PORTFOLIO

Network Enabled Capability is a concept which will enable the collection of data from a wide spectrum of military and commercial sources, the manipulation of that data into comprehensive information and the subsequent provision of accurate, timely and but most of all relevant information in a form which enables efficient decision making.

Overview
By implementing Shared Situational Awareness NEC will improve communication and understanding of strategic and military intent throughout the chain of command. Through NEC the command structure will improve its responsiveness to events on the ground and have the flexibility to respond in near real-time to fleeting targets, even where higher level decision making is required prior to engagement.

The three key challenges in achieving NEC are to:

• Conceive and develop a target information systems architecture which will implement NEC;
• Develop a transformation roadmap to NEC which satisfies both commercial and technical demands; and
• Define and implement a practical governance framework under which the transformation to NEC will be achieved.

The EDS approach to Network Enabled Capability for both MoD and other military customers is a sector-focused Defence Agile Application Architecture (DA3); a high level representation of which is shown in the following graphic:

The DA3 framework is based on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) principles, the basis for achieving a Network Enabled Capability as all applications and other software components become accessible to one another and to higher level business services. Existing applications can be enhanced by the provision of additional information to them and new applications can be created which draw upon information and events provided by any application/component in the DA3. The business advantages this approach brings are clear:

• Adopting NEC is incremental, enabling the organisation to absorb the costs and training burden of transformation. The transformation roadmap, as perceived by EDS Defence Services, will involve the progressive integration of applications into the DA3 in a sequence driven by associated business value;
• The opportunity to exploit legacy applications and, crucially, existing data to smooth transition and minimise costs. For example, a legacy application can be 'fronted' by a more modern software component revealing key functions as 'services' to the ‘network’;
• The SOA philosophy lifts the focus away from the complexity of applications to relevant information and events: this enables business processes to prioritise the outputs of NEC - delivering effectiveness to the front line, as well as efficiency to the back-office. For example, SOA will enable the sharing of Supply Chain information to Front Line Commands to implement the Joint Logistics Picture (JLP).

Network Enabled Capability promises significant benefits to MOD; With deep knowledge and experience of MoD business, applications and infrastructure EDS is ideally positioned to develop the Defence Agile Applications Architecture and so enable MoD to make NEC real.