Helping the Army Manage Its IT Assets from Fort Huachuca
Lien Suandy
January 2013
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Software engineer Lien Suandy joined MITRE's Fort Huachuca, Ariz. site in 2011. |
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Fort Huachuca, Ariz., is home to both the Army Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM) and a MITRE site dedicated to providing NETCOM with systems engineering in the design and development of integrated network operations solutions.
Lien Suandy, a software applications development engineer, is one of the 19 MITRE employees at the site.
The staff at MITRE's Fort Huachuca site applies new and emerging concepts and technologies to network designs, infrastructure services, and evolving cyber operations for the Army. Suandy's team supports NETCOM's Information Technology Asset Management (ITAM) project.
"ITAM enables authorized users of all Army services and agencies to access a single source for data on IT assets such as desktops, servers, and network devices, as well as the software running on those systems," she says.
ITAM provides information that facilitates Army Enterprise Licensing negotiations and enables coarse-grain enterprise hardware/software compliance awareness. It supports NETCOM's priorities to have a strategic IT acquisition plan that results in cost-effective purchasing decisions and to have overall awareness of the enterprise security posture.
A Comprehensive View
A relative newcomer to MITRE, Suandy has worked on the ITAM since she joined the company in 2011. She designs and develops the public web service layer of a service oriented architecture framework that acts as the reservoir for the Army's IT asset data. She also developed the initial business intelligence layer that leverages this public web service to provide graphical renditions to answer business questions.
MITRE's Fort Huachuca, Arizona, site
Established in the late 1970s, MITRE's Fort Huachuca site sponsor is the Army Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM). The site is located in southeastern Arizona approximately 75 miles from Tucson. |
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She explains, "ITAM provides a RESTful data service that supplies comprehensive data about all assets in the Army's IT infrastructure. It enables authorized users to make informed business decisions."
ITAM also gives decision makers a more comprehensive view of the Army's IT infrastructure. "In addition to providing the information our sponsor needs to make decisions regarding its IT expenditures, it also provides the visibility into Army assets around the world," Suandy says. This visibility helps from an information security standpoint, as well, by increasing awareness of possible enterprise-wide vulnerabilities.
In any large enterprise with varying networks and multiple infrastructures, one of the challenges lies in designing a software solution that incorporates multiple elements but is also clear, concise, and maintainable.
"At times you need to design a simple solution—a solution so simple that it seems hardly any work was done at all, even though the original problem may be quite complex," she says. "I find this especially important from a software maintenance perspective.
"Many times after I develop a solution, I continue to refine it, making it simpler to use and maintain. A professor of mine once said that a textbook that's the easiest to read and understand is one that the author has put the most effort into writing. I find the same is often true in software development."
Coming Full Circle
A few years ago Suandy—who lives with her family in Vail, Ariz.—was at a crossroads in her life and decided to return to school for a graduate degree.
"At the time, I wavered between information assurance and software engineering programs. I chose information assurance because I knew very little about computing or information security and I wanted to learn more."
It proved to be the right choice. "What I have learned in my graduate work has been eye-opening. Fortunately, some of my professors were from MITRE. I learned about the company and was impressed with MITRE's contributions in the information security field."
Joining the Fort Huachuca site proved to be a good move as well. "I'm originally from Taiwan. When I first came to the United States, I started 5th grade knowing only the English alphabet and a few simple words. The first place I lived was Sierra Vista, just a few miles from Fort Huachuca. Then my family moved several more times before settling in Atlanta.
"Now I live with my husband and children within commuting distance of Fort Huachuca. I made a full circle and ended up right back where I started."
—by Kay M. Upham
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