National Aeronautics and Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

IT Talk

January - March 2018 Volume 8 • Issue 1

NASA 

in the 

Cloud
IT Talk

Jan - Mar 2018 Volume 8 • Issue 1

Office of the CIO

NASA Headquarters

300 E Street, SW

Washington, D.C. 20546

Chief Information Officer

Renee Wynn

Editor & Publication Manager

Eldora Valentine

Graphic & Web Designer

Michael Porterfield

Copy Editor

Meredith Isaacs

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 inside.nasa.gov/ocio

 (Internal NASA network only)

v www.nasa.gov/open/

www.facebook.com/NASAcio

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Message from

the NASA CIO

NASA in

the Cloud

Elevating

Earth Science

to the Cloud

NASA’s 508 

Resource Group

The Next

Technology

Waves

In this Issue
The adoption of cloud computing at NASA continues to grow in innovative 

and surprising ways. But it’s not just our Agency where the cloud is making 

a dent. It is sure to have large growth in the Federal sector in 2018. The reason...cloud computing is simplifying how things get done through the use 

of endless new cloud microservices, serverless computing, and astonishing 

levels of automation.

NASA projects and programs are enthusiastically embracing cloud computing’s new capabilities and the benefits they afford NASA missions. In this issue, we’ll explore how the cloud is being used to accomplish NASA IT’s 2018 

business objectives. And we’ll learn how we’re moving Earth Science to the 

cloud and the benefits it brings to the Agency.

And finally, given all of the recent cybersecurity threats seen within the Federal sector, phase 2 of mobile device management at NASA will provide users with increased security and greater ease of use on their NASA-issued iOS 

and Android mobile devices. 

I hope you enjoy this issue. Happy reading and Happy New Year!

CIO Executive Council (CEC) 

Face-to-Face

November 2017

NASA Industry Day

December 2017

NASA OCIO IT Talk Jan - Mar 2018 3

Message from the NASA CIO 
NASA’s 508 Resource Group

Michele Farr, 508 Coordinator, Marshall Space Flight Center

When an application or system is under development for an Agency deployment, there are many things that 

must be taken into consideration and 

fully tested. Among these is 508 standards compliance; does the application or system meet or exceed the 508 

standards identified by the General 

Services Administration (GSA) (https://

section508.gov/)? These standards 

must be met regardless of whether 

NASA uses a commercial off-the-shelf 

(COTS) solution or develops a customized solution. 

So often in our daily work lives, we do 

not stop to consider what a workday at 

NASA is like for those who face challenges, but at the Agency Applications 

Office (AAO), we have a better understanding thanks to Dr. Kathy Thompson. 

She has been an AAO team member for 

ten years and has less than 20 percent 

vision and is hard of hearing due to a genetic condition called Usher syndrome. 

These challenges make Dr. Thompson 

a key contributor to the NASA 508 Resource Group, which works to ensure 

that 508 standards are met. 

In 2016, the NASA 508 Resource Group 

became an Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)–chartered group 

composed of individuals from all NASA 

Centers and was established to “operate 

as an advocacy group in support of employees with disabilities, specifically with 

respect to Electronic Information Technology (EIT) accessibility” within NASA. 

All of the members of the 508 Resource 

Group work full-time at NASA in a variety of capacities, but, as necessary, they 

offer assistance on 508 issues and advocate for better understanding of 508 

compliance in our IT-centric world. 

Members of the 508 Resource Group 

have been tapped to support some interesting 508 evaluations and continue 

to provide input on how to make applications, software, and Web pages more 

accessible. Just recently, Dr. Thompson 

was contacted by the Space Launch 

System (SLS) Program to provide user 

feedback to the software developer of 

the “NASA SLS Oculus Rift Experience.” 

This software, developed by Media Fusion for the SLS Program, will serve as 

a unique educational tool—a “personal 

roadshow” of the SLS, intended for 

members of the public who commonly 

use virtual reality hardware. It is an exciting experience that allows the user to 

“see” and “hear,” via a realistic animation 

of the launch system, from a perspective 

unknown to most people. To add to the 

fun, this animation also lets the user sit 

next to a virtual astronaut in the capsule. 

Other examples of 508 Compliance 

Group valuable feedback include NASA’s civil-servant time-and-attendance 

software (WebTADS) and a test app 

for a mobile platform that would allow “citizen scientists” to provide crop 

and drought condition information from 

across the United States. 

As we continue to move forward into 

becoming a more mobile workforce, the 

508 Resource Group can provide valuable insight to help NASA remain on path 

and in orbit. For advice about testing or 

translating 508 standards, please reach 

out to the NASA 508 Program Manager, Lori Parker (lori.parker-1@nasa.gov); 

your Center 508 Coordinator; or the 508 

Resource Group Coordinator, Dr. Craig 

Moore (craig.e.moore@nasa.gov).

