of optimizing execution of Naval operations; increasing warfighter effectiveness through discovery and development of enhanced capabilities; and encouraging Government, industry, and academia use of experimentation to advance new concepts and capabilities.
This year, for the first time, the event has been expanded to include a lab-based venue designed to experiment with lower Technology Readiness Level (TRL) candidates. The goal of this added activity is to demonstrate technologies that have the potential to fill mid- and far-term warfighting gaps. One of these lab-based experiments is secure cloud computing.
Sponsored by Dataline, LLC, the Secure Cloud Computing experiment has been designed to explore the use of a commercial Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) platform as a viable means of supporting a specified subset of US Navy mission requirements for global connectivity, server failover and application access. Goals for the experiment include:
  • Demonstrating the establishment and use of trusted communication paths on a global public computing infrastructure; and
  • Demonstrating dynamic, mission driven, provisioning of information via trusted communication paths on a global public computing infrastructure
Working with Amazon Web Services and Security First Corporation, the Dataline-led team will explore the ability of cloud computing technologies to support humanitarian assistance and disaster relief military missions. As currently planned, the test scenario will simulate the secure use of a cloud-based collaboration environment. Both synchronous and asynchronous collaboration technologies will be leveraged. Information and data access among multiple operational groups will be dynamically managed based on simulated ad-hoc mission requirements. Expected mission advantages of this new approach include:
  • Increased IT infrastructure resiliency through the use of dynamic and automatic provisioning of compute and storage resources;
  • The ability to provide virtually unlimited IT infrastructure scalability through the elastic nature of an infrastructure-as-a-service platform; and
  • Increased mission flexibility through a globally distributed and accessible IT infrastructure that is also open to use by Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), civilian first responders and non-US military forces.
The use of a government sponsored “Red Team” is also being requested as a means of validating the security of the proposed infrastructure.
For further information on the Trident Warrior lab based experiments, please contact LCDR Caroline Lahman ( caroline.lahman@navy.mil )
For further information on the Dataline Secure Cloud Computing experiment, please contact Kevin Jackson (kevin.jackson@dataline.com)

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS – KLJ )
TRIDENT WARRIOR ’09

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

G C Network

3 Comments

  1. Urs E. Gattiker on August 21, 2009 at 6:53 am

    This is an interesting post – thanks a million but having defence forces use computing in a cloud services such as Amazon or those from Security First raises some risk management issues, does it not?

    Systemic risk management and how it applies to computing in a cloud issues is also addressed here:

    http://ComMetrics.com/?p=2091

    Thanks for this post.



  2. L. Venkata Subramaniam on August 25, 2009 at 12:45 pm

    Security on the cloud seems to be a challenge? Do you think this will be a problem for the defence forces to adopt cloud in a big way?



  3. Kevin L. Jackson on August 25, 2009 at 12:51 pm

    Defense forces are using cloud computing technology today. I see it expanding in both public and private cloud use cases. Missions involving interaction with non-military organizations (i.e. humanitarian assistance), will leverage public clouds for reduced cost and improved access. Other missions will stick to private clouds built and maintained by the military..



Cloud Computing

Cybersecurity