The program is part of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between OSSI (www.oss-institute.org) and the Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (CNMOC). The three-year joint R&D program matches Navy, industry and academic expertise to identify, document and facilitate the transition of open source solutions into selected Naval enterprise architecture environments and web services programs.
In addition to technical research, OSSI and Naval personnel are conducting economic analysis and business case studies on the Navy’s adoption and migration to open source solutions.
“A core component of this CRADA is to help define a best practices strategy for open source within Naval web services and their move towards a Service Oriented Architecture,” said OSSI Executive Director, John Weathersby. “JBoss is an ideal partner to help drive this initiative. They bring both technical expertise in web services and a leading open source business model to the table. ”
As a participating member of the OSSI CRADA team, JBoss is providing funding, technical and business service expertise as well as access to key development personnel. Other OSSI CRADA Team members include: Red Hat, Intel, Black Duck Software and the University of Southern Mississippi.
Drew Ladner, the newly appointed general manager of JBoss’ government division, is serving as the JBoss liaison for the CRADA project. Ladner, who previously served as the chief information officer for the U.S. Department of the Treasury, will also serve as the JBoss representative on the OSSI Advisory Board.
“JBoss recognizes the value of working with the Navy through this CRADA,” said Ladner. “We are eager to participate and look forward to collaborating with Red Hat and Intel on the web services components of this program.”
Ladner added that he’s “personally enthusiastic about the opportunity to improve the Navy’s agility. My Treasury and inter-agency experience confirms how enterprise class open source solutions can be used not only to steward taxpayer dollars more wisely, but to help government agencies avoid proprietary lock-in – a significant requirement in the Department of Defense.”
OSSI is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote the development and implementation of open source software solutions within government and academic environments. JBoss is a corporate member and sponsor of the open source advocacy organization.
The CRADA is the second such project between OSSI and the Navy. The initial CRADA was conducted between 2001 and 2004 and enabled the Navy to identify and document extensive usage of open source applications within their enterprise systems.
Additional information on OSSI’s CRADA efforts and copies of the initial CRADA reports are available on the OSSI web site (http://www.oss-institute.org/ )under the heading “Programs with the U.S. Navy.”
About JBoss
JBoss®, Inc. pioneered the disruptive Professional Open Source model, which combines the best of the open source and proprietary software worlds to make open source a safe choice for the enterprise and give CIOs peace of mind. This includes the royalty-free software, transparent development and active community inherent in open source and the accountability and professional support services expected of a traditional software vendor. The company finds innovative open source projects and professionalizes the project from a hobby into a livelihood by hiring the lead developer(s), often the founders themselves. JBoss provides the resources, core development and support services to enable popular open source projects to scale into enterprise-class software.
About the Open Source Software Institute
The Open Source Software Institute is a non-profit (501 c 6) organization whose mission is to promote the development and implementation of open source software solutions within U.S. federal, state and municipal government agencies and academic entities. Information on OSSI activities, and a results briefing on the initial Navy CRADA can be found on the OSSI website at: http://oss-institute.org/ .
About CNMOC
Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (http://pao.cnmoc.navy.mil/ is a third echelon operational command reporting to Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command (http://www.cffc.navy.mil/).
The Command is aligned to and focused on the Navy’s five warfighting disciplines — Anti-Submarine Warfare; Special Warfare; Mine Warfare; Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance; and Fleet Operations (Strike and Expeditionary) — as well as the following warfighting support disciplines: Navigation, Precise Time and Astrometry, Maritime Operations and Aviation Operations.
The command’s personnel are located at its headquarters at the John C. Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and at several field activities located around the world.”
