The Defense Department boasts some pretty high-profile success stories with desktop virtualization, as evidenced by the Army IT Agency’s program that is growing from a pilot to nearly 20,000 computers this year. In that case, what started as an Army effort is now in place at Army headquarters and the Joint Staff, with potential implementation at the Office of the Secretary of Defense and other Pentagon organizations in the pipeline.
Now, the Navy is taking its own crack at enhanced desktop virtualization through its new Innovation Cell program, designed to accelerate IT acquisition. Through the program Navy officials are seeking to build on the service’s current hosted virtual desktop (HVD) application effort for users on the legacy Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI), a limited pilot initiative with just over 2,000 users and a 7,500-seat capacity.
The HVD — and the enhanced desktop virtualization effort to come — straddles NMCI, which consolidated numerous disparate Navy networks and IT services in the early 2000s, and the follow-on Next Generation Enterprise Network, which serves some 700,000 users. The HVD is an alternative enterprise service delivery for NMCI services, according to Phil Anderson, deputy program manager for naval enterprise networks in the Navy Program Executive Office-Enterprise Information Systems (PEO-EIS).
Anderson said there have been numerous lessons learned through the pilot program. The savings weren’t quite as expected, realized in infrastructure and field services support and not necessarily in “per-seat” costs. The pilot highlighted needs for a modular and expandable architecture, seamless and secure external access, end-to-end management tools and robust network connectivity.
“We had a hard time defining if this client was better,” Anderson said. “We’re looking to provide NGEN users with a virtual application and desktop environment with an equal or better end-user experience both inside and outside the NMCI network.”
To that end, the Navy is using the Innovation Cell framework to find a solution that is, above all, flexible. Anderson said his office is seeking technology that can scale to an estimated 119,000 users across numerous geographic locales; provides a minimum personal file storage of 30 gigabytes per user; is customizable for various user profiles that can be configured to access a range of applications and privileges; and can accommodate a range of devices, including different mobile devices.
Mobility is key in the effort as the Navy seeks to outfit sailors deployed around the world on an array of devices, whether those are smartphones, tablets or laptops, Navy officials have said.
The best solutions also have to be compliant with Navy security requirements, although officials are open to improvements to current IT architecture as well as new architecture and approaches.
Even as the Navy doubles down on rapid acquisition through the Innovation Cell, officials say they’re keeping a close eye on similar efforts in play in other areas of DoD. For example, the unified capabilities initiative — currently in development in a joint effort between the Army, the Air Force and the Defense Information Systems Agency — includes among its suite of IT service offerings a virtualized desktop option. A key goal in the push toward unified capabilities is empowering users by making their communications, IT services and content available any time, any place — including on their tablet or smartphone.
“There’s a lot of high-level initiatives out there … so what we’re trying to do is make sure we don’t run afoul and as we satisfy one requirement we don’t gum up something else,” Anderson said. “Some of the virtual capabilities, that touches mobility and security policies related to mobility, so we’re really trying to take a step back and make sure as we bring new capabilities online we look at those policies ahead of time.”
Anderson and the Navy aren’t the only ones watching what others are doing. In a March conference call with reporters, DoD CIO Terry Halvorsen said he is monitoring the Innovation Cell and its potential impact on the procurement process, as is Undersecretary for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology Frank Kendall.
“When you look at the acquisition process, we have to divorce that from timelines. I think the processes we have are actually pretty good,” he told reporters on a conference call. “The execution of that process and maybe the way we sometimes lockstep ourselves instead of executing parts of the process simultaneously is what I think we have to look at. I do think PEO-EIS is doing a really good job, and we’re looking at some other experimental processes. But more importantly than me looking at [the Navy], I think, is looking at those [processes] and being encouraging.”■
