For example, the rise of hybrid and multi-cloud architectures present data integration, access and management challenges for many as agencies seek to leverage data assets that span across both on-premise and hosted solutions.

This may be why the GSA Data Center and Cloud Optimization Initiative Program Management Office recently released a Multi-Cloud and Hybrid Cloud Guide to help agencies make better decisions about cloud architecture. Further complicating matters is that the DoD is facing a groundbreaking December award of the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability procurement.

Pentagon Chief Information Officer John Sherman describes the JWCC as a “multi-cloud effort that will provide enterprise cloud capabilities for the Defense Department at all three security classifications: unclassified, secret, and top secret all the way from the continental United States out to the tactical edge.” At the conclusion of this possible five-year procurement, the DOD plans to launch a full and open competition for a future multi-cloud acquisitions. Until then, DoD data scientists may be forced to work in silos because connecting to live data may not always be possible.

How Technology Can Help

Many government agencies are overcoming these challenges using technologies such as data virtualization to implement a logical data fabric approach capable of ensuring trusted data access and sharing. Data virtualization is a modern data integration technique that integrates data in real-time without having to physically replicate it.

Data virtualization can seamlessly combine views of data from different sources and feed AI/ML engines with data from a common data services layer. Using data virtualization, AI teams can work more efficiently and collaborate more effectively, because the technology provides views of data rather than replicating it.

This not only saves access and storage costs because it provides a unified data-access layer, it also enables stakeholders to implement governance controls from a single point across the department. Creating this “single source of truth” is one of the most valuable characteristics of unifying enterprise data through use the of data virtualization.

This combination of enterprise AI, multi-cloud architecture, and data virtualization is being leveraged by many government organizations to leverage data more effectively and take advantage of the cost savings of the cloud. Together, these technologies underscore the fact that digital transformation is not just about technology, but about using technology in the most intelligent way and providing enhanced value to data science teams and internal and external data consumers.

Also, with the competition for market share between the major Cloud Service Providers (CSP) promising both better value for government and access to a vast array of AL/ML tools to drive better, mission-specific results, there may be conflicting narratives on which CSP — and which AI/ML technology — is best for a given mission.

In this environment, a logical data fabric is rapidly emerging as the technologically elegant solution to the chaos of multi-cloud computing as it simultaneously makes the best features of each CSP available to users.

Defined by Gartner as a design concept that serves as an integrated layer (fabric) of data and connecting processes, a data fabric utilizes continuous analytics over existing, discoverable and inferenced metadata assets to support the design, deployment and utilization of integrated and reusable data across all environments, including hybrid and multi-cloud platforms. This pure play data fabric enables the best of all commercial CSP offerings without vendor lock-in and, in many instances, is proving to be the government’s best answer to overcome these challenges.

Addressing the DoD’s pervasive siloed data, standardizing and improving its quality and access, should be a precondition to having the data necessary to train algorithms for many defense uses. A logical data fabric approach that incorporates data virtualization promises to be a means for quickly collecting, processing, and using information from the DoD’s disparate data sources. It also ensures that a developed AI/ML model in a silo is still relevant to live data and can accelerate better data flow and data access across the entire AI operationalization cycle.

The more data AI/ML models receive, the more they learn creating better and more accurate predictions the DoD requires for mission critical decision-making. However, extracting data from multiple sources and then replicating it to a central repository is an old and inefficient way of getting data access. The process is still prevalent across the federal government and often results in the majority of the project time being spent on data acquisition and preparation tasks.

With the DoD touting their growing capabilities in artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, integrating data to nourish disparate AI/ML models with their expanding data science teams is still a significant undertaking. Enterprise AI, leveraging a logical data fabric layer, overcomes these challenges. It can act as a central hub for data science teams between different AI/ML systems, reducing the need for data duplication enabling highly sophisticated AI/ML initiatives with enhanced operationalization and accelerated timetables for quicker time-to-production.

Bill Sullivan is Vice President and General Manager, US Federal at data integration and management company Denodo.

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Pentagon leaders last month announced new procurement rules that empower DoD agencies to buy cloud services more quickly and easily. And this month, tight security rules that effectively closed off the option of using public cloud services in most cases were loosened.

Experts say the changes will set in motion a flurry of projects across the Defense Department to migrate networks, data and applications to the cloud.

“I think there is some genuine, real excitement about going to the cloud in the DoD,” said Gregory Garcia, executive director of the Army Information Technology Agency.

Initial forays into the cloud are likely to be uncoordinated and small in scale. Once the cloud concept proves successful with those early endeavors, more ambitious enterprise-scale projects will likely follow, experts like Garcia say.

“As we build success stories of those early adopters, we’ll see more people embrace that idea,” Garcia said. “Five years from now, I think it’s going to be all in the cloud.”

The first key policy change announced in November by acting DoD CIO Terry Halvorsen aimed to speed up and expand the department’s procurement of cloud services by removing the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) as the department’s sole cloud broker, thereby empowering all DoD agencies to buy cloud services on their own.

