CTO highlights move toward commoditized infrastructure

  • Published
  • By Patty Welsh
  • 66th Air Base Group Public Affairs
LEXINGTON, Mass. --  Commoditized infrastructure was the main topic of discussion during the Hanscom Representatives Association luncheon meeting July 11 at Waxy O'Connor's.

Dr. Tim Rudolph, chief architect and chief technology officer for the Life Cycle Management Center, explained the concept.

"We want to look at how commoditized infrastructure - CI - can substitute for data centers," he said. "Can we use commercial cloud providers? We are looking at alternatives."

Rudolph told the mainly industry audience that this is where he can see them helping out, saying that Hanscom anticipates putting out requests for information looking for what a CI should include and how to set up a Managed Service Office to best provide it.

However, he cautioned the attendees that information technology is not what the Air Force is about.

"IT is an enabler for our missions, and we need to see what is the most effective and efficient way we can provide needed services to support the operational environment."

Rudolph highlighted the benefits of a commoditized infrastructure including enterprise-wide savings in areas such as development, integration, product support and strategic sourcing. He also sees a commoditized infrastructure enabling increased mission assurance and more effective data sharing.

Currently, the C3I and Networks program executive office at Hanscom is working with the Business and Enterprise Systems PEO to provide a CI for a number of business systems.

"Once we show maturity with the business systems, then we can look at other areas such as (command and control)," Rudolph said.

He sees challenges to implementation, though.

"We live in a world with smaller budgets and less manpower so we may need to look at a completely different business model to get there."

Total cost needs to be looked at up front, Rudolph added.

"We can't just think initial cost," he said. "What are the support costs going to be?"

Industry can help there as well, Rudolph said, as they have been able to drive down IT costs yearly.

He also talked about how using a commoditized infrastructure with a cloud provider to host and provide services for legacy programs could provide "significant savings."

Rudolph said they have already gotten a lot of great feedback from industry, but he welcomes more.

"This is a cultural change and a new era for the Air Force."