NJVC Cloud Computing for Government FINAL

8/4/2019 NJVC Cloud Computing for Government FINAL

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1NJVC and Driven by Your Mission are registered trademarks of NJVC, LLC. 2011 NJVC, All Rights Reserved

Overview:

Implementation of Cloud

Computing Solutions in FederalAgencies

An NJVC Executive White Paper

Kevin L. JacksonGeneral Manager, Cloud Services

September 2011


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The Obama administration has publicly identified cloud computing as a viable solution to help cut the

federal budget. The administration adopted a cloud-first policy as part of its 25-point IT reform plan

For the federal government, the evolution to the cloud is not something to consider in the future

it is something to put into operation today.

Executive Summary

Cloud computing is a game changer. The value of the new approach of cloud computing to theprovisioning and consuming information technology lies within its ability to enable more efficientand effective information sharing. Its merit is not just in cost savings, but in enhanced mission andbusiness enhancements and improved allocation of resources. Its characteristics not onlydramatically transform how an IT infrastructure is managed, but also the traditional roles ofenterprise IT professionals to a more service management orientationas they becomeresponsible for helping their internal customers better use the externally provided IT services.Building a cloud computing roadmap is essential to unlocking the value of the cloud in a predictablefashion with acceptable risk. This paper outlines the essential steps to constructing a solid cloudcomputing roadmap.

As a young approach, cloud computing is not without itschallenges. Few established tools, procedures and formats,potential risks exist. Primary challenges exist in securitycontrolsparticularly related to the protection of sensitive

datalack of federal regulations and compliance standards, anddata sovereignty.

The benefits of cloud computing are recognized by the federalgovernment, including the defense and intelligencecommunities. Dialogue on cloud computing has been ongoingwithin the government for years, but agencies are still in theearly stages of implementing and adopting this new ITapproach. The Obama administration has publicly identifiedcloud computing as a viable solution to help cut the federalbudget. The administration adopted a cloud-first policy as partof its 25-point IT reform plan, which mandates all federal

agencies to develop and implement one cloud-based solution byDecember 2011 and three such solutions by June 2012. For thefederal government, the evolution to the cloud is not somethingto consider in the futureit is something to put into operationtoday.

The government can learn many lessons from the private sector pertaining to the implementationof cloud computing solutions, as the private sector embarked on the journey to the cloud some timeago. These valuable lessons include the need to expect a multi-year transition to the cloud, use aconsistent cloud opportunity identification process to reduce the risk of project failure andformulate appropriate metrics (economic, operational and service) that are directly tied to mission.


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For intelligence professionals, the use of cloud computing can not only make the automation of the

interpretation of documents and translation of data into operationally relevant entities and events

possible, but it enables real-time continuous processing of the now digital document flow of our

adversaries.

Use of a gate-driven cloud adoption process designed to terminate failed projects early in theproject lifecycle and deliver measurable capabilities within a quick timeframe is recommended.

The defense and intelligence communities require utility computing methods that scale on demandand enable self discovery and self-service access to secure, timely and relevant information insupport of mission. Designing software independence from the hardware through the use of cloud

computing solutions allows an operating system, applications and data to live across theenterprise and is fundamental to the transformation of compute, storage and network functionality.

Facing an estimated $178 billion in budget cuts during the next several years, the Department ofDefense is exploring a number of administrative and structural cost-cutting measuresand IT isone of the first areas for consideration. Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently stated that theagency is reviewing how to reform how it currently uses IT, which costs the agency approximately$37 billion annually. DoD is in the process of consolidating hundreds of data centers and utilizingcloud computing in this shift, and the fact that the defense community is beginning to explore cloudcomputing through various smaller-scale projects is promising to proponents.

For intelligence professionals, the use of cloud computing can not only make the automation of theinterpretation of documents and translation of data into operationally relevant entities and eventspossible, but it enables real-time continuous processing of the now digital document flow of ouradversaries. This commodity also removes the human from this tedious task, allowing intelligenceprofessionals to apply higher order professional analysis and insight.

