1. Net-Centric Operations (NCO) Overview
Mark Bowler
Ken Cureton
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT

2. Agenda NCO: WHAT NCO: WHY
What is Net-Centric Operations?
What are basic NCO concepts?
NCO: WHY
What are the benefits?
What are the challenges of achieving NCO?
Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium
Who, what, where, and why
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT

3. What is Net-Centric Operations?
… an Information Age Transformation
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT

4. What is Net-Centric Operations?
Typical Tactical Expectation of NCO
Communications Network: Always Connected
Sensors: See First
Situational Awareness: Understand First
Integrated Command & Control: Act First
Force Projection: Finish Decisively
Is NCO Just for Tactical Operations?
Useful for Command & Control
Useful for Logistics
Useful for Training
Useful for Administrative Activities
Useful in our Personal Lives
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT

5. How is NCO different than today's Ops?
Today’s Challenges Include:
Point-to-point (non-networked) communications
“Stovepiped” systems
Joint & Coalition operations
Control of data
Security concerns
Analysis/Processing requirements
“Turf” concerns
Limited Budgets: Having to “Do More with Less”
Schedules: Too short to implement; Too long to obtain
Cultural Resistance: “That’s Not How We Do Things”
Fear
Challenge to NCO:
Can we REALLY overcome these obstacles?
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT

6. What are Basic NCO Concepts?
Net-Ready Systems
Systems can be connected to a common Communications Network to form a System-of-Systems
Individual Systems may be able to operate on their own
Systems may have their own internal networks
Overall Communications Network is often a Network-of-Networks
System elements are referred to as “Nodes”
Nodes are “Plug-and-Play” (not –Pay or –Pray)
Common mode of communications (for data, may also be for voice, video, etc.)
Common mode of information exchange
Note: common modes not necessarily the primary modes used in the node’s mission!
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT

7. What are Basic NCO Concepts?
Power To The Edge
End Users rapidly and efficiently obtain data and use capabilities to better perform their jobs
Hierarchical structure “flattened” as much as feasible
Eliminate intermediate “choke-points”
Goal: empower people to better operate within their RAA (Role – Accountability – Authority)
Not intended to violate hierarchy of command!!!
Not just the warfighter in the field at “the pointy end of the spear”– includes:
Maintenance personnel
Supply personnel
Administrative personnel
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT

8. What are Basic NCO Concepts?
Communities of Interest (COI)
Users rapidly and efficiently collaborate to achieve a common goal
Many kinds of common goals, ranging from:
Perform a Mission, to
“Birds of a Feather” flocking together
Collaboration:
Typically enabled via the network
Participants may be mostly independent, may be interdependent, may be hierarchical
May be tightly-coupled (highly dependent on each other) or loosely-coupled (mostly autonomous)
May be pre-planned or may be ad hoc with whatever/whoever is available
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT

9. What are Basic NCO Concepts?
Information Superiority
“Better” information than the opposing force
Better access to critical data
More timely access to critical data
Faster ability to understand full meaning of that data
Ability to seamlessly share that data and its importance
Common Operating Picture (COP)
All users drawing from common data, information, and knowledge to do their job
Shared understanding, usually near real-time
Synchronized to minimize ambiguity
Defined Ontology to minimize differing interpretation
Not necessarily meaning that all users can access everything!
Not necessarily just tactical users
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT

10. What are Basic NCO Concepts?
Interoperability
NCO-Enabled Systems must be:
Able to Find and Join the Network
Requires compatible communications capability
Able to Register Identity on the Network
Able to use network to Discover who can provide compatible data and services
Able to Exchange Data with other compatible systems
Usually via a packet-switching network
Usually via XML-formatted messages
May need Semantic translation or bridging
NCO-Enabled Systems don’t have to have:
Identical communications capability
Direct compatibility with all other systems
May use Gateways
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT

11. What are the Benefits of NCO?
TIME and AGILITY
Rapid access to crucial information
Rapid ability to understand that information and make appropriate decisions
Rapid ability to act on those decisions
Rapid ability to iterate the above as necessary
Imagine outcome of the following events, had all data at hand been comprehended in time:
Pearl Harbor
D-Day
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT

12. What are Other Benefits of NCO?
LOCATION INDEPENDENCE
Nodes able to communicate to other nodes by name (or logical identity)
And not know the physical location (or address) of the other node(s)
COLLABORATION
Allows multiple participants: may be
Independent, Interdependent, or Hierarchical
Tightly-coupled or Loosely-coupled
Planned or Ad hoc
People/Systems working together such that their combined power is greater than the sum of their individual capabilities
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT

13. What Are Risks of NOT achieving NCO?
Asymmetric Warfare: “Threats outside the range of conventional warfare & difficult to respond to in kind”
Opponents already have common communications (e.g. cell phones)
Opponents already have common information infrastructure that enables collaboration (e.g. the Internet)
Opponent infrastructure is not robust in the Military sense… but they’re NCO-enabled NOW (and you probably aren’t fully NCO for many years)
But note experience in Afghanistan and Iraq
“He Who Fails To Set The Standards First Is Doomed To Eventually Follow Standards Set By Others”
Standards that may not be your optimal choice
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT

