Today's Capabilities

DISA provides mainframe and server computer operations, production support, technical services and end user assistance for command and control, combat support, and eBusiness functions across DoD. DISA's five Defense Enterprise Computing Centers (DECCs) and their detachments rely on highly skilled and experienced teams of government and contractor personnel to operate hardware and software encompassing a broad spectrum of computing, storage and communications technologies. DISA's facilities have been designed and managed to provide a secure, available, protected, disciplined, and interoperable environment for both classified and unclassified processing under military control. As an integral component of the Global Information Grid (GIG), DISA's combat support computing provides global reachback, end-to-end control, defensive information operations, and operational sensitivity. Further, the DISA-fielded Global Combat Support System (GCSS) provides commanders with web-based access to selected Service and Agency authoritative/preferred logistics and transportation databases. This avoids the need to lift and support a considerable information technology (IT) infrastructure in the area of operations.

DISA provides computer processing for the entire gamut of combat support functions to include transportation, logistics, maintenance, munitions, engineering, acquisition, finance, medical and military personnel readiness. Some of the more important requirements supported by the thousands of applications running in DISA facilities include the following:

• Providing command and control of warfighting forces.
• Ensuring weapon systems availability through management and control of maintenance and supply.
• Managing and facilitating mobility of the warfighter through management and maintenance of the airlifter and tanker fleets.
• Providing warfighter sustainment through resupply and reorder.
• Providing the warfighter with information on the location, movement, status, and identity of units, personnel, equipment, and supplies.
• Managing the medical environment and patient care.
• Supporting DoD business and eBusiness processes.

These applications are developed by Services' and Agencies' central design activities. Despite the lack of development standards and the disparate, stovepiped nature of the applications, DISA provides common computing platforms, networks, and enterprise systems management tools that serve to standardize the underlying infrastructure and integrate the combat support business processes it supports. Using the global reachback provided by DISN, a joint task force can plug into this common computing infrastructure to get full, interoperable support. Through the Global Command and Control System (GCCS), GCSS, and a common communications and computing infrastructure, DISA provides the joint warfighter with a single, end-to-end capability to manage and monitor units, personnel, and equipment from mobilization through deployment, employment, sustainment, redeployment, and demobilization.

DISA's computing facilities were designed to be highly available data processing centers. They are secure, capable facilities with dual, high capacity DISN connectivity, and organic defense in depth, resulting in a more secure and robust computing infrastructure upon which to build. They feature automated systems management to control computing resources and gain economies of scale. Additionally, DISA has aggressively pursued an assured computing philosophy designed to ensure information and mission critical applications are continuously available for customers.

Transformation Required

The combat support computing mission is to provide secure, interoperable, and assured data processing that enables DoD to deploy, employ, and sustain a warfighting force. In furtherance of this mission, DISA is pursuing the following general transformational strategies for computing:

• Refine the processing, support, and services architecture, taking advantage of increasing bandwidth and highly distributed computing and storage.
• Provide standardized, content-rich computing environments.
• Increase system availability by expanding data replication and mirroring.
• Increase use of centralized, automated systems management.
• Continue workload consolidation where economies can be achieved.
• Facilitate transfer of additional processing support for command and control and intelligence functions into DISA facilities.
• Continue ongoing efforts to support cross-component server applications and facilitate DoD-wide consolidation as the designated provider for all DoD server processing.
• Complete implementation of GCSS to provide Combatant Commanders and joint task force commanders with accurate and timely information on combat support status.
• Bottom line is that transformed combat support computing will be centralized, standardized, available, secure, efficient, customer focused, easy to use, and rich in value-added services.

Uninterrupted access to secure, reliable, capable, and interoperable computer processing is a prerequisite to conducting information operations, leveraging information technology, and providing the network-centric view required to enhance the joint command, control, communications, and computing (C4) warfighting capabilities that are central to transformation.