IT Talk

April - June 2014 Volume 4 • Issue 2

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

The Next

IT Decade
IT Talk

Apr - Jun 2014 Volume 4 • Issue 2

Office of the CIO

NASA Headquarters

300 E Street, SW

Washington, D.C. 20546

Chief Information Officer

Larry Sweet

Editor and Publication Manager

Eldora Valentine

Graphic and Web Design

Michael Porterfield

IT Talk is an official publication of the 

Office of the Chief Information Officer 

of the National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration, Headquarters, 

Washington, D.C. It is published 

by the OCIO office for all NASA 

employees and external audiences.

For distribution questions or to 

suggest a story idea, email:

eldora.valentine-1@nasa.gov

To read IT Talk online visit:

www.nasa.gov/offices/ocio/ittalk

For more info on the OCIO:

v www.nasa.gov/ocio

v insidenasa.nasa.gov/ocio

 (Internal NASA network only)

v www.nasa.gov/open/

facebook.com/NASAcio

 twitter.com/NASAcio

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Message from

the CIO

SMACK: The Next 

IT Decade

Future Technology 

Trends for NASA:

“Working Together”

A Roadmap for 

Enhancing IT 

Security at NASA

IT Infrastructure 

Integration Program 

(I3P) Update

In this Issue
Message from 

the NASA CIO

2014 is proving to be a busy year 

for us. A lot of good work is being 

done at the Centers. In this issue 

we will take a look at the challenges 

and changes we face in IT over the 

next decade. The emerging trends 

of Work From Anywhere and Bring 

Your Own Device have become 

top priorities at the Agency. Many 

departments in the Office of the 

Chief Information Officer and IT 

groups at Centers have been actively 

working on how this technology will 

fit into the NASA environment. 

In addition to mobility, we have a lot 

more to look forward to, such as

Ѽ Big Data and Data Analytics

Ѽ Improved security at 

the data source

Ѽ Internet of everything: people, 

processes, things, data

Ѽ Leveraging Center capabilities 

as an Agency service—not just 

10 separate Center services

Ѽ Defining OCIO’s role as 

“brokers” and “consultants” 

of these services.

My hope is that you will continue 

to embrace NASA IT and keep an 

open mind in all that we’re doing.

~Larry

New York City Named as the Main 

Stage for Space Apps 2014!

NASA and other space agencies 

around the world are preparing for 

the third annual International Space 

Apps Challenge, which will be held 

April 12–13. Participants will develop 

mobile applications, software, hardware, 

and data visualization and platform 

solutions that could contribute to 

space exploration missions and help 

to improve life on Earth. New York will 

serve as the main stage for this twoday code-athon-style event, which 

will be locally hosted at nearly 100 

locations spanning six continents. 

It will bring tech-savvy citizens, 

scientists, entrepreneurs, educators, 

and students together to collaboratively 

solve challenges relevant to both 

space exploration and social issues. 

This year more than 40 challenges 

will represent NASA mission priorities. 

These challenges will be organized 

according to five themes: Earth 

Watch, Technology in Space, Human 

Spaceflight, Robotics, and Asteroids. 

Approximately half of the challenges 

belong to the Earth Watch theme and 

support the NASA Earth Campaign. 

The best solutions will be selected 

for global awards at each of the host 

venues around the world. Winners will 

be given the opportunity to attend a 

NASA launch event. (Award recipients 

will be responsible for all travel costs.) 

For more information, visit 

the International Space Apps 

Challenge Web site at https://2014.

spaceappschallenge.org. l

Remembering Kelly Carter

On March 7, 2014, former NASA Chief 

Information Officer Kelly Carter passed 

away after a hard-fought battle with 

cancer. She died peacefully at home 

with the love of family surrounding her.

Kelly started at Goddard Space Flight 

Center (GSFC) right out of college. 

She grew up in GSFC Procurement (17 

years); served as the Deputy Division 

Chief of Logistics in the mid-1990s; and 

spent several years in GSFC’s former 

Information Technology organization 

before coming to NASA Headquarters, 

where she was in the Program Analysis 

and Evaluation Office (PA&E). She 

eventually became the Chief Information 

Officer and Information Technology 

and Communications Division (ITCD) 

Chief of Headquarters Operations. 

She retired last year with more than 35 

years of Federal service to the Agency.

She left a legacy of excellence 

everywhere she worked and served as 

a powerful NASA leader, caring mentor, 

and close friend to many throughout 

GSFC, Headquarters, and the larger 

NASA family. She loved life and lived it 

to the fullest through her many activities, 

including GSFC’s softball league and 

Headquarters’ golf tournaments.

Kelly was a true inspiration and 

someone who was always willing 

to pitch in and help. She was 

a pleasure to work with, a real 

shining star at NASA, a valued 

colleague, and a good friend.

We will all miss Kelly. She will live in 

our memories and hearts forever. l

NASA OCIO IT Talk Apr - Jun 2014 3
The Distributed 

Observer Network:

Game Technology 

at Work

By Mike Conroy, KSC IT-C, 

Modeling and Simulation Manager 

NASA Simulation 

Simulation technologies are part of 

every NASA program across every 

life cycle. Teams model components 

and facilities to see how they look, 

simulate systems to see how they 

behave, and inspect the results 

to decide what to do next. They 

repeat this cycle as many times 

as necessary to get things right. 

Using tools that vary from massively 

parallel computers to Microsoft Excel, 

NASA has developed immersive 

representations of space flight, 

computational physics, process 

studies, system visualizations, and 

work process simulations. These 

simulations run on supercomputers, 

networks of computers, and 

workstations throughout NASA.

Historical Challenge

Some of NASA’s simulation needs 

are unique. NASA has large, 

complex, multidecadal, almost 

multigenerational systems with 

life cycles that extend beyond 

those of the tools, teams, and 

associated technologies. Validation 

and operation of these systems 

can become a challenge when 

the concepts, interactions, and 

dependencies embedded in the 

early system simulations are no 

longer available. It is not feasible 

to preserve the computers, codes, 

and expertise across a 20-year 

design process. However, access 

to the results of those simulations 

are often needed decades after 

the simulation was developed.

