 |
 |
 |
 |
| |
|||||
|
|
|
Home > News & Events > MITRE Publications > The MITRE Digest > | |||||||||||||||||||
New Lab Serves as a Growing Resource for Tough Challenges September 2007
It has 21 rooms totaling approximately 6,000 square feet and more than 100 computer systems. But the physical dimensions only begin to describe MITRE's Enterprise Technology Lab's (ETLab) reach and impact. For example: • If officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or even Congress want to see how new border security measures might work, equipment from the ETLab can be used to support simulations and working sessions. • If representatives of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) want to see how data mining and modeling tools and techniques can be used with sensitive taxpayer data, a facility in the lab for handling Sensitive but Unclassified (SBU) information enables them to view and comment on MITRE's work in a secure environment. • And if the U.S. Census Bureau wants a better idea of how a global positioning system (GPS) might help canvassers improve the accuracy of the next decennial count in 2010, there are hand-held computers and GPS receivers in the lab that can show how GPS would help overcome physical obstacles like buildings or trees. The ETLab, operated by MITRE's Center for Enterprise Modernization (CEM), had a modest beginning four years ago, with a 150-square-foot facility in one of the buildings on MITRE's McLean, Va., campus. There was only one server. But when CEM moved to another building about a mile from the company's main campus, the lab's space and capacity increased—and with it, MITRE's ability to take on more work focusing on the government's top priorities. "This center has gone from zero to having a hands-on capability in a very short period of time," says Jill Becker, lab operations manager for CEM. "When you have a lab capability like this, it broadens the scope and depth of the kind of work that you can do for your sponsor." Focusing on a Wider Enterprise For those working on complex problems such as securing the nation's borders or improving public health, the ETLab's capabilities are helping expedite the search for solutions. MITRE engineers and project managers, instead of spending weeks procuring equipment, can use the resources in the lab to get their projects underway. And the lab's resources can bring together those in the public and private sectors who will implement the plans and give them a means of viewing proposals and achieving consensus more quickly than they would otherwise. The experiences of Joe O'Neill, a MITRE principal multi-discipline systems engineer, reflect the usefulness of having the ETLab available. As O'Neill has learned, one of the major challenges in implementing enterprise-wide solutions is that the scope of the enterprise, in many cases, is much larger than it used to be. The project he manages for MITRE, the Secure Border Initiative (SBI)—which is funded by the Science and Technology (S&T) directorate—is setting out to coordinate DHS's approach to border security. SBI's success will depend on cohesion among a number of entities—not just in the federal government (the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the Department of State, among others,), but at the state and local level as well. That led to a request from DHS to develop a way to bring all the key actors together to discuss the issues associated with border security. The MITRE team responded to the request by developing the SBI Decision Support Model for Immigration, which can run simulations using the hardware, (servers, tablet PCs, and plasma screens) located in the ETLab, or using a laptop computer for demonstrations outside the lab. "We're helping DHS get a handle on just how complex this problem is, how all the players are related to one another, and how the actions of one player or actions in one area affect other players and other actions that are going on," O'Neill says. "This is a prime example of MITRE doing exactly what an FFRDC [federally-funded research and development center] is supposed to do—operate in difficult and fuzzy problem areas to help customers make some kind of sense out of what they're facing." Also because of the lab, CEM can now process Sensitive but Unclassified information in house. Much of the work CEM is doing, especially on data mining techniques, requires access to certain data, which, if intentionally mishandled and made public, would have legal consequences. With the ETLab's various SBU facilities, MITRE engineers and project managers can use such data in developing enterprise-wide tools and programs—and do so in an environment with the proper controls. "It allows us to make our sponsors feel more comfortable with the fact that the laboratory is with the people who have the clearances to work in the lab," says Rick Sciambi, CEM's chief engineer. Sharing the Resources Though CEM operates the ETLab, by design its resources and equipment are available to anyone at MITRE. In fact, a key advantage of the lab lies in the hardware and software that's available to other project leaders and researchers. "I wanted the lab to not just be a CEM lab," Becker said. "I wanted it to have a distinct identity as a resource for the entire company." Responding to requests from various staffers, Becker set up the ETLab Tools Testbed. It provides opportunities to test and evaluate various vendor products of particular interest to project leaders and researchers. Though many of the tools specifically apply to CEM's direct work program, any MITRE employee can use them, provided they agree not to do so outside the company. Becker communicates with a number of vendors and often brings them to the lab for product demonstrations, many of them generated by requests from employees in other MITRE centers. Paul Bohne, a senior principal multi-discipline systems engineer, was one of the first to take advantage of the testbed. Bohne is principal investigator for a project called "Average GPS Signal Availability Estimation," which is looking into GPS's feasibility for possible use in the 2010 Census. When Becker asked employees what hardware or software they might be interested in testing, Bohne and his team identified a number of hand-held computers and GPS receivers, which the ETLab supplied to build a hands-on capability. Bohne says the equipment in the lab filled a crucial need by providing his team with receiver hardware for field testing. Because the equipment was already available, the project got under way faster. There was no time to lose, either: an evaluation of the project's results was scheduled for one month after its inception. "Because the lab was there, we were able to get up and running within the first week," says Bohne. "Without the lab, it would have been very difficult to come up with anything that was conclusive at all. Instead, we were able to run through the entire first pass of our research approach in the initial phase. That was because the equipment and capabilities were there. Whether or not we had the right tools could have made or broken our project." "A Chicken-and-Egg Thing" In addition to current projects, the ETLab is helping researchers decide what future projects to pursue. For instance, one team used the lab to look into developing a model of how a community might respond to an avian flu outbreak. A group that's investigating techniques for improving fraud detection is trying some of them out in one of the lab's dedicated SBU rooms. "The ETLab has been a major resource in both executing research projects and in giving people ideas," Sciambi says. "It's almost a chicken-and-egg thing in many cases. You need to have the basic capability there so people can begin to get familiar with things and generate ideas about what directions to go in with their research." For Becker, who transferred to CEM four years ago from MITRE's Department of Defense center to set up that capability, the ETLab's impact on MITRE's work programs reflects all she was hoping for. "We have a lot of resources now," Becker says. "And we have a rich environment that people can work in to accomplish a whole range of objectives." —by Russell Woolard Related Information Articles and News
Websites |
||||||||||||||||||||
| Page last updated: September 17, 2007 | Top of page |
Solutions That Make a Difference.® |
|
|
