Inside LandWarNet: Cloud Computing on the Horizon?

Thompson is a public affairs specialist with the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center, located at Fort Monmouth, N.J.

I wanted to pick up where I left off with one of yesterday’s “hot” track sessions at LandWarNet: cloud computing. I know a lot of our engineers were planning on attending it. It’s a related topic that supports Apps for the Army processes – literally.

Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, where shared resources, software and information are provided on demand. Users can access web-based tools or applications and use through a web browser as if it were a program installed locally on their own computer. Clouds often appear as single points of access for all consumers’ computing needs.

Here’s the good: a web service within a virtual machine in the cloud can expand and utilize more resources (computation, memory, storage) as its utilization increases. It would also make sense for Mobile devices (smartphones, handhelds, etc) to take advantage of cloud computing, by accessing data and applications from an enterprise server in the cloud rather than having to worry about the expense and complexity of adding mobile device support to existing local servers.

Here’s the concern: cloud computing changes the way we look at Cyber Security because you are using services on servers that are outside of your control. New governance, frameworks and policies are needed as new trust relationships are established between you and your provider. Accessing and securing data are two important security issues. Securing the links between your end user device (desktop computer or handheld device) and the cloud services is necessary to ensure data privacy and prevent data breach.

Commercial does not necessitate controversial. Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC) engineers have been working both ends this industry-proven model to ensure that it can be fully leveraged.

Our Service-Oriented Architecture Center of Excellence (SOA COE) used innovative cloud computing services for A4A participants to use during software creation. They’re also seeking how best to leverage it as part of a service-oriented approach to streamlining processes for Army Software Transformation initiatives.

Our Cyber Security and Information Assurance experts are working to make it secure. To learn more about their efforts, read the story, “CERDEC equips Cyber Warriors for complex, commercial environment.”

Now that we’ve overviewed both sides of the coin, I’d love to hear feedback from those at LandWarNet who attended the session. What did you come out of it with?