Cloud

Air Force Faces Cloud Transition ‍Challenges ‍as Cloud One Sunset Approaches

The Air Force is navigating a complex migration of workloads from its now-canceled $1.4 billion Cloud One contract to the Joint Warfighting⁣ Cloud Capability (JWCC),‍ a Department of defense-wide cloud contracting vehicle⁢ managed by the Defense Information Services Agency⁢ (DISA). The ⁣shift, mandated⁤ by the Pentagon, aims to⁣ streamline cloud purchasing and‌ reduce departmental “sprawl,” but raises‌ concerns about costs and potential re-engineering efforts.

Acting DOD CIO Katie arrington informed the House Armed Services Cyber, Information Technologies and​ Innovation ‌Subcommittee ⁤on May 8th that the Pentagon intends to consolidate cloud‍ procurement under centralized ​contracts like JWCC, following​ the Army’s recent selection of JWCC as its primary cloud provider.⁤ “We are actively streamlining cloud contracting and reducing sprawl,” she stated.

Former DOD Deputy⁢ Chief Information Officer Jack Wilmer explained the benefits of joint purchasing, noting the DOD’s critically important buying power.”By negotiating department-wide, rather than⁣ service by service, you actually combine your buying power into one enterprise offering, [and] you can get better terms for ‍the government.”⁢ He also highlighted the advantage of a unified voice for⁤ addressing⁣ security and interoperability with Cloud Service providers (CSPs).

While both Cloud One and JWCC utilize the same hyperscale providers – AWS, Microsoft Azure, Oracle, and‌ Google Public Cloud ‍- they differ in service availability. A program manager‌ involved in the transition cautioned, “There’s not as many services available [in JWCC] that our customers currently use,” potentially requiring re-engineering of workloads initially built on Cloud One. this transition is proving resource-intensive, with significant personnel⁤ hours dedicated to minimizing disruption for customers.

A key challenge lies in JWCC’s competitive bidding process, designed to drive down costs. However, this‍ structure makes it tough to accurately predict expenses and determine whether the ⁣transition‍ will ultimately result in savings.

The complete ‌migration from Cloud One is not anticipated until ‍next summer. Notably, the JWCC contract itself is set to expire‌ in 2027,⁤ to be replaced by DISA’s planned‌ successor, JWCC Next. This timeline means customers will face ‍another transition shortly after ⁤completing the move from Cloud ‌One,⁢ as ‌one program manager pointed out: “We’ll just have finished this transition and then [the customers] will have to turn round and do another transition to JWCC Next.”

The customers impacted by this transition include teams ‌relying on systems like ELICSAR, a database security system⁢ used to detect hacking attempts and⁢ anomalies, as well as‌ those utilizing⁣ Air University applications encompassing admissions, enrollment,‍ graduation data, ⁢course offerings, and student records.