The Cloud-NativeTransformation ofModern DefenseMany vertical markets, including telecom, industrial,energy, medical, automotive, and aerospace anddefense, are undergoing a transformation.Previously isolated devices and systems are now intelligent, connected, andenabled with compute capabilities to host applications supported by artificialintelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), running at the edge. Furthermore,there is an urgent need to process and transform the massive amounts of datagenerated at the edge, without transporting that data to a central location.Wind River®Studio is a cloud infrastructure technology stack developed forthe new geo-distributed intelligent edge. It addresses the deployment andoperational challenges involved in moving software workload fromcentralized data centers to the distributed edge computing demanded bytoday’s mission-critical systems. These challenges include massivelydistributed compute, heterogeneous platforms, degraded and intermittentconnectivity, lack of physical security, and operations at scale.The mission of the Department of Defense Combined Joint All-DomainCommand and Control (DoD CJADC2) is to achieve decision-makingsuperiority powered by AI in near real time on a unified network thatconnects databases, sensors, weapons, and warfighters across all armedforces. This goal aligns perfectly with the intelligent edge and geo-distributed cloud computing capabilities provided by Studio Operator.In 2024, the United States Air Force plans to deliver prototypes ofcommand-and-control center connectivity based on mission-critical cloudinfrastructure. Cloud-based command and control intends to integrate avariety of air defense data sources to support homeland defense with nearreal-time decision making. The other armed forces are also undergoing thesame edge transformation through initiatives including the U.S. Army’sProject Convergence, the U.S. Navy’s Project Overmatch, and the SpaceDevelopment Agency’s National Defense Space Architecture (NDSA). U.Sallies have their own initiatives, such as Combat Cloud, that are similar toCJADC2. They are also working with the U.S. to achieve interoperabilitywith CJADC2. 1In 2024, the UnitedStates Air Forceplans to deliverprototypes ofcommand-and-control centerconnectivity basedon mission-criticalcloud infrastructure. Studio Operator provides a distributed, cloud-native Kubernetes infrastructure for hostingtactical workloads across geo-distributeddeployment of autonomous, centrally managedsubclouds, even under conditions of intermittentand degraded connectivity.It addresses the requirements for deploying and operating a distributednetwork at the edge — requirements that are often initially ignored.Wind River is extending the intelligent edge even further throughinnovations such as VxWorks®containers that bring OCI-compliantcontainers into the edge.A Platform to MeetDoD RequirementsFigure 1. Wind River Studio provides a single, end-to-end operations platformSTUDIO ANALYTICSSTUDIO CLOUD PLATFORMEDGE CLOUDCONTAINERORCHESTRATIONCONTAINERIZEDAPPLICATIONS STUDIO CONDUCTORCONTAINERRUNTIMEUNIFIEDSTORAGE The core componentsof Studio Operatorcapabilities include:•Wind River StudioCloud Platform:A foundational platformalready in use by telcooperators, based on theopen source StarlingXproject and scalableKubernetes•Wind River StudioConductor:Orchestration andautomation at scalefor the entire lifecycle,from day 0–1deployment throughday 2 operations•Wind River StudioAnalytics:Full stack monitoringand analytics solutionto collect, analyze,and visualize datafrom across the entireinfrastructure andapplications to providemeaningful operationalinsights for the entiredistributed cloud 2 ORCHESTRATION Studio Operator provides features that speak directly to the needs of CJADC2:A Platform to MeetDoD Requirements (cont’d.)Cloud-native design:Studio Cloud Platformprovides a software-defined, cloud-native infra-structure hardened for high-availability geo-dis-tributed operation. Support for containers andKubernetes is a fundamental requirement forthe platform, necessary for mission-oriented,AI-enabled CJADC2 workloads.Scalability:Scalability of the entire system(large number of geo-distributed locations)and scalability of the cluster at each locationare both critical capabilities. Studio Operatorsupports scaling sites to meet the smaller com-pute requirements at the far edge (for aircraftand ground vehicles, for example) and at morecentral locations such as command-and-controlsites that might require many server-class plat-forms. System scalability is essential to supportthe deployment and operation of tens, hundreds,or thousands of geo-distributed clouds. A majorU.S. telecommunications operator is currentlydeploying Studio Cloud Platform at 30,000 sites,with more to come.Small footprint:Scaling down is also importantat the edge and is often driven by size, weight,and power (SWaP) requirements. Studio CloudPlatform can scale to a single node on a site a