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  • Cloud Computing: The Next Steps in Federal Implementation
    With the Federal Government projected to save up to $3 billion a year in IT costs through its cloud computing capabilities, it should be no surprise that the authorities are developing the associated technologies at a rapid pace. President Obama gave the green light to cloud technology for use in the government in 2010, after which the “Cloud First policy” was put into practice by former Federal CIO Vivek Kundra.   So at a time when both budget cuts and cyber security are key focuses on the national political agenda, it’s fair to say the U.S. government is constantly looking for ways to improve its cloud implementation into the current agency infrastructure. Cloud computing, the subject of IDGA’s 4th Annual Cloud Computing for DoD & Government Summit next month, is the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage and process data, rather than a local server or personal computer.  The benefits range
  • Cloud Computing - Connecting the Whole Government
    How do the ‘cloud’ and ‘big data’ IT concepts intersect for the DoD and the Federal Government? Jason Providakes, GM SVP, MITRE, examines how MITRE is developing a collaborative cloud system that facilitates access without restricting it. The following interview also explores where the ‘cloud’ is developing in the coming years from both the perspective of the DoD and the Federal Government. Read on...   Highlight key ‘cloud’ lessons learned during your experience with the Homeland Security Systems Engineering and Development Institute (HS SEDITM) and the Command and Control Center One of the key lessons is that all cloud business models are not the same. For example, adding additional security requirements to a cloud service often drives the amount of specialized labor required to administer it, increasing costs to the consumer. You are not likely to see high security levels at commodity prices. A good deal of the excitement
  • DOD Advances Cloud Computing Usage
    In October, the US Defense Information Service Agency (DISA), part of the American Department of Defense (DoD), released the latest version of its cloud computing infrastructure after first launching it a year previously.   Race infrastructure   Rapid Access Computing Environment, or Race, is an accessible and scalable platform which uses virtualisation and the "nearly unlimited" capability of cloud computing and is the first of its kind for DoD technology.   "Users can now customise, purchase and receive their test and development computing platform within 24 hours and the production environments within 72 hours, and that's a must for worldwide missions with ever-changing computing requirements," explained Henry Sienkiewicz, technical program director for DISA computing services.   "Our goal is to allow software development to securely occur within the decision-making cycle," he added.   Race provides the DoD with highly
  • DoD Data Center Consolidation Reflects Rising Impact of Cloud Computing
    As part of a push across the entirety of the federal government, the Defense Department is consolidating its information technology initiatives by announcing its intent to close hundreds of data centers, with an expectation of more than $1 billion annual savings by FY 2016, according to DoD's recently released data center consolidation plan. The DoD released its report as a response to the Office of Management and Budget’s mandate for all federal agencies to publicly release their data consolidation plans. Although the OMB had set a deadline for October 7, the DoD maintained it was late to comply due to the military’s size and complexity. The DoD further predicts it will save more than $3 billion between 2013 and 2018 on further reductions, although it has been noted that those projections fail to take into account shut down and IT transfer costs, as well as expenditures to develop more modern data centers. Because of those initial cost pressures, the DoD's
  • Intelligence Community Moving Toward Shared IT
    Although security concerns are ongoing, there is growing momentum across the intelligence community to create a shared architecture in order to pool its IT resources. Leading the charge is a joint initiative called the Quint.  Formerly known as the Quad before it added its latest participant, the Quint is a collaboration between the National Security Agency (NSA), the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and, most recently, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).   The aim of the collaboration is to transfer great quantities of data into a Cloud Computing architecture, with the ultimate goal of sharing information across agencies. Budgetary pressures, coupled with mounting concerns that a lack of information sharing could be jeopardizing operations and potentially threatening the country, is spurring the change. Another cross-agency effort is the Integrated Intelligence Pilot, or
  • Cloud Computing Strategic Development at the National Institute of Standards and Technology
    As government and industry collectively move toward Cloud Computing, thought leadership and guidance for these efforts is being driven by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.  Among its aims, NIST is working to shorten the adoption cycle to the Cloud, and helping to encourage systems and practices that support interoperability, portability, and security. Robert Bohn, Cloud Computing Technical Program Manager and Reference Architecture/Taxonomy Lead for NIST, oversees five working groups in pursuit of those goals: Target Business Use Case, a Reference Architecture and Taxonomy group, a Security group, a Standards group, and Standards for the Acceleration to Jumpstart the Adoption of Cloud Computing (SAJACC). These groups working together along parallel tracks, said Mr. Bohn, to help speed up the adoption of Cloud Computing within the federal government. The working groups work in conjunction with one another, he said, to ensure that “nothing gets out of
  • IDGA Q&A: Ajay Budhraja, Chief Technology Officer, US Department of Justice
    IDGA: What are the requirements for the Cloud? AB: Cloud services should be reliable, scalable, measurable, highly available and provide on demand access. They should offer Security related to data in the cloud, data in transit and privacy. Cloud providers should offer tools that can facilitate integration with existing customer applications and adhere to standards while offering these services. They should offer effective service management and the ability to configure applications seamlessly using secure provisioning interfaces. Services should also provide secure open interfaces to access data. Service oriented architectures and virtualization have led the way towards Cloud environments and new applications that are being built should be cloud-ready from a technology perspective. Integration should be accomplished across data, interfaces, processes and a standards based infrastructure that can leverage standardized cloud services should be developed. Metrics related to cloud
  • Advances and Challenges in GSA Cloud Computing Initiatives
    IDGA: Can you tell us about your role at GSA? SK: I am currently a Deputy Director within GSA’s Office of Information Technology Services (ITS). I oversee the Cloud Computing Program Office within ITS, including the implementation of GSA’s cloud Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) such as Information as a Service (IaaS) and Email as a Service (EaaS). I also provide direction for the HSPD-12 initiative, including GSA’s USAccess program. IDGA: How is GSA developing Software as a Service (SaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) offerings for cloud computing? SK: GSA currently offers numerous SaaS and PaaS solutions through Schedule 70 and our GWACs, but we continue to look into more effective ways of buying both. For example, we are in the process of developing our first SaaS BPA, which will be Email as a Service (EaaS). The EaaS BPA will offer agencies email service, office automation (virtual office), electronic records management, migration services, and integration

PodcastsPodcasts

  • Cloud Computing and Defense Applications with Dr. Abhishek ChandraCloud Computing and Defense Applications with Dr. Abhishek Chandra

    Dr. Abhishek Chandra, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Minnesota, discusses the latest work and research at the U of M with regard to cloud computing.  He also talks about the potential cloud computing applications for the defense industry and military to include data fusion.  He also details the advantages of using cloud computing systems over other forms of computing and elaborates on why virtualization and resource management are important issues in the field.

  • Dennis Wisnosky on the Architecture of Cloud Computing

    Dennis Wisnosky, Chief Technical Officer and Chief Architect for the DoD Business Mission Area in the office of the Chief Management Officer (DCMO) discusses the design, development and modification of federated architectures, and recent advances in Cloud Computing architecture.

  • The National Defense University and Cloud Computing

    IDGA’s Defense Insider features COL Joseph Adams, Chief Information Officer for the National Defense University. COL Adams talks about Cloud Computing initiatives at NDU, how Cloud Computing can facilitate increased collaboration, partnering efforts for emerging Cloud applications, and potential future developments in the Cloud.

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  • Approving Manager Letter
    Want to convince your approving manager of the merits of attending the Tactical Power Sources Summit? Take a look at this template of a “convince your boss” letter for the event!

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