The effort is being spearheaded by a private organization, the World Wide Consortium for Grid, or W2COG, which is operating on a US$1.7 million government-funded budget. The Reston, Va.-based group, which marked its first anniversary last month, has already helped develop new ways to deliver emergency communications in disaster-stricken areas.
But its main goal is to help defense and intelligence agencies meet broad 'netcentric' operation goals by fostering problem-solving efforts by private-sector firms and finding new ways to assemble commercial technologies.
Chris Gunderson, executive director of the Reston, Va.-based W2COG, said many private-sector companies have figured out how best to find collaborators across the globe, teaming up 'very quickly and loosely' to address needs, he said. But that has not been the case for the military's technology development efforts.
Instead, it can take as long as 10 years for the military to adopt technologies already in use by the private sector, he said.
The W2COG recently deployed a mobile Internet service to help emergency workers in parts of the Gulf Coast hard hit by Hurricane Katrina. The need for a mobile 'Hastily Formed Network' that could provide Internet connectivity and collaboration tools in disaster zones was presented as a problem to the 40 vendors participating in the W2COG.
The vendors, in turn, collaborated to develop a mobile Internet access system using off-the-shelf technology. Companies working together on the mobile Internet project included Rajant Corp., a maker of wireless networks; Cisco Systems Inc.; Redline Communications Inc., a wireless equipment maker; Tachyon Inc., a satellite network provider; Skype Technologies SA; and Microsoft Corp.
Gunderson said IT problems the government wants to solve will be posted online, and vendors that are part of the consortium will be encouraged to collaborate on proposals. 'We're interested in learning about business culture even more than about the technology,' said Gunderson.
The problem the military faces is accessing the technology being developed by the private sector, said U.S. Air Force Major Angela Burth, who is attached to a defense command that works with various branches of the military to develop solutions to technology problems. 'We know the technology and capability is out there,' she said.
The military is reshaping its IT infrastructure to make it more integrated and responsive. And Burth sees the model being developed by W2COG as having the potential for bringing good ideas forward quickly, spurring collaboration and improving responsiveness.
It's not that the military is necessarily behind the curve on technology -- in many ways it's far ahead. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, with a budget of about $2 billion, leads the military's research and development efforts, and one of its most famous research projects was development of some of the technology that underpins the Internet.
The military's netcentric goal has many of the same goals as private-sector companies: the development of agile, adaptive, highly integrated environments.
'Maybe, arguably, the IT world is moving even a little more faster than the military can anticipate,' said Ray Bjorklund, an analyst at Federal Sources Inc. The government is often tied down by lengthy budget cycles that require two to three years of planning.
But Bjorklund sees the W2COG effort similar to the open-source initiatives that are helping to make integration possible. 'If this consortium is a way of jump-starting collaboration among industry, then great, it's a great tool,' he said.