Standards and Formats

Simulations are driven by knowledge, 

experience, math, and models. They 

produce data, validate concepts, 

A Roadmap for Enhancing IT Security at NASA

By Valarie Burks, Deputy CIO for IT Security

On November 18, 2013, OMB issued 

memorandum M-14-03, entitled “Enhancing the 

Security of Federal Information and Information 

Systems.” The memorandum provides 

Federal agencies with guidance for managing 

information security risk on a continuous basis 

and builds upon efforts toward achieving the 

cybersecurity Cross-Agency Priority (CAP) goals.

According to the memo, “the requirement to 

manage information security risk on a continuous 

basis includes the requirement to monitor the 

security controls in Federal information systems 

and the environments in which those systems 

operate on an ongoing basis—one of six steps in 

the National Institute of Standards and Technology 

(NIST) Risk Management Framework. This allows 

agencies to maintain ongoing awareness of 

information security, vulnerabilities, and threats to 

support organizational risk management decisions.” 

The Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) 

program is composed of two primary elements: 

monitoring and response. The Phase 1 FY 2014 

focus areas for the Department of Homeland 

Security (DHS) CDM Program, including the Federal 

IT Dashboard, include automating the following 

subset of information-security capabilities: 

Ѽ Hardware Asset Management

Ѽ Software Asset Management 

(including malware management) 

Ѽ Configuration Setting Management 

Ѽ Common Vulnerability Management

The Federal dashboard, which will be maintained 

by DHS, will be focused on managing the 

highest priority and most serious risks based 

on risk assessment information and the risk 

tolerance established by individual agencies. 

To support the implementation of the CDM 

program, DHS coordinated with the General 

Services Administration to establish a 

government-wide Blanket Purchase Agreement 

(BPA) under Multiple Award Schedule 70, which 

Federal, State, local and tribal governments can 

leverage to deploy a basic set of capabilities to 

support continuous monitoring of security controls 

in Federal information systems and environments 

of operation. The BPA, awarded on August 12, 

2013, provides a consistent, government-wide 

set of information security continuous monitoring 

(ISCM) tools to enhance the Federal government’s 

ability to identify and respond, in real-time or near 

real-time, to the risk of emerging cyber threats.

The memo further notes: another important 

benefit of having a robust program for managing 

information security risk on a continuous basis is 

the support it provides for ongoing authorization—

that is, the ongoing determination and acceptance 

of information security risk. Rather than enforcing 

a static, point-in-time reauthorization process, 

agencies shall conduct ongoing authorizations 

of their information systems and environments 

in which those systems operate, including 

common controls, through the implementation 

of their risk management programs.

For years agencies have used a passive reaction 

and documentation approach for assessing 

IT security controls. CDM demands proactive, 

data-centric, risk-based action to meet the 

increasing threat to Government networks. 

As the NASA Information Technology infrastructure 

continues to expand to support NASA mission 

goals and requirements, the number and 

complexity of devices continues to increase, 

providing challenges to the experts responsible 

for the ongoing assessment of threats and 

vulnerabilities across the network, systems, and 

data infrastructures. Potential assaults on NASA 

IT systems, networks, and data can result in 

high-impact consequences. Through the CDM 

framework, data-collection, asset-management, 

and risk-management processes occur 

continually across the environment, increasing our 

situational awareness of the state of our IT assets. 

NASA is committed to the successful execution 

of the CDM program. NASA benefits from 

this program through the implementation of 

advanced tools and services, which provide 

real-time asset discovery and vulnerability 

management; automated, intelligence-driven 

response mechanisms; and continuous 

feedback of data into an enterprise 

management system that will help to institute 

an intelligent response designed to reduce 

enterprise risk and mitigate vulnerabilities. 

Implementation of CDM through the ISCM 

tools will increase automation, efficiency, and 

effectiveness of the overall enterprise. With 

the help of the entire NASA IT community, 

implementation of this multiyear effort 

should integrate seamlessly with the 

existing network infrastructure. This will 

help to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, 

and availability of the IT assets supporting 

our NASA mission and allow employees to 

operate in a more secure environment. l

4 www.nasa.gov
Drones See Second Life Mapping 

Hurricanes—NASA’s HS3 Program 

By Penny Hubbard, CIO Communications, Ames Research Center

The ARC Airborne Science Information 

Technology’s Hurricane and Severe 

Storm Sentinel (HS3) is a 5-year 

combined mission with Agency, 

industry, and academic entities 

investigating the processes that underlie 

hurricane formation and intensification 

in the Atlantic Ocean basin. Having 

a limited number of data points from 

any given hurricane season has been 

a barrier in the past, as mapping 

requires sustained measurements 

over several years. The small sample 

is a function not just of tropical storm 

activity but also of the distance of 

storms from the base of operations.

HS3 utilizes two Global Hawks, one 

with instruments geared toward 

measurement of the environment and 

the other with instruments suited to 

inner-core structure and processes. 

Capable of reaching altitudes greater 

than 55,000 feet, flying up to 30 

hours, and storing and augmenting 

data from multiple satellites, global 

meteorological analyses, and computer 

simulations, HS3 is crushing the 

barriers of small sample gathering 

and helping scientists to understand 

the physical processes that control 

changes in hurricane intensity. 

Researchers hope to determine the 

extent to which these intensification 

processes are predictable. 

HS3 addresses the key NASA Earth 

Science Enterprise (ESE) science 

goal of studying Earth in order to 

advance scientific understanding, 

meet societal needs, and fulfill NASA’s 

research objective to “enable improved 

predictive capability for weather and 

extreme weather events.” HS3 will 

obtain the measurements needed both 

to improve scientific understanding 

and to transfer that understanding 

into improved intensity prediction.

To view the fascinating details 

of NASA’s HS3 program, visit 

https://espo.nasa.gov/missions/

hs3/ or http://www.nasa.gov/

mission_pages/hurricanes/missions/

hs3/overview/index.html. l

Above: One of NASA’s HS3 

Global Hawks in flight.

Below: The HS3 Team poses in 

front of a Global Hawk.

foster understanding, and provide 

information to support further 

analysis. Recent efforts have 

focused on data standards that 

enable artifacts designed to outlive 

the tools, systems, and teams 

that created them. Constellation 

provided the Model Process Control 

(MPC) specification for preserving 

and communicating simulation 

information. The first tool to read 

MPC data was the Constellation 

Distributed Observer Network (DON). 

