Case Study: Naval Research Laboratory achieves real-time, scalable battlefield intelligence with DataDirect Networks' high-performance storage

Naval Research Laboratory - Customer Case Study

DataDirect Networks (DDN) and SGI partnered with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) on the Large Data Joint Capabilities Technology Demonstration to address a growing mountain of imagery from satellites, manned aircraft and UAVs. The challenge was to ingest, store, index and share enormous, high‑bit‑rate files (streams exceeding 1 TB/hour per sensor and petabyte‑scale datasets) across multiple remote sites with low latency, real‑time processing and NSA‑approved encryption for operational decision making.

The team implemented a unified low‑latency Infiniband “single‑wire” architecture combining DDN high‑performance, rack‑dense storage appliances and SGI shared‑memory servers with a parallel/CXFS file system, caching replication and WAN encryption/replication. The result is a scalable, cost‑effective infrastructure that delivers real‑time indexing, visualization and distribution of imagery as if data were local—providing actionable battlefield intelligence and supporting long‑term growth across missions.

Naval Research Laboratory

Hank Dardy

Chief Scientist for the Center for Computational Science at the Naval Research Center