Global grid gets DOD nod

The Pentagon has approved its first enterprise architecture. The Global Information Grid architecture Version 1.0 is a worldwide architecture for providing data to military forces around the world, from regional commanders to soldiers on the front lines, said Margaret Myers, the Defense Department's acting deputy chief information officer.

"This is something that we've never really had before," she said.

The architecture will provide the first take on an integrated DOD enterprise information technology architecture, Myers said Aug. 29 during a forum sponsored by Federal Sources Inc. DOD has already started working on Version 2.0 of the GIG architecture, she said.

The department is coming up with innovative ways to use that architecture, she said. "It should allow DOD to acquire IT faster. It could have an impact on how we acquire information technology."

The GIG architecture includes an operational view, which DOD officials said describes and connects the oper.ational elements, tasks and activities, and information flows required to accomplish mission and business operations.

Meanwhile, the system view describes and associates the systems and how they interconnect to the operational view and its requirements.