NATO takes up cloud computing

Governments and agencies around the world have embraced cloud computing as a means of saving money on data storage and increasing efficiency. NATO is expected to soon join the list.

According to John Miller of the Wall Street Journal, NATO has begun “touting its own entry into cloud computing.” That entry is a software system that is being deployed at Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia.

In an effort to keep data secure, the system will only be made available to a few dozen people at first and will not be connected to the internet.

NATO’s vast supply of data sources made building the cloud network difficult. “If you’re at NATO HQ, you have all these feeds coming in,” said E.J. Herold, director of the project, to Wall Street Journal. “A drone sending in full-motion video, a radar on an aircraft, human sensors on patrol.”

According to Johan Goossens, a technology manager at the organization's Norfolk center, the cloud network can also be used to streamline complex international situations, such as when a wounded soldier is taken to another country’s hospital for treatment.

Cloud computing has also taken off in other areas of the U.S. government. The Obama administration has instituted a “cloud first” policy that requires agencies to seek cloud-based solutions to IT problems whenever possible.