DON was based on the Torque 

game engine and was created under 

contract by the Valador Corporation. 

DON provided a distributed 

immersive view of Constellation 

simulation data and supported 

Constellation activities through the 

end of the program, most notably by 

sharing flight-element simulations of 

Constellation’s Virtual Mission 1. 

The Distributed Observer 

Network (DON) 3

The past decade has seen significant 

global investment in consumer video 

game technologies, capabilities, 

and peripherals. The IT Directorate 

at Kennedy first leveraged this 

investment in 2011 with the Desert 

RaTS (Research and Technology 

Studies) Virtual Test Site (released 

on Android and iOS). Today, DON 

3 does the same to meet NASA’s 

simulation, analysis, data distribution, 

and data archival needs. Pre-release 

versions of DON 3 supported the 

2013 Simulation SmackDown event 

(an international student project) and 

served as the basis for prototypes 

such as the GSDO (Ground Systems 

Development and Operations) Glass 

Wall. DON 3 combines the best 

of the Unity multiplatform gamedevelopment environment with touch 

(PQ Labs) or gesture (Leap Motion) 

control devices and NASA’s MPC 

data standard to create an immersive 

multiuser simulation distribution, 

archive, and analysis capability 

to support NASA’s exploration 

activities as well as student projects, 

outreach, and education. A prerelease version will support the 

upcoming Simulation Exploration 

Experience (SEE) 2014 event this 

year in April. DON 3 will be available 

in September 2014 on the PC. l

NASA OCIO IT Talk Apr - Jun 2014 5
SMACK: The Next IT Decade

By Tom Soderstrom, Chief Technology and Innovation 

Officer (JPL), California Institute of Technology

With the pace of technology change 

being what it is, I like to say an IT 

Decade is now three years long—and 

that time span is shrinking. The critical 

challenges we face with each new IT 

decade are these: how can we get a 

handle on the technologies that are 

going to invade our enterprise, and 

how can we proactively incorporate 

them into our next generation of 

applications and services?

The previous IT decade consisted, 

by our count, of nine trends: The 

Pervasive Cloud, Consumer-Driven 

IT, Eco-Friendliest, Refocused 

Cyber Security, You’ve Got Apps, 

Immersive Visualization and 

Interaction, Extreme Collaboration 

Made Simple, Big Data, and Human 

Behavior. The first four trends have 

already become cornerstones of 

everything we do at JPL; the last 

five are evolving in this direction.

When our team looks at the next IT 

Decade, we see one megatrend, which 

we call “SMACK”: Social, Mobile, 

Analytics, Cloud, and Key disruptors. 

Each of these is a trend, but each is 

also part of the larger, interrelated trend.

The trends we have identified make 

up a simple checklist. So when 

someone in your organization is 

building or buying an application 

or service, you can ask, “Have 

you considered SMACK?”

Here is a breakdown of 

SMACK’s component parts.

Social includes social networking 

moving into the enterprise. We can 

learn a lot from how apps and services 

are funded, built, spread, changed, 

and socialized in Internet space. It also 

includes crowdsourcing. For us that 

means how we can attract new groups 

of people to work on our problems—

and, given the stiff competition for IT 

talent, how we attract people to work 

at JPL. It also means crowdfunding 

(e.g., Kickstarter), crowd-development 

(aka hackathons), crowd-ideation, 

etc. Naturally, it also incorporates 

video conferencing from any device 

to any device. So in developing or 

buying an application or service, we 

will ask whether it draws on Social 

in a productive or innovative way.

Mobile means that we’ll take a mobilefirst point of view. Today’s start-ups 

predominantly build for mobile devices 

first. If there is money left over, they 

develop for the Web. Smartphones and 

wearable technology will become the 

heart of our computing. We already use 

voice, with tools like SIRI, or a gesture 

interface, as with Microsoft Kinect on 

the Xbox—but what will come next? 

Mobile will also include wearable 

technology, such as smart watches, 

smart rings, smart armbands, and so 

on. Other important trends include 

Augmented Reality and Bring Your 

Own Experience (a super-set of BYOD).

Analytics is the actionable part 

of Big Data, which is why it makes 

innate sense to people even as they 

manage in the hugely hyped Big Data 

world. In the SMACK checklist we 

ask development teams whether what 

they are building collects and makes 

available enough data to effectively 

measure its success. Does it collect 

the metrics to implement automated 

prescriptive analytics or soft 

degradation? How does it combine 

structured and unstructured data? Is it 

visualizing the data in an exciting and 

insightful way? Our goal is to create 

a self-service analytics environment 

where collaborators can combine 

different types of data and interact and 

analyze the data to gain new insights.

Cloud, the fourth part of SMACK, 

asks where we will run the service 

or application that we’re building or 

buying. Will it run in a private cloud, 

in a traditional IT data center, in a 

public cloud, in a hybrid cloud, or in 

all of them? Perhaps we simply do 

a prototype in a public cloud and 

then make changes and upgrades 

on the basis of customer feedback?

Key Disruptors is the final part of 

SMACK. We ask if this technology 

will change our lives. If we don’t get 

ahead of it, will it disrupt us? If we 

do get ahead of it, will it become 

a competitive advantage? Cloud 

computing and the iPhone were 

both key disruptors, and we got 

ahead of them to great advantage. 

A current key disruptor at JPL is 

3D printing: we already use it as a 

brainstorming and design tool and 

are seeing tremendous benefits. 

Augmented reality and wearable 

technology are others in which we 

can already see great potential.

Any application or service we 

consider—and anything that will 

succeed in the next IT decade—

must be simple. That means simple 

to understand, simple to use, and 

simple to lose: in other words, if it 

doesn’t work out, we can move on 

and do something else with few 

consequences. Technology for the 

coming IT decade also needs to 

be self-service and participatory so 

that users can get to it at any time.

