The days of mobile devices being viewed as luxury items have passed. More than half the world’s population owns a mobile device, allowing users to stay connected almost anywhere in the world.
Mobile devices are not only utilized for personal use but also as a necessary tool to stay linked to the workplace. The need for secure mobile communications is directly related to the Navy’s operational mission requirements and the continuous command and control needs of our warfighters.
Personnel at Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific (SSC Pacific) and SSC Atlantic are developing Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS), a mobile device platform intended to provide Navy personnel with secure mobile access to Navy applications and data, anytime, anywhere from any device. Without this capability, warfighters might need to employ non-supported, incompatible and costly systems to accomplish their missions.
The MaaS project is pursuing the ability to provide information technology (IT) administrators with comprehensive control of mobile devices, applications, and data. The infrastructure is comprised of four main components: Mobile Device Management (MDM), Mobile Application Management (MAM), Mobile Content Management (MCM), and mobile Public Key Infrastructure (mPKI). MDM enables one to enroll a device into the enterprise environment, configure and update device settings over-the-air, and secure that mobile device. MAM provides the ability to acquire, distribute, secure, track, and manage mobile applications across mobile devices. MCM provides secure mobile access to content anytime, anywhere. mPKI securely provisions over-the-air PKI soft certificates to a mobile device based upon a user’s CAC credentials.
SSC Pacific engineers are using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) infrastructure to develop MaaS, and implementing it in the cloud for added security, efficiency, scalability, and replication. This type of infrastructure has the ability to enhance and increase the Navy’s productivity while supporting the prevention of major security issues in the ever-evolving mobile world. Furthermore, it supports Information Dominance by providing the Warfighter with greater access to information sources that aid in the decision-making process.
The Naval Innovative Science and Engineering (NISE) program is funding the MaaS project at SSC Pacific. This project is being developed within the Research, Development, Test & Evaluation (RDT&E) network and looks to become a service center offering on that network in FY15. Transition to the Navy enterprise is anticipated in FY16 and beyond.
For more information about Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific, please visit: http://www.public.navy.mil/spawar/Pacific/Pages/default.aspx.