It’s an exciting day for Team Tanzu. Today, we announced that we are partnering with the U.S. Army Futures Command to create a software development–focused army unit in Austin, Texas—the Army Software Factory. It’s an honor for Team Tanzu to be selected by the U.S. Army as its primary partner in this historic initiative. The first-ever soldier-led software factory will have a long-lasting impact in equipping soldiers with the modern software development skills they need for the digital battlegrounds of today and tomorrow.
I had the pleasure of meeting Gen. John M. Murray, commanding general, U.S. Army Futures Command; Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and other key partners of the Army Software Factory a few weeks ago. It was inspiring to see and hear about the U.S. Army’s modernization efforts and its investment to improve the technical talent of its soldiers. I am humbled that VMware gets to be a part of this journey.
This partnership with the U.S. Army builds on VMware’s successful Tanzu-enabled software factories. We’ve built these in collaboration with many organizations, including other branches of the U.S. military, such as the U.S. Space Force. This opportunity to expand our work with defense agencies is a testament to the strength of the VMware Tanzu product portfolio and the expertise of the VMware Tanzu Labs team in enabling organizations to modernize, transform, and achieve better outcomes.
Over the next five years, the Army Software Factory will have access to the full breadth of the VMware Tanzu portfolio of products and services to enable soldiers and government civilians to produce software to address current and future mission priorities.
I have seen firsthand how Tanzu Labs has empowered customers to adopt modern software development practices and build their own applications organically. It sets developer and engineering teams up for success in the long run. Likewise, within the Army Software Factory, soldiers will be paired one-on-one with Tanzu Labs experts to learn to build, deliver, and operate software like best-of-breed Silicon Valley companies. This will increase soldiers’ digital proficiencies and prepare them with the modern software development skills needed to solve Army problems in innovative and competitive ways.
By leaning into the best of VMware Tanzu products, the U.S. Army will be able to adopt and use modern developer tooling and practices to build cloud native applications—all on an accredited Kubernetes-based DevSecOps platform. This streamlined path to production will foster rapid software development. And it will deliver real-world mission outcomes on timelines that rival some of the top tech companies in Silicon Valley.
In deploying the Tanzu portfolio to build, run, and manage modern applications, the U.S. Army will successfully position itself for cloud native development and to modernize existing applications for cloud feasibility. This is a very positive step forward for the Army, and I’m incredibly excited for Team Tanzu to be part of this journey with the Army Software Factory. I can’t wait to see their progress over the next several years.
Further reading
Implementing DevSecOps in a Federal Agency with VMware Tanzu
Scaling Leadership of an Agile Software Factory: Lessons Learned
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