Big Data affects nearly all of us in NASA and it is exploding – the average annual growth rate is 60% and by end of 2012, the digital universe is estimated to be 2.7 zettabytes.  Goddard manages enormous volumes of data related to building and maintaining satellites, analytical simulations, and support functions.

So what is Big Data? In the IT industry, Big Data is defined by four V’s: volume, velocity, variety, and veracity. Volume is the sheer amount of data. Velocity is the speed with which new data is created and existing data modified. Variety is the management of various data formats and types. Veracity is a concern of many business leaders; it is estimated that one in three CEO’s don’t trust the information they use. Also, I’ll add a fifth V, for Value, or the considerable usefulness of Big Data. It allows us to see data patterns and anomalies and shifts our decision-making from being reactive to proactive. So how is NASA managing the many challenges of Big Data? The NASA Open Government Plan outlines many of our approaches such as: managing and processing; archiving and distribution; and sharing data.

On managing and processing, here’s an example. The Mission Data Processing and Control System (MPCS) was recently used by the Curiosity rover on Mars. MPCS interfaces with NASA’s deep-space network, and in turn the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, to relay data to and from Curiosity and process the raw data in real time, a process which previously took hours, if not days, to accomplish.

For archiving and distribution, consider the Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) at Langley, which is processes, archives and distributes Earth science data, and the Planetary Data System (PDS), which contains considerable planetary science data. PDS offers access to over 100 TB of space images, telemetry, models, etc. associated with planetary missions from the past 30 years. 

NASA is a leader at sharing Big Data. The Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) manages and shares Earth science data from various sources – satellites, aircraft, field measurements, etc. The EOSDIS science operations are performed within 12 interconnected Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs), each with specific responsibilities for producing, archiving, and distributing Earth science data products.    

To enhance our ability to manage Big Data, I believe that the IT industry should adopt the Predictive Model Markup Language (PMML), an XML-based, vendor-agnostic markup language that provides an easier way to share predictive analytical model data. With PMML, proprietary issues and incompatibilities are no longer a barrier to the exchange of data and models between applications.  

One real world example of how NASA leverages its expertise in Big Data, and directly affects your life, is in the field of airline safety. NASA analyzes data from planes to study safety implications, which in turn helps to improve the maintenance procedures of commercial airlines and potentially prevent equipment failures. Using advanced algorithms, the agency helps sift through mountains of unstructured data to find key information that helps predict and prevent safety problems.

BYOD, or “bring your own device,” is an increasing request by Goddard employees and contractors. Simply, BYOD enables staff to use their own computers, smartphones, tablets and other technologies at work.  There are many benefits – allowing users to choose devices they are comfortable with improves job satisfaction. BYOD makes telecommuting more feasible and reduces duplicative devices. Goddard benefits from BYOD too – we save money on hardware, software and device maintenance. And, staff tends to upgrade to the latest hardware and software quicker than Goddard does.  

But there are a number of challenges with BYOD.  Smartphones and tablets are susceptible to worms, viruses, Trojans and spyware just like desktops. Eavesdropping is an issue since carrier-based wireless networks lack end-to-end security. Theft of devices can result in a loss of sensitive NASA data. Finally, users may be concerned that Goddard has access to sensitive personal data.   

Virtualization helps us to overcome these challenges. Virtual desktops and applications are delivered to end users on any device. Little, if any, data is actually stored on the device; instead, data is requested and displayed as needed, reducing the risk of data loss. We conducted a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) pilot this summer and will initiate a proof-of-concept study by allowing Goddard employees and visiting scientists to connect to NASA data using VDI and their own devices.

We are developing policies for allowing personal devices to connect to our network. These policies will cover who gets a mobile device, who pays for it, what constitutes acceptable use, user responsibilities, and the range of devices ITCD will support. Our Mobile Device Management (MDM) system will monitor, manage and support these personal devices. It will provide central remote management of devices including the distribution of applications, data and configuration settings, and remote wipes.  And, it will position us to better meet the needs of our customers.

Last week, I shared an article, Federal IT Faces Budget Pressure, with Goddard’s IT leadership team.  This article predicts that federal agencies will have to move towards vendor-managed cloud computing solutions within the next 5 years to accommodate future budget cuts.   We recently received guidance that 10% cuts would be made to all federal IT budgets within the next fiscal year, so the author’s prediction of this cost-saving initiative comes as no surprise.   During the discussion, I advised our team that outsourcing initiatives have become a harsh reality for the way in which we do business today, and we need to continue to be proactive and adapt.  