With the previous decade of nine IT 

trends winding down, it’s nice to be 

able to focus on just one. We learned 

a lot from the Human Behavior trend 

and have incorporated those lessons 

into SMACK. We found that it isn’t 

enough to simply hand end users the 

new technology. Instead, we need 

to prototype it together with them 

and provide an IT concierge (virtual 

and human) to show them how to 

access it. As you consider what to 

prototype and what to pilot in your 

own enterprise, consider the SMACK 

checklist, which can help you to 

decide whether something is a fad 

or worthy of sustained attention. If it 

is a Key Disrupter and you provide 

an IT concierge, your organization 

is likely to see a tremendous 

return on that investment. l

6 www.nasa.gov
Tech Steps: Taking 

NASA Anywhere

By James B. McClellan, Chief 

Technology Officer/JSC

In the world of Information Technology there 

is a tremendous buzz about Bring Your Own 

Device (BYOD) and cloud computing as 

emerging trends. Many departments in the 

OCIO and IT groups at NASA Centers have been 

actively working on how these technologies 

will fit into the NASA environment. In fact, 

we have already embarked on the journey.

Infrastructure for much of the WestPrime contract 

is based on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) 

cloud. The Computing Services Service Office 

(CSSO) is nearing completion of an Authorization 

to Operate (ATO) on another Amazon service 

called GovCloud, which provides Infrastructure 

as a Service (IaaS) so that NASA can start 

building servers and storage in the cloud in an 

environment that is both secure and ITAR-rated. 

BYOD is a complex subject that poses many 

challenges to assuring secure access to NASA 

data while allowing freedom of choice on the 

selection of endpoint devices. The October–

December 2013 issue of IT Talk reviewed 

mobile-security requirements mentioned in the 

OCIO Security Memo on BYOD (http://inside.nasa.

gov/ocio/sites/inside.nasa.gov.ocio/files/files/

Minimum-Security-Requirements-for-Use-ofPersonally-Owned-Mobile-Devices.pdf). An active 

OCIO BYOD Integrated Transition Team is working 

diligently on the formal NASA BYOD policy 

document that will be forthcoming this spring.

The ultimate BYOD solution will require new 

management tools focused on protecting the 

data. One part of a future solution could be 

to incorporate a Virtual Display Infrastructure 

(VDI) that allows more secure access to data. 

With VDI, the data doesn’t leave the server, 

which is automatically backed up every day, 

significantly reducing the risk of loss or theft. 

VDI can be conventionally based in NASA 

data centers. Cloud-based VDI solutions are 

coming to market via Desktop as a Service 

(DaaS). This approach could accommodate 

scalability issues and Continuity of Operations/

Disaster Recovery (COOP/DR) issues. 

Secure cloud access and enhanced freedom 

on the devices we use will provide the NASA 

workforce with increasing flexibility in how we do 

our jobs, making Work from Anywhere a reality! l

Work From Anywhere: How 

to Land That Bigger Office

Les Farkas, Chief Technology Officer, GRC

The consumerization of IT, by means of 

affordable mobile computing, is creating 

pressure on businesses to rapidly evolve 

their concept and definition of what is 

considered “the office.” As traditionally 

defined, the office is an expensive facility 

where employees perform work on-site. 

Individual professional accomplishment has 

often been linked with the size of the office 

the organization provides the employee. 

A recent survey conducted by LinkedIn 

asked over 7,000 professionals which tools 

and office trends will disappear by 2017. 

Items on the endangered list included 

standard working hours (57%), desktop 

phones (35%), desktop computers (34%), 

and the corner executive office (21%).

The evolution of the office is transforming from 

the costly fixed location to a simple backpack 

containing the IT equipment that enables 

employees to communicate, collaborate, 

and contribute. The potential exists for the 

size of an employee’s office to expand from 

a 12’ by 12’ room to virtually everywhere. 

For NASA to give all its employees that 

coveted “bigger office,” the keys to success 

will be to think strategically about how we 

work, and then to outfit the mobile workforce 

with tools that will enable users to take their 

office anywhere. The following are just a 

few opportunities for the Agency to enable 

the Work From Anywhere (WFA) principle:

1. View the desktop as antiquated 

technology. As Center budgets might 

allow, subscribe to laptops to the 

greatest extent possible during the 

next ACES seat refresh cycle. Mobility 

of a user’s computer is foundational 

to succeeding with WFA. Incorporate 

multigigabit 802.11ad wireless 

interfaces in laptops, positioning 

end-user devices to take advantage 

of higher-speed wireless networks. 

Laptops with docking stations are just 

as ergonomic as desktop configurations 

with the added advantage of mobility.

2. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP): 

Combine the laptop and phone by 

deploying VoIP softphones on ACES 

laptops. With infrastructure configured 

to allow softphone access from any 

network, users will be able to carry 

their work phones “in” their laptops.

3. Mobile Videoconferencing: Technology, 

such as Vidyo, permits virtual face-to-face 

interaction and integration with NASA’s 

existing ViTS facilities, smartphones, 

and tablets. Mobile videoconferencing 

can enhance employee interaction 

beyond voice-only methods. 

4. Leveraging Digital Media: The continued 

transition from paper-oriented business 

processes to digital media workflows 

can enhance mobility and further reduce 

costs; these changes can, however, 

have a significant impact on individual 

and team workflow processes and 

preferences for hard-copy editing.

5. Agency WFA Program: Establish an 

Agency-level program that integrates all 

aspects of the infrastructure (facilities, 

procurement, human resources, legal, 

protective services, and the OCIO) to 

support WFA, seeking out related cost 

savings. Desk sharing/hoteling/facility 

consolidation, reduction of carbon 

footprint, mobile-device management, 

Bring-Your-Own-Device, gigabit wireless 

networking (802.11ac), network access 

control (802.1X), VPN, cloud, and dataloss prevention are just a sampling of 

the major infrastructure components 

for development consideration. 

Can NASA provide the tools and establish 

the culture that will let employees perform 

work from any device, anytime, anywhere? 

Can NASA decommission two-to-five 

facilities at every NASA Center to save 

costs without compromising performance? 

The possibilities and technologies are 

there—with a tremendous amount to gain 

in productivity and employee satisfaction. 

NASA has the opportunity to take steps now 

that will realize the vision of a workplace 

in the future and land that bigger office for 

its employees...which is everywhere. l

NASA OCIO IT Talk Apr - Jun 2014 7
Future Technology Trends for NASA:

“Working Together”

By Ed McLarney, Chief Technology Officer for the Chief Information Officer, NASA LaRC

An emphasis on complex system work, greater 

internal collaboration, and more external 

partnerships are critical elements of NASA’s 

future that will impact Langley Research 

Center (LaRC), according to Agency leaders.

