ESC team looks at progress of net-centric path finders

  • Published
  • By Chuck Paone
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  Electronic Systems Center officials got a better look at a half dozen promising technologies during a two-day, collaborative event here Dec. 9 and 10.

During the sessions, 653rd Electronic Systems Wing Enterprise Integration Division members and representatives from companies sponsoring the technologies discussed and demonstrated the enhanced capabilities. The group also looked at how the technologies can interoperate with one another right now, and began strategizing about ways to enhance interoperability in the future.

"We threw the challenge out to them," said EID member Laura Bonanno of MITRE. "Can you work together and exchange data? And, if so, how rapidly can you do it?"

The technologies are categorized as 'net-centric path finders' by program officials, because they help program managers verify the value of network-centric data sharing solutions, said Bill Soknich, the Net-Centric Path Finders program manager.

"We solicited these technologies so that program managers could see the value of using service-oriented architectures and Web services to move their data around, rather than relying on point-to-point exchanges," he said.

To enable point-to-point exchanges, specific software packages have to be created to make each connection work, whereas the Web services-oriented approach enables systems to share information using a set of common mechanisms. This provides greater data exposure, so that users can more easily discover and act on it.

This was the second time - the first occurring about three years ago - that the EID has brought all the contractors together for an exchange session.

"There have been several sprints and new capabilities since we did this last," said Leigh Musicof, one of the government team members.

He also noted that it was the first time they were able to take advantage of virtualization, which allows computer resources such as memory, processing, network and disk space to be partitioned and efficiently redistributed. This technology was integrated into Hanscom's C4ISR Enterprise Integration Facility, or CEIF, earlier this month. The technical Exchange Meeting participants, who operated in the facility and its nearby tactical shelters, were the first to use it.

Virtualization greatly economized the use of computing resources and allowed the participating companies to build the exact, virtual machine they needed. In fact, in most cases, they were able to use the newly available technology to replicate the servers they use in their own locations without having to build or configure anything at all.

However, one of the largest benefits is that these configurations didn't get torn down at the end of the exchange. Because of the virtualization technology, they all still reside on CEIF machines and can be recalled at any time.

"With 24 hours notice, we can have things back up and running for any program manager who wants to come in and take a look at, or work with, these technologies," said Jake Kennedy of MITRE, the team's lead engineer. This is particularly appealing due to the hectic schedules those managers balance.

Still, the real-time value of the sessions can't be overstated, Mr. Soknich said. Having all the contractor teams together to discuss and work out sharing arrangements helped everyone involved.

"A lot of them were approaching the point in their development where they might have started reinventing the wheel," he said, noting that this could be prevented once they became aware of what other companies might have perfected already.

"There's no doubt everyone benefitted from the exchange," he said. "The companies really communicated and began the process of sharing and leveraging off of one another. And we were all able to capitalize on the library of technologies available, demonstrating how they can be used together to move data more efficiently and effectively."

All of the innovative technologies currently under review were selected based on proposals submitted against a Broad Agency Announcement. The BAA is a contracting vehicle used to seek multiple potential technology solutions, often in the early stages of development, to a broad set of government challenges. The BAA is still in effect, and the ESC team continues to encourage companies to submit technical initiatives.

"We definitely want companies to keep bringing their ideas to us," Mr. Soknich said. "We're always looking for technologies that will help us build the most effective and affordable weapon systems possible."