The human-based documentation exploitation process has led to a reliance on operationallyproven processes and filters. Instantiated by the use of multi-page structure query language (e.g.,Boolean) and the ubiquitous goal of obtaining an appropriate working set of data, these processeswere born from the need to meet critical decision timelines within a computationally inadequateenvironment. Cloud techniques and technologies can now be used to work on all the data. And withan ability to leverage the power of a supercomputer at will, the working set requirement is now ananachronism and critical decision timelines can now be more easily met.

Cloud computing can uniquely address important issues associated with mission supportparticularly related to its ability to remove information silos among various organizations that have

joined forces on the same mission. Moving IT operations to the cloud assists in enhancedcollaboration to meet mission needs. It is critical to our national defense. As a bonus, cloudcomputing also can improve IT enterprise efficiencies and incur marked cost savings during projectlifecycles to alleviate some of the pressure of budget reductions for the defense and intelligenceagencies.


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Different cloud computing deployment models are actually changing what it means to be an IT

professional This transition puts the enterprise IT professional into a service management role,

responsible for helping his or her internal customers better use externally provided IT services.

Introduction

Cloud computing is a new approach in the provisioning and consumption of information technology(IT). While technology is a crucial component, the real value of cloud computing lies in its ability toenable new capabilities or in the execution of current capabilities in more efficient and effectiveways.

Although the current hype around cloud computing has focused on expected cost savings, the truevalue is really found in the mission and business enhancements these techniques can provide.When properly deployed, the cloud computing model provides greatly enhanced mission andbusiness capability without a commensurate increase in resource (time, people or money)expenditures.

Cloud Computing: Changing the Game

The use of commodity components, coupled with highly automated controls, enable cloudcomputing.1 These characteristics also enable the economic model that makes it so disruptive to the

status quo. As an example, the software-as-a-service cloud delivery model typically does notrequire any advance usage commitment or long-term contractual arrangements. SaaS not onlychanges the typical software vendor business model, but also radically changes the strategy,budgeting, buying and management options for the buyer. When Salesforce.com proved theviability of SaaS, the software subscription model was instantly endangered as a profitable businessmodel. Amazon Web Services is similarly attacking data center hosting with its Virtual PrivateDatacenter Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering.

Looking at this phenomenon from another angle, different cloud computing deployment models areactually changing what it means to be an IT professional. Since the days of the first computer, ITworkers have prided themselves in their ability to design, build, operate and fix the enterprisehardware and software components that comprise the IT lifeblood of organizationsboth in thepublic and private sectors. These tightly knit teams worked hard to keep these custom-madeplatforms updated, patched and ready to meet daily business and mission requirements. In thecloud computing world, IT infrastructure that is not delivering differentiating value is viewed asworthless cost. Critical business applications like email, Customer Resource Management (CRM),

Human Resource Management and Enterprise Resource Planning are being routed to more capablecloud providers of these same services. This transition puts the enterprise IT professional into aservice management role, responsible for helping his or her internal customers better useexternally provided IT services. The new enterprise IT department is more a services organizationthan the traditional delivery organization.


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The new cloud economic model also radically changes the view of whats actually possible.Traditional IT procurement and provisioning processes have historically driven timelinesassociated with the delivery or fielding of improved information and data processing capabilities.Multiple threads of development, test, training and maintenance can also tax an organizationsshort- and long-term financial resources. IaaS and Platform as a Service options can not onlyeliminate or limit capital expenditures, but can reduce or eliminate the expectation of operations

and sustainment costs. The time required to realize mission or business value also is substantiallyreduced. With these differences, the impossible can suddenly become not only possible, but oftencan lead to new mission capabilities or brand-new cloud-enabled, revenue-generating businesses.

Challenges of Cloud Computing

Despite the myriad benefits of cloud computing solutions, several challenges still exist. Being ayoung industry, there are few tools, procedures or standard data formats or service interfaces inplace to guarantee data, computer application and service portability. As evidenced with the recentsituation involving the services failure of Amazons Elastic Compute Cloud, outages can be apotential riskand can have widespread implications for consumers of cloud services. This risk

becomes even more severe if a mission-critical environment could be impacted.