During a recent Technical Capabilities 

Assessment Team (TCAT) visit to LaRC, 

Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot 

highlighted the trend for more complex 

systems work and the need for NASA to 

pursue partnerships that extend beyond 

the level of “just getting coffee.” TCAT 

Lead Lesa Roe noted the necessity 

for more cross-NASA teamwork.

IT implications for complex systems include 

interoperability among research, science, 

and engineering disciplines and among 

Centers. External partnerships and internal 

teams will require open, enterprise-level 

collaboration and knowledge systems. 

People and systems must work together.

Detailed research reveals the following 

global technology trends, which we can 

apply to complex systems and partnering: 

1. Tele-everything and partnering; 

2. Computation, miniaturization, and power; 

3. Cyber-physical systems; 

4. Advanced analytics, machine 

intelligence, and robotics; and 

5. Human–computer integration 

and augmentation. 

Complex systems depend on modeling, 

simulation, advanced analytics, emergent 

machine intelligence, robotics, and physical 

testing systems to (1) amplify existing 

disciplines’ work, (2) enable completely new 

work, and (3) integrate multiple discipline 

components into systems. All these techniques 

will increase the demand for high-performance 

computing. Also, complex systems will 

demand standards-based interfaces internal 

to NASA and with partners. Standardized 

enterprise adoption uncertainty quantification, 

design-of-experiments, and verification and 

validation techniques will help to generate 

confidence in NASA’s complex systems.

Cross-NASA teaming and external partnering 

require efficient, mobile, easy-to-use 

enterprise telework, collaboration, and 

knowledge systems that promote sharing 

and protect intellectual property. Humancomputer integration and automation will 

apply to all work, including augmented 

reality overlays of scientific data.

Beyond the immediate trends, over-thehorizon technologies like quantum computing 

and human-level thinking machines have 

great future potential. We must learn about 

them now so we can adopt them early.

So, where to begin? Most of the technologies 

mentioned here lie within our reach; we 

must invest in adopting and adapting them 

in a coordinated manner, even in a tough 

economy. With such investments, we can 

truly “work together” for a bright future. l

A New Solution for Agency Electronic Forms 

By Valerie King, NASA Forms Officer/EFI Business Process and 

Transition Lead (JSC), and Terry Langley, Platform Manager (MSFC)

The transition to the Agency’s new electronic 

forms platform, Adobe LiveCycle, is under 

way. The Agency/Center form teams 

expect to convert and migrate all forms 

to the new solution by the end of FY14. 

The NASA Electronic Forms site (http://nef.

nasa.gov) will continue to host links to the 

forms converted to the new platform until 

the transition has been completed. The 

Enterprise Service Desk (ESD) (877-NSSC123) is providing support via Knowledge 

Articles (self-help) and help-desk support. 

Adobe LiveCycle provides the 

following benefits:

• Resolves an incompatibility 

with the Mac OS

• Functions via browser; depending 

on how a form is deployed, it may 

open a browser-based interface 

called Adobe WorkSpace

Additionally, forms designers at 

each Center will be able to: 

• Enable workflow and autorouting features

• Provide mobile-device accessibility 

• Utilize Entrust digital-signatures

FileNet 4.2 form software, which is no 

longer updated or supported by the vendor, 

will eventually be phased out from NASA 

workstations. If necessary, there are options 

for retaining existing FileNet forms/records for 

future reference and/or retention requirements:

If the form is available as a fillable/savable 

PDF, create a functional PDF from the FileNet 

form data by following these steps:

1. Download a PDF of the form from 

the NASA e-Forms (NEF) site 

(http://server-mpo.arc.nasa.gov/

Services/NEFS/Home.tml).

2. Open the FileNet form on your desktop. 

3. Copy and paste the data to 

the PDF form and save it.

If the form is not available as a fillable/savable 

PDF, you can create a static (nonfunctioning) 

PDF image of your FileNet form (note: you 

may lose data in expanding form fields):

1. Open the FileNet form on your desktop.

2. Select the File>Save As function.

For additional background information, see 

the July–September 2013 edition of the IT 

Talk article at http://www.nasa.gov/sites/

default/files/files/ITTalk_Jul2013.pdf. l

8 www.nasa.gov
Another New 

App for CIMA

In January of this year Marshall Space Flight Center 

(MSFC) released a new mobile application developed 

by the Center for Internal Mobile Applications (CIMA) 

and designed in conjunction with the MSFC Emergency Management Team. The MSFC Emergency 

Procedures (EP) mobile app enhances the printed 

version of the MSFC Emergency Procedures Handbook, providing users with 24/7 access to information about emergency protocols. The app also gives 

the Emergency Management Team the ability to 

push informational notifications to users in the event 

of a Center-specific emergency or weather event.

Once the design phase of the mobile app began, 

it became clear that other Centers might want to 

leverage this same functionality for their own emergency procedures handbook; so CIMA designed the 

back-end infrastructure that supports the mobile app 

with this in mind. The EP mobile app was built using 

CIMA’s mobile-specific content management system 

(CMS). The CIMA CMS enables application owners 

to quickly modify content within the app (including images, call-out buttons, fonts, and colors) for 

immediate delivery to their users’ mobile devices. In 

addition, the CIMA CMS can deliver the app’s content 

to a Web site for users without mobile devices.

The EP app is not the first CIMA-developed 

mobile app capable of being expanded for 

use at other Centers. CIMA also worked 

with GSFC to develop NASA Contacts (Key 

Personnel), a mobile application designed 

to quickly locate Center personnel.

Currently, CIMA is working with the Identity Credential and Access Management Team to develop 

a Personal Identity Verification–derived credential 

for mobile devices for use throughout the Agency. 

A small pilot program will begin in mid-April. 

So stay tuned.... There’s more to come. 

