“Cloud” Shows Promise during Navy Trident Warrior

Last month as part of the Navy’s annual Trident Warrior exercise, Dataline, LLC successfully demonstrated that a standard shipboard communications infrastructure could be used to manage a commercial cloud infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) platform. Presented during the fall Trident Warrior ’10 (TW ’10) lab period, Dataline’s Secure Cloud Computing experiment used a simulated shipboard infrastructure to demonstrate secure access to selected collaboration and geospatial information service (GIS) applications. The purpose was to validate the ability of a commercial Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) platform to support Department of the Navy (DON) requirements for global connectivity, server failover and application access. For this portion of the exercise, Dataline used the Amazon EC2 IaaS platform. The experiment also used SecureParser® as part of the Unisys Stealth architecture to provide “data-in-motion” security. Applications used included Oracle Beehive, ERDAS Apollo and the Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) developed Transverse collaboration suite. LCDR Caroline Lahman, Officer-in-Charge Navy FORCEnet San Diego, was pleased with the results noting a desire to continue these cloud computing experiments as part of the spring lab period.

During a recent interview, Robert Carey, Navy Chief Information Officer, also stated that cloud computing offered real value to the Navy. Citing that both the Navy Next Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN) and Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES) programs will leverage cloud computing, he envisioned a future day when “Grey clouds” within a ship’s hull would eventually transition to clouds within the battle group. The increased IT efficiency delivered through cloud computing would also enhance mission accomplishment by making more resources available for investment into naval mission platforms (ships and planes). Mr. Carey sees ready access to authoritative data from the cloud as an important enabler to a real-time/near real-time decision making process, saying that the cloud delivers the ability to have a ubiquitous computing environment and interoperability. After observing the experiment, SPAWAR representatives showed similar sentiments, saying that the Navy was actively considering the use of cloud computing technologies as part of its Naval Networks Enterprise-2016 strategy

Trident Warrior ’10 is scheduled to continue with a second lab period in the spring 2010 and an at sea demonstration period after that.

For further information on the Trident Warrior lab based experiments, please contact LCDR Caroline Lahman (caroline.lahman@navy.mil ).

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Government Cloud Computing Value Survey

As part of a continuing Government Cloud computing education program, Dataline, LLC has released a Government Cloud Computing Value Survey. This online resource has been designed as an aid to help Federal agencies explore the value of cloud computing. Through a 15 minute interactive session, this survey will:

• Provide a high level cloud computing tutorial;
• Explain the Federal Cloud Computing Initiative;
• Give an overview of Apps.gov cloud computing solutions; and
• Present possible cloud computing business value statements.

Referencing a recent Booz Allen Hamilton cloud computing economic analysis, the survey includes a easy-to-use series of questions designed to efficiently work through some of the key cloud computing value statements. A Cloud Computing Cost/Benefit Ratio calculator is also included.

Calculator results provide only a representative example of the economic business case for cloud computing. The results should not be used for actual budget planning. The model used is derived from summary results of a Booz Allen Hamilton life-cycle cost (LCC) estimate of public, private, and hybrid clouds. That analysis assumes a 3-year transition period from a status quo (SQ) described as a 1000-server, unvirtualized datacenter. For each scenario, investment costs are incurred from FY10 to FY12 and includes (depending on the scenario) hardware procurement and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software license fees; contractor labor required for installation, configuration, and testing; and technical and planning support (i.e., system engineering and program management costs) before and during the cloud migration.

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