DISA’s Role in JIE Sparks Opportunity in IT Infrastructure

by Kevin Shaker, Analyst, Market Intelligence

For more than 5 years the broad mission statement within government IT has remained constant: save money and time while increasing efficiency. As part of DISA’s reorganization they’re still in the process of investing in networking and infrastructure solutions that will save future IT dollars.

Here are 3 things COTS vendors need to know about DISA’s new plan and its future impact on  infrastructure purchases:

1.) Efficiency is Key in Creating an Improved JIE

Last month DISA released a 5-year IT agenda aimed at cutting costs and reworking the network infrastructure, aligning with their goal of creating a pure Joint Information Environment (JIE). The plan calls for the integration of multiple encrypted network enclaves into a hyper-converged infrastructure. This means that if you’re a vendor offering consolidation, network administration, or virtualization products, you will want to reach out to DISA IT personnel with messaging on how your product can eliminate redundancies within the Pentagon’s information system framework, the IT infrastructure backbone of DOD.

2.) IT Consolidation is Driving DISA’s New Operational Role

Ultimately, the agenda will allow DISA to synchronize network operations and security across DOD agencies, the Services, and the Joint Force Headquarters DOD Information Network (JFHQ DoDIN), the organization taking over future operational command and control of DOD network tasks. Right now, JFHQ DoDIN is at initial operating capability, with full operating capability (FOC) planned in FY17. Consolidating networks and IT infrastructure will help with network defense as DISA takes on its new operational role. Along with the consolidation and integration efforts, the plan also calls for leveraging commercially available cloud technology, so this is a good time for cloud vendors to help DISA and the larger DOD roll out their cloud strategy and implementation.

3.) BYOD is Back and Bigger than Ever

Among the plans outlined in the agenda, CIO David Bennett, emphasizes the importance of bringing higher-level mobility products to the agency. Opportunities have emerged for not only Enterprise mobility developers, but also application engineers and mobile security vendors. Basically, if you offer technology that will enable DISA personnel to work securely over any device ― across any network, you will have a role in their plan. Less than a month old, DISA’s 5-year vision is still in its infancy, which means that there’s a potential for all types of vendors to get involved in helping DISA achieve its IT goals by 2020 as they increase the role they play in enterprise services throughout the DOD.

If you need help identifying top decision-makers and opportunities within DISA or other government agencies, Contact immixGroup’s industry-leading Market Intelligence team today to learn about specific offices and contacts that have a pressing need for your solution.