The call for help began as a rumble.
Twenty miles beneath the ocean’s surface, a rupture in a massive tectonic plate ripped a 310 mile-long break in the sea floor, sending an army of seismic waves to the coast of Japan, a geologic event as unavoidable and uncontrollable as it was unpredictable. By the time the earth again stood still and the subsequent tsunami receded from Japanese shores, the enormity of the tragedy was left to see, even as so much of the landscape was wiped clean by the waves.
| Responding in Haiti |
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Help From Above
The 2010
earthquake in Haiti brought out the best in the world's desire to help,
but also brought an avalanche of inter-operability issues. At the
request of an Intelligence Agency and under the auspices of NCOIC, NJVC
led a simulated response to the disaster, demonstrating the
effectiveness of the cloud in disaster responses in 2013. Lessons
learned from this event were presented on Thursday, Sept. 12, at the Gannett Building
in McLean, VA. For more on the project, visit ncoic.org, and check back at NJVC.com
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Even in as technologically advanced, disaster-prepared nation as
Japan, the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami were overwhelming,
registering historic on the seismic meter of tragedy and loss.
In the disaster, however, were the beginnings of a promise for a more
responsive future: implementation of cloud computing as a technology for
relief—a call for help answered before the roar had stopped.
“The disaster proved the cloud’s ability, efficiency and advantages in emergency response on a national basis,” Ben Katsumi, chief researcher, Information-Technology Promotion Agency, Japan, concluded in a 2013 presentation at CloudScape V.
Humanitarian disasters are as ancient as humanity itself, but the
connection revolution that created the global village has made distant
lands nearby neighbors. From the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 to the earthquakes in Chile,
Haiti and Japan, awareness of disasters reaches around the globe in time
measured in milliseconds. Local disasters, perhaps smaller in scale,
are no less hurtful in relative terms and face similar challenges in
disaster response.
Yet as global reach increases, so does global responsibility.
While awareness of disaster is near instantaneous, from tornados in
Alabama to a tsunami in Banda Aceh, cloud computing is a technology that
makes achievable the desire to help in a way inconceivable a decade
earlier.
In the Japanese disaster, the outlines of cloud computing as a
response tool were drawn from crowd sourced sites, like USHAHIDI and
Google’s PeopleFinder to Microsoft’s deployment of its cloud
applications and platform for development of disaster-specific apps.
In a demonstration by the Network Centric Operations Industry
Consortium (NCOIC), Sept. 12, which will discuss learned from a
recreation of the 2010 Haitian earthquake response, the outline of cloud
computing as a disaster response tool will be further filled in. When disaster strikes, the desire to help is universal. In the near
future, cloud computing can be the technology that makes global reach a
reality.
The Challenge of Disaster Response IT
Disaster response IT comprises the same building blocks as traditional
IT—servers, networks, applications and the like—but its deployment is
as unpredictable as the disasters themselves. Moreover, in the best-case scenario, money invested in response
technology will never be used in practice. For disaster responders, this
unique challenge creates an intricate calculus of benefit against cost,
in which, unlike traditional IT, what sits in the balance is human life
and well-being, rather than simply productivity and efficiency. With
lives on the line, pennies can’t easily be pinched, leading to solutions
which may address an unlikely scale of disaster. Alternately, over
engineering for the worst case may result in wasted dollars in already
tight federal, state and local IT budgets.
Additionally, implementation is unlike anything else in IT. Instead of
immaculately maintained, temperature-regulated server rooms, systems
are often deployed in the world’s rawest conditions, where performance
must be reliable despite imperfect surroundings.
The solution, said Kevin L. Jackson,
NJVC Vice President and General Manager, Cloud Services, is cloud
computing, whose strengths neatly fill in the gaps of existing disaster
IT.
“For emergency responders, cloud computing and cloud services
brokerage are not just game changers, they’re a whole new ballgame,”
Jackson said. “This is do-more-with-less in enterprise technology. By
only paying for the services you consume, you’re providing first
responders access to better technology at a much lower price without
many of the traditional obstacles of deploying warehouses of IT
equipment. By moving infrastructure out of the disaster are, you’re
greatly reducing risk.” Jackson believes the same benefits that private business have realized
through cloud computing can be utilized by emergency responders, whose
actions don’t simply save dollars, but lives.
