Introduction
Many organizations are faced with challenges of rapidly changing technology and onboarding new staff or providing environments and resources quickly to advance both research, technical and business initiatives.  To enable them to meet these challenges, SpinSys created the Digital Innovation Lab (DIGIN) as a component of the Multiplatform Data Acquisition, Collection, and Analytics (MDACA) data fabric suite.  Unlike traditional development means, MDACA DIGIN is a disruptive enabler to accelerate research efforts, onboarding, environment availability, and innovation while providing time and cost savings for development, technology exploration, and proofs of concept.

MDACA DIGIN is powered by SpinSys to harness the power of cloud adjacency through our partnerships with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Equinix, extending beyond technical value to positively impact overall business functions and operational costs.  One client utilized the MDACA DIGIN to support over 80 team members for an average period of 3 months, generating 12,800 more productivity hours.  By facilitating project delivery acceleration and meeting critical dates, MDACA DIGIN provided more than $4.8M in added value while enabling client assessment of products with procurement value of over $4M/year.

Overview
MDACA DIGIN is a cost effective, big data lab platform leveraging cloud adjacent technologies with a rapid environment stand up/tear down for developers to innovate and research proofs of concept securely through the AWS cloud interface.  As an approved platform utilized by several U.S. Government clients, MDACA DIGIN provides a cost efficient, external environment to explore cloud native and other technologies where developers can access and share data over a private, secure interconnection without traversing the public internet.

Designed to allow organizations to interconnect their enterprise and partners, MDACA DIGIN scales between on-premises and cloud infrastructures through private connections and the Equinix fabric in support of hybrid, multi-cloud, and intercloud use.  As a secure area for multi-vendor collaboration, it facilitates evaluation and integration of best of breed technologies with cloud native services from industry-leading cloud service providers (CSPs).  With seamless failover to the cloud, MDACA DIGIN is conveniently listed in AWS Marketplace and integrated into an organization’s AWS bill.

Background
MDACA DIGIN originated to accelerate and enhance solution delivery as a pathway for rapid development, research, and staff onboarding specifically in support of enterprises and government organizations while providing cost savings over traditional processes.  Leveraging baseline partnerships with AWS and Equinix, MDACA DIGIN supports rapid adoption and Information Assurance (IA) assessments by providing an environment to kick-start development, integration and evaluation of new technologies as well as cloud native offerings while developing migration plans for production environments.

With capabilities to expand in support of other CSPs (e.g. Azure, Google, Oracle), MDACA DIGIN was designed as an external innovation in support of onboarding, rapid prototyping, and project delivery / rationalization.

  • The onboarding of new staff oftentimes requires multiple months for training, appropriate clearances, and access to the environment and solutions. Newly assigned resources need an external environment to maintain and bolster technical skills while adding value from day one.
  • High visibility and priority projects present the need to initiate execution with early discovery/development to meet critical timelines. The MDACA DIGIN supports these initiatives within a less constrained environment leveraging the AWS cloud and Equinix cloud adjacency.

With an integrated, intuitive user interface, the MDACA DIGIN serves as an innovation lab in a cost efficient, external environment to accelerate project initiation and delivery as well as to enable assessment of various technologies for introduction and/or integration.

MDACA DIGIN User Interface

Value and Advantages
In collaboration with AWS and Equinix, the MDACA DIGIN enables organizations to freely research, develop, and test out proof of concept initiatives, allowing them to deliver solid solutions earlier to customers.  There are several key advantages to the MDACA DIGIN platform:

  • Scale – Maximizes infrastructure agility by leveraging the on-prem resources as needed and scale capacity on demand in the cloud.
  • Flexibility – Accelerates delivery via controlled AWS (Commercial and GovCloud) and on-prem Equinix spaces with latitude to support research/development and proof of concept initiatives.
  • Infrastructure Resilience – Enables exploration and evaluation of third party technologies designed to be deployed on-prem or in the cloud as part of your enterprise solution.
  • Onboarding – Supports new staff adding value from day one via training, productivity, and contributions within the DIGIN environment while awaiting access to production environments.
  • Cyber Security – Enhances security through Equinix private connections without public internet exposure; facilitates initial cyber security assessments before introducing new products into an enterprise ecosystem.
  • Interconnected Digital Lab – Utilizes direct and secure connectivity within the AWS-based environment to data/solutions deployed across other cloud providers (e.g., Azure, Google).
  • Cost Effective – Allows execution of long running and/or continuous jobs on fixed cost hardware while having the ability to failover to the cloud with capabilities/tools to start projects sooner.

 

MDACA DIGIN Quick Start Program and Managed Services
The MDACA team understands use cases for different organizations will differ based on business needs, budgets, interconnected partners ramp up timelines, and requirements. The MDACA DIGIN Quick Start Program and managed services method have been designed in collaboration with AWS and Equinix to provide the agile approach to support the quick, secure establishment of the baseline infrastructure and support the onboarding and training of your teams. Additionally it is designed to provide organization teams with direct access to our product and integration teams as part of the MDACA DIGIN experience.

 

Overview of MDACA DIGIN Quick Start Program

Training and Support
The MDACA DIGIN training and support program can be tailored to meet your needs. Additionally, our AWS and Equinix partnerships provide us access to a wide pool of resources that can tailor training specifically to your needs. We offer a number of options in support of your training needs to include virtual, in-person, online at your own pace, and personalized mentoring with subject matter experts.

Whatever the business needs, MDACA DIGIN accelerates and enhances solution delivery for organizations aiming to take advantage of AWS services and Equinix cloud adjacent technology within a single AWS cloud bill. MDACA DIGIN provides ready access to applications, tools, and capabilities through a quick start up/tear down of core components.  It also allows customers to leverage MDACA data fabric suite components, supporting data management across data repositories within their enterprise.  All of this facilitates an organization’s ability to meet onboarding challenges and focus on research, development, and proof of concept initiatives, and ultimately, providing an edge in the marketplace.

 

Getting Started
If you have interest in leveraging the MDACA DIGIN environment in support of your organization, the process is simple; you can start the process from the AWS Marketplace MDACA DIGIN page.  Please visit mdaca.io for more information on the MDACA platform.