Cloud in Your Cargo Pocket – The Future of the Tactical Cloud Platform (TCP) by Herman Leybovich
Some people may say that we’ve had the cloud in our pocket once the smartphone was commoditized. Though true, there is a difference between having a device in your pocket that can access the cloud and having the cloud in your pocket.
In the former, access to the cloud is dependent on connectivity – 5G, SATCOM, MANET, etc. The end-user needs a path from the device to the servers hosting the application. That server needs adequate cooling and redundant power. Both the technology and the infrastructure require specialized personnel to maintain.
The Tactical Cloud Platform consists of industry leading network, compute and Graphics Processing components that can operate in the harshest environments. The package includes the infrastructure with the application and allows it to be deployed alongside the end-user. This creates advantages in today’s All-Domain landscape:
Decision Advantage
In today’s conflicts, advantage comes from velocity. Collecting data is half the battle, turning that data into actionable information as quickly as possible is the other half. By deploying the cloud alongside the user, it reduces the round-trip time of sending data to a data center and enables decisions to be made right then and there.
Development Advantage
Today, apps are developed to solve specific organizational challenges. For the military, these challenges are dynamically changing. The Tactical Cloud Platform enables development and delivery of applications to occur faster because the delivery pipeline can be extended to the edge and decentralized. Applications can be modified locally to respond to the dynamically changing environment, especially delivering advantages in conflicts across Multi-Domains and those involving Coalition Partners.
Distributed Advantage
By decentralizing the cloud, organizations create resiliency. Each Tactical Cloud Platform can operate independently. In addition the TCP can create mesh networks with other TCP to create a more powerful pool of resources and robust information sharing. Most importantly, this creates resiliency and survivability for military operations. No longer is mission success dependent on connectivity to a fixed facility far away.
The Tactical Cloud Platform is the industry’s response to what we’ve been hearing from our customers across DoD. The future battlefield is going to transcend any single domain, it’s going to be contested and each sensor – whether on a network, ship or satellite – will play an integral role into painting a Common Operational Picture.