And earlier this month, DISA loosened security restrictions on certain classes of data that previously were off-limits to commercial cloud service providers. The new guidelines spell out how and where DoD data can reside, setting the stage for how component agencies will purchase cloud services.

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The result is a new security requirements regime that is more willing to accept some increased risk for less mission-critical data, said Mark Orndorff, mission assurance executive for DISA.

“Where is that right balance point that will allow us to get the full benefits of commercial cloud providers while doing that with the right level of security?” Orndorff said. “This is an opportunity to get the agility, economic and technical advantages from commercial cloud and do that without putting the department at risk by leveraging the virtual separation capabilities that commercial cloud providers have, up to a level of sensitivity.”

In a nutshell, DoD data now will fall into one of three levels of security, based upon the impact there would be on DoD operations if that data were compromised.

For example, public-facing data, websites and information discoverable through FOIA could reside on a public cloud. A higher level of security would cover controlled unclassified information, which can be kept separate on virtual servers but require logging in to a secure DoD connection. The highest level of security is reserved for unclassified and classified national security data, which must be housed on physically separate servers.

Garcia said the policy changes are sure to ignite many cloud ventures, but he added, “I think the economic question and the security question are going to really drive people to make that assessment.”

The Pentagon appears open to the possibility of further relaxing security requirements in the future, if warranted.

“We are very open minded to it, but we want to do due diligence to assess: What is the risk, what are the mitigations and how do we want to press forward,” Orndorff said. “We just want to spend more time before we decide if that’s a goal.”

In time, as more DoD services are managed by commercial cloud providers, agencies could move to single, enterprise contracts for all their cloud needs, experts say. But, early on, the varied missions within DoD components and different security requirements likely will force agencies to look at their cloud needs one application and network at a time.

“This will be piecemeal, at least at first,” said Stu Fleagle, vice president of government solutions for Carpathia. “It will probably be much more limited before it’s wholesale and enterprisewide.”

Where does DoD begin?

Steven Kousen, vice president of cloud strategy and integration services at Unisys, said the earliest initiatives likely will focus on “things that are already virtualized and make sense.”

“If that’s public data, they’ll solicit for that sort of data. Other areas they know are sensitive but unclassified — those things can be moved,” Kousen added.

Another factor likely determining what moves to the cloud first will be technical compatibility with cloud service providers’ infrastructure. So, for example, Fleagle of Carpathia noted that the .mil domain was built on VMware technology, making DoD websites an easy first choice for migration as many cloud systems are built on the same stack.

Chris Spina, government cloud specialist with VMware, agrees. “Having cloud service provider networks that are all using the same core stack will make it easier,” he said. “If [a DoD application] is running VM on-prem today, it will be easier to move on a cloud with VMware.”

In addition to setting the right balance between security and economics in their cloud plans, DoD executives will need to address another issue: what to do with their networks, data and applications once their cloud services contracts expire.

“That question has to be asked,” Garcia said. “Is it portable from a cloud to a cloud? There are many constraints in getting it there, but there are also many, many constraints in getting it out of there.”

Despite the challenges, all parties are expecting a much faster transition to the cloud for DoD agencies under the new guidelines.

Special Report: The Future of DoD Cloud

Download: Cloud Computing Security Requirements Guide

The new guidelines — a response to a policy released by DoD Office of the CIO in December — specify what can be placed in public clouds, what needs to be contained within a virtual environment and what data must be kept on physically separate networks.

More: New DoD cloud security requirements

The base level allows agencies to put information on public clouds that are either openly viewable or discoverable through FOIA.

A mid-grade security level provides restricted access to sensitive information through a virtual cloud environment that requires a secure connection to DoD networks, through the use of common access cards (CACs) or other authorized credentials

The highest level deals with national security systems, which will remain on restricted DoD networks, separate from the cloud until further notice.

By outlining how and where data can be stored in a cloud structure, the security guidance gives component agencies a first look at how the commercial cloud policy will be applied.

Special Section: What’s Next in DoD Cloud

The 2012 policy outlined how cloud services should be purchased and managed, including setting up the Defense Information Systems Agency as the central broker. However, the policy lacked specifics on who was responsible for its execution and failed to establish metrics for measuring progress.

“Although the DoD CIO issued a cloud computing strategy in July 2012, as of June 2014, elements of that strategy were not fully executed,” the IG wrote in its report. “For example, DoD did not fully develop specific skills training for the acquisition and contract specialists who procure cloud computing services and did not fully develop cloud service broker management capabilities.”

Read the full IG report

This led to missed opportunities for cost savings through strategic purchasing and potential increases to cybersecurity.

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Special Section: What’s Next in DoD Cloud

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The Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) initially planned to lay out an implementation strategy in 2012 but decided it would be covered under the Joint Information Environment framework.

The OCIO pointed to the JIE Master Schedule — specifically the Plan of Action and Milestones — as addressing the implementation plan, though the IG was not satisfied.

“DoD CIO could not provide a copy of the Master Schedule and could not otherwise show that roles and responsibilities for skills training and broker management capabilities were designated and that resources and milestones were assigned,” the report stated.

