This nomination emanates from DISA’s leadership of a transformation in open industry collaboration with USA and allied defense organizations in the network operations domain. This transformation centers on the TM Forum Defense Interest Group  (DIG) and on the maturation of outreach programs (and associated culture changes) among those defense organizations.

 DISA has supported and provided leadership to the DIG since its inception in June 2008. Participation and impact have grown constantly, resulting in the establishment of the TM Forum Government & Defense Sector in 2009, in recognition of the growing importance of collaborative missions across civilian and defense government operations. The DIG now has 75+ member companies (including DoD/DISA, UK MOD, and NATO C3A); with 350+ new registrants in 2009; and 200+ .mil registrants – spanning all Services (Air Force, Army, Marines, Navy).

International collaboration has characterized DIG activities from the start, as demonstrated by joint US/Allied Co-Chairs and by shared allocation of speaking slots in the Defense Spotlight sessions at the two major Management World conferences each year.  Martin Creaner, TM Forum President and COO, was an invited speaker at a joint US/NATO Information Sharing Technical Exchange Meeting in 2009.

The DIG has presented substantial tracks at all major Management World conferences since its formation, has conducted focused working sessions at TAWs, and has held multiple TM Forum Defense/Industry days in the US and Europe to increase the availability of interoperable COTS solutions, based on TM Forum specifications, that incorporate defense “NetOps” requirements and priorities.  This sustained level of activity has resulted in establishment of the TM Forum Defense Market Center in 2010, with dedicated TM Forum staff leadership.

Multiple DISA programs and activities are now “plugged in” to the DIG’s efforts and several others are preparing to do so.  Other DoD components and the NSA are also active participants in DIG initiatives, which have included the introduction of new TM Forum work in the areas of Security Management, Policy-Based Management, and SATCOM Management. Each of these initiatives has both industry-wide and TM Forum Frameworx-wide impact, providing current real-world value to industry members of the TM Forum -- service providers, equipment vendors, software developers, and solution integrators, all of whom are potential suppliers to the defense organizations which are the raison d’être of the DIG and who, thereby, also derive increased value from the DIG’s impact on industry.