Lisa Costa, chief information officer at U.S. Special Operations Command, told C4ISRNET in an interview published Wednesday that software-defined networking, next-gen laptop and Special Operations Forces hybrid cloud are the emerging networking capabilities SOCOM is investigating. Costa said SOCOM’s cloud strategy is based on application modernization and cloud development.
“The command leverages hyperconverged infrastructure already on the network to host private cloud and take advantage of commercial cloud providers to host our containerized applications,†she added. She cited some of the challenges that SOCOM faces with networked communications, including the increasing demand for near real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data, cybersecurity and IPv6.
Costa said the command is fielding application-centric infrastructure, which she said “will provide orchestration capability, as well as a firewall-like capability to manage network traffic.†She also mentioned SOCOM’s role in the development of the Link 16 AN/PRC-161 handheld tactical radio, AN/PRC-163 handheld radio and the NG Manpack RF-345 tactical radio and the command’s efforts to advance the 5G technology.