Military eyes new technology

Officials who led the 2004 Joint Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (JWID) cited nine of 61 trials as capable of providing capabilities to the military during the next 18 months.

The trials, which occurred during the annual military exercise last summer, ranged from encryption and public-key infrastructure to network management and network boundary control technologies. Officials at Northern Command served as the host combatant commander and the Defense Information Systems Agency was the lead agency for JWID.

"JWID provides the opportunity for information sharing among many entities including homeland security and homeland defense partners, Department of Defense agencies, private industry, and coalition partners," according to the "JWID Final Report" released last week. "Participants examine new and emerging command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance technologies and explore solutions to interoperability challenges in a multidomain environment."

A military agency sponsors each trial. Two of the nine promising trials involved technologies from private-sector companies. The nine trials included:

• Voltage's VIBE Security Platform: Identity-based encryption. Sponsored by Northcom, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
• Multi-Role Boundary Control Information Server Support: Cross-domain information sharing and multilevel security. Sponsored by Northcom, DARPA.
• Mission Assurance Decision Support Capability Suite: Interoperable decision support for homeland defense, civil support, and operational planning and support for domestic emergencies. Sponsored by Northcom, DISA, Navy, Air Force.
• Total Domain: Enterprise application integration connecting business and mission-critical systems in a scalable, cross-platform messaging infrastructure. Sponsored by Northcom.
• Area Security Operations Command and Control: Real-time, interoperable alert, collaboration and visualization for force protection and homeland defense here and abroad. Sponsored by Northcom.
• NetScout Systems' Performance Manager 2.01: Hardware and software that simplifies network management and makes visible the entire network and applications. Sponsored by DISA.
• Public Key Infrastructure Express and Interop Express: Secure message exchange across domains by coalition nations without exposing internal authentic data. Sponsored by DISA.
• NetTop: Multiple network access from one workstation. Sponsored by National Security Agency.
• Secure Network Server: Automated information sharing among networks operating at multiple information security levels by enforcing independent security policies between each level. Sponsored by Northcom.

"Data networks have assumed a critical role in executing global intelligence and warfighting," said Jim Frey, vice president of marketing at NetScout Systems, in a statement. "The significant communications occurring on these networks has to be protected from a performance standpoint and because of this, we are seeing increased interest in NetScout's technology, which provides very granular, real-time views of what users and applications are doing in these networks."

JWID began in 1994 as an idea to apply lessons from Operation Desert Storm in 1991 to future combat scenarios. Lessons from the virtual military exercise held yearly by the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff also provide information on which technologies to buy.

To view the report, go to: https://www.cwid.js.mil/public/cwid05fr/pdffiles/briefs.pdf