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July 2007
July 22, 2007
Software Architecture in the Military
Software architecture in the military? That gives a whole new meaning to Thomas Mowbray and Raphael Malveau's book Software Architect Bootcamp.
But in this case, we're talking about a technical report entitled Progress Toward an Organic Software Architecture Capability in the U.S. Army, by Stephen Blanchette Jr. and John Bergey, senior members of the Software Engineering Institute's technical staff at Carngie Mellon University.
As it turns out, the goal of the U.S. Army Strategic Software Improvement Program (ASSIP) is to improve the acquisition of software-intensive systems. One of the initiatives undertaken by the program is to begin building a level of technical expertise in modern software architecture practices within the Army acquisition community. This report (Technical Report CMU/SEI-2007-TR-010) describes the Software Architecture Initiative of the ASSIP.
One ASSIP initiative focuses on software architecture. Sound software architecture practices are a strong success factor in SIS programs. However, initial investigations into Army software-intensive systems (SIS) acquisition indicated that while software architecture practices were deemed important, methods and skills to carry out those practices were perceived to be inadequate. In response, the ASSIP formulated an initiative to build an organic software architecture capability within the Army acquisition community.
Blanchette and Bergey's report describes the work done to lay the foundation for an organic Army software architecture capability. That includes training Army professionals in software architecture practices and conducting software architecture evaluations. This report provides an accounting of the results and lessons learned from the initiative and related work, and enables the launch of similar approaches in the broader acquisition community. So far, 64 Army technical personnel have received software architecture training through the ASSIP software architect initiative.
Posted by Jon Erickson at 01:29 PM Permalink
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July 15, 2007
Secure Information Sharing Architecture Alliance Formed
Cisco, EMC, and Microsoft have formed an alliance called the Secure Information Sharing Architecture (SISA) to develop multi-vendor IT architectures that permit only authorized personnel access to specific information, while easing the management of shared, protected information across trusted communities.
Historically, information protection technologies have been enforced system-by-system, creating islands of protected data. Some government agencies are having trouble providing role-based access to sensitive content within their own organizations, and the problems become much more difficult when sharing sensitive content across different agencies. With SISA, government agencies can more easily set up security-enhanced, virtual networks for different authorized users and communities to access sensitive files stored in different information protection systems. SISA will enable new scenarios for cross-government information sharing.
Cisco, EMC, and Microsoft are providing the core commercial off-the-shelf technology that makes up SISA to ease the sharing of information contained in disparate IT infrastructures. Cisco provides network protection, security-enhanced virtualized network links, and data protection features for sharing sensitive information across the network platform. EMC’s networked storage systems, information management, and security software provides a flexible information infrastructure for storing, managing and helping protect critical and sensitive data. Microsoft provides identity management, client and network operating systems, and a collaboration framework that helps keep content in the hands of authorized users.
The SISA Alliance also includes technology vendors that bring innovative approaches to fulfill specific requirements. Liquid Machines provides solutions that enhance the SISA content-protection capabilities by extending the Microsoft Digital Rights Management technology. Swan Island Networks designs and operates sensitive information-sharing systems. Titus Labs offers information labeling and classification solutions that determine how content protection should be applied. As customers’ needs evolve, the alliance will incorporate additional technology vendors to bring innovative approaches to fulfill other specific requirements.
The alliance will be managed by Addx, a provider of information and management sciences services.
Posted by Jon Erickson at 02:00 PM Permalink
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