"RAND National Defense Research Institute."

"This research was ... conducted within the Acquisition and Technology Policy (ATP) Center of the RAND National Defense Research Institute"--Preface.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 91-95).

Introduction -- Measures of dependability -- Drivers of dependability -- Data sources -- Modeling a service: examples using sametime chat and the COP service -- A new and improved tool to calculate Ao -- Exemplar analysis using the new tool -- Conclusions, recommendations, and next steps -- Appendix A: RAND review of initial SPAWAR Tool -- Appendix B: Detailed analysis of human error in CVN Networks -- Appendix C: Network diagram of the COP Service.

The Navy is increasingly dependent on networks and associated net-centric operations to conduct military missions, so a vital goal is to establish and maintain dependable networks for ship and multiship (e.g., strike group) networks. In this volume, the authors develop a framework for measuring network dependability that is focused on users' perceptions of whether individual network services are available, as opposed to hardware-focused measurements of whether individual pieces of equipment are functioning. The authors used this framework to modify a tool for modeling network availability that was originally developed by Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command; the modified tool allows the user to perform sensitivity analysis that captures the degree to which individual network components affect overall mission operational availability. The authors walk the reader through some exemplar analyses, then conclude with recommendations on how the Navy might facilitate future network dependability assessments, provide more meaningful results to network engineers, and, ultimately, enhance the dependability of networks across the fleet.

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