For information on how CIMA can help you 

design and build a mobile application for Center- and/or Agency-wide use, send an e-mail 

to msfc-cima@mail.nasa.gov. Our goal is to 

help NASA employees access the information they need, anytime, anywhere, directly 

from their mobile devices. Find out more about 

us at https://cima.nasa.gov/whatwedo. l

ExplorNet is Key to 

Collaboration at MSFC

By Kevin Jones (MITS/Dynetics Technical Services), MSFC

Is there an app for that? The commonplace 

attitude that “if there isn’t, there should be” has resulted in a proliferation of IT tools in the workplace. 

There is an IT solution for almost every problem 

imaginable. Even with the abundance of options 

available, however, it is often a struggle to find that 

perfect fit. Tools are often rigid; and as technologically advanced as they may be, they have the 

potential to drive business operations instead of 

allowing operations to be driven by client or project 

needs. The result can be business processes that 

are weighed down with inefficiencies, slowing the 

pace of work and decreasing innovation. Recognizing the opportunity to prevent such problems, 

Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) conducted 

an in-depth analysis of IT systems and processes. 

This study identified four major issues:

1. As customer needs grow, so does the 

potential for having too many systems. Not 

only is it difficult to keep track of them from 

an IT perspective, but multiple systems 

can confuse end users. Each system fills 

a niche, but trying to remember when to 

use one over the other, as well as how to 

manipulate each one, may become a chore.

2. Information can be stored within each 

system, but the systems are rarely connected. When similar or identical information is stored in separate systems without a 

way to link the data together, the resulting 

disparity can cause confusion for those 

who later try to put the pieces together.

3. E-mail is both a blessing and a curse. While 

e-mail is much more efficient than the systems 

of 20 years ago, information that is critical to 

getting the job done is often mixed in with junk. 

This forces users to go through every e-mail 

to find what they really need. Because of this, 

there is now a growing distaste for e-mail. According to a McKinsey and Company research 

report, 28 percent of an employee’s time is 

spent sifting through messages in the inbox 

(http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/high_

tech_telecoms_internet/the_social_economy).

4. A trend of conforming processes to how the 

tools work rather than making tools that 

conform to the way humans work was identified. Some systems are flat-out unnatural to 

use. In these cases, the tool may become the 

master and unnecessarily complicate a task. 

To address these issues, MSFC sought innovative 

approaches that would foster the overarching goal 

of creating a more collaborative culture. While acknowledging that collaboration tools are constantly 

growing and evolving, the MSFC CIO recognized 

that Center employees could no longer wait for 

such tools to migrate into their workplace. With the 

support of then-Center director Robert Lightfoot, 

ExplorNet was born. ExplorNet is a social/collaborative system that allows people to work in a more 

natural way. Online interactions mimic face-to-face 

interactions, making discussion, sharing, discovering, and collaboration easy. The system is now 

three years old and has hit a tipping point; collaboration over ExplorNet has blossomed through an 

ever-growing number of groups and communities. 

Rather than spending time in the inbox, information can now be consolidated in ExplorNet. 

Instead of being spammed by a deluge of emails, 

employees and contractors can each decide 

what is important to them and choose to receive 

notifications on only those things, people, or 

groups. Information can be filtered according to 

what is critical to get the job done, what is nice 

to know, and what is junk. This allows time to 

be spent on the messages that matter most.

We envision the integration of systems not as consolidation into a single structure (for each has its unique 

role) but as a partnership among systems. They may 

exist separately, but the human interface for them 

will be in one place. Systems will integrate in the 

background, providing employees and contractors 

with one portal for communicating with other systems and with each other as they find information, 

collaborate, and discover people and expertise. Users 

will be able to control the information that comes to 

them, freeing them up to work on the core, complicated issues that NASA is famous for tackling. l

NASA OCIO IT Talk Apr - Jun 2014 9
IT Infrastructure Integration Program (I3P) Update

End-User Services (ACES) 

IE9 Deployment to ACES Windows 

Computers: Internet Explorer (IE) 9 was 

deployed to all ACES Windows computers in 

late March. IE9 improves security posture 

and has new features and a new look. 

Refer to the ACES Web site for resources to 

assist you in becoming familiar with IE9.

Office 2013 Upgrade for Windows:

ACES seats will soon be upgraded to 

Microsoft Office 2013. This newer version 

offers a variety of new features and 

functions. Users may review new features 

as well as those that are no longer available 

in the “Differences between Office 2013 

and Office 2010” document located on 

the ACES Web site. General availability is 

tentatively scheduled for May 2014, following 

successful testing in a pilot program.

Transition from WebEx to Lync: 

Transition of users from WebEx to Lync Web 

Conferencing is complete. A new WebEx or 

Lync seat requires an Enterprise Service 

Desk (ESD) service request. Changing from 

a WebEx seat to a Lync seat or vice versa 

requires two ESD requests. You will need to 

de-subscribe your current seat and place 

an order for the new seat. Failure to desubscribe the seat that is being replaced 

will result in invoicing for both seats. 

Mobile Like-for-Like Device Refresh: 

ACES will be conducting Like-for-Like Mobile 

Device Refreshes for end users who will be 

refreshing Cellular S-Seat and Smartphone 

S- and M-Seat offerings with no changes to 

what they are currently using. Devices will be 

refreshed to existing seat offerings that are 

within the same product family (e.g., iPhone 

to iPhone or cell phone to cell phone), the 

same carrier, and the same services. The 

mobile refresh schedule for Centers will be 

determined in spring 2014 following success 

of the pilot program now under way. NASA is 

also actively working to build an automated 

ordering system to accommodate refreshes to 

a different carrier or seat type and refreshes 

with service modifications. Further information 

about refreshes that do not qualify as Like-forLike will be provided as it becomes available.

Nighttime Computer Patching: Users 

are reminded that software and security 

patches are released each Tuesday night 

between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. local time to 

minimize disruptions during work hours. 

Computers must be powered on, logged 

off, and connected to the NASA network 

to receive weekly patch updates. 

Enterprise Applications Service 

Office/NASA Enterprise Applications 

Competency Center (EASO/NEACC):

The name change from Dryden Flight 

Research Center (DFRC) to Armstrong 

Flight Research Center (AFRC) impacts 

several lines of business at the NEACC. 

The Financial team has determined that 

minimal changes will be needed and 

that the changes will not be retroactive. 

Procurement; Human Capital and Workforce 

(HCW); and Identity, Credential, and Access 

Management (ICAM) are assessing impacts 

and scheduling the necessary changes. 