A benefit as well as a challenge, security concerns have also slowed the widespread adoption ofcloud computing. A variety of security concerns exist. According to the article, Three CloudComputing Risks to Consider, in Information Security Magazine(June 2009), the logging andauditing controls provided by some [cloud] vendors are not yet as robust as the logging providingwithin enterprises and enterprise applications, which can put critical and sensitive data andinformation at risk. Security, of course, becomes increasingly critical in defense and intelligence ITenvironments.

For the government market, the lack of regulations and compliance standards are also cause forconcern. Currently, no federal regulations are in place to govern cloud computing, and according to

an April 2011 Information Systems Audit and Control Association survey of 1,800 Chief InformationOfficers (CIOs), compliance is a top risk. Approximately 30 percent of the CIOs surveyed said thatcompliance projects are the biggest driver for IT risk-related projectsparticularly in publicclouds. Specific to federal environments, data sovereignty is a challenge. According to a speechgiven by former Federal CIO Vivek Kundra at an April 7, 2010, National Institute of Standards andTechnology (NIST) forum," [Data sovereignty] is not going to be a question of technology. [Datasovereignty] is going to be a question of international law, and treaties that we will need to engagein the coming years. CIO Kundra later added: We've got a very diverse interpretation and a verydiverse perspective when it comes to privacy or international security, if you look at ourneighborsCanada or Mexicoversus what's happening in the European Union.


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Source: 25-Point Implementation Plan to Reform Federal

Information Technology Management, February 2009

Cloud Computing and the Federal Government

The Obama administration has identified cloud computing as a means to achieve savings in ITbudgets across federal agenciesacross the boardand to address various other challenges (e.g.,delays to capabilities and other inefficiencies) that have negatively impacted IT implementations. In

his Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 budget, President Barack Obama ordered a three-year freeze in spendingfor non-defense, intelligence and national security programs and the trimming of the budgets ofsome federal agencies by five percent. At a July 1, 2010, House subcommittee hearing, CIO Kundratestified: To do more than less [in terms for federal spending], we need game changingtechnologies. Cloud computing is one such technology.

The federal government is in the early stages of a decade-long process to move to the cloud, buthas taken definitive steps in its adoption. Several key milestones have been achieved during thepast two years in support of this effort:

2009: Establishment of the General Services Administration (GSA) Cloud ComputingProgram Office to coordinate the governments cloud computing efforts; assembly of apublic-private sector Industry Summit to discuss the benefits and risks of cloud computing;

and creation of Security and Standards Working Groups to encourage collaboration anddiscussion on cloud computing by federal agencies 2010: Commencement of the development of federal security certification and

accreditation processes for cloud services; convening of a NIST-hosted, public-privatesector Cloud Computing Forum and Workshop to collaboratively develop cloud standards;release of 25-point federal IT reform plan; announcement by GSA and Federal ChiefInformation Officers Council on the requirements for the Federal Risk and AuthorizationManagement Program, a standard approach for the federal government to access andauthorize secure cloud-computing services and products

2011: Release of the Federal Cloud Computing Strategy (per the Obama administrations25-point IT reform plan) and award of 12 GSA IaaS blanket purchase agreements

The Obama administrationadopted a cloud-first policy aspart of its earlier referenced 25-point federal IT reform plan. Thisplan was developed afterextensive review of federal ITprojects with a particularly hardeye on 26 large-scale projects atrisk due to being over budget andbehind schedule. This policy is partof the 2012 budget process.

One of the first steps in the cloud-firstadoption is the requirement for everyfederal agency to develop and implement one cloud-based solution by December 2011 and threecloud-based solutions by June 2012. As of April 2011, agencies are making progress in thisendeavor.


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Source: Federal Cloud Computing Strategy,Office of t

Chief Information Officer, Executive Office of the Presiden

United States, Feb. 14, 2011

During a special White House event, CIO Kundra said that CIOs from 15 agencies have alreadyinformed the Office of Management and Budget that they will evolve to cloud-based email solutionsby the December 2011 deadline.