MDM Phase 2: Coming Soon

Kellie White, Communications Specialist, Marshall Space Flight Center

The Center for Internal Mobile Applications (CIMA) has partnered with the 

Identity Credential and Access Management (ICAM) team and the End 

Users Services Office (EUSO) to provide users with increased security and 

greater ease of use on their NASA-issued iOS and Android mobile devices. 

Given all of the recent cybersecurity 

threats seen within the Federal sector, 

the new technology being introduced 

by these three teams could not have 

come at a better time.

The new technology, which is being 

implemented in three distinct phases, 

will reach full deployment in late 2018. 

The first phase, completed in 2016, 

introduced the use of mobile device 

management (MDM) to the NASA community. Phase 1 provided users with 

the ability to register their NASA mobile 

devices at https://mdr.nasa.gov, which 

helps to secure NASA resources in the 

event that the mobile device is lost or 

stolen.

The implementation of the derived credential certificate for mobile devices 

(Phase 2) began in March 2017 with a 

small group of testers from each Center; an Agency-wide waved rollout is 

scheduled to begin in January 2018, 

completing around March 2018. This 

release eliminates the use of passwords 

for authentication on mobile devices, 

provides users with the ability to send/

receive encrypted e-mails for iOS and 

Android ACES-furnished mobile devices, and further improves NASA’s IT Security. Please note that only those users 

with ACES-issued devices will be authorized to participate in MDM Phase 2.

The third and final phase will begin rollout later in the calendar year of 2018 

and will introduce the secure container 

for NASA-provided mobile applications. The secure container will give the 

Agency the ability to fully manage the 

life cycles of NASA applications and 

services being accessed from a NASAprovided mobile device.

Beginning in January 2018, be sure to 

look for Center announcements and 

opportunities to learn more. Until then, 

if you have questions or suggestions, 

send us an e-mail at msfc-cima@mail.

nasa.gov.

4 www.nasa.gov
SSC Young Engineer’s Design Challenge

By Christopher Carmichael, Chief Technology Officer for IT, Stennis Space Center

The Young Engineer’s Design Challenge, hosted and sponsored by the 

Rocket Propulsion Test Program Office 

(RPTPO) and the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) at the John C. 

Stennis Space Center (SSC) took off 

like a rocket and was a great success! 

This challenge gathered the best and 

brightest young engineers from across 

NASA in a multi-Center collaborative 

effort to design a new mobile rocket 

test stand that can withstand a thrust 

of 15,000 pounds of force. 

The OCIO goals for this challenge were 

to foster a collaborative environment 

and evaluate information technology 

(IT) equipment and resources to aid in 

achieving an innovative and creative 

environment.

The RPTPO and the OCIO transformed 

the Logtown Conference Room into a 

unique collaboration space with new 

technology, including experimenting 

with innovative cloud-based software, 

and inventive furniture solutions to 

support a conducive environment for 

fostering creativity. One of the greatest challenges for creating this environment occurred at the conclusion of 

the event, when the space immediately 

had to revert to its regular conference 

room environment, an event successfully planned for in the design. 

Feedback from this challenge benefits 

the RPTPO and the OCIO. The RPTPO 

hopes to use the lessons learned from 

this challenge to establish collaborative spaces at each rocket propulsion 

facility across NASA. The OCIO will use 

lessons learned from this challenge to 

deploy its Innovations and Efficiencies 

Program (IEP), led by the SSC Chief 

Technology Officer for IT. This program 

will develop a Technology Infusion Lab 

and collaboration space, providing 

SSC with an environment to generate 

creative solutions to SSC’s challenges.

The SSC IEP is a program of the SSC 

OCIO and looks to usher in the future 

by encouraging creative, out-of-the 

box thinking which will open doors to 

create innovative and imaginative cross 

functional solutions.

Store and Share Data in the Cloud

Chris Blakeley, Box Project Manager, Kennedy Space Center, and

Mary Phillips, WESTPrime Communications, Headquarters 

Looking for an approved cloud service 

to securely store NASA sensitive data 

regardless of file size? Need a place 

to collaborate with team members and 

share documents? NASA’s Box pilot 

program might be the answer. 

NASA is currently piloting a secure 

file collaboration platform for employees and contractors through February 

2018. Box enables NASA to manage 

versions of sensitive documents more 

efficiently by allowing teams to work 

together and have access to the most 

up-to-date content.

“Box is a major cloud service for 

NASA that was deployed in less than 6 

months. It’s the only secure tool available within the NASA community for 

the storage and sharing of ITAR [International Traffic in Arms Regulations] 

data,” said Ian Sturken, NASA Web and 

Managed Cloud Program Manager, 

Web Services Office.

