Evaluation of Potential Migration of the Time-Based Flow Management System to the Cloud

As the FAA progresses toward full implementation of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) and continues to chart the architecture of the National Airspace System (NAS) into the future, investigating the feasibility of deploying NAS services into a Cloud environment is one potential opportunity to modernize the current technological systems of the NAS. General benefits of Cloud migration include the consolidation and outsourcing of infrastructure acquisition and management; transparent and evolutionary technology refresh; and elasticity of computing, storage, and other infrastructure requirements to reduce operational costs and increase business agility. In addition to these benefits, migration to the Cloud also enhances the opportunity for common use of services between NAS systems.