Air Force wants to reuse software components

Air Force wants to reuse software components
05/14/07 --

A new software acquisition and development program is focusing on boosting efficiency and decreasing lifecycle costs for the Air Force through the reuse of applications’ components.

The strategy, said Charles Riechers, the Air Force’s principal deputy assistant secretary for acquisition, is to “encourage the use of open standards, open data interfaces and best-of-breed open source software solutions.”

“We are not mandating either open or proprietary solutions,” Riechers said last week at a luncheon in Vienna, Va., sponsored by the Northern Virginia chapter of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association. “But if you’re not using open standards, you have to tell me that and there better be a damn good reason why not. Proprietary technology is okay as long as it based on an informed decision.”