Air Force jets soar through virtual clouds

Since its inception, the U.S. Air Force has pushed the limits of flight technology to reach ever greater heights. According to Network World, it recently enlisted the help of cloud computing to achieve this goal.

The Air Force announced that it will give the University of Illinois $6 million to develop a cloud computing center. Air Force commanders claim the cloud will help the service branch fulfill its global reach initiatives, Network World reported .

"We're trying to offer the military extended functionality, to implement a vision of global vigilance, global reach and global power, giving us the ability to meet overseas commitments," said Roy Campbell, principal investigator for the Air Force's Assured Cloud Computing Center.

The news source reported that the Air Force's cloud efforts will focus on specific areas and capabilities, which include "cloud monitoring, virtual machine design, formal protocol design, information and mission assurance." Furthermore, the ACC Center will collaborate with the Air Force's Laboratory Research Directorate to make sure that specific qualifications for the military cloud are met.

The cloud is now considered a secure enough computing platform to house sensitive government information. According to Forbes, the Pentagon has migrated some of its services to the cloud, which can be seen as a larger gesture to allay public fears regarding cloud security.