In the current world of rapidly evolving commercial and open ecosystems (CNCF,Apache..), there are multiple technologies that can be used to address any given problem. It is a problem of abundance rather than a lack of choice. This abundance translates to continuous conversations about the choosing the right tools and prevents convergence. To further complicate things, there is a lack of common visual language that teams can use to anchor their ideas and get into the details of how and why they actually differ. Especially in the context of emerging technologies like AI/ML, Blockchain and IoT, it is even more important to come up with common language to visualize the stack and understand the interactions between technologies.
As outlined in the Digital Building Code, MOSA (Modular Open System Approach) drives convergence which is critical to getting cutting edge capabilities to the warfighter faster. It also highlights that the approach is one of continuous evolution rather than an end state - "Convergence on development standards does not mean innovation stops; rather, convergence around these development standards is what will unleash functional innovation at scale, and allow software dev".
To begin developing these modular open system stacks, there is a need to understand what they are and provide the right level of abstraction to navigate the layers.
VivSoft is creating these standardized technology stacks which we call “FedStacks” within our ENBUILD accelerator. These stacks capture repeating patterns of tools that all Federal Agencies require to implement emerging technologies. Big Bang from Platform One is a great example of such an FedStack. Big Bang addresses the core components of a DevSecOps stack and works across impact levels on both open source and vendor distributions. Iron Bank standardizes and accelerates application development on top of Big Bang using secure containers. And both these offerings are open source and any agency looking to get started on their DevSecOps journey can leverage and customize them as required.
But Big Bang itself consists of multiple technologies and teams have a challenge understanding and deploying it. VivSoft's ENBUILD accelerator is an easy button for Big Bang deployment. It abstracts and simplifies the deployment of Big Bang in a simple 4 step process:
1) Login to ENBUILD
2) Choose Big Bang from the pre-built set of FedStacks.
3) For each layer Big Bang, choose tools from a list of optional choices.
4) Deploy Big Bang using DoD approved DevSecOps.
This approach allows Federal agencies quickly test and validate emerging technologies and stay consistent with the MOSA principles. Our pre-built FedStacks enable verification and validation based on feedback from POC or MVP use cases. Our out-of-the-box FedStacks include – Data Ingestion, Machine Learning Model development and deployment, Smart Contracts for Blockchain deployment for immutable artifact lineage.
The two core principles of our ENBUILD design philosophy are:
1) Minimize Cognitive Load
2) Prevent Vendor Lock-in.
Human Centered Design is a critical consideration in our approach to simplify the deployment of these FedStacks. We believe that exposing all the complexity across layers of the stack causes cognitive overload and prevents rapid validation with end users. By approaching each layer of the stack individually and making a decision, teams can rapidly deploy these FedStacks. The visual language required to abstract each layer of the stack is our unique design within ENBUILD. Equally critical is our architecture that enable agencies to use co-created solutions without any fear of lock-in. We have built multiple DevSecOps platforms and our unique experience has helped us develop a loosely-coupled architecture that prevents lock-in to any proprietary code base.
Our approach allows government customers to stitch FedStacks and quickly build solutions without spending time and money on components that are already validated. This provides a faster GTM and allows agencies to server their customers quickly.
Please sign up for a Demo at : https://www.vivsoft.io/enbuild
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