To further NASA’s mission of pioneering 

the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research, 

tools are needed that allow users to do 

their jobs as effectively as possible. 

Box users can

• save files to the cloud (and 

access them from the NASA 

virtual private network [VPN]),

• always track file versions,

• invite team members 

to work on files,

• share links with team 

members, and

• use Box Notes to take 

interactive meeting notes.

Sensitive data categories include the 

following:

• ITAR

• Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU)

• Export Administration 

Regulations (EAR)

• Non-sensitive Personally 

Identifiable Information (PII)

• Federal Information Security 

Management Act (FISMA, 

moderate level)

Through secure file sharing and collaboration, work can be completed inside 

NASA among employees and contractors without the risk of compromising 

any ITAR or sensitive data. 

The service is FedRamp-certified and 

was provisioned through the Web Services Office on the WESTPrime contract managed by IT services provider 

InfoZen, a subsidiary of ManTech.

Users interested in the pilot must have 

a NASA-issued Personal Identity Verification (PIV) smartcard, and sharing 

is limited to NASA Box users only. 

To request an account, users can go 

to NAMS at https://idmax.nasa.gov/

nams/asset/234734.

NASA OCIO IT Talk Jan - Mar 2018 5
NASA in the Cloud

By Karen Petraska, Program Executive for Computing Services, Headquarters;

Mary Jo Alfano, Program Support for Computing Services Program, Goddard Space Flight Center; and

Ray O’Brien, Chief Technology Officer for Information Technology, Ames Research Center

Cloud computing has emerged as a major innovation in IT service delivery over 

the last decade. Web-age companies 

are leading the charge by harnessing the 

convergence of high-speed Internet, the 

Web, and virtualization. Cloud computing is truly a disruptive innovation that 

turns time-tested IT management, acquisition, and security approaches upside down; creates new market leaders; 

and provides enterprises like NASA with 

an ever-growing, rich universe of application and service capabilities. These 

capabilities are literally a mouse click or 

an applications programming interface 

(API) call away. NASA projects and programs are enthusiastically embracing 

cloud computing’s new capabilities and 

the benefits they afford NASA missions.

At NASA, cloud computing is provided 

as an enterprise-managed service by 

the Office of the NASA Chief Information Officer through the Computing 

Services Program (CSP). All commercial cloud computing services must 

be obtained in coordination with the 

CSP. Enterprise management of cloud 

computing enables NASA’s cloud consumption to be consistent, safe, and 

compliant with industry best practices 

and Federal laws and requirements. 

Features of enterprise-managed cloud 

include the following:

• use of Agency-provided cloud procurement vehicles that include all 

proper legal terms and conditions 

to protect NASA’s rights and data;

• consistent integration with Identity, 

Credential, and Access Management (ICAM), NASA networks, 

the Federal Information Security 

Management Act (FISMA), and the 

Security Operations Center; and

• standard governance and processes for assessing and authorizing 

the use of cloud services.

The cloud framework implemented by 

the CSP reduces the amount of time 

it takes to get started in the cloud and 

streamlines the effort that each cloud 

user or project must invest in cloud 

startup.

NASA’s cloud adoption is focused on 

commercially available cloud comput6 www.nasa.gov
ing services. Cloud Infrastructure as a 

Service (IaaS) providers, such as Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure, have 

built massive computing and storage 

capabilities. These services enable users to quickly rent the precise amount 

of computing and storage that are 

needed, for only as long as they are 

needed, and utilize them via the Internet. This enables much faster “time to 

user productivity” by eliminating long 

acquisition cycles and additional delays 

incurred by the installation and configuration of NASA-owned hardware. 

Being able to “rent” more computing 

than you can afford to own offers much 

faster and better ways to address big 

datasets and very large problems. 

Cloud Software as a Service (SaaS) is 

likely to have the broadest and most 

significant impact on the NASA workforce. Cloud SaaS is characterized by 

the use, via the Internet, of software 

that is deployed in the vendor’s infrastructure. No longer will we purchase 

most software and install it on NASAowned hardware. Instead, when we 

purchase the use of a SaaS product, 

we simply receive authentication credentials to use that software as installed on the vendor’s infrastructure. 

Commercial software vendors are increasingly abandoning traditional “ship 

and support” and “download and install” delivery models in favor of SaaS. 

The SaaS model enables vendors to 

leverage a timelier and less costly 

software-updating methodology of 

“continuous feature deployment.” This 

approach brings updates, patches, 

and new features to the user potentially 

on a daily basis. It also eliminates the 

high overhead associated with burdensome legacy software release cycles 

and associated support. As organizations evolve to owning less computing hardware, decreasing on-premises 

installations of software is the logical 

next step. Today, NASA’s Application 

Portfolio is composed of approximately 

80 percent traditional on-premises applications and 20 percent cloud SaaS 

applications. We expect to see those 

percentages reverse over the next five 

years. 

