U.S. Army – High Performance Computing Integration Technical Services (HITS) for Department of Defense (DoD) High Performance Computing Centers

Problem

The US Army required technology advancement, operations, and program management support for its High-Performance Computing (HPC) resources located at five DoD Supercomputing Resource Centers (DSRCs). IronArch supported two of these sites: the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) DSRC in Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, and the Army Corps of Engineers Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) DSRC in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Specific Requirements: The requirements included assistance with planning, provisioning, executing, analyzing, and reporting on HPC projects, as well as system administration, network operations, facilities support, operations, databases and web administration, and cybersecurity/information assurance (IA) support.

Solution

IronArch provided a range of technical support and expertise, including:

  • Business Systems and Process Analysts
  • Computer Operators
  • Systems Administrators
  • Network Specialists
  • Configuration Management Specialists
  • Web Designers/Content Analysts
  • Computational Scientists
  • Facilities Management Specialists

IronArch executed technology evaluation projects, systems integration projects, and major activities on infrastructure systems, supporting HPC systems, database administration, network administration, facilities management, and ensuring compliance with security regulations.

The security team, managed by IronArch, became the first center to reach a three-year ATO which was maintained and improved through multiple security inspections.

Impact

Notable achievements include: the impact of IronArch's services was significant, with high praise from the ARL customer across a multi-year program in key areas.

Notable achievements include:

IronArch managed key staff members and coordinated multiple projects, all of which were completed before government mandated deadlines.

We improved compliance with various DoD directives, instructions, manuals, regulations, and security guidelines, including DISA STIGs, RMF, and NIST Special Publications.

Overall, IronArch's services had a positive impact on the US Army's HPC resources, ensuring the effective and secure operation of critical computing system to improve national security.