Cloud computing also has been identified by the Obamaadministration as a viable solution to the administrations

challenge to cut the federal budget via the consolidation of800 of the governments 2,094 data centers by 2015. CIOKundra has specifically identified cloud computing as acentral measure to reduce the costs and increase theefficiencies of federal data centers. Cost savings are alreadybeing achieved. At an April 12, 2011 Senate subcommitteehearing, Dave McClure, Associate Administrator, GSA Officeof Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, testified thatthe consolidation of just 12 data centers to three will save $2million a year. Mr. McClure also testified that GSAs move to acloud-based email system will save $15 million over thenext five years.

So, whether or not federal agency CIOs support cloudcomputing, the evolution to the cloud in their specific IT environments is not something to considerin the future: it is something to undertake todayand is mandated. Therefore, the way the federalgovernment conceives of IT operations must change from traditional practices and operatingsystems to new enterprise resource controls, standards and business processes and operations.With the computing stacks functioning as a utility within the infrastructure as a platform and newbusiness processes in place, highly automated resources provide the extensible platform needed tomeet agency or mission needs.

Cloud Transition Lessons Learned

While the benefits and value of the federal cloud computing policy can be debated, the worldstransition to cloud computing as an integral component of any IT infrastructure cannot be denied.The prudent government executive should, therefore, heed the lessons learned from the manyprivate industry corporations that already have miles behind them on this journey.

When identifying a potential cloud computing project, one should always count on a multi-yeartransition. Organizations should always use a consistent cloud opportunity identification process toreduce the risk of project failure by leveraging data from successful cloud implementations. Clientsneed to determine set metrics (economic, operational and service) with direct linkage to specificmission requirement(s). Use of a gate-driven cloud adoption process designed to terminate failedprojects early in the project lifecycle and deliver measurable capabilities within a quick timeframe

(weeksnot years) is highly recommended.


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Frequently observed signs for failure should be avoided

Lack of formal planning process

Missing or poor IT governance

Poor or missing responsibility matrix

Neglecting the human resource management challenges

No established program/project management office

Missing inventory of assets

A risk mitigation plan also must be formalized that addresses each of the following concerns:2 Loss of Governance. When moving to a cloud environment, clients relinquish control to the

CP on a number of security-related issues. A gap in security defenses may also exist asservice level agreements may not adequately address CP-related security requirements.

Portability. Issues related to provider lock in are outlined in the Challenges section of thiswhite paper on page 5.

Isolation Failure. Multi-tenancy and collaboration are at the core of cloud computing.Resource isolation failure addresses mechanisms separating storage, memory, routing andreputation among different clients on the same cloud (e.g., guest-hopping attacks).However, it must be noted that attacks on these mechanisms are not as pervasive and muchmore difficult to attempt versus attacks on traditional operating systems.

Compliance Risks. Investments in certifications (e.g., industry standard or regulatoryrequirements) may be compromised or lost when moving to the cloud.

Management Interface Compromise. Security is an issue with client managementinterfaces with the public cloud provider. The reason? These services are provided via theinternet and permit access to a larger set of resources than traditional operating systems.Security risk can dramatically increase when this is combined with remote access and webbrowser vulnerabilities.

Data Protection. It may be difficult for clients to effectively check the data-handlingpractices of their CPs to ensure critical and sensitive data is handled lawfully and ethically.This problem can be aggravated in cases of multiple transfers of data (e.g., betweenfederated clouds). However, it must be noted that some CPs share information on theirdata-handling practices with clients and others offer certification summaries on their dataprocessing and data security activities and their various security controls (e.g., Statementon Auditing Standards 70 Certification.

Insecure or Incomplete Data Deletion. As with most operating systems, when a requestto remove a cloud resource is made, a true erase of data may not happen. Adequate ortimely data deletion also may not be feasible (or undesirable from a client perspective)because extra copies of data are stored but not readily available or the disk to be destroyed

also houses other data from other clients. When multi-tenancies and the reuse of hardwareresources are added to the mix, this risk can increase. Malicious Insider. Cloud architectures necessitate the creation of certain staff positions

(e.g., CP system administrators and managed security service providers) that can beextremely high risk in terms of internal security threats.


