Air Force personnel, manpower applications fully migrated to cloud

Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs / Published July 12, 2021

ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS),-- The Air Force Digital Transformation Activity culminated a three-year effort when it closed its Data Center July 9. This effort resulted in the migration of all applications, services, equipment and manpower to a virtual cloud provider.

The migration to the cloud hosting services saves money, replaces outdated hardware, increases information security and reduces system vulnerabilities, preventing data loss to unauthorized entities. Applications such as Air Force Promotions System, Virtual Military Personnel Flight, AFPC Secure, etc., are all now hosted completely on the cloud.

“The cloud provides better security with more flexibility and less redundancy,” said Greg Parsons, Air Force A1 Plans and Integration director. “It provides the ability to modernize servers and the associated software required to operate the infrastructure, faster than the previous data center allowed at a fraction of the cost.”

More than 42 systems were migrated to the virtual data center following extensive testing to ensure compatibility with the new operating system.

“The new servers are not physical servers but a virtual version that can be upgraded quickly, which decreases security vulnerabilities,” said Gary Trautmann, Platform Operations Division chief. “Technological debt is not incurred with the continuous need to upgrade physical systems. We can patch and upgrade systems near-real-time and do not have to purchase new hardware since the servers are virtual.”

The Data Center closure is part of the federal data center consolidation initiative focused on the evaluation of governmental information technology investments for more modern technology. In addition, the cloud provider is certified to protect Department of the Air Force information and is accredited by the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program and Defense Information Systems Agency, which are both accreditation bodies for the government and DoD.

The FedRAMP is a U.S. government Program Management Office that provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization and continuous monitoring for cloud service providers – ensuring the highest security standards are met. DISA will provide an additional level of security controls to ensure CSPs are adhering to all DoD data guidelines in accordance with DoD policies.

If you wish to comment, use the text box below. AF reserves the right to modify this policy at any time.

This is a moderated forum. That means all comments will be reviewed before posting. In addition, we expect that participants will treat each other, as well as our agency and our employees, with respect. We will not post comments that contain abusive or vulgar language, spam, hate speech, personal attacks, violate EEO policy, are offensive to other or similar content. We will not post comments that are spam, are clearly "off topic", promote services or products, infringe copyright protected material, or contain any links that don't contribute to the discussion. Comments that make unsupported accusations will also not be posted. The AF and the AF alone will make a determination as to which comments will be posted. Any references to commercial entities, products, services, or other non-governmental organizations or individuals that remain on the site are provided solely for the information of individuals using this page. These references are not intended to reflect the opinion of the AF, DoD, the United States, or its officers or employees concerning the significance, priority, or importance to be given the referenced entity, product, service, or organization. Such references are not an official or personal endorsement of any product, person, or service, and may not be quoted or reproduced for the purpose of stating or implying AF endorsement or approval of any product, person, or service.

Any comments that report criminal activity including: suicidal behaviour or sexual assault will be reported to appropriate authorities including OSI. This forum is not:

This forum is not to be used to report criminal activity. If you have information for law enforcement, please contact OSI or your local police agency.
Do not submit unsolicited proposals, or other business ideas or inquiries to this forum. This site is not to be used for contracting or commercial business.
This forum may not be used for the submission of any claim, demand, informal or formal complaint, or any other form of legal and/or administrative notice or process, or for the exhaustion of any legal and/or administrative remedy.

AF does not guarantee or warrant that any information posted by individuals on this forum is correct, and disclaims any liability for any loss or damage resulting from reliance on any such information. AF may not be able to verify, does not warrant or guarantee, and assumes no liability for anything posted on this website by any other person. AF does not endorse, support or otherwise promote any private or commercial entity or the information, products or services contained on those websites that may be reached through links on our website.

Members of the media are asked to send questions to the public affairs through their normal channels and to refrain from submitting questions here as comments. Reporter questions will not be posted. We recognize that the Web is a 24/7 medium, and your comments are welcome at any time. However, given the need to manage federal resources, moderating and posting of comments will occur during regular business hours Monday through Friday. Comments submitted after hours or on weekends will be read and posted as early as possible; in most cases, this means the next business day.

For the benefit of robust discussion, we ask that comments remain "on-topic." This means that comments will be posted only as it relates to the topic that is being discussed within the blog post. The views expressed on the site by non-federal commentators do not necessarily reflect the official views of the AF or the Federal Government.

To protect your own privacy and the privacy of others, please do not include personally identifiable information, such as name, Social Security number, DoD ID number, OSI Case number, phone numbers or email addresses in the body of your comment. If you do voluntarily include personally identifiable information in your comment, such as your name, that comment may or may not be posted on the page. If your comment is posted, your name will not be redacted or removed. In no circumstances will comments be posted that contain Social Security numbers, DoD ID numbers, OSI case numbers, addresses, email address or phone numbers. The default for the posting of comments is "anonymous", but if you opt not to, any information, including your login name, may be displayed on our site.

Thank you for taking the time to read this comment policy. We encourage your participation in our discussion and look forward to an active exchange of ideas.