Cloud ready? U.S. Army pushes for online analysis apps as developers fear revenue loss

摘要

A software approach tested in a basement laboratory at Fort Belvoir, Va., is starting to force developers of intelligence analysis software to figure out how their most advanced tools can be made available to analysts via Web browsers instead of DVDs. The U.S. Army is banking that shifting to the Ozone Widget Framework -- in which analysts would log on to secret networks to tap information-crunching applications -- will cut millions of dollars in licensing and hardware costs and give more soldiers access to intelligence. However, the framework's success, depends on the willingness of software developers to divide their products into widgets, and those developers warn that they do not yet know how they will turn a profit under such a strategy.