Data Virtualization in Support of DoD Cloud Strategies PT II DEEPINDER UPPAL
Technology Benefits Defense Department leaders agree the U.S. military must reinvigorate its technological edge. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein recently outlined a vision for how next-generation information-based technologies could provide us that edge: last year, U.S. forces demonstrated a near-fully automated sensor-to-shooter kill chain as part of their multidomain operations technology updates: “a satellite detected an enemy ship, then automatically cued an airborne surveillance asset to get higher quality target ID, which then passed data to a command-andcontrol asset that automatically selected a naval destroyer to execute a strike.” Goldfein stresses the promise of multidomain operations without shying away from the technical challenges. The technology, cloud infrastructure costs, and reusability factors required to linking systems that collect vast amounts of data from an array of sensors from the various domains in a way the information can be assessed, understood, and transmitted quickly to commanders and combatants to produce correct, coordinated, successful actions is complex, to say the least, -and expensive to say it best. Even with a $106.6 billion RDT&E request for 2021 — the Defense Department’s largest-ever — an integrated solution is needed.
Virtualization can assist with defining the future of joint multi domain operations technologies by providing the foundation for real-time data linkage, governance, and analytics through: COMPLETE AUTOMATION: No coding required and save development time, drag-and-drop modeling techniques, and a rich set of pre- built, any-to-any transformations. LOWER INFRASTRUCTURE COSTS: Virtualization does not require the build-out of large infrastructure pieces and reduces the need for established data lakes, reservoirs, and staging databases. FASTER, EFFICIENT PROCESSES & SERVICES: IBI’s virtual federated query engine is specifically designed to process, optimize & virtualize metadata across multiple sources, networks & domains FORCE MULTIPLIER: Deliver new and revised solutions to users much faster than is possible with traditional data integration approaches providing a force multiplying effect on your workforce. REUSABILITY: Data virtualization makes common logic reusable by multiple consumers with no need to propagate logic changes to applications. Thus, you can focus on providing new services and on-boarding new customers,
Organizational Benefits Data accessibility and cloud security is a constant struggle for large DoD components as well. To support larger data strategy initiatives means to provide ways to fortify security positions by reducing the number of vulnerable points while still being able to provide access to both authoritative and nonauthoritative data via commonly supported access methods to all credentialed warfighters.
To this extent, virtualization provides the following benefits: LOWER TCO: Automation reduces the need for development resources, database storage, and the feeding of multiple toolsREAL-TIME ADVANTAGE: Delivers real-time insight with auto-normalization for ANY tenant/ enterprise application(s). NO REPLICATION, STAGING, or STORAGE: Performs “on-the-fly” integration, transformation, and aggregation. SIMPLE TO USE & TROUBLESHOOT: Fewer points of failure, with the ability to automatically pick up changes in source data DATA STEWARDSHIP: Enforces data governance and security for easier data sharing, cataloging, lineage, and access. LEVERAGE DATA ABSTRACTION: Data virtualization hides the complexities of accessing data from the underlying data systems.
ENHANCED DOD CLOUD STRATEGIES
DoD cloud strategies all seek to drastically improve productivity, security, and overall performance of their constituents’ data structure while providing more
opportunities for secure collaboration and communication as well as flexibility in workflow and reduced time in development. To add to this, it is obvious that the dominant technology trend today is the big data revolution, which is sweeping in its scope and scale. As is often the case global spending on information technology reflects the future of global military spending where big money is being spent on cutting-edge technology stacks that can support data virtualization protocols. It is equally obvious that American adversaries are making rapid technological advancements and incorporating them into newly modernized forces. As Goldfein comments, “Victory in combat will depend less on individual capabilities and more on the integrated strengths of a connected network of weapons, sensors and analytic tools. This is important because as [component] commanders of the world, we are uniquely positioned to integrate capabilities, and we are often the ones who must pull it all together.” Data virtualization could be the key that provides cost-efficient, secure integration of all sources to support the DoD’s unified vision of a technologically lethal fighting force that can maintain its lethality and technological edge far into the future.
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