Numerous SaaS services are either 

already authorized or in the process 

of being authorized for use at NASA. 

Google Apps for Work and Box are 

both currently available through the 

Web Services Office. Esri’s ArcGIS, 

Jive, and Microsoft’s Office 365 are all 

in various stages of being authorized for 

use at NASA. OCIO will be announcing 

quarterly the new major cloud offerings 

authorized for use in IT Talk.

Cloud adoption is not without risk. When 

you use the cloud, your data transits 

the Internet and is stored in a vendor’s 

remote location that NASA does not 

control. These risks are manageable, 

and it is important to work with your 

Center’s Cloud Point of Contact (POC) 

to ensure that your cloud usage is safe 

and compliant and that your data does 

not become compromised. Because 

cloud services are very easy to obtain 

and people often do not think about 

security or compliance when buying 

cloud services with a credit card or accessing those services for free, there is 

a tremendous amount of unauthorized 

cloud usage on NASA’s network today. 

This usage threatens to compromise 

NASA’s information security. NASA is 

embarking on a significant initiative 

to reduce the amount of unauthorized cloud use. This initiative will use 

appropriate processes to legitimately 

authorize some of these cloud services 

and eliminate the use of cloud services 

that cannot be made safe for use. (See 

sidebar for Cloud POCs.)

The cloud is revolutionizing how new IT 

capabilities are deployed by shortening the user’s time to productivity and 

enabling users to benefit from new 

features immediately. Cloud computing 

is also simplifying how things get done 

through the use of endless new cloud 

microservices, serverless computing, 

and astonishing levels of automation. 

The adoption of cloud computing at 

NASA continues to grow in innovative 

and surprising ways. An increasingly 

cloud-savvy NASA workforce expects 

a high level of responsiveness in gaining access to the universe of powerful 

cloud offerings because it enables them 

to do their jobs better and helps them 

carry out NASA missions more effectively. We have only just begun to tap 

the vast potential of cloud computing.

Cloud

Resources

Think there’s a cloud solution for your project?

Want to join the Cloud 

Community?

Need to find cloud services and 

unsure of how to get started?

NASA’s Enterprise Managed 

Cloud Computing (EMCC) 

Program has you covered! 

(All links are for internal 

NASA network use only.)

The EMCC is your guide to 

NASA’s Cloud. Visit https://

emcc.nasa.gov to find resources and news and 

learn how the commercial 

cloud is working for you. 

Click here to join the Cloud 

Community of Interest, attend the monthly forums, 

and access past events:

https://intranet.share.nasa.

gov/agency/cloudservices/

Pages/CCOI.aspx. 

To answer your questions 

about the NASA Cloud, find 

your Center’s Cloud POC:

https://intranet.share.nasa.

gov/agency/cloudservices/

Pages/About-Us.aspx

Or check out the FAQ:

https://intranet.share.nasa.

gov/agency/cloudservices/Pages/FAQs.aspx. 

NASA OCIO IT Talk Jan - Mar 2018 7
Serverless Computing in the GovCloud

By Sandeep D. Shetye, Data Management Program Manager and Chief Data Architect, Headquarters;

Cuong Nguyen, Extravehicular Activities Project Manager, Johnson Space Center; and

Chris Shenton, Chief Technology Officer for V! Studio, Johnson Space Center

Serverless computing is one of the hottest trends and is quickly gaining popularity, as well as widespread adoption. 

While misleading, the technology is 

called “serverless” because customers are not responsible for provisioning 

and managing servers; this burden falls 

to the cloud vendor. This is the next 

step in cloud computing, with vendors 

providing servers and assuming operational costs. 

How Serverless Computing Works 

Serverless computing is frequently referred to as “event-driven Function as a 

Service (FaaS),” where functions (code 

run on vendor servers) are typically invoked in response to events (actions 

triggering a computing process). This 

pattern is also referred to as “event-driven computing,” in contrast to always-on 

servers that spend most of their lives 

idle. Since the functions are temporary, 

they are decommissioned after execution and users pay only for the computing time they consume. Additionally, the 

cloud provider manages data volume, 

allowing NASA to process large or small 

amounts of data based on demand. 

What Can Serverless Computing Do?

Serverless computing is a great fit for the 

short-lived, event-driven applications 

where the code runs on the server for a 

brief period of time. Serverless architectures excel with complementary data, allowing many functions to operate simultaneously. Serverless computing is also 

a good match when the data load varies, 

as users are not billed for idle servers. 

Many companies are handling intense 

workloads, including sensor networks 

of Internet of Things (IoT) devices or 

mobile game streams, using serverless 

architecture. Large media companies 

are migrating their content serving and 

advertising functions to serverless computing for its speed and cost advantage. 

Why Did We Select 

Serverless Computing?

