Cisco Thin-Client and Full Motion Video Solutions A New Way to View DoD Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance U.S. Air Force Photographer: Staff Sgt. Julianne Showalter
U.S. Air Force : Photographer Tech. Sgt. Rey Ramon Photos Courtesy of the Department of Defense Introduction With the growing prevalence of data center consolidation and mobility applications, the possibility of anywhere, anytime video is coming into view. This is particularly appealing to the Department of Defense, as it would provide immeasurable advantages to its Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) mission objectives. While end users expect an uncompromised, clean, and flexible solution for the workspace, IT managers demand sufficient agility for the operations floor and ease of system upgrades without any significant downtime. Cisco can help. Page 2 of 6
Put the Full Power of Real-Time Video In Hand The DoD has long used video but via largely inefficient architectures that require multiple desktop and server machines, extensive cabling, inefficient cooling, and operational environments. The resulting time, resources, network and physical requirements to drive video have become increasingly cumbersome and unmanageable. Cisco s architectures provide high-quality video that delivers a robust, seamless user experience from garrison to the front lines. These advanced solutions provide IT personnel the agility to perform maintenance and upgrades without user downtime and to redistribute users across any workstation in the Operation Center empowering rapid reconfigurations based on specific mission needs. Cisco Video Solutions for the DoD Cisco s advanced thin-client and full-motion video (FMV) solutions delivered via integrated, secure architectures provide mission impact across the Intelligence and Operations Communities. Unique videoprocessing capabilities occupy a smaller footprint, require less power and cooling, while enabling a more manageable use of network and data center CPU resources for improved uptime. Additionally, you have the flexibility to use Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS), graphics processing units (GPU) and compute appliances to address unique requirements. Powered by VDI Cisco s advanced video solutions are powered by a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) that leverages the virtualized data center to provide mission personnel anywhere secure access to thin-client desktops. This end-to-end systems approach delivers the next-generation virtual workspace, enabling video, virtualization, and mobility to be easily and securely delivered, managed, and accessed anywhere using practically any device on the network. Cisco IT solutions provide an exceptionally flexible, secure converged infrastructure to satisfy the needs of increasing pressure to consolidate, standardize, and modify FMV environment all powered by the network and data center. U.S. Army : Photographer COL A.T. Ball Page 3 of 6
Pervasive Video at Work To better visualize the power of Cisco s network-driven video solutions, here s an example of how integrated thinclient video helps IC agencies receive, share, and act on information easier, faster and with greater efficiency. Analysis. An all-source analyst operating from a rear area intelligence center in the United States is tasked with providing intelligence support to a brigade operating in Afghanistan. While monitoring realtime video feeds from a Predator UAV conducting a route search along a known combatant line of communication, he detects a peculiar pattern in the traffic flow of light commercial trucks. Validation. To validate his suspicions he needs to simultaneously view the real-time and archived footage taken over the past week along the same line of communication. Evaluation. He requests IT professionals administering the service profiles on Cisco UCS Manager to enable the service profile to pull historical data from the storage source. The IT manager instantiates the service for the analyst, who now has full access to all the software he needs to more quickly and effectively conduct his analysis. Confirmation. The analyst whose mission software is running virtually on Cisco UCS is now presented with several video feeds on one thin client with multiple screens. His suspicions are confirmed when he validates that the same three trucks have been traveling together at the same time for several days and slowing as they pass close to a U.S. Army outpost. Escalation. Suspecting the vehicles may be reconnoitering the outpost, he passes his observations to the Brigade G2 via Cisco Jabber client. The G2 and analyst compare video feeds and in-theater indicators and conclude there is a relevant potential threat to the outpost. Resolution. Based on these observations the Brigade Tactical Operations Center directs setting up several random checkpoints to search all vehicles transiting the line of communication. The next day the three trucks arrive on schedule but this time they turn around and reverse direction as they approach the first checkpoint. Subsequently, the trucks are stopped and searched and their beds found filled with explosives. Mission accomplished. That is the power of real-time, ad-hoc, global, integrated thin client video in support of the Intelligence mission. That is the power of Cisco. U.S. Army : Photographer Spc. John Ahn Page 4 of 6
Tested and Proven Thin-Client Video In February 2012 in Research Triangle Park (RTP), NC, Cisco hosted engineers from a notable DoD organization for a Performance and Solution Validation (PASVAL) demonstration of Cisco thin-client video capabilities. Goals To design and demonstrate the best scenario with current technology on the market to handle the DOD organization s screen-resolution requests To utilize the topology and integrate or scale as vendors progress with GPU and video enhancements To enable the DOD to easily integrate other data center features into an architecture to satisfy future projects Customer Requirements Using two to four monitors with 1900x1200 resolution via one thin client display. Evaluated the following: Scenario A: Two videos One HD at 1080p and one SD or HD video at 720p Scenario B: Three videos Two HD at 1080p and one SD or HD video at 720p Scenario C: Four videos Two HD at 1080p and two of either SD or HD video at 720p Applications to be used simultaneously Multiple High-Definition Videos Google Earth A Web Browser Instant Messenger Client Microsoft Office (Outlook/Powerpoint/Word/Access) Design The thin-client video design included the following compute, network, and thin-client components: Nexus 5548UP and Nexus Fabric Extender UCS Fabric Interconnects (integrated UCS Manager) Rack Mounts UCS C250 M2 (with Cisco VIC) Microsoft HyperV and Windows 7 Enterprise GPU compute appliance NetApp Storage Thin Clients: WYSE Z90d7 (dual core) Success With Cisco UCS and thin-client ecosystem partners, the demonstration met the customer requirements by validating: Screen and video requirements Best quality of two HD video streams Four application windows (and up to four HD video streams) Best hypervisor performance for video capabilities per the requirements The features meet the required scale and performance metrics known at this time The ease of instantiating new or modified service profiles decreased the amount of time to deliver new services to the thin client-deployed end stations Learn More Contact Concetta Yates at coyates@cisco.com or 410-309-5507 to experience Cisco thin-client and fullmotion solutions firsthand and to evaluate them based on your organization s specific ISR mission objectives and requirements. For more information please contact your Cisco account representative. Cisco and the Cisco Logo are trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. A listing of Cisco s trademarks can be found at www. cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (1007R)