Avoiding Sunk Cost—Pay for Use
When disaster IT is in use, it’s vital. When it isn’t, it’s simply an expense.
Unlike an office e-mail server, most disaster response IT isn’t in
constant use,
but the lifecycle cost is, eating away at already tight
budgets.
| Kevin L. Jackson |
|---|
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Kevin L. Jackson, NJVC Vice President and General Manager, Cloud
Services is a leading voice in federal and commercial cloud strategy.
Kevin is the author of the Cloud Musings blog and two books on federal cloud computing. Read More
|
Cloud computing, and particularly provisioning through a cloud services brokerage (CSB) platform, allows disaster responders to create comprehensive response systems that fully meet extreme requirements without sacrificing the budget it would take to support those solutions if they were locally owned, hosted and maintained.
“Cloud computing is a technology that is ideal for disaster response,”
Jackson said. “Instead of leveraging IT budgets to maintain and upgrade
hardware and software, cloud allows responders to devote more IT
dollars to the mission of response. Disaster response should be about
people helping people, not managing technology.”
Migrations to cloud-based disaster response are already underway. Following the 2011 earthquake, Japan’s Shizuoka Prefecture, developed an emergency management system in the cloud, which goes live when disaster warnings are issued.
Supporting Interoperable Standards
It is a testament to the best in humanity and the worst in IT that the
problem in disaster response is the how-to, not the want-to. According to lessons learned from many disaster responses, both global
and local, the headquarters of disaster response is a high-tech Tower
of Babel. Between language barriers, software integration problems and
wildly differing circumstances locally, the inability of responders to
communicate routinely appears as the single biggest problem.
Often, multiple groups of responders also mean huge amounts of geospatial data of differing quality multiple applications and a lack of information sharing, which can impact mission success. A 2009 report by the Red Cross listed “leadership and coordination” first among its lessons learned following the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. It is a theme often repeated.
“Many of the biggest problems in humanitarian disasters are that response groups, all well-intentioned, simply don’t speak the same language on many levels,” Jackson said. “They are working on different systems in different languages, blunting the full capability of disaster response and negatively impacting their combined mission.”
At the request of an Intelligence Community agency and under the auspices of NCOIC, NJVC led a group to reenact the 2010 Haiti earthquake response using cloud technology to create playbook for multi-national response. NJVC provided its Cloudcuity Brokerage and Management Portal to bring together responder applications and services and foster interoperable standards. “One of the most important elements in response is that everyone works from the same high-quality information,” Jackson said. “Cloud-based interoperable standards are a most important tool to keeping multiple responding organizations on the same page.”
In a lessons learned report on the Haiti earthquake, Dennis King, Department of State, Humanitarian Information Unit, wrote that technology utilizing interoperable standards is the most beneficial in disaster response. “Tools and technologies that are interoperable, non-proprietary no/low-cost, self-contained, easy to access and easy to use are the most effective,” King explained in an October 2010 issue of Humanitarian Exchange Magazine. Use of cloud, particularly CSB, best supports sharing of information and applications across the response team.
Risk Reduction
“The 2010 earthquake demonstrated that development will never be
successful if we don’t build risk reduction into our core,” concluded
Theirry Mayard-Paul, Haiti Chief of Staff and Minister of Interior,
Territorial Collectives and National Defense, in a 2012 presentation to
the Consultative Group Meeting of the Global Facility for Disaster
Reduction and Recovery. Cloud computing is, by its nature, a risk-reduction vehicle. Failover
clouds create redundancy. Servers located far from the disaster mitigate
the risk to further damage. Infrastructure hosted in non-damaged areas
reduces the risk of further complications following a disaster—such as
earthquake aftershocks or civil unrest—impeding disaster response.
The scale of response may be unknown until well after the disaster, as with Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
By contrast, the current model of disaster response IT begins by rebuilding
infrastructure locally, burning valuable response time and putting any rebuilt infrastructure at risk in an unstable environment. Resources dedicated to logistics represent savings leakage as servers are shipped to warehouses then deployed, requiring increased coordination and monitoring. Unstable conditions on the ground may prevent immediate deployment; further wasting valuable time. The technical challenges of setting up networks and services in damaged areas may be a barrier to completion altogether. Cloud computing reduces risk to onsite interruptions due to further unrest—manmade or natural.