Our team wanted to quickly develop 

and deploy a couple of services to 

handle unpredictable and fluctuating 

data loads without adding a lot to the 

operational cost. We looked at serverless architecture and its ability to easily scale while only paying for what we 

use. It was a no-brainer—we decided 

to use Amazon Web Service’s (AWS’s) 

Lambda, the first public serverless solution. Others include Google’s Cloud 

Function, Microsoft Azure, and IBM’s 

Cloud Functions. 

Serverless computing with AWS Lambda has proven to be an effective way to 

scale up. Since functions are intentionally short-lived, this method allows us 

to develop each service independently 

of the others, speeding development 

and deployment. Cost estimates also 

showed that serverless computing 

would be much less expensive than 

other autoscaling servers.

Serverless Computing in Use

The NASA Extravehicular Activities 

(EVA) Office Insight/Enterprise Data Integration (EDI) group used AWS Lambda to build a serverless Optical Character Recognition (OCR) application. 

The solution enabled EVA to extract 

text from nearly 100,000 PDF pages, 

scanned each month, without overwhelming the data integration pipeline.

We realized that Lambda, with its instant and frictionless scaling, along 

with faster and cheaper service, provided us with the best serverless solution 

for this requirement. This was a perfect 

use case for serverless architectures, 

and it is the first deployment of serverless computing in the NASA GovCloud. 

The image below shows how the OCR 

technology uses serverless computing 

with AWS Lambda to meet EVA needs.

Benefits of Serverless Computing

The rise of serverless cloud computing 

offers key benefits:

1. Quick development 

and deployment.

2. Lower costs due to “pay 

for the runtime” model.

3. Elastic scalability taken care 

of by cloud providers.

4. Increased productivity from 

less administration and more 

development time.

Will It Lambda?

Serverless computing is a game changer, already benefiting NASA projects, 

and will be a part of the cloud strategy going forward. The Function as a 

Service approach allows us to evolve 

more rapidly than traditional systems, 

and costs are economical. We now approach new challenges with the question, “Will it Lambda?”

Reach out to sandeep.d.shetye@

nasa.gov to find out how Lambda and 

serverless architectures can solve your 

challenges.

AWS Lambda uses 

serverless computing 

to split scanned EVA 

documents into individual pages, run an 

Optical Character Recognition application, 

convert the pages to 

text, and reassemble 

the pages into searchable documents.

8 www.nasa.gov
Elevating Earth Science to the Cloud

Mark McInerney, EOSDIS Project Deputy Project Manager, and Keith Keller, Chief Technology Officer (CTO),

Information Technology and Communications Directorate (ITCD), Goddard Space Flight Center 

NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) (https://earthdata.nasa.

gov/about) is in the middle of implementing a 

significant change in the way data users access 

and use NASA Earth Observation (EO) data (https://

earthdata.nasa.gov/earth-observation-data): moving EOSDIS data and services to the cloud. Ironically, data users will likely not even notice when 

this change is implemented. What they will notice 

is more efficient access to mission data and the 

ability to do more with these data.

Between 2017 and 2022, the ingestion rate of 

data into the EOSDIS archive is projected to grow 

from the current 3.9 petabytes (PB) per year to 

as much as 47.7 PB per year, according to estimates from NASA’s Earth Science Data Systems 

(ESDS) Program (https://earthdata.nasa.gov/earthscience-data-systems-program). As this ingestion 

rate increases, the volume of data in the EOSDIS 

archive also is expected to grow—from nearly 22 

PB today to more than 37 PB by 2020. By 2025, the 

volume of data in the EOSDIS archive is expected 

to be more than 246 PB.

This anticipated growth in both the EOSDIS data 

ingestion rate and the overall archive volume 

poses new challenges for distributing and analyzing data currently stored and disseminated 

through physical servers on the premises at EOSDIS Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) 

(https://earthdata.nasa.gov/about/daacs). To address these challenges, EOSDIS has partnered 

with NASA’s Office of the Chief Information Officer 

(OCIO) and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to help 

build the Earthdata Cloud to ingest, archive, process, distribute, and manage the large volumes 

of EOS mission data. Implementing the Earthdata 

Cloud will, for the first time, place NASA EO data 

“close to compute,” improve management and 

accessibility of the data, and help expedite science discovery. 

EOSDIS data in the Earthdata Cloud brings numerous benefits, including the following:

• Easy access: Data users will be able to access data directly in the cloud, removing the 

need to download volumes of data for use.

• Rapid deployment: With an established EOSDIS cloud platform, data users can bring 

their algorithms and processing software 

to the cloud and work directly with the data 

in the cloud, simplifying procurement and 

hardware support while expediting science 

discovery.

• Scalability: The size and use of the archive 

can expand easily and rapidly as needed.

