NATO’s Allied Command Transformation (ACT) has selected IBM for a strategic technology project to gain experience with emerging IT, improve data centre efficiency, and increase data sharing by its 28 member nations.
The initiative will enable the organisation to explore and demonstrate a new cloud computing model that could be used to consolidate and integrate technology capabilities for critical Command and Control programs.
IBM said that the on-premise cloud will be used to test and develop network offerings for command, control, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance projects.
Under the agreement, IBM will develop the computing environment to share a common operating environment across many mission processes, allowing the environment to be built in a way that is secure, scalable and robust than the other operating environments that have been used in the past.
The company said that by aggregating and sharing computing resources, from networks to servers to storage, a cloud computing model will help the Alliance deploy IT capabilities more broadly, quickly and cost effectively.
The project supports NATO’s efforts to restructure the alliance to meet 21st century technology challenges, and will be developed by IBM at the Headquarters of the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (HQ SACT) in Norfolk, Virginia.
IBM global public sector general manager Anne Altman said the company was pleased to share its expertise in cloud computing with NATO.
"Cloud computing has the potential to dramatically improve decision-making based on real-time data and lay a strong foundation for greater focus on innovation so that NATO can achieve its complex mission requirements," Altman said.