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1. Can compliance requirements be balanced with other IT

prioirities?

2. Is this an IT function or service the agency has

mastered?

3. Can the agency use a standardized service?

4. Is the test case easily implementable?

Creating a Cloud Computing Roadmap for Federal Agencies

First Steps

According to, GovCloud: Cloud Computing for the Business of Government, when a government

agency is ready to undertake the implementation of a cloud-based solution, it must determinewhich IT services, business functions and processes to deploy in the cloud environment. A five-yearroadmap should be created that includes the desired order to move each of the services to the cloudfor each year during that time period.3 Requirements for each service to be deployed in the cloudshould be developed and a cost/benefits analysis performed to establish the rationale why eachtargeted service should move to the cloud.

Implementation of a Low-Risk Test Case

A low-risk test case should be implemented prior to undertaking a wholesale transfer of services tothe cloud.4 This is harder than it may sound as some IT services that may seem simple to deploy tothe cloud are not so easy. Four questions should be asked (and answered) to decide which IT

services are best suited to live in the cloud5:

A misconception may exist that just because an application or service being deployed to the cloudisnt mission critical, the process will be simple and straightforward. This is not always true. If theagency is new to the cloud and wishes to establish a private cloud it will take time to determine theappropriate split of responsibilities between the service provider and the agencys IT team.6Compliance and liability issues can also be tricky, as defining compliance conditions andestablishing liability for intellectual property protection with cloud vendors reach well beyond theIT worldand, as such, with so many moving parts may take time to properly address andresolved.7 NIST has launched the U.S. Government Cloud Computing Business Case Working Groupto assist agencies with the development of cloud-compatible user cases. Email, geospatial dataexchange and services management are among the first user cases currently in development.


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Additional Recommendations

The authors ofGovCloud: Cloud Computing for the Business of Governmentalso offer sevenrecommendations that must be considered during the development and implementation of anagencys cloud roadmap:

Own the information, even if you own nothing else. An agency must claim its right toown the information even if it doesnt own the infrastructure, application or serviceassociated with that information. Any agency is liable for its informationregardless ofwhere it livesand some education will likely be needed about this fact among its IT team.While it may be unrealistic to prevent departments from provisioning their own cloudapplication, the agency must institute policies and procedures to ensure it can monitor howinformation deployed to the cloud is managed. As it is often hard to envision future uses ofinformation, it also is recommended that agencies make sure cloud-dwelling data can bebrought back into the enterprise if needed.

Dont take terminology for granted. It is vital to ensure that important terminology isdefined in the same way by the agency and the cloud service providerroom for different

interpretation always exists. A review of information governance policies must take place toidentify the areas of highest risk so authoritative definitions for vocabulary in these areascan be developed and adopted.

Hope for standards, but prepare to integrate. In short, the cloud is young and isntestablished enough to have developed standard specifications for platform interoperabilityand data exchange. Strategic groundwork for future data integration needs to be laid in theearly stages of any movement to the cloud. Agencies must insist that their cloud serviceproviders provide clear documentation on the data formats and schemas used forinformation storage in their systems.

Control cloud platform proliferation. Agencies should minimize the number of differentcloud platforms that require support to limit information fragmentation and decrease thechance of a future huge integration effort. To the greatest extent possible, an agencys IT

team should help departments look for shared requirements in standardized businessfunctions. The team can identify cloud platforms that meet these needs and consolidate theagencys services on them, when possible. Not only will the ability to share informationincrease, this will result in greater leverage when negotiating contract terms and pricing.

Make the information cloud ready.Agencies that organize their data sets well enoughfor use across multiple platforms will be best positioned to take advantage of cloud services,and will be better able to deploy enterprise information to the cloud more easily.IT teamsneed to get into the habit of encrypting data into one common format (probably XML)aprocess even more important if data moves through externally operated resources to thecloud.