With cloud computing, remaining infrastructure and failover infrastructure can be supported before boots hit the ground. Networks can be reestablished, and local emergency sites brought live quickly. Further, removing much of the infrastructure from the supply chain eases the logistics of monitoring and maintaining hardware in an unpredictable environment, reducing further risk in a way current models don’t.
Ensure Mission Continuity
While businesses, government agencies and NGOs have long been
diligent about backing up data, they haven’t been as exacting in its
restoration. Backup data may be stored nearby, and failover servers may
not exist for public facing emergency response sites. Cloud computing allows for quick restoration of services and networks, with data stored far away from the site. As much of the cyber infrastructure of cloud computing itself isn’t
located in the disaster zone, threats to existing expensive
infrastructure are greatly mitigated, ensuring that events—natural or
manmade—won’t wreck the infrastructure, which required great effort to
rebuild.
Improved Time to Live and Scalability
Because cloud computing can be provisioned on an as-needed basis,
solutions can be built in advance and turned on when necessary, either
triggered by disaster alerts or manually brought live far from the scene
of the disaster. CSB, either as self-provisioning platform or through full-service
brokerage with (vendor management and integration included) marks the
next step in creating solutions that are expansive, yet low-cost.
Thought Leadership
Federal and commercial cloud computing thought leader Kevin L.
Jackson leads NJVC's cloud efforts. Expertise will always be on your
side.
Focus on Security
NJVC was formed out of the need to protect highly sensitive
information. Security remains in our corporate DNA. We bring the same
expertise and commitment to security of your data that we provide to
the most sensitive information in the world.
Innovation as a Service
Prepackaged specials are best left for late night infomercials.
NJVC brings a broad expertise not simply in current cloud offerings but
in the future of cloud IT.
Fully Integrated Services
Your IT doesn't work in silos,
neither should your cloud partner. NJVC is a full-scale systems
integrator with expertise across the enterprise.
A self-provisioned, internal CSB or full-service CSB can be a revolutionary tool in disaster response, Jackson said. “Cloud services brokerage will allow responding organizations to design their services, from platform to applications, in advance, and then nimbly switch the services live as needed. Responders can then deploy with apps and servers live before any boots hits the ground.”
Pre-brokered solutions could be activated in concert with alert
warnings or incident reports, ensuring the tools needed are available
immediately and public-facing civil sites remain active—even as local
infrastructure may be damaged.
Because cloud services can be provisioned on a pay-as-you-go service,
a wide range of applications can be launched for responders to use as
needed, without the concern of paying for licenses that won’t be used. Technology can then be scaled relative to the size of response
without the traditional difficulty of physically adding additional
servers or acquiring licenses.
Crowdsourcing—Letting Survivors Help
The ubiquity of smart phones and other connected devices can allow
survivors to participate in their own relief if connectivity remains, or
when it is restored, allowing for two-way communication between
responders and survivors. In 2010, Google’s Person Finder service helped
survivors of the Chile earthquake find missing friends and family
members, and has been used successfully several times since—most
recently in the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon attack.
Ushahidi, an open-source interactive mapping platform whose name is Swahili for “witness,” was used to establish a crowd-sourced site within hours of the earthquake in Japan, allowing survivors to connect to each other and access information. One year earlier in Haiti, Ushahidi reported 80,000 text messages received, 3,000 of which were used during the response
With 3.5 billion short message service users worldwide, cloud-based aggregation tools allow responders a deep examination of affected areas, anywhere in the world.
Moving at the Speed of Need
The call for help never comes with neat milestones, tucked into a
fiscal year calendar. Disasters don’t adhere to workday schedules or
occur in only accessible areas.
“Disasters are a part of life,” Jackson said. “We can’t change that fact. But cloud computing is part of the response solution. We can’t stop disasters, but we can absolutely make our response more effective.”
When the call for help comes again, the answer may be waiting in the cloud.
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