Intel cloud

Intelligence community launches classified marketplace for cloud technology

The U.S. intelligence community has just opened a new marketplace for cloud applications, the idea being to let analysts and developers test-drive thousands of commercial data analytic tools for a pittance and without waiting for their agencies to make large commitments of time and money via usual government procurement channels.

The marketplace, which opened last week, is integrated into the private cloud that Amazon Web Services built for the Central Intelligence Agency as part of the Intelligence Community Information Technology Environment (ICITE). The classified storefront is modeled on the one Amazon uses for its public cloud, which lets developers and users “pay by the drink” while they’re evaluating various software tools, development platforms and even entire operating systems. IC staff will get access to those tools instantaneously rather than having to wait for the government acquisition process to procure them one by one.