1. AFCEA TechNet Freedom in Information: Connecting the warfighter to the Net – the final mile!

2. Data Sunt, Inepte! Copyright 2006 MAST 2006 THE INFORMATION GRID Common Information Infrastructure C2 Centres/Nodes Integrated Surveillance, Target and Recce Assets Broadcast/comms services PJHQ JFHQ JFHQ Afloat Tactical HQs UK based and theatre support - logistics, intelligence etc Precision Forces and Strike Assets

3. Network Enabled Capability Global coverage Large bandwidth Continuous connectivity Ability to send terabytes of data How do we ensure understanding at the foxhole?

4. The “Last Mile” Connectivity between Net and the war-fighter at the front line (or the submarine at sea) can be extremely limited and may well vary with operational tempo. How can we ensure that the front-line has: – Key operational information – Is not overwhelmed by unnecessary data? Need to prioritise information Strip out unnecessary data framework (eg Microsoft!)

5. What the War Fighter Needs! Operationally relevant information – prioritise. In a readily digestible – searchable form Reduction in “clutter” – filter out unnecessary data Highly effective use of bandwidth to reduce time spent sending/receiving Information flow in syc. with war fighter’s OODA loop Confidence that he can “Pull” additional data if operational circumstances demand

6. “Humans we know have a limited capacity for handling information and too much complexity simply leads to stress, if not downright overload.” Dr Janet Efstathiou, Oxford University.

7. Data Sunt, Inepte! Copyright 2006 MAST 2006

9. Data Sunt, Inepte! Copyright 2006 MAST 2006 Technology & the Warfighter Telegraph Telephone Computer VTC Web Cognitive Tools Tools Tools Tools Time Line 1865 1914 1945 1991 1999 2007 Soldiers to Cover 10 2 Km Data Transfer Rate Civil War WWI WWII Gulf War Kosovo Iraq 38,8304,040300 24 ? 20 BPS32 BPS71 BPS ? GPS/TPS256 KBPS 1.544 MBPS 3 Tech- nology

10. Openkast XML Agenda Search and retrieve information efficiently Integrate information from heterogeneous sources Add value and define new contexts Provide Access to legacy data Allow effective prioritisation of key data Effective management of data formats Openkast believes that organisations need a database technology that improves agility, flexiblility and is performant.

11. XML – The Benefits XML is a cross platform international standard XML allows different systems to share data XML is extensible, allowing custom tags to define and validate information Information formatting using XSLT

12. Openkast – Answers!

13. Openkast - Answers 215gbytes XML 1.2Tbytes RDBMs 88gbytes Openkast Sub 1 sec search & retrieval Simple SOAP lnterface Records held in flat files, no fragmentation Common Taxonomies Typical 300 – 500 records per sec

14. The Command and Control Challenge!

15. The Solution

16. US DoD - freedom of manoeuvrability In the USA, the declared the vision for information sharing for the DoD is: “Deliver the power of information to ensure mission success through an agile enterprise with freedom of manoeuverability across the information environment.”

17. The War Fighter and Openkast Openkast allows “dial-up” speeds to be effectively “broadband” Delivers the NEC to the War Fighter Allows effective prioritisation of information Gives full “Push-Pull” capability Full storage of all data for later retrieval or audit analysis. Less than 10% of similar RDBMS systems.

18. Openkast Freedom in Information