The DII COE: Basic Principles and Future Challenges

While not a silver bullet, the Defense Information Infrastructure (DII) Common Operating Environment (COE) is a measured, pragmatic approach to software development and integration that is tailored to the Department of Defense. The four basic principles of COE – interoperability, security, customer focus, and best value – are what drives the COE as it responds to past successes and seeks to embrace evolving open frameworks and object technology. This article entails a description of how these principles are addressed in the COE development process. This is critical to understanding the goals of the COE environment: How it is used. How it should be used. Also discussed are the challenges facing the COE as a result of decreasing commercial product life cycles, rising customer expectations, and increased demand to support new communities.