U.S. Department of Defense Embraces Cloud IT
01 April 2011
In a recent announcement, U.S. Army General Keith Alexander made a forthright move towards cloud adoption for the Department of Defense. Alexander, who is head of the U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency, is making an effort to consolidate and secure the DOD’s network by transitioning the organization’s infrastructure to a “… thin, cloud, virtual cloud environment, analogous to … Google, AT&T, and others.”
This model of IT infrastructure tightens up the DOD’s security by consolidating thousands of endpoint computers — all containing sensitive information— to several highly protected locations. Only those with adequate credentials can access information held in the data centers, instead of potentially anyone in the physical proximity of an endpoint.
Along with improving security, the consolidation of the DOD’s widespread network will translate into significant cost savings. By utilizing secure multi-tenancy within its data centers, the DOD will enable other intelligence agencies to tap into its cloud infrastructure, reducing overall IT spend.
-McAfee Cloud Security
