USAF Taps IBM for Cutting Edge Computing Technology

Cloud Computing Diagram(click to view full) The commercial IT sector has been using “cloud computing” for a number of years. Cloud computing is a term that describes how large scale computer infrastructure can tap the power of the Internet to perform complex tasks. Cloud computing allows computer users to realize efficiency and cost savings by using shared IT resources such as applications, storage devices and servers that are delivered as services over the Internet. The US Air Force wants to tap this technology for its complex IT needs. An obvious problem for the Air Force is the security of accessing information from remote locations not on its secure servers. The Air Force has tasked IBM to come up with a solution to this problem… IBM announced Feb 4/10 that the USAF awarded the company a 10-month contract to design and demonstrate a secure cloud computing infrastructure capable of supporting defense and intelligence networks. The contract was awarded under the Information Technology Enterprise Solutions-2 – Services (ITES-2S) contract vehicle; IBM’s ITES-2S contract number is W91QUZ-06-D-0010. Lt. Gen. William Lord, Air Force Chief Information Officer and Chief of Warfighting Integration, explains the purpose of the project: “Our goal is to demonstrate how […]