The Defense Information Systems Agency is planning to release a “container as a service” product in the coming months that will help synchronise the Defense Department’s many cloud environments. The project aims to make data centres central to the Defense Department’s hybrid cloud environment by using commercial containers. The hybrid approach sometimes “raises an eyebrow” but there were a lot of benefits to a container-based approach.

A server is a server. So it is possible to do that on-premises. And where that becomes super powerful is when you have an on-prem container in the data centres, you have containers in the cloud. And now the nexus between the two is substantially easier and more standardised than it would have been previously

the container-as-a-service shift setup, which includes data centre personnel and those who came from the legacy Cloud Computing Program Office, could help develop new skill sets for the existing workforce. A minimum viable product of the service is expected this year.

One of the concepts is to take on both sides – both people that understand how to administer environments in the cloud, as well as people that understand how to administer environments in a traditional data centre – and create some overlap of experience and skillsets so that have a more organic cross-functional workforce.

The approach not only builds new skills for existing workers, which could help with retention but it also makes the agency more adaptable to changing mission needs. 2022 is a key year for DISA’s updated strategic approach to simplify and modernise the Defense Department’s IT infrastructure with more enterprise services and enhance cybersecurity.

Technology solutions, such as the cloud-based internet isolation (CBII) browser, that emerged from the pandemic response are now foundational to DISA’s strategy, which aims to provide a framework for what and how the agency acquires products and services in the coming years. CBII was DISA’s first taste of a successful other transaction authority acquisition that moved to production this year as it rolled out a tool that helps protect DOD’s network from cyber vulnerabilities that come from web-browsing.

In addition to cyber, the document also stresses the need for modernised infrastructure, including a plan to stand up a capability to improve endpoint security through user activity monitoring for Fourth Estate organisations in fiscal 2021.DISA is also working on “an infrastructure technical refresh” for its unclassified (NIPRnet) and secret (SIPRnet) networks in 2021 to improve computing abilities.

As reported by OpenGov Asia, A report titled “Government Cloud Platforms 2021–2022 RadarView” evaluated 15 providers based on product maturity, enterprise adaptability and future readiness. The report identifies four trends that are shaping the market. The first is the increasing compliance needs that are accelerating the shift to the cloud. The cloud helps agencies address sensitive workloads, such as those involving health care data while complying with requirements.

State and local governments are increasingly adopting cloud to lower IT and licensing costs. Cloud can help city councils manage and organise resources and foster communication and collaboration. It can help them securely store, analyse and process sensitive economic data, and they can more easily capture and process data from the internet of things and edge computing.

The second trend is the emergence of tailored cloud regions for communities such as defence and intelligence. Such regions can address the level of sensitive data that these communities work with, and these users can look to these isolated cloud resources to deploy workloads securely and compliantly.

The third trend is the fact that convergence with emerging technologies is driving change. Fourth, government cloud providers are expanding their influence by growing into new regions and helping the public sector shift to cloud while maintaining data governance and sovereignty. Moves toward modernisation, smart cities and a digital economy are driving governments to upgrade their IT infrastructure and cloud is the best way to ensure that data is securely and readily available.