The IG also found that DoD agencies purchased cloud products that were not approved by the department without obtaining permission first. This was a direct result of there not being a cloud waiver process, according to the IG.

The OCIO agreed with the recommendation for a cloud computing waiver process, however it disagreed that the JIE plan was insufficient and argued that the department was getting the most out of its cloud services.

Acting Principal Deputy CIO David De Vries told the IG, “Development of skills training for acquisition and contract specialists and the maturation of cloud broker management capabilities are evolving at a rate appropriate for DoD to address cybersecurity risks and integration challenges.”

De Vries pointed to the new cloud policy being developed — expected to drop in early December — and acquisition training workshops held in 2014.

The IG stated the response was not comprehensive enough and gave the OCIO until Jan. 5 to submit more substantial comments.

“To help ensure the cloud computing strategy is implemented in a timely manner, DoD needs a mechanism to plan and prioritize efforts, monitor progress and provide accountability through development of an implementation plan,” the IG concluded.

In an effort to speed the department’s move to cloud computing, the new policy will divest authority from the Defense Information System Agency to the contracting officers at each branch and agency within DoD. Before issuing the policy, a memo has been circulating among the component agencies for review, a process that is still ongoing.

Despite minor delays, the policy should be signed and released in early December, sooner than later, according to the DoD representative.

What’s next in DoD Cloud

Cloud providers wonder what DoD’s strategy shift holds for them

Govini foresees lower DoD cloud spending

Draft terms released for cloud SIN

Stakeholders eagerly awaiting the new policy are curious about the ultimate role of DISA and the DoD OCIO, both of which will have some authority to review cloud purchases for security and interoperability, though their specific functions have yet to be defined publicly.

Acting director of strategic planning and information at DISA, Alfred Rivera, gave some indication of what to expect from the new policy.

“DISA is going to be moving away from participation as cloud broker and in cloud services, with more focus on providing security guidelines to include security reference models, the basis in determining costs and the types of applications that are candidates for cloud services,” Rivera said, quoted in an earlier article. “I think we’re going to continue to play a very big role from the cloud broker perspective in that respect as cloud server provider, [and] also be a vehicle for network access to cloud service providers [that are] available, secure and reliable. Those two elements are still going to be germane to DISA’s responsibility.”

DoD spending on cloud has decreased in recent years, along with most other defense spending, but budget cuts aren’t necessarily to blame for most of those declines. The Pentagon is consolidating IT across the military, and that includes how it buys IT products and services.

Cloud is one of the IT-focused areas most vulnerable to changes in policy as DoD leaders test-drive commercial cloud services through pilot programs, and as the DoD CIO office prepares to issue new directives related to cloud-buying authorities. In September, DoD rescinded the memo that had made the Defense Information Systems Agency the department’s cloud broker, responsible for procuring cloud services. Now the military branches and defense agencies will take control of their own cloud acquisition, though the document that will officially lay out the new policy has yet to be released.

What’s next in DoD Cloud

New DoD cloud policy delayed

Govini foresees lower DoD cloud spending

Draft terms released for cloud SIN

“My belief is moving into commercial cloud will be less expensive, and we should be able to [better] adopt and be a little more agile of an environment if we do that,” Acting DoD CIO Terry Halvorsen told reporters in September. “We’ll be collecting facts to see if that’s in fact the case, if we can be more agile and take advantage of what’s happening in industry.”

The department is increasingly using joint enterprise licensing agreements, which combine the purchasing power of multiple organizations to buy services that can be used across departments – rather than individuals and organizations purchasing their own, separately. JELAs are part of DoD’s broader enterprise IT strategy.

“The operational component is part acquisition and looking at acquisition from a total cost of ownership as well as a lifecycle perspective and a simplicity perspective. That’s critical as we move forward as a department,” said Alfred Rivera, DISA acting director of strategic planning and information. “How do we do acquisitions that are benefitting not just a single community, but a whole [range of] communities? We have over 900 contracts at DISA that support multiple products, capabilities and services. The question is where does it make sense not only from DISA perspective, but a services perspective, where we can partner together and find common capabilities?”

In the near term, much of what happens in the cloud market will depend on the new directive from the DoD CIO office and DISA’s cloud pilot programs, five of which are currently under way, noted Deltek’s Alex Rossino.

Still, a handful of pending cloud acquisitions could show some indication of where the market is headed next.

The Navy is currently in source selection for a tactical cloud system for big data, advanced analytics and data science for naval warfare planning and execution. It’s essentially a research and development contract for finding ways to use cloud for big data solutions in the tactical environment – an issue that largely has confounded much of the military so far. The other services also have voiced interest in similar cloud capabilities.

DISA currently is looking for commercial cloud service provider integration models, with an RFI seeking industry solutions that provide flexible cloud options inside the DoD firewall, core data centers or in containers. The RFI represents an early foray into commercial options for higher-sensitivity DoD data.

The Marine Corps also is exploring how it will use cloud service providers, including with an RFI released earlier this year seeking cloud support for its Global Combat Support System-Marine Corps program.