From the first graphical user interface to high-definition video streaming over handheld devices, computing has advanced exponentially during the last 30 years. Though the current application space enables individuals or small groups with little capital to become big players, two of Ma Bell’s titan offspring are setting trends as well.

Modern computer software, airborne combat simulation systems and a plethora of advanced Russian surface-to-air radar and missile hardware are melding air forces and ground-based air defense systems into a seamless air combat exercise that simulates ground and air combat. Friends are able to know immediately how their simulated fight against various foes is progressing, and after-action reviews can examine tactics and weapon performance in a multilevel security environment.

The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency is broadening its customer base as well as its capabilities in a new strategy aimed at all levels of potential users. This represents a change in both the nature of defense intelligence and the innovations looming in collection, analysis and dissemination.

The Australian Defence Department is in the midst of revolutionizing its submarine force with plans to replace its current fleet of six vessels with at least 12 new ones.

In a recent Op-Ed piece in the New York Times, Vivek Kundra, former federal chief information officer, made the point that in order to maximize effectiveness and efficiency in information technology (IT), the federal government and supporting industry need to leverage cloud technology and virtualization.

The longtime, close relationship between the United States and Japan helped facilitate aid to the Asian nation stricken in March by the double blow of a powerful earthquake and a devastating tsunami.

The expansion of the U.S. military presence in Guam is increasing the myriad challenges that U.S. forces face in that remote Pacific island. Guam’s location, time difference and tropical climate are significant factors as the U.S. military there grows in both size and importance.

For the leadership of the Defense Information Systems Agency, the opportunity to meet and greet with the contractors and companies that supply mission-critical applications and hardware is vital to their mission. That is why DISA has been holding its Customer and Industry Forum for the last several years.

Leaders of the U.S. Army’s cybercommunity have outlined plans for the network of 2020. Reductions in force, cuts to budgets and advances in technology all will play roles in shaping upcoming cyberoperations. The Army also is revolutionizing the way it approaches integration to the network, moving testing out of war zones and into exercises that simulate current battlefield conditions.

IN 2016, finding critical battlefield data provided by another nation’s unmanned aircraft or other systems may be as easy as locating information now on the World Wide Web.