Platform Engineering and Platform One Supports Maturity
P1 demonstrates the potential for platform engineering to make government software factories more efficient and effective.
Through P1’s offerings, platform engineering “helps DOD software teams shift away from legacy tools that are out of date and not well integrated, resulting in a fragmented and expensive developer experience that is extremely difficult to keep secure,” Viola says.
With state-of-the-art software components, P1 supports modern DevSecOps practices at the right security levels.
“The DOD categorizes information in the cloud based on impact levels. These levels correspond to various subcategories of unclassified and classified,” he says. “By having a common platform across those levels, DOD software teams develop at the unclassified level and then promote the software to higher classification levels. This enables them to process more sensitive data without the need to change the software’s underlying code.”
It also helps the DOD find enough people to keep software factories running. “We can tap into a wider pool of scarce software talent at the unclassified level, rather than relying on a limited pool of the right technical talent with the right security clearance,” Viola says.
READ MORE: Agencies’ journey to the cloud requires tackling cybersecurity concerns.
Finally, platform engineering brings a modular approach to software development, making it easier to adjust applications as mission requirements evolve.
“In the past, software applications were written in such a way that making any changes, no matter how small, would often break the entire system, because many parts of the software depended on how the other parts functioned,” he says.
P1 “provides capabilities as small pieces that we call modules. They make it extremely easy to change just one module and still maintain the functionality of the entire system,” he says. “This ease in safely making changes encourages faster changes to software, which helps programs respond to changing needs of users or evolving cybersecurity threats posed by adversaries.”
This is key to maintaining military readiness. “We’re in a great competition against our adversaries to maintain our technical superiority. To do that, you have to move at a pace of relevance,” Viola says. “The platform enables that.”
