Feasibility comparison and analysis of the Unix network environment and the Windows NT environment for integration with the Defense Information Infrastructure (DII)

Abstract

The history of the Department of Defense (DOD) information system technical infrastructure includes a collection of stovepipe, single purpose systems. Recently, the DOD has developed initiatives to help promote the development of common target architectures to which DOD information systems can migrate, evolve, and interoperate. The DOD's Technical Architecture Framework for Information Managers (TAFIM) provide system developers guidance and methodologies for developing standard architectures. The Defense Information Infrastructure (DII) Common Operating Environment (COE) is a development architecture based on the ideas of TAFIM, and provides a framework for designing and building military information systems. This thesis applies the objectives presented in TAFIM in order to develop an approach for determining which network operating system (NOS) would best facilitate implementations of the DII COE. By first examining the evolution of Navy information systems, and the development of the DII COE, this thesis provides a detailed description of requirements placed on a NOS by a DOD DII COE based information system. These requirements are the used to help understand how TAFIM's objectives apply to NOSs. Two prevalent NOSs, Unix and Windows NT, are evaluated structured on TAFIM's guidance and the requirements of the DII COE. A determination is made based on these guidelines that both NOSs belong in future information systems, for appropriate tasks, based on the DII COE.