Yesterday I attended the Navy IT Day hosted by the NOVA AFCEA Chapter.  This sold-out event included a distinguished set of speakers, each offering their own perspective on how the current environment (budget, technology, operations, threats, national strategy, etc.) is shaping the Navy's future state IT requirements.

If I had to identify one overarching theme that stood out to me, it would be that 'Data Drives the Enterprise'.  Every platform is a sensor; every sensor is networked.  The amount of information being collected on a daily basis from the 'tactical edge' is exploding.  Right now, there is far more data than people or tools to analyze and exploit it.  What's more, the amount of data the Navy -- and its service counterparts -- is collecting will continue to grow exponetially.

Clearly, the Navy will have an ever-increasing hunger for technologies, processes, and highly-skilled personnel that can manage data as a valuable, game-changing resource.  In short, the Navy, like any large organization focused on the future, must implement a capability to ensure that data is accessible, discoverable and useful by all. This includes critical enabling services that support the seamless sharing of disparate information sources located througout the enterpise, such as: Common data standards; Quality, decision-level data; Content discovery; Data tagging; Business Intelligence; Collaboration tools; Data visualization; Identify management; and Security.

And of course, with all of this information being collected, analyzed. and exploited there will be a need to develop systems capable of operating autonomously.  Artificial Intelligence anyone?