Master solution integration. The shift to the cloud requires IT professionals to changetheir focus from owning and operating enterprise systems to becoming master information

service integrators. In addition to linking legacy databases to SaaS, IT teams need to connecttheir private and public clouds to create a seamless technology environment that works likea single cloud custom-made for their specific enterprises.


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Designing software independence from the hardware allows an operating system, applications and

data to live across the enterprise and is fundamental to the transformation of compute, storage

and network functionality.

Cloud Computing for Defense and Intelligence

The defense and intelligence communities are not immune to cloud computing. Arguably more thanany other government agencies, their missions require a fabric of utility computing that scales ondemand and enables self discovery and self-service access to secure, timely and relevantinformation in support of mission: individual or shared. The traditional IT model requires systemengineering that binds most software to the hardware and does not provide an enterprise suite offunctionality or allow for increased flexibility and a governed lifecycle of services. Designingsoftware independence from the hardware allows an operating system, applications and data tolive across the enterprise and is fundamental to the transformation of compute, storage andnetwork functionality.

Defense is dealing with a $78 billion budget cutthe first since September 11, 2001and another$100 billion in other cost-cutting measures over a five-year period commencing in FY 2012.Defense Secretary Robert Gates is directing that the budget be cut from agency administrative andstructural areas (e.g., the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Network Intelligence andInformation, the Business Transformation Agency, and the Joint Forces Command are in the processof being eliminated or disestablished with some essential functions transferred to otherorganizations with the Pentagon).

In an official statement on the proposed budget costs provided on January 6, 2011, Secretary Gatessaid: First, reforming how the department uses information technology, which costs us about $37

billion a year. At this time all of our bases and headquarters have their own separate ITinfrastructure and processes, which drive up costs and create cyber vulnerabilities. The departmentis planning to consolidate hundreds of data centers and move to a more secure enterprise system,which we estimate could save more than $1 billion a year. Department of Defense ChiefInformation Officer Terry Takai also publically commented about the potential IT budget cuts at anApril 21, 2011, INPUT event, stating DoDs support of the move of some of its IT operations to thecloudparticularly data centers.

DoD has begun to explore cloud computing through several smaller-scale projects; some of theseare outlined in the Examples of Successful Federal Cloud Solution Implementations on page 13.


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Source: United States Army Intelligence and Security Command

Cloud Computing and Mission Support

Information is often the decisive discriminator in modern conflict. Studies of recent mission failureshighlighted this fact, finding that many of these failures were caused by:

Existence of data silos Human-based document exploitation process Reliance on operationally proven processes and filters typically used to address the lack of

computational power or decision time

Also disturbing is that in most of these cases, the critical piece of information necessary for missionwas in possession. The failure wasnt in obtaining the information, but in locating and applying it tothe mission at hand. Cloud computing uniquely addresses all of these important issues.

Data silos evolved from a system-centric IT procurement policy and an almost reflexive reliance onrelational database technology. In developing early data processing systems, the high cost ofmemory and storage led to a premium being placed on the efficiency of application data access andretrieval. Relational database technology effectively addressed this need, which in turn led to its

pervasive use across government. In modern IT system development, memory and storage arecheapand getting cheaperwhich has led to internet-scale storage and search paradigms thatare the stuff of everyday use today. The worlds largest databases cannot, in fact, be searchedquickly using a relational database management approach. Todays ability to search multi-petabytedata stores in milliseconds virtually eliminates the need for data silos. This capability is realized incloud-based storage.


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Source: United States Army Intelligence and Security Command

Documents are the persistent records of human activity. As such, they are used to provide insightinto the societal structure and processes of our opponents. Conflict, however, is entity and eventcentric. The intelligence professional must, therefore, interpret documents and translate that datainto operationally relevant entities and events. The time and resource intensive nature of thisskillcraft is perfectly suited for the precision search and analytic capabilities of the moderncompute cloud. The use of highly standardized and virtualized commodity infrastructure, not only

make the automation of this function possible, but it enables real-time continuous processing of thenow digital document flow of our adversaries. This commodity also removes the human from thistedious task, allowing intelligence professionals to apply higher order professional analysis andinsight.