The NASA Headquarters Office of Procurement 

met with the MSFC procurement officer 

regarding the EPDW Restructure/METRO issue. 

The NEACC provided evidence demonstrating 

the impact on security of unsynchronized data, 

along with figures on the cost of loading two 

databases. MSFC is developing a timeline 

for aligning METRO with EPDW Restructure 

and information on the METRO Security Plan. 

The Headquarters Office of Procurement 

anticipates receiving the timeline and security 

plan information and intends to support a 

reasonable extension of the dual data feed, 

contingent upon MSFC’s commitment to align 

METRO with the EPDW restructured database. 

The NEACC is consolidating a multitude of 

existing Service Level Agreements (SLA)/

Operational Level Agreements (OLA) into 

one document to define the relationship 

between the NEACC and the Business 

Systems Management Board (BSMB). The 

initial draft is in review; the approved version 

will replace all previous SLA/OLAs. Currently, 

feedback regarding NASA computing services 

is being incorporated into the document. 

The requirements and scope of the 

Mobile Survey Capability have increased 

exponentially. The NEACC plans to recommend 

breaking the requirements into manageable 

phases, expected to span more than a year. 

The estimate has been provided for the 

survey, but the initiative is currently on hold. 

Mobile apps authentication capability (eAuth) 

is now in development, with the mobile 

application version of the One-Stop-Shopping 

Initiative Analytical Dashboard to follow.

USAJobs release 4.3 is scheduled for 

April 10, 2014. The changes impacting 

vacancy builder include previously 

optional attributes becoming mandatory 

and the addition of attributes such as 

telework, security clearance required, and 

supervisory status. The Office of Personnel 

Management also intends to normalize 

the date for various attributes. StaRS Case 

Management module enhancements will 

coincide with the USAJobs 4.3 release. 

Communication Services

In support of the IT Infrastructure Integration 

(I3P) program goal of consolidating, 

integrating and transforming the Agency’s 

IT service from a Center unique model to 

an enterprise model, the Communications 

Service Office (CSO) submitted a Mission 

Support Council (MSC) Issue Paper in 

May 2013 requesting funding to facilitate 

adoption of several major corporate network 

transformation initiatives. Recently, the 

CSO received approval to proceed with 

the following enterprise level projects: 

Enterprise External Border, Enterprise Internal 

Border, and IT Service Management (ITSM) 

Enhancements. The Enterprise External 

Border project will establish firewall, content 

filtering and virtual private network (VPN) 

services at NASA’s network perimeter. 

The Enterprise Internal Border project 

will establish an internal network access 

control solution based on a zoned network 

architecture. This project also includes 

funding to facilitate some Center network 

enhancements required to support the 

network access solution and a standardized, 

automated network drawing system. The 

Information Technology Service Management 

(ITSM) Enhancement project implements 

improvements and augmentations to the 

existing NICS ITSM (NITSM) system including 

implementing additional ITIL functionality. 

Completion of these projects will provide 

additional capabilities for consistent security 

policy enforcement and controls at the Agency 

network perimeter with increased end-to-end 

network visibility and responsiveness. They 

also provide standardized network zoning 

improving collaboration capabilities, reduced 

infrastructure costs through consolidation 

of common services, enhanced efficiencies 

through service standardization, and support 

for mobility and “Bring Your Own Device” 

10 www.nasa.gov
initiatives. In addition ITSM enhancements will 

facilitate improved configuration and change 

management, service level management, 

and mobility support for technicians. The 

enhancements range from incorporating 

and updating legacy system functionality to 

implementing more ITIL framework processes 

to further mature NICS process execution. 

Project teams will work closely with the End 

User Service Office, IT Security and Security 

Operations Center personnel during the 

project life cycle. In addition, they will leverage 

Center resources and subject matter experts 

across the Agency. These enhanced services 

will be centrally managed and support the 

overall I3P goal of moving to an enterprise 

shared service model. Activities for these 

projects are planned to begin in the spring 

of 2014 with estimated completion in 2017.

Enterprise Service Desk

The ESD Release 1.1.4-1 went live March 

18, providing the following new capabilities: 

enhancements to email notifications 

to customers requesting new services, 

additional search features for self-service 

at Tier-0, and additional capabilities to 

center Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) 

and Center Integration Leads (CILs) for 

Knowledge Authoring and Service Definition 

information. All of these enhancements will 

contribute to a better user experience.

Future releases are in the final planning 

stages with release dates expected 

this summer. Proposed updates for 

upcoming releases include additional 

categorization for incident tickets for 

better routing and reporting; automated 

reminders for Knowledge Article reviews; 

easy access to knowledge for service 

ordering; and updated graphics. Stay 

tuned for more details and dates.

The third ESD Subject Matter Expert (SME) 

Face-to-Face (F2F) is a working meeting 

between the ESD SMEs, ESD Service Office, 

I3P SOILs and ESD Service Executive. The 

2014 F2F will be hosted by LaRC the week of 

June 16. The purpose of the ESD SME F2F is 

to review and refine the working relationship 

between the ESD Service Office and the 

ESD SMEs. Outcomes of the F2F will include 

updated policies and procedures for ESD 

service delivery. Outcomes will be actionable 

with assigned parties and due dates.

Web Services (WESTPrime)

WESTPrime is excited to announce the 

deployment of inside.nasa.gov/webservices 

<http://inside.nasa.gov/webservices> . This 

internal-to-NASA website will help support 

the OCIO Web Services mission and act 

as an information hub for topics such as 

general guidance & governance; Lessons 

Learned; training tools for Drupal CSM, as 

well as information about Blogs & Wikis. 

Migration Update: WESTPrime began the 

migration of 42 applications for NASA HQ in 

March 2014. Working in tandem with HITTS, the 

first 10 applications are live as of March 16th. 

The additional 32 applications are slated to go 

live over the next 4 months, with the migration 

efforts scheduled to wrap up in July 2014.

Drupal CMS Users: Several upgrades to the 

Drupal Content Management System (CMS) 

for www.NASA.gov were implemented in 1st 

Quarter 2014. Some of the features include 

a new TV schedule; new calendar content 

types and widgets; the ability to download 

videos; the inclusion of YouTube and images 

on press releases; before/after image slider 

in feature articles; new RSS feed widgets, 

and the initial versions of relay from Voice 

of America and the Drupal media explorer.