• Flexibility: Mission needs can dictate options 

for selecting operating systems, programming languages, databases, and other criteria to enable the best use of mission data.

• Cost effectiveness: EOSDIS and NASA 

pay only for the storage and services actually used. Along with scalability benefits, 

this practice allows the amount of storage 

or services to be continually adjusted to ensure that data and services are effectively 

provided at the lowest possible cost to NASA 

and EOSDIS.

Langley Managed Cloud Environment

Corey Portalatin-Berrien, Project Manager, and

Mike Hiser, Student Trainee (Information Technology), Langley Research Center

Cloud computing, cloud hosting, cloud storage. “Cloud” 

is the latest buzzword, and everyone is talking about 

it, but what is the cloud, and why is it such a big deal?

Many Federal mandates encourage the adoption of 

cloud computing, to include the Federal Data Center 

Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI), the Cloud First Initiative, and the 2017 Report to the President on Federal 

IT Modernization. Perhaps more persuasive than a 

mandate is the definitive migration to the cloud by 

all areas of the private sector—finance, health care, 

energy, entertainment, education, and manufacturing. The Economist suggests that 90 percent of global enterprises have invested in cloud use and that 

cloud computing is now the largest category of IT 

infrastructure budgets for most organizations.

NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) provides Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a 

Service (PaaS) solutions under the Langley Managed 

Cloud Environment (LMCE). 

How does LMCE fit within Agency cloud efforts? 

The LMCE is one of a handful of Agency-designated 

managed cloud environments—and certainly one of 

the busiest. LMCE leverages the environment and 

support provided by the Agency and adds value for 

local customers by adding security, procurement, 

and management features.

The LMCE operates as a Managed Service Provider, 

offering a secure, managed, Agency-accredited virtual data center. Today, the core Cloud Service Provider (CSP) is Amazon Web Services. As the Agency 

brings new CSPs on board, the LMCE looks to quickly 

integrate them into the Langley OCIO portfolio for a 

more robust cloud catalog. 

Who is using LMCE? 

Several teams across NASA LaRC are leveraging 

LMCE to support their missions. Projects include 

large-scale air traffic simulations, media rendering 

and transcoding, data science and analytics, mobile 

application deployment, and storage of large scientific datasets. These cases include migrations from 

locally purchased and managed hardware, to include 

bare metal, Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) intensive 

machines, and Storage Area Networks (SANs). 

Disaster Recovery: One team is leveraging AWS’s 

cold storage and large-data transfer mechanism to 

implement a tapeless disaster recovery program. 

The data will be transferred using Snowball, a secure physical storage device designed for large data, 

into long-term storage, Glacier. Upon completion, the 

data can be recovered almost immediately if disaster 

recovery is required. 

On-demand computing: Several teams are utilizing on-demand resources to run flight simulations. A 

recent test spun up over 200 machines, simulating 

several thousand in-flight aircraft. Upon completion 

of the test, the machines were turned off, ensuring 

that costs are incurred only when a resource is active. 

How do I learn more? 

If you are ready to set up a trial run, learn more, or 

talk to the someone about this, contact the Agency 

Cloud team at https://intranet.share.nasa.gov/agency/cloudservices/Pages/GettingStarted.aspx.

NASA OCIO IT Talk Jan - Mar 2018 9
The Next Technology Waves

Tom Soderstrom, IT Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

Trying to keep up with everything new 

is exhausting! It’s also not very productive. Is there a better way to deal with 

the rapid pace of technology innovations and translate them into something useful for our stakeholders?

JPL’s approach: tie the new to something familiar. Living in California, we 

relate forecasting new technologies to 

searching for the perfect wave. With 

new technologies coming in like ocean 

waves at different strengths and intervals, it’s up to us to decide which 

ones are worth surfing (i.e. prototyping 

and piloting). While we pay attention 

to technology swells ten years in the 

future, we will actually “surf” the ones 

that can solve real user problems over 

the next two years. This approach ensures we publish a position on everything relevant to our stakeholders while 

focusing our efforts on the most promising waves delivering near-term benefits. Early participation can also help 

influence the influencers. 

Help NASA catch the technology waves

Benefit	

now

Surf	the	wave	0-2	years	out

Select	a	wave	2-3	years	out

Watch	for	swells	3-10	years	out

ß Technology	focus	à JPL	Use	Case	focus	à

Participate	at:	techwaves@jpl.nasa.gov or	

https://goto.jpl.nasa.gov/techwaves

1.	Write	a	position	on	all	relevant	tech	waves

2.	Surf	them	together

Fig 1 – We surf only the technology 

waves that solve actual user problems

We have uncovered six major technology waves which, when combined, form 

a tsunami-sized wave we call “Built-in 

intelligence everywhere.” Information 

we need will be available on demand, 

from any device, at any location, and 

filtered for our needs.