An increased reliance on vendors for the management and maintenance of some of our services is not against the norm for Goddard Space Flight Center or NASA.  For example, if we examine the amazing work underway at our Wallops Flight Facility and the private-public partnership that has been established with Orbital Corporation, it is a visible example our future business model.  Orbital’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) operational system consists of an International Space Station (ISS) visiting vehicle, a new privately-developed medium-class launch vehicle, and all necessary mission planning and operations facilities and services.

Orbital is developing and qualifying a new launch vehicle (called Antares) to enable lower-cost COTS launches as well as future NASA science and exploration, commercial and national security space missions. Antares will combine Orbital’s industry-leading experience in developing, building and operating small launch vehicles with Wallops Flight Facilities’ industry leading range operations to provide services in a more cost-effective fashion.

Our IT programs, organizations, and scientific missions will need to use this same strategic approach with Goddard’s infrastructure capabilities- namely, containerized computing- considering our fiscal constraints.  Containerized computing offers a fee-for-service model that can be monitored, measured, and tailored to scientific demands that we have at each Center.  A reduction in our IT funding will inevitably decrease our ability to procure appropriate resources for cloud/containerized computing services; therefore, outsourcing will potentially be both a short and long-term solution.   Short-term we would be able to “do more with less”, and long-term, we would be able to facilitate partnerships to ensure and sustain security compliance, infrastructure compatibility, etc.

Overall, vendor-managed cloud computing will allow us to re-prioritize and reallocate those existing resources that we do have into other IT service areas.   We will then be able to focus our talents on improving operating inefficiencies and innovation across the Center.  It may be a shift in the way that the federal government has done business previously, but for NASA, it’s business as usual.

IT governance aligns the Agency’s and Center’s  IT strategies with its mission and business strategy and ensures that our Center will stay on track to achieve programmatic and mission  goals, in a manner that produces an IT architecture that is efficient, effective,  scalable, and measurable.  We must also take into account stakeholder (e.g., Congress, public sector partners, industry, academia, etc.) interests and take them into account and  establish processes to ensure measurable results.  Essentially, an IT governance framework should answer these fundamental questions:

• How closely aligned is IT to the strategic direction of the Agency or Center?
• How are IT requirements identified, validated, and funded?
• How is the IT managed  overall?
• What are the specific metrics required to effectively manage the Center’s IT resources?
•  What is the return on investment?
• What are the risks and how are they being managed?

• Strategic Alignment – link the mission to IT investment
• Value Delivery – ensure the IT investment delivers the benefits promised
• Resource Management – project management personified
• Risk Management – establish a formal framework for analysis and management of all risks
• Performance Measures – are we meeting the business goals, how are we reporting them, and how often are we measuring

So how do we successfully embrace the structures and processes of IT governance? We align our IT strategy with the missions of GSFC to deliver maximum value, and establish a solid portfolio management system that integrates and lays out project components to clearly identify how assigned resources lead to the accomplishment of our goals.  This structured policy, along with senior managing governance boards, combines to ensure that IT investments are synchronized with the missions of the various organizations, thereby providing full value to GSFC. 

If there’s one thing that’s certain in today’s changing economic and technological climate, it’s that “business as usual” is a thing of the past. To remain at the forefront of scientific discovery within increasing fiscal constraints, we are compelled as an Agency to do things differently.
 
On August 8, 2011 the White House released a pivotal memorandum regarding Chief Information Officer Authorities (OMB M-11-29) that underscores this point. The memo explicitly redirects the authority and responsibility of Agency CIOs away from just policymaking and infrastructure maintenance, to encompass true portfolio management for all information technology (IT) investments. The memorandum explains that the shift is intended to eliminate the barriers that get in the way of effective management of Federal IT programs.
 
