Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/274231
c c4iSr 28 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2014 www.vanguardcanada.com is about taking individual data points and fi nding a way to make them all link, to make them all tell a story and separate the garbage from what is really important to the end user. "In the last four years I have really come to understand how intelligence is the cor- nerstone to all of this," he said. "I have looked at the kinds of [intelligence] tools we use in the army, navy, air force – they are not that dissimilar but they are not very interoperable. We have got to fi gure out a way to make those systems more interop- erable so the information sharing happens more quickly and with more trust. Trust is the big issue that will permeate horizon- tally through those vertical issues we are dealing with." Nolan said that although great strides have been made in recent years to improve the data link between the services, timely movement of information still remains a challenge and the air force and navy lack "a good method of quickly and accurately de- termining where our ground forces are so they can be readily seen by our sailors at sea and air crews coming in to drop ordinance. "How do we ensure we have trust in that information such that our army brethren are happy to have ordinance come in close to where they are working? Or that a com- mander at sea has confi dence in to hit the fi re button?" he asked. "Ground truth is critical...direct and indirect fi res are so much more complicated than they ever were in the past." He also noted that the introduction of more unmanned systems is creating new issues around not just accessing and shar- ing data from the sensors, but also assign- ing and sharing the platforms themselves as different headquarters compete for their availability. "All services need to work with indus- try to fi gure out how best to solve these issues," he said. "I fi rmly believe that only those countries that have the ability to manage the battle space will be given lead roles, and Canada has aspirations to take lead roles. If we don't understand the battle space and can't manage [the data], we won't be given a position of authority. That requires more agile C4ISR manage- ment and better training." "i fi rmly believe that only those countries that have the ability to manage the battle space will be given lead roles, and canada has aspira- tions to take lead roles. if we don't understand the battle space and can't manage [the data], we won't be given a position of authority." — commander (retired) Walter Nolan Those of us with enough time to stare at the clouds will notice that there is no shortage of different types: stratus, altostratus, cirrus and cumulus, among others. Appropriately, when it comes to cloud computing there is also far more than just one type of cloud – and getting the most out of cloud services can save an organization money, enhance functionality and prevent security breaches. But what type of cloud best fi ts military needs? This question was addressed by IBM's Stuart Pater- son at Vanguard's C4ISR and Beyond conference. As part of a panel on emerging technologies, he outlined some of the advantages of moving to the cloud from legacy technologies and addressed the different types of clouds and how to get the most out of them. IBM remains open source with multiple cloud environ- ments to choose from. These services can make cloud computing attractive to parts of the military looking to make information available when and where it is needed. The technology is also elastic and scalable, meaning it can be readily adapted to fi t demand. Many legacy systems, too, are now being adapted to become cloud-enabled, making the security and customization of cloud computing all the more im- portant. Cloud computing also has the potential to standardize information storage, aggregate data and remove user complexity. Security, however, remains the primary concern. Paterson posed several basic questions for orga- nizations seeking a cloud provider: Can I trust this provider? Where is my information going? How is the infrastructure secured? Are the operational process- es adequate? How are encryption keys managed? Will the vendor support my compliance needs? How are vulnerabilities managed? Who has access to the data? What happens when the relationship ends? What happens if there is an incident? And is a secure method used to access my cloud resources? As one delegate noted, how legitimate is security when cloud data is stored in a foreign country? There is also the question of whether a private, dedi- cated cloud is better than a cheaper, public cloud. While private clouds offer increased security and peace of mind, public clouds are cheaper and more accessible. Paterson said there are U.S military proj- ects that trust public cloud security enough to use public clouds in certain circumstances. — Jeff Mackey HOW TO OPTIMIZE YOUR CLOUD COMPUTING We would like to thank our sponsors for their support Platinum Media Partners Industry Partners Bronze Breakfast Lunch Reception Coffee Break C4ISR and Beyond REVERSE INDUSTRY DAY FORUM JANUARY 22, 2014 Gold