The next major technology waves

Participate	at:	techwaves@jpl.nasa.gov or	https://goto.jpl.nasa.gov/techwaves

Ubiquitous

Computing

Software

Defined

Everything

Accelerated

Computing

Cyber Security

Challenges

New

Habits

Applied AI

Built-in	

intelligence

everywhere

---These	waves	will	impact	everyone--- ---These	waves	will	impact	primarily	developers---

Fig 2 – The Next Technology Waves

Cyber Security Challenges

We must protect ourselves from sophisticated at-scale hackers from successfully taking down NASA websites 

using Netbots or organized phishing, 

vishing, and denial of service attacks. 

Protections will come from role-based 

training, default encryption, and possibly via Blockchain-based solutions. 

Accelerated Computing

Computing capabilities will skyrocket 

through High Performance Computing in the cloud, Graphical Processing 

Units, edge computing to handle massive scale and latency, and problem 

solving with Serverless Computing. 

Blockchain, neuromorphic, and quantum computing will see productive implementations. 

Software Defined Everything

In the future, everything becomes a programming problem and everyone is a 

programmer. Application Programming 

Interfaces are new currencies to be 

managed, maintained, and treasured. 

New programming languages will appear but the old masters (Python, JavaScript-based languages, and C) will 

still rule. Software defined, self-healing 

networks will become the infrastructure used by shape-shifting enterprises 

while software containers will facilitate 

improved scalability, testing, operations, and security. DevOps becomes a 

fact, not a discussion, and Open Source 

becomes the default choice.

Ubiquitous Computing

Internet of Things (IoT) will pay huge 

dividends to early adopters and evolve 

rapidly through natural user interfaces 

(i.e., speech/gesture/touch) and by using low-cost sensors. All computing is 

soon available on the go with mobile 

and wearable devices. You can have 

a full-fidelity Augmented Reality (AR) 

experience, or bring it with you on mobile devices. All your computing needs 

are with you at all times, and they are 

highly responsive.

Applied AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI), will be democratized and perpetually available 

on all devices. AI algorithms will be 

trained on huge data sets in the cloud 

and low-cost computing devices (e.g., 

Raspberry Pis and microcontrollers). 

We will have Digital Assistants and 

Chatbots at the ready or working in 

the background. Everything possible 

will be automated, and predictive, prescriptive analytics will be totally indistinguishable from AI.

New Habits

We will have interconnectivity to each 

other and all devices, enabling work 

from anywhere with relevant data always at our fingertips. In the workforce, 

we will share offices and equipment, 

paying only for what we use, à la Uber 

or Airbnb. Workspaces are environmentally aware and “green,” helping 

recruiting. Gaming will enter the workforce in unexpected ways, just as it has 

in industry (e.g., video gamers earning 

millions of dollars playing online while 

others watch). 

By catching and surfing these technology waves early, we will influence the 

influencers and ensure that NASA and 

humanity benefits. We want to see the 

swells early, watch the waves build, 

surf them to fruition, and then build the 

necessary ecosystem on the beach to 

be able to surf the even more impactful technology waves yet to come. Do 

you want to become a technology 

wave surfer? Join us by sending an 

email to techwaves@jpl.nasa.gov.

10 www.nasa.gov
BSA Corner

By Meredith Isaacs, Communications Specialist, Headquarters

Over a year and a half ago, the Office of the Chief Information Officer 

(OCIO) began implementation of the 

Information Technology (IT) Business 

Services Assessment (BSA). The Business Services Steering Committee recommended, and the Mission Support 

Council approved, seven Decision Areas (Roles and Responsibilities, Governance, Computing Services, Communications, Workstations, Collaboration, 

and IT Security) designed to optimize 

IT services, enhancing collaboration, 

efficiency, and service delivery.

As teams from IT organizations across 

the Centers got to work, they encountered challenges, achieved victories, 

and began to change IT services at 

NASA. Some of these shifts were behind the scenes and others were visible 

to customers. Recently, OCIO leadership took a deep dive into IT BSA progress and concluded that we are nearing 

the finish line!

Taking a Victory Lap!

The Agency’s IT Security teams were 

charged with establishing a risk management framework and reviewing IT 

security spending. Implementation of 

this decision resulted in the adoption 

of the National Institute of Standards 

and Technology 

(NIST) Risk 

Man -

age -

ment Framework: Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover. The OCIO 

also completed a zero-base review of 

cybersecurity spending.

Through an inventory of tools, the 

Collaboration team identified requirements and established the Collaborations Tool Portal: https://inside.nasa.

gov/ecs/approved-collaboration-tools. 

Users can also look forward to NASA’s 

Core Suite of Collaboration Tools, soon 

to be populated with Office 365 and 

Cisco capabilities. While both teams 

have completed their IT BSA objectives, they continue to evolve their services.

