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Four months ago, Brigadier General Jeth Rey led a鈥� 700-member team in Afghanistan to deconstruct a鈥� 20-year-old聽network architecture established for聽the U.S. military. As director of the Network Cross-Function Team, Army Futures Command, Rey recounted聽his experiences at 鈥淲inning with the Network: Securing Data in Motion to the Tactical Edge,鈥� an online panel sponsored by 有料盒子APP, which I had the honor of moderating.聽

Rey聽explained聽that his biggest聽challenge聽was聽to maintain聽data flow聽across the joint forces聽as his聽team dismantled the聽infrastructure聽which, for two decades, supported聽that聽information exchange.聽Rey聽conquered the聽challenge聽by聽replacing聽the聽legacy IT infrastructure聽with聽a cloud-native聽network.聽Free of physical data center constraints,聽the cloud-native聽approach offered聽increased data聽storage, resilience to聽server crashes,聽increased flexibility in聽data access, and聽faster聽data transmission.

There聽is聽much to聽learn from Rey鈥檚 success, particularly as聽the聽U.S. Indo-Pacific聽Command 鈥痑ims to聽deliver聽a聽Mission Partner Environment聽(MPE)聽by the summer聽of聽2022. The aim of an MPE is to聽support聽rapid,聽secure information transfer聽among聽the joint forces and聽trusted聽international聽allies.聽To聽maximize聽speed to insight, data optimization, and聽scalability,聽the MPE should eschew聽traditional聽IT聽infrastructure聽in favor of a data-centric, cloud-native聽network.聽As the Department of Defense builds toward聽this future state, there are two factors聽that stand out as critical to聽MPE success: 1) establishing zero-trust security and 2)聽building with聽an聽open聽architecture approach.

First, let鈥檚 explore聽the question of security.聽Legacy network infrastructure has traditionally relied on cross-domain鈥� security solutions that transfer data between two systems with a physical network cable. This approach has drawbacks, especially for an MPE: log-in delays, crashes, and no access for users in remote locations. Another common security solution is a firewall, a network security device that filters network traffic. The problem with a firewall? If an adversary manages to hack it, they鈥檝e crossed the moat into your data kingdom and can wreak havoc as they wish.

Zero-trust security overcomes these drawbacks by securing data at multiple checkpoints. You can liken it to Revolutionary聽War couriers sending longhand intelligence. Spies and informants developed a code for their intelligence, wrote it in invisible ink, sealed it with a wax signet, and used a key to decode the cipher. Zero trust doesn鈥檛 just build a wall. It continuously verifies a user鈥檚 attributes: identity, device, behavior patterns, endpoint hardware, geolocation, and more, before granting access to the data. This approach is vital for MPE. It eliminates the prerequisite of access to a secure mission enclave in order to share data. Zero trust enables coalition members, interagency partners,聽non-governmental organizations, and other trusted partners to 鈥痑ccess information from a single interface, such as a laptop or mobile phone, making the information-sharing process more flexible.鈥�鈥�

鈥疦ow,聽let鈥檚 consider the benefits of聽building聽the MPE with聽an open architecture聽approach.聽An聽open architecture聽system聽utilizes聽solutions from multiple vendors.聽You can liken the process of launching an 鈥痮pen architecture 鈥痚nvironment to 鈥痷pdating a聽1940s brick-and-mortar home to an AI-powered smart house. 鈥疶he first step is to 鈥痵tart with the聽home鈥檚聽network:鈥� Upgrade the connectivity from a landline to 5G router. Next, collect data with 鈥痵ensors, actuators, and鈥� cameras. From there, automate temperature, water use, and security. Instead of building an expensive home from the ground up, modernize along the way with technology that is affordable, modular, and augments the infrastructure.鈥�鈥�

鈥疉n open architecture approach to a joint forces MPE begins similarly, with a shift in the network from a hardware-based infrastructure to a cloud-based聽data fabric.聽Instead of purchasing a billion-dollar proprietary solution that could be obsolete in 5 years, the MPE鈥� can聽evolve with open-source鈥� solutions that are 鈥痶ailored to fit the聽network. This enables the phased rollout of 鈥痑 scalable, context-aware environment鈥� that integrates new technology and adapts over time.鈥�鈥�

Utilizing the cloud is key to reducing reliance on data centers and聽increasing聽speed to insight in a mission partner environment. Secret mission enclaves and cross-domain solutions will still play a critical role in the MPE. But cloud-native networking聽developed with open architecture principles and聽secured with zero-trust offers an effective alternative when international allies need a rapid and flexible means of sharing intelligence from remote locations.