The memo <http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/08/08/changing-role-federal-chief-information-officers> now directs Agency CIOs to take a lead role in four main areas:

1. Governance

·       Drive the investment review process for the entire IT portfolio of an Agency

·       Lead “Tech-Stat” sessions intended to improve line-of-sight between project teams and senior executives

·       Terminate or turn around one-third of all underperforming  IT investments by June of 2012

2.  Commodity IT

·       Eliminate duplication and rationalize IT investments

·       Pool the agency’s purchasing power across the entire organization to drive down costs and improve service for commodity IT

·       Show a preference for using shared services instead of standing up separate independent services

3.  Program Management

·       Identify, recruit, and hire top IT program management talent

·       Take accountability for the performance of IT program managers

4.  Information Security

·       Implement an agency-wide security program

·       Implement continuous monitoring and standardized risk assessment processes supported by “CyberStat” sessions

As I read the memorandum, I was struck by the timing—the Center is positioned to take advantage of these very improvements. We need to begin leveraging IT as a strategic asset for growth, which can occur only if leadership has visibility and influence into the broad scope of our IT investments (e.g., infrastructure, mission, and corporate). If we pool our resources, reduce duplication, create strategic partnerships, and leverage our IT investments in a strategic manner, we can provide increased capabilities to the Center at a competitive or reduced price point—in other words, we can position the Center “to remain competitive and thrive in any budget climate.”

The role of the CIO is changing to encompass more visibility and responsibility for managing a broader spectrum of IT. I look forward to partnering and collaborating with our customers across the Center as we develop and execute a strategy for IT that enables the mission of the Center and Agency.
 

First steps for Goddard

As I review the steps Goddard will need to take to comply with the new guidelines, I recognize the magnitude of the change. As the Center CIO, I must work with Center stakeholders and take a hard look at our current and future IT requirements to outline a technical plan that will position our Center to be as competitive as possible to achieve long-term sustainability and mission growth. Our workforce must be part of the solution.  Therefore, we must develop an aligned, skilled, and agile IT workforce equipped to achieve service and operational excellence in this competitive and dynamic environment.

Effectively using IT as a strategic asset will require partnering in ways we have never partnered before. I will need to reach out to many of you to establish stronger relationships in order to truly understand how I can enable your mission requirements through IT. I ask for your patience and help as I begin this effort.

While ideological battles over large-scale fiscal reform play out in the media every day, we have a very real need to enable the NASA mission through information technology.  We must improve IT service quality, lower costs, and streamline IT governance practices and deliver secure, scalable, and efficient IT services, products, and operations. These are common goals to achieve a common good that the entire Center can strive for!

In conclusion I ask the following questions: Does the challenging budget climate offer opportunities for the Center to come together? Are there opportunities to share services, capabilities, and assets? Are there opportunities to lower costs and spur growth using innovation models, such as the “open-source methodology?”  In my opinion, that answer is a resounding “yes.” We must encourage, embrace, and accept new ideas and manage the associated risks in order to solve today’s problems and anticipate tomorrow’s challenges.

On June 22, 2011, I presented at the Third Annual Cloud Computing World Forum in London.  An estimated 5,000 attendees, over 120 speakers, and 200 private and public vendors participated in this forum that featured all of the key players within the Cloud Computing (CC) and Software as a Service (SaaS) industries.  I enjoyed the opportunity to represent our Agency at the forum, and I presented Cloud as a Game-Changing Business Strategy with the mindset that if used effectively, it will be able to reduce the cost and schedule of various projects’ life cycles.

As a highly technical, governmental agency, NASA’s success leans heavily on its computing capabilities.  Utilizing the most efficient and effective approaches for storage, processing, and bandwidth is imperative to ensure our continuing.

Mission-based projects within our agency often have very long IT life cycles, and they are also usually one of a kind and complex:  high-stake endeavors.  Decisions for missions begin early in the strategic planning phase.  Due to long lead times for procurement of hardware, IT acquisitions also happen early in the life cycle.  Next, because of the long life cycle, upgrades need to occur regularly; otherwise, what was new when the planning began will be obsolete by the actual launch date.  In addition, the necessary compute must be estimated far in advance of when it will actually be needed, which can hinder the interoperability of a project’s components.  Another important aspect is that duplicate IT environments are sometimes created from the variety of projects (e.g., duplicative developmental environments, integration environments, and test environments) resulting also in the duplication of software, hardware, and licenses.  Furthermore, additional certifications are necessary for any duplicative environment.  These are obvious drawbacks of our current system.  However, CC, when strategically used, offers solutions to many of these scenarios.  With the availability of on-demand access to compute and incredible scalability (elasticity), there is no need for advanced estimating, duplicative environments, non-sharing of expensive licensing, and non-sharing of HW and SW.