Nearing the Finish Line!

Agency Data Center and Cloud investments are now coordinated with the 

Computing Services Program, and 

Cloud Community of Interest forums 

are available to interested participants. 

(Want to join? Visit https://intranet.

share.nasa.gov/agency/cloudservices/

Pages/CCOI.aspx.) The Communications Program (CP) continued network 

transformation, aligning some communications services to the enterprise. 

Additionally, enterprise communication 

service funding was transferred from 

individual Centers to the Agency.

Governance teams implemented 

program reviews, the Center 

Functional Review, the IT Center Investment Review (ITCIR), 

new program boards, and 

streamlined IT governance 

boards by eliminating duplication and standing 

up or revamping others 

into the IT Council (ITC), 

CIO Leadership Team 

(CLT), and IT Program Management Board (ITPMB). The 

comprehensive program and portfolio 

reviews allow leadership the insight for 

stronger investment decisions.

Teams in these Decision Areas are 

working to finalize the data center architecture, strategic sourcing guidance, and network transformation, 

among others, to optimize IT services. 

This work is at least 90 percent complete.

In the Home Stretch!

Also nearing completion are Workstations and Roles and Responsibilities 

Decisions. The End User Service Program is coordinating with Centers to 

consolidate non-ACES workstations as 

contracts expire and to bring at least 

80 percent of user workstations under 

the ACES contract. Most Centers have 

reached this second goal!

Under Roles and Responsibilities, the 

Applications, Computing Services, 

Communications, and End User Services Program Offices have been established and assigned Program Executives. Leadership is implementing 

common roles and responsibilities for 

consistent use across programs and 

Centers while Information Management and Security Service Programs 

continue maturation.

The Finish Line

IT BSA efforts have spanned the Agency, with countless hours dedicated to 

examining how IT works at NASA, determining how to optimize IT, and executing 

projects that benefit providers, customers, and the entire Agency. Thanks to 

these teams for their hard work, and we 

look forward to crossing the finish line!

NASA OCIO IT Talk Jan - Mar 2018 11
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Office of the Chief Information Officer

300 E Street, SW

Washington, DC 20546

www.nasa.gov

The Right Solution—Hitachi Content Platform

By Jaumarro A. Cuffee, Communications Strategist, Johnson Space Center

In a Hitachi Content Platform (HCP) ribbon-cutting ceremony held on Monday, 

November 6, 2017, the Information Resources Directorate (IRD) and International 

Space Station (ISS) Program demonstrated their dedication to the continued implementation of the true spirit of JSC 2.0.

Focus on the priorities: In 2013, IRD recognized the need to investigate issues on 

the existing StorNext Archival System, 

which demanded a more comprehensive 

and forward-leaning solution that would 

address problems with the process, design, and accessibility of data for IRD 

customers. 

“Do things differently”—improve our 

ways of doing business: After identifying the problems, IRD began researching 

new solutions with three key focus areas 

in mind: meeting customer needs, adhering to Agency priorities for meeting mission goals, and enhancing and exploring 

new technologies such as cloud computing. IRD worked with several individuals 

at Hitachi; Sony; the Communications, 

Outreach, Multimedia, and Information 

Technology Contract (COMIT); and NASA 

to devise a strategy to create a solid design that would meet all of IRD customers’ needs while providing a hybrid approach to storing data that could leverage 

cloud technology.

“Accelerate the mission”—challenge 

inefficient and outdated processes: IRD 

invested more than 1 year researching 

new technology and working with multiple 

vendors to learn about and explore new, 

innovative ways to archive, secure, and 

separate data while engaging with IRD 

customers to better understand and capture their requirements. After diligent consideration and a decision analysis review 

of the many proposals identifying new 

technologies, IRD recognized that HCP 

had the capability to meet the mission 

needs. True to JSC 2.0 and the goal of accelerating the mission, the HCP was not 

only the solution for right now, but also the 

right solution with future potential.

“Advance commercialization”—collaboration across organizations, Centers, 

and the broader space community: While 

the International Space Station is the largest customer of this new technology, IRD is committed to bringing 

other customers on board with this 

solution in the near future. Phase 

III of this project is scheduled for 

implementation in April 2018; it 

will execute disaster recovery at 

the White Sands Tests Facility and 

investigate the use of other features for accessing, collaborating, 

and storing data. The future of this 

platform has broad potential in the 

commercialization of space.

JSC 2.0

The technology and approach to archiving data through the Hitachi Content 

Management System allows IRD to meet 

evolving stakeholder needs and support 

mission success while reducing costs for 

both the Government and the customer.

The Director of IRD, Annette Moore, commented, “This strategy solution represents the spirit of JSC 2.0, and we are 

proud of this partnership with the International Space Station Program!” IT Talk