IBM [IBM] will design and demonstrate a secure cloud computing infrastructure that can support large-scale networks and also meet security standards and the government’s information assurance guidelines for all networks. IBM says that advanced “stream computing” analytics will be a key design component, and couple with sensors, monitors and other detection devices, will enable the Air Force to continually analyze the massive amounts of data flowing through its network for fast, accurate and actionable insigts about possible threats, such as cyber attacks and network, system or application failures, while automatically preventing disruptions. “Our goal is to demonstrate how cloud computing can be a tool to enable our Air Force to manage, monitor and secure the information flowing through our network,” says Lt. Gen. William Lord, chief information officer and chief, Warfighting Integration, for the Air Force. IBM says that customized executive level dashporbs will be used to deliver real time information on the health and status of the network and facilitate decision making. The cloud model will also feature autonomic computing, which will enable virtual cloud services to be managed remotely and provide capability for the cloud infrastructure to automatically and constantly retune itself for optimal performance.