The above said, CC is not a one-size-fits-all solution, because some systems (e.g., embedded systems) do not fall within CC’s use cases.  For example, there is some risk involved when dealing with highly sensitive or complex missions.  Also, there are other obstacles, which would need to be considered carefully before proceeding:  such as the introduction of possible complications to a project or potential security risks.  Additionally, latency can become an issue once data and applications become distributed and certain spectrums of compute (e.g., tightly coupled supercomputing) are needed.  Lastly, cultural resistance to change (if disruptive enough to a particular organization) can be a good reason to hold off on a rapid migration to CC.

In order for an organization to utilize CC as a game-changing business strategy, it should be implemented strategically.  First, determine where CC can bring the most value to the organization; next, gauge the levels of potential willingness for adoption.  Finally, choose an appropriate approach for execution:  an enterprise-wide or a project-by-project approach.  The enterprise approach was discussed above, so I will address the project-centric approach next.

            For certain organizations, as discussed above, it may not be feasible to implement CC on an enterprise-wide basis.  An alternative then is to use CC on a project-by-project basis.  Such would be possible for six different types of projects.

1.     Those that need the latest IT on a “just-in-time” basis.  E.g., system or mission development and construction or renovations of buildings.

2.     Projects that need stop-gap capability such as transferring information, consolidating servers, or reorganizing a data center.

3.     Risks associated with projects, businesses, and change such as indecisive funding, changes in demand, or significant changes to IT.

4.     Missions facing challenging funding such as cyclic demands or economic downturns.

5.     Improving new projects to include utilizing CC until the scope is understood or as you need compute.

6.     Proofs of concepts.  E.g., Scoping of network performance, and scoping workstation or server performance.

            In summary, CC should be embedded in the project-management process to ensure business success, risk mitigation, significant cost savings, a better understanding of compute requirements, and the ability to obtain the latest technologies when buying new hardware.  If executed properly, organizations will be able to utilize CC as a game-changing business strategy.

Today, more than ever, is the ideal time for the Federal Government to focus on improving operating inefficiencies and reducing the costs of IT investments as opposed to spending over $80 billion per year as it has done in the past.  One alternative- which Federal Chief Information Officer, Vivek Kundra, strives to implement in his 25-point plan for IT Reform - is a “Cloud First Policy.”   This policy requires that agencies default to cloud-based solutions whenever a secure, reliable, cost-effective cloud option exists.   This will ultimately improve operating inefficiencies and overall service delivery for Federal agencies.

In December 2010, NASA’s Ames Research Center and Goddard Space Flight Center collaborated to spearhead efforts to provide cloud computing as a viable option to NASA scientists and engineers.

NASA’s computing strategy involves various technologies to include Cloud Computing (CC). Currently, NASA has invested in the OpenStack software for CC and is working to operationalize a specific version of this software, which NASA calls Nebula.  The Nebula CC software will provide NASA personnel, who need a private CC solution, with IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service); later implementations of Nebula will offer PaaS (Platform as a Service).  

NASA is also working on various technologies that support the conservation of energy (i.e., so-called Green Technologies) and the environment (i.e., so-called Clean Technologies) such as containerized computing, which offers energy efficiency, a compact footprint, dense computing power, and reduces the demand for computing facilities within buildings.  A few other technologies, which NASA has as part of its computing strategy are:

·    Thin-client, zero-client, and remote thick-client technologies;

·    Data-center consolidations;

·    Server consolidations via virtual computing environments (VCEs) and CC environments (CCEs);

·    Implementing Green Technologies and Clean Technologies in new building endeavors as well as renovations of existing buildings;

·    Computing-environment consolidations;

·    Smart manufacturing environments that provide improved capabilities, availability, safety, reliability, and agility; and

·    An IT Storefront concept, which provides a mechanism for allowing customers and users to specify their needs in their terms and let the underlying storefront software select a best-practice solution.  This may be a CC solution, a mobility solution, a thick- or thin-client solution, or a combination of these or something else.

Either way, utilization of these technologies will not only help NASA’s personnel to focus more on their missions and less on computing infrastructures; but it will also help the Agency to accrue benefits from innovations, improve resource utilization, and ultimately lead to sustainability that is critical in our current fiscal environment.

 
In the upcoming months, I'm excited to see the how CC will play a role in our science here at Goddard Space Flight Center.  Eventually, the phrase, take it to the Cloud, will be commonly iterated amongst our scientists and engineers.