Engility eases cloud migration for IC agencies
Connecting state and local government leaders
Cloud ASCEND helps agencies determine which architectures and applications work best on what cloud platforms.
Agencies moving to the cloud face a burdensome and time-consuming task of evaluating cloud service providers and their capabilities. To ease that burden, especially for the national security community, Engility has launched its Cloud ASCEND product, which helps determine which systems work best on what platform.
The new service leverages several dynamic cloud analytic tools, including:
IBM’s Cloud Brokerage platform to analyze the solutions provided by each CSP in a cloud environment.
Engility’s cloud construction application, called the Burstorm Platform, helps users model, design, benchmark and optimize the cloud infrastructure. “Burstorm is connected to over 800 cloud service providers via an application program interface,” Kevin Jackson, Engility’s director of cloud solutions, told GCN. “In real time, you can not only test if the services are correct for your business needs, but also determine the best performance and price.”
CSA STARWatch manages security compliance based on the Cloud Security Alliance’s Security, Trust and Assurance Registry requirements. It “enables organizations to use the information about the controls within the cloud service provider to get better guidance on what data can go into the cloud and how best to protect the information,” Jackson said.
The Sequoia Combine infrastructure automation tool helps customers learn the best way to utilize the cloud. Sequoia simulates the intelligence community’s Cloud Commercial Service -- a completely separate cloud environment -- to allow for testing before providers decide to go through the process to become approved for the platform.
“It would be difficult and expensive for a company to take its commercial application and certify it for the intelligence community, especially if they have never worked in that environment before,” Jackson said. “This reduces the risk and costs of digital transformation for our customers.”
Engility’s main focus is working with defense agencies and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, but it is using the Cloud ASCEND product to branch out to other government agencies as well. The company has contracts with the Federal Aviation Administration, NASA and the Food and Drug Administration, Jackson said.
Cloud ASCEND is officially debuting at the annual GEOINT Symposium in San Antonio this week.
NEXT STORY: Building a better backup