Training sessions for Drupal CMS are held 

monthly. If you use the Drupal CMS and 

would like to register for a Drupal training 

session, please contact WESTPrime’s 

Communications team by sending an email 

to wendy.l.perez@ nasa.gov. Sessions 

are limited to the first 20 registrants so as 

to provide effective hands on training 

Attention Bloggers: Blogs.nasa.gov received 

a “boost” as WESTPrime deployed a 

caching layer to allow a greater volume of 

customers to visit the site, while keeping 

page load times fast during live events.

Looking Ahead: Second quarter 2014 should be 

exciting! WESTPrime just kicked off the AVAIL 

Demo project on March 12, 2014. The Agency 

Video, Audio, Imagery Library (AVAIL) Demo will 

be a tool the NASA Imagery Experts Program will 

use to demonstrate an on-line searchable library 

for accessing NASA video, audio and still imagery 

results, spanning across all of NASA’s publicfacing media libraries. Showcasing responsive 

design, this search-centric application demo will 

give users a glimpse of what the future holds for 

NASA’s multi-media online search capabilities. l

Powell-Meeks named 

to Federal 100

By Mark Whalen, Internal 

Communications Team Leader, JPL, 

California Institute of Technology

Jet Propulsion Laboratory Deputy Director 

for Information Technology and Deputy CIO 

Magalene Powell-Meeks has been named 

to the 2014 Federal 100, an annual list 

celebrating exceptional leadership and 

initiative in Federal technology. She is the 

only NASA honoree on this year’s list.

The annual Federal 100 awards are presented 

to Government, industry, and academic leaders 

who have played pivotal roles that affect how 

the Federal Government acquires, develops, 

and manages information technology. Honorees 

have gone above and beyond their daily 

responsibilities and have made a difference in the 

way technology has transformed their agency or 

accelerated their agency’s mission. The winners 

were celebrated by their peers at an awards 

event held on March 20 in Washington, DC.

Prior to her current roles as JPL’s Deputy 

Director for Information Technology and Deputy 

Chief Information Officer, Powell-Meeks 

managed the Enterprise Engineering Division, 

integrating JPL’s engineering and IT support 

functions into a unified technical infrastructure 

organization. For her “outstanding vision and 

leadership in architecting, implementing and 

leading this new JPL Division,” Powell-Meeks 

received a NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal.

Powell-Meeks joined JPL as part of a co-op 

program in the Instrumentation Section when 

she was a junior in college. Four years after 

joining JPL as a full-time instrumentation 

engineer, she was selected as one of the 

first JPL Fellows to attend graduate school 

full-time while earning full-time work pay. 

Over her JPL career of more than 20 years, 

she has taken on increasingly responsible 

roles in engineering and IT management. l

NASA OCIO IT Talk Apr - Jun 2014 11
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Office of the Chief Information Officer

300 E Street, SW (1225 Eye Street)

Washington, DC 20546

www.nasa.gov

IT Talk

IT Labs is proud to announce the next wave of IT innovations funded in 

the NASA IT Labs FY 2014 Project Call. From a pool of 38 outstanding 

proposals, IT Labs chose nine projects to fund, two of which are 

collaborations between several project-proposal teams. The portfolio 

of projects includes computing, hardware, software, and datamanagement topics and engages seven different NASA Centers. 

The IT Labs team is very thankful for all of the proposals as well as the network of experts and stakeholders that 

evaluated them, including OCIO service executives, Center CTO-ITs, and representatives from the Office of the Chief 

Technologist, the Science Mission Directorate, and the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. 

Congratulations to all of our IT heroes! For more information, visit https://labs.nasa.gov (NDC credentials required). 

Cloudbursting—Solving the 3-Body Problem

Project Lead: Michael Little (LaRC)

Project Champions: Ed McLarney, CTO-IT 

(LaRC); Tsengdar Lee, High-Performance 

Computing Program Manager (SMD)

Mobile BYOD VDI Implementation 

in the Cloud (VDI vs. DaaS)

Project Lead: Richard Schneider (GSFC)

Project Champion: Keith Keller, CTO-IT (GSFC)

Supercomputing Desktops 

Project Lead: Eric Burke (LaRC)

Project Champion: Ed McLarney, CTO-IT (LaRC)

Cloud-Based HTML5 Toolkit 

Project Lead: Lin Chambers (LaRC)

Project Champions: Edward L McLarney, 

CTO-IT (LaRC); Roopangi Kadakia, Web 

Services Executive (Headquarters)

Expanding Interactive Visualization 

Engine for SysML Tools 

Project Lead: Kathryn Trase (GRC)

Project Champion: Les Farkas, CTO-IT (GRC)

Investigation of Wearable Display 

and Visualization Technologies 

for NASA Applications

Project Leads: Manson Yew (JPL), Laurie 

Griffin (KSC), Michael Interbartolo (JSC),

Project Champions: Tom Soderstrom, CTOIT (JPL); Ben Bryant, CTO-IT (KSC); Gabriel 

Rangel (JPL); Chris Gerty (Headquarters)

Investigation of Alternative Humanto-Computer Input Technologies 

for NASA Applications

Project Leads: William Little (KSC), Kerry 

McGuire (JSC), Francisco Delgado (JSC)

Project Champions: Ben Bryant, CTOIT (KSC); James McClellan, CTO-IT 

(JSC); Chris Gerty (Headquarters)

3-D Printing for Youth Engagement 

and Social Networking 

Project Lead: Manson Yew (JPL)

Project Champions: Tom Soderstrom, 

CTO-IT (JPL); Shelly Canright, Director, 

NASA Elementary, Secondary, and 

eEducation Program (Headquarters)

Technical Data Interoperability 

Pathfinder Via Emerging Standards

Project Lead: Michael Conroy (KSC)

Project Champions: Benjamin Bryant, 

CTO-IT (KSC); Paul Gill, Manager, NASA 

Technical Standards Program (MSFC)

Address comments and questions to Allison 

Wolff, IT Labs Program Manager, at

HQ-NASA-IT-Labs@mail.nasa.gov.