Open Architecture: A Small Business Perspective

Defense Daily Open Architecture SummitNovember 2011

Thomas Conrad

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Company Overview

Established January 3, 2000

Employee Centric; SDVOSB

A Seasoned Workforce of 150+ Employees

Provide Production Quality Products and High Value Services

Maintain an Aggressive Cost Structure

Nationally Recognized as an Innovative Solution Provider

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Combat System of the Future

Transformation to Total Ship Mission Execution

SystemData

Push

Mission Based

Decision Pull

Non-Propulsion Electronics Systems

HM&E

. . .

APB Improvements HM&E Improvements Other Improvements Net Centric Warfare Improvements

Off-Board Assets

Key Interdependencies Impact Mission Effectiveness

Feed back needed Improvements to OptimizeDecision Support Technologies & Information Management

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)

Total Ship Command & Control CenterCommand Decision Support System (CDSS)

Command Decision Support Applications

Addressing the Challenges of the Warfighter

Efficiently absorb Information & Improvementsthrough Integration/OA Technologies

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The Deployable Systems Mandate

Vendor-independent, Scalable, Real-Time, Reliable, Interoperable, Flexible, Secure, Survivable, Portable, Redundant, Damage-Resistant, Low-Cost, Long-Life, Commercial, Plug-Together Elements

Easy to Test, Use, Train, Game, and Simulate

Minimum Defense Department Staff for Design, Deployment, Operation, and Maintenance

An Inter-Operable Information Architecture

If you’re a small business, how do you enter that market?

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Small Business Challenges

Investment dollars are precious Very limited ability to proceed at risk

Limited ability to pursue multiple ideas simultaneously

SBIR funds are important

Protecting intellectual property is very important There are not broad product lines but a focused niche

The corporate crown jewels are on the line

Teaming is important to gain market access

Fielding products demands demonstrated quality Typically need to integrate with/embed within larger systems

Many special requirements (IA, high reliability, HSI, fail-safe, etc.)

Organic test environments cost prohibitive

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Impact of OA

Small Businesses will not likely become the new LSI’s, but Can become suppliers of piece parts given well-defined interfaces to an open

architecture Requires standard Integration and Compatibility Framework

SBIR provides an opportunity to gain access to the marketplace with a particular innovation

OA facilitates teaming

No need to give away the internal workings of a product to make it play with other products

Opens the door to teaming not just with other small businesses, but with major defense firms as well (SB must hedge bets here – High volatility in DoD market)

OA enables product validation without huge investment in test-beds and simulators

Small businesses can participate in integration testing through WANs that interface to big business test-beds or by delivery to such test-beds which are architected to open standards

This facilitates establishment of confidence in small business development capabilities and breeds future collaboration opportunities

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TPC-10(R-S)042011.2

System architecture supports, through modularity and standard interfaces, the replacement of hardware and/or software components by components that are equivalent or superior, albeit of different manufacture or production.

System architecture supports, through modularity and standard interfaces, the replacement of hardware and/or software components by components that are equivalent or superior, albeit of different manufacture or production.

System architecture exhibits a logical and physical topology that facilitates interconnection and interoperability with external systems.

System architecture exhibits a logical and physical topology that facilitates interconnection and interoperability with external systems.

System implementation and structure provide straight-forward mechanisms for system extension and subsetting.

System implementation and structure provide straight-forward mechanisms for system extension and subsetting.

Integrating framework incorporates no special purpose, application-specific, or proprietary components.

Integrating framework incorporates no special purpose, application-specific, or proprietary components.

Open Architecture is not a binary condition

Openness

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Framework is the Key

Collaboration works well where the customer owns an integration and compatibility framework that is open

The IC Framework defines and constrains the growth paths.

A third party can build it for you but must not own it.

The Integration and Compatibility Framework is the enabler for open systems. It is the venue for other parties to supply new capability.

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Worth Pondering

Brave New World?

Government to prescribe/acquire an open integration and compatibility framework

Contract with small/intermediate business to maintain and manage the framework

Includes architecture validation of products plugging in to the framework

Separate contracting for application development and integration efforts

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The Silver Bullet

Is not Software Environments

Nor are any of these the Mission.

Is not High Order Languages

Is not Performance Based Specifications

Is not COTS

Is not Open Architecture

Is not Service Oriented Architecture

Is not the Cloud

Is not Best Software Engineering Practices