The U.S. Army Cyber School OpenStack Use Case: Saving Millions and Making Changes for the Benefit of National Defense

公司规模
Large Corporate
地区
- America
国家
- United States
产品
- OpenStack
- Ceph
- Blackboard LMS
技术栈
- OpenStack
- Ceph
- CI Pipeline
- Heat
实施规模
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
影响指标
- Cost Savings
- Digital Expertise
- Innovation Output
技术
- 基础设施即服务 (IaaS) - 云计算
- 平台即服务 (PaaS) - 应用开发平台
适用行业
- 国家安全与国防
- 教育
适用功能
- 商业运营
用例
- 远程协作
- 虚拟培训
服务
- 云规划/设计/实施服务
- 系统集成
关于客户
The United States Army Cyber School (USACYS) is a critical institution responsible for training and educating soldiers to protect the interests of the United States and its allies. The school focuses on equipping soldiers with the necessary skills in computer science, electrical engineering, robotics, physics, and mathematics to effectively defend against cyber threats. USACYS plays a vital role in ensuring force readiness and national defense by providing cutting-edge education and training programs. The institution is committed to embracing innovation and change to stay ahead of evolving threats and maintain a high standard of education. With a focus on leveraging technology to enhance learning outcomes, USACYS aims to provide soldiers with the tools and knowledge they need to succeed in their missions. The school is part of a larger effort to modernize and improve the U.S. Army's capabilities in the digital age, ensuring that soldiers are prepared to face the challenges of modern warfare.
挑战
The U.S. Army Cyber School (USACYS) faced the challenge of training and educating soldiers in a rapidly evolving technological landscape. The need was to ensure that soldiers are well-prepared to defend national interests using advanced computer science, electrical engineering, robotics, physics, and mathematics. Initially, the infrastructure was limited, with only three borrowed servers connected via CAT6 cables. This setup was insufficient to meet the growing demands of a comprehensive and up-to-date training program. The challenge was to transition from this rudimentary setup to a more robust, scalable, and efficient system that could support a large number of users and provide a seamless learning experience. Additionally, there was a need to integrate various educational tools and platforms to ensure that the curriculum remained relevant and technically accurate while minimizing the time and effort required for content curation.
解决方案
To address the challenges faced by the U.S. Army Cyber School, a comprehensive solution was implemented using OpenStack, a cloud computing platform. The transition involved moving from a limited setup of three borrowed servers to a robust 2000-core cluster supported by a 4PB Ceph array. This new infrastructure is entirely code-driven, allowing for greater scalability and efficiency. The solution also included the integration of a continuous integration (CI) pipeline that connects the Blackboard LMS, Heat, and an asciidoc-based curriculum-as-code repository. This integration ensures that the student experience is always up-to-date, relevant, and technically accurate. By adopting a DevOps-oriented approach, the school was able to streamline content creation and curation, allowing instructors to focus on teaching and developing new content. The OpenStack solution not only improved courseware quality and student outcomes but also resulted in significant cost savings in platform total cost of ownership (TCO) expenses. This innovative approach has positioned USACYS years ahead of similar government education programs, enabling the school to continue embracing change and innovation for the benefit of national defense.
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