The human-based documentexploitation process led directly to aninstitutional reliance on theaforementioned operationallyproven processes and filters.Instantiated by the use of multi-pagestructure query language and theubiquitous goal of obtaining anappropriate working set of data,these time-honored processes wereborn from the need to meet criticaldecision timelines within acomputationally inadequateenvironment. Cloud techniques andtechnologies can now be used to workon all the data. And with an ability toleverage the power of asupercomputer at will, the working

set requirement is now ananachronism and critical decisiontimelines can now be more easily met.

Cloud computing is unique in its ability to address these critical defense and intelligence missionneeds. Thats why cloud computing is critical to our national defense. As a bonus, cloud computingoffers defense and intelligence agencies the ability to increase efficiencies and incur marked costsavings during their lifecycles to alleviate some of the pressure of budget reductions. Moving IToperations to the cloud also will assist in enhanced collaboration.


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Solution Benefits

Fewer recruiters required to

handle the workload of the fivetraditional recruiting centers

that the AEC replaced

Faster application upgrades

Dramatic reduction in hardware

and IT staff expenses

Significant increase in staff

productivity

Solution Benefits

Avoidance of high start-up costs and

additional ROI through software reuse

Savings of between $200,000 and $500,000

per project due to rapid project start-ups at

lower costs

An estimated $15 million in cost avoidance

by using open source software that provides

for software reuse and collaborative

developmentin addition to lower funds for

licensing and support

Improved software for agency users by

providing version control and traceability

Examples of Successful Cloud Implementations

Army Experience Center Pilot Program, United States

Army

Two years ago, the United States Army initiated a pilotprogram to explore how to better utilize new technologiesin support of its marketing and recruiting work. The ArmyExperience Center (AEC) in Philadelphia, PA, uses a varietyof exciting technologytouch-screen career explorationkiosks, virtual reality simulators and social networkingtools to educate potential recruits about the Army and helpthem make informed decisions about enlisting. As part ofthe center operations, the Army needed a customerrelationship management system to track prospect engagement (virtual and in person) to helppersonnel better manage the recruitment and enlistment process.

Despite constant updates over the years, the Armys legacy data system could not be modified tomeet the new requirements of the AEC, specifically social networking and other web 2.0applications, data access from multiple platforms including mobile devices, the tracking of AECvisitor information and the amalgamation of marketing and recruiting data. After reviewing bidsfrom both traditional and non-traditional IT vendors, the Army chose a customized version ofSalesforce for the pilot program. The annual cost of the pilot is only $54,000compared to theproposed operational costs from traditional vendors of $500,000 to $1 million a year.

This cloud-based, mobility solution CRM tool allows the Army to track potential recruits as theyparticipate in the different virtual activities in the AEC, and recruits can remain engaged withrecruiters after they leave the center through social media and email. Due to the mobility of theplatform, recruiters also can access potential recruit information anytime and anywhere.

Rapid Access Computing Environment, Defense

Information Systems Agency

The Defense Information Systems Agency made the leapto the cloud by establishing the Rapid Access ComputingEnvironment in 2008. RACE is the agencys secure,stable, private cloud that utilizes virtual servertechnology to provide on-demand server space fordevelopment teams. RACE is made up of several virtualservers co-located in a single physical server.


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Solution Benefits

Cost savings by dividing the costs of

provisioning and operating one

physical server among several

virtual servers

Rapid provisioning of functionalserver space to users (24 hours),

compared to a traditional dedicated

server environment (three to six

weeks)

Improved security through built-in

application separation controls so

all applications, databases and web

servers are separated, and a strict

data cleaning process

Solution Benefits:

Savings of $4 million annually

Seventy percent increase in

customer engagement in the

knowledge base

Reduction on the time required for

customers to find answers from

more than 15,000 documents on

file: from 20 minutes to only two

minutes.

