{"id":13269,"date":"2019-06-06T16:04:03","date_gmt":"2019-06-06T16:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2019\/06\/06\/army-cannot-rely-on-the-cloud-at-the-end-of-the-spectrum\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T17:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:49:09","slug":"army-cannot-rely-on-the-cloud-at-the-end-of-the-spectrum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/battlefield-tech\/it-networks-battlefield-tech\/2019\/06\/06\/army-cannot-rely-on-the-cloud-at-the-end-of-the-spectrum\/","title":{"rendered":"Army cannot rely on the cloud at the end of the spectrum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Information technology infrastructure is built on the premise of uninhibited access to an endless flow of data. Combat is, among other things, a moment of acute detachment from that reliable and comforting flow of information. This can leave the Army in a bit of pickle as it tries to harness the power of modern information networks, built on abundance, in a field of acute scarcity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFolks at the small end of difficult satellite connections cannot assume that they have the cloud at the end,\u201d said Charlie Kawasaki,chief technical officer at PacStar. Kawasaki spoke at the 18th annual C4ISRNET conference \u2014 held in Arlington, Virginia, June 6 \u2014 as part of a panel on Battlefield Networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Converting the gains of civilian information technology to meaningful, useful, actionable intelligence in a bandwidth-constrained environment is a challenge, to say the least, but it\u2019s one the Army is working on tackling incrementally. That means rolling out innovations every two years from 2021 to 2028<\/a>, making modernization more of a continuous process than a sudden shift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are focused on the tactical edge, said Joseph Welch, acting deputy program executive officer Program Executive Office, Command, Control and Communications-Tactical, U.S. Army. \u201cWhat is the right balance of affordability and capability?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is all falling under the aegis of the integrated tactical network<\/a>, or ITN, which is a combination of programs of record, existing capabilities and new efforts. The overall goal is a holistic sense of what can be done in two years, what can be done in 10 years, and what will still work with existing legacy systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\t