14. The Goal?
The Global Information Grid (GIG)
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT

15. Additional Materials
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT

16. What is Net-Centric Operations?
“Net-Centric” rather than “Network-Centric”
Not just Network Technology (although understanding of network infrastructure is very important)
Key importance: enhanced ability to operate and use a system that has been enabled by network technology
It’s All About Being More Effective
Networked users improves information sharing and collaborative services
Shared information enhances situational awareness
Enhanced situational awareness and collaborative services via the network enables agility of response
Increased mission effectiveness
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT

17. What is Net-Centric Operations?
Is NCO Just Another Buzzword?
Net-Centric Operations (NCO) is the ability to:
Rapidly collect and share appropriate data in a collaborative environment
Recognize which data is significant to you
Understand the meaning of such data
Efficiently make better-informed decisions by yourself or in a collaborative environment
Rapidly act (or not act) on decisions– made by you or made by others
Rapidly get feedback and repeat the above
Understand what services are available to you
Efficiently use those services (or capabilities)
Efficiently provide services for others in a manner that is consistent with your mission
Trust and depend on availability and security of data & services
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT

18. What are Basic NCO Concepts?
Fundamental Approach in the Design and Use of Systems:
To operate as Net-Ready Systems
Ability to provide Power to the Edge
Ability to support applicable Communities Of Interest
Leverage Information Superiority
Draw from a Common Operating Picture
Typical Characteristic
Primary focus is on usability rather than just on performance
Users may be people and/or other systems
Services are typically flexible enough to be used in ways not anticipated by the original architects and designers
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT

19. How is NCO different than today's Ops?
May not be able to communicate with others
May have incompatible systems– unable to work with others
May not have timely access to all data that you need
May be overwhelmed by sheer volume of data
May not have access to people/resources to interpret that data
May not have a common operating picture of situation
May not know what capabilities are (or are not!) available
May not be able to effectively make or receive decisions
May not be able to quickly see effect of action/inaction
Goal of NCO is to Solve These Kinds of Problems
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT

20. What are Challenges of Achieving NCO?
Risks of achieving NCO
Cultural resistance to change
“Star Trek Phasers Make For Terrible Hammers”
NIH: “Not Invented Here”
“That’s Not How We Do Things”
“We Can’t Tolerate The Disruption of Transition”
“We Can’t Allow Ourselves To Look Bad”
Waiting for someone else to find all the pitfalls: “It’s The Second Mouse That Gets The Cheese”
Personal resistance to change
WIIFM: “What’s In It For Me”
“You’re Doing Away With My Job”
Resistance to perceived revolutionary change
Often costs much more than you can afford in terms of budget, schedule, and disruption in performance
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT

21. What are Challenges of Achieving NCO?
Risks of achieving NCO (continued)
Information Assurance: Assured Availability
Critical capabilities and data must be available when needed
Will the networked environment be reliable enough?
Information Assurance: Integrity
How to know that the data is timely and accurate?
How to know that nothing’s missing… or is something missing that may mislead?
Information Assurance: Security
How to keep unauthorized people from accessing or modifying data and services?
How to prevent denial of service? Virus/Worms?
How to keep proper audit trails for non-repudiation?
How to certify a networked system-of-systems?
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT

22. What are Challenges of Achieving NCO?
Risks of achieving NCO (continued)
Can’t Just Start Over with NCO Systems
Too many existing systems are not NCO-enabled
Not enough budget to replace everything at once
Even IF enough budget— takes a long time! (Training, Documentation, Spares, etc.)
Fundamental conclusion: for the foreseeable future, NCO-enabled systems will have to coexist with Legacy Systems Enduring Platforms!
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT

23. What are Challenges of Achieving NCO?
Risks of achieving NCO (continued)
NCO System-of-Systems Typically Have “Brittle” Modes
Highest Performance modes may not be best!
Often not robust: small change in something like timing may lead to total mission failure
“Best” Performance modes may be hard to determine
Need to explore performance envelope to find operating regimes that are relatively insensitive to parameter variations (e.g. timing)
But NCO System-of-Systems performance typically not deterministic— too complex
Usually requires extensive System-of-Systems Modeling, Simulation, and Analysis (and maybe experience & luck)
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT

24. What are Challenges of Achieving NCO?
Risks of achieving NCO (continued)
What is a Pound of NCO Worth?
Usually no single, large benefit that is easily quantifiable
Large benefits usually result from an aggregation of little factors, any one of which doesn’t seem all that beneficial
Some of those factors may be intangible or difficult to quantify (e.g. “morale”)
Net result: difficult to determine Measures of Effectiveness (MOE’s) that measure effectivity of NCO
May have to evaluate System MOE’s with NCO vs. System MOE’s without NCO (apples to oranges?)
Net result: hard to sell NCO to budget-setters
6/28/2005
What-Is-NCO.PPT