RACE, which uses virtual server technology to provide on-demand server space for developmentteams, aims to be more secure and stable than a traditional public cloud. RACE consists of manyvirtual servers inside a single physical server. Within this virtual environment that meets DoDsecurity standards, customers use a self-service portal to provision computing resources in 50 GBincrements. The cost for RACE access is reasonable and can be established with an approvedgovernment-issued credit card.

RACE offers the same level service and availability as a traditional server environment. Since RACEwas implemented, hundreds of military applications, including command and control systems,convoy control systems and satellite programs have been developed and tested on this cloud-basedsolution.

Forge.mil Program, DISA

Forge.mil is the secure software developmentenvironment established by DISA designed to provideDoD with tools and services to rapidly develop, test and

deploy new software and systems. CollabNet providedDISA with a cloud-based software development platformto allow customers to reuse and collaborate on softwarecode. To date, forge.mil manages more than 5,000 userswith more than 300 open source projects, 500 filerelease posts and 30,000 downloads.

Forge.mil hosts an array of projects for different DoDagencies, including the Army, Navy, Air Force, MarineCorps and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Personnel Services Delivery Transformation, Air Force

Personnel Center

Due to the mandated manpower reduction initiative, theAir Force Personnel Center had to find a new, viable way todeliver human resource tools and services, whileimproving customer experiences by providing self-servicesolutions and the ability to track customer needs. AFPCdecided that the SaaS solution by RightNow was thesolution necessary for improved knowledge management,case and contact center tracking and the ability to meetclient survey mission requirements.

After implementation of the RightNow solution, customersearches on the knowledge base have risen to nearly 2million per week. This cloud-based platform also provides the ability to scale services to meetfluctuating demand without any impact to customer experience.


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Appendix 2: Cloud Computing Resources

Info.apps.gov (http://www.info.apps.gov/node/19)

Federal Cloud Computing Initiative (http://www.info.apps.gov/node/2)

Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) (http://www.info.apps.gov/content/federal-risk-and-authorization-management-program-fedramp)

Cloud Computing Resources (http://www.info.apps.gov/node/14)

Cloud Musings by Kevin L. Jackson (http://kevinljackson.blogspot.com/)

Cloud Musings on Forbes (http://blogs.forbes.com/kevinjackson/)

Government Cloud Computing on Ulitzer(http://govcloud.ulitzer.com/)

NIST Business Use Case Template (https://collaborate.nist.gov/twiki-cloud-computing/bin/view/cloudcomputing/businessusecasescall03)

NIST Computer Security Division, Computer Security Resource Center, Cloud Computing(http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/SNS/cloud-computing/)


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About the Author

Kevin Jackson is General Manager, Cloud Services, at NJVC. Before joining the company, Mr. Jacksonserved in various senior management positions with Dataline, LLC; Cryptek, Inc.; IBM; and JPMorgan Chase. Recently, he was named a Cyber Security Visionary by U.S. Black Engineer andInformation Technologymagazine. Mr. Jackson is the founder and author of Cloud Musings(http://kevinljackson.blogspot.com) and Cloud Musings on Forbes(http://blogs.forbes.com/kevinjackson), a Forbes magazine online blog dedicated to public sectorcloud computing. He is also founder and editor of Government Cloud Computing on Ulitzerelectronic magazine (http://govcloud.ulitzer.com ). His first book, GovCloud: Cloud Computing forthe Business of Governmentwas released in spring 2011. Mr. Jackson has been deeply involved inthe broad collaborative effort between industry and the U.S. National Institute of Standards andTechnology on the federal governments adoption of cloud computing technologies. He is theNetwork Centric Operations Industry Consortiums Cloud Computing Working Group Chairman.

About NJVC

NJVC is one of the largest information technology solutions providers supporting the U.S.Department of Defense. We provide innovative and high-quality IT solutions to the government andcommercial organizations, and specialize in supporting highly secure IT enterprises, particularly forthe intelligence and defense communities. To learn more, visit www.njvc.com.


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Headquarters

8614 Westwood Center DrSuite 300

Vienna, VA 22182

703.556.0110

www.njvc.com