Komplete System Integrators

Case Study

KOMPSYS Delivers Survivable IT Program to Pentagon

Background
During the attacks of September 11, several of the Department of Defense’s (DoD) most important IT and communications systems were crippled. Most notably, the attack damaged the U.S. Navy's Telecommunications Operations Center, naval operations offices and help desk operations within the army's Information Management Support Center. In the aftermath, the U.S. government needed to ensure communications availability under any scenario. It faced the monumental challenge of guaranteeing the survivability of the Pentagon, the nation’s military command center, after a terrorist attack had exposed its vulnerabilities.

The Pentagon needed to quickly eliminate all areas of weakness, improve security and ensure systems could survive any contingency. In short, it needed a common, secure infrastructure with the ability to pass message traffic around the world. And it needed that infrastructure to be more available than most standard enterprise information systems, flexible enough to support change, manageable in any crisis and secure from intrusion.

Challenge
To tackle this challenge, the Pentagon initiated a two-year, $258 million project through the newly formed Command Communications Survivability Program (CCSP), to ensure the survivability of Defense Department IT infrastructure. Its leaders immediately saw the need for a partner who could quickly and efficiently complete the modernization of the Pentagon's IT and communications infrastructure – while renovation was ongoing (starting in 1996 and scheduled for completion in 2010). For that task, it tapped Texas-based Electronic Data Systems, which turned to KOMPSYS, the Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Business (SDVOB) with proven experience in highly technical and highly sensitive government deployments.

Solution
KOMPSYS provided project management and network engineering support to support the federal government's largest (and arguably most important) renovation program. CCSP began by addressing five key issues: survivability, manageability, flexibility, availability and security. In a move rarely seen in government deployments, the team focused on delivering key outcomes rather than predetermined technical requirements. The IT firm oversaw a development team tasked with creating a unified and resilient network management solution that provided a secure portal for operational and maintenance tasks. KOMPSYS also directed the development and implementation of a fully redundant, multi-vendor Enterprise Management Solution, applying engineering methodology from more than a dozen subcontractors.

Results
After only two years, the Pentagon’s vision of a unified IT, voice and data infrastructure is now a reality. KOMPSYS made major contributions to the successful completion of the CCSP on time and within budget. CCSP provided an entirely new network and voice system infrastructure, an enhanced data center and a new enterprise management center, all made more survivable and available. The converged IT infrastructure and voice-and-data communications backbone is now the lifeblood of the Pentagon's information systems and network. All of the work was accomplished while overlaying CCSP’s new systems on existing live systems – without compromising the Pentagon’s ability to remain operational and withstand possible terrorist attacks. Corporal Al Edmonds, President of EDS U.S. Government Solutions and a former three-star general who directed the Defense Information Systems Agency, called the work "vital to our national defense."

 

Technology solution keeps country safe from future terrorist attacks