IRREVERSIBLE MOMENTUM
Te Army is on a sustainable path to a hybrid cloud architecture through the integration of the commercial cloud called cARMY, with the Army enterprise private clouds to provide the resiliency needed for computing and storage. We will deliver a common set of services across the entire ecosystem, from the tactical to the strategic.
Tis is expected to result in a common operating environment, standardizing services and access to data with a cloud-native approach. Tis will also result in the Army aggressively elim- inating on-premises data centers and reducing the number of enterprise data centers from 12 to five. Savings harvested from data center closures will flow back into additional application migrations to the cloud and future data center closures.
Te updated Army Cloud Plan focuses primarily on how we oper- ationalize our very mature cARMY cloud to support exercises and experimentation in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as support for current operations at the strategic, operational and tactical levels. Te CIO team has partnered with several operational units such as I Corps, 1st Multi-Domain Task Force, U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC), U.S. Army Europe and Africa’s (USAREUR-AF) XVIII Airborne Corps and others. Together the established part- nerships leverage various exercises and experimentation events to validate key cloud architectures in support of new operational doctrine, such as distributed command and control.
Establishing an enduring mission partner environment in the cloud for better integration and collaboration with our allies and partners is a top priority for the European Command theater in the 2023 fiscal year. Cloud migration activities also enabled the Army to rationalize our application portfolio through a “keep or kill” process to prevent bespoke legacy systems and other non-enterprise capabilities being lifted to the cloud. Tis process enabled the Army to sunset 66 business applications in the 2022 fiscal year, and a further 103 systems are expected to be sunset in the current fiscal year.
Te Army has committed to going all-commercial for unclassi- fied data. We have worked the strategy to completely revamp the Installation Information Infrastructure Modernization Program, which has been focused on installation-level IT through hard- ware refresh and wired networking, to a fully commercial Army-operated model using commercial services. Tis program is expected to almost completely eliminate the Nonclassified Inter- net Protocol Router Network (NIPRNet) as the only way to access controlled unclassified information. It allows for the lever- aging of commercial internet service providers (ISP) and wireless
12 Army AL&T Magazine Winter 2023
technologies like 5G and WiFi for the local network, while at the same time maximizing the delivery of common services and access to the data from the cARMY cloud. Tis is expected to save the Army money but, more importantly, enhance user experience by enabling users to get ubiquitous access to data from any device and from any network. It will eliminate the need to be tethered to wired network drops using government- furnished equipment. Our current pilots in respect to bring your own device and virtual desktop infrastructure are the founda- tion for this capability. Our initial focus for this endeavor is with National Guard armories, reserve centers, recruiting centers, etc., areas that lacked attention in the past.
We expect to be fully divested of the NIPRNet by the 2027 fiscal year to coincide with the Defense Information Systems Agency’s sunset of the Joint Regional Security Stacks that currently provide perimeter security defense at Army installations. Te initial success we had in the previous fiscal year brought all 42 organizational networks and domains under the operational control of Army Cyber Command, and established U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command as the single-service provider. Tis is a huge step in driving standardization of services across the Army, but also for the needed cybersecurity defense overwatch.
SEEKING SOLUTIONS
Soldiers from the 3rd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment discuss equipment challenges with Raj G. Iyer, Ph.D., chief information officer for information technology reform, during the 2022 Regimental Week Tech Demo, July 27, at U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden, Germany. (Photo by Candy C. Knight, 2d Theater Signal Brigade)
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