Discovering data management solutions that align with the Department of Defense's (DoD) rigorous requirements for scale, security, and stability presents a formidable challenge.

When DoD personnel make decisions, they need instant access to the data that supports them. Everything—from managing the DoD itself and executing Command and Control to making smarter decisions about their supply chain—relies on their access to reliable data. Retrieving the data to make these decisions is critical to ensuring the right people get the right resources at the right time. However, data silos within DoD were bogging down DoD’s ability to access and use data effectively for years. It was also inhibiting their ability to innovate. Without an effective way to manage their data, the DoD could not use artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) tools to their fullest potential, including the ability to search across all data within the Department.

In an effort to address this, DoD has for several years successfully managed and grown a dataAI/ML platform known as Advana that serves over 100,000 users with nearly 500 data sources made available centrally. Seeking to expand upon Advana’s data sharing capabilities, the DoD engaged Google for help given Google’s experience in managing vast volumes of data for analytics, enterprise search, and machine learning.

Data For Anyone, Anytime They Need It

CDAO sought to mature Advana’s data sharing capabilities in pursuit of a decentralized data mesh using an application programming interface (API). The challenge for the CDAO was managing the volume of APIs at DoD scale. Google Cloud’s API management software, Apigee, offered an ideal solution. Google Public Sector began working with the DoD in 2022 to help ensure DoD personnel could manage their APIs by leveraging Apigee in Advana. In September 2023, Apigee achieved General Availability (GA) for their API developer portal. This portal ensures any sector of the DoD can build their own Apigee or API instance and interface with Advana’s data mesh. This keeps the data flowing and helps the DoD streamline processes and communications so they can meet their mission. Ultimately, the DoD will now be able to easily build APIs and bring together a network of 1,200 systems into a mesh that allows data to be quickly searched and retrieved across the organization.

To learn more, contact the Google Public Sector Professional Services Organization.