In an era of increasingly sophisticated and relentless cyberattacks, national and economic security hangs in the balance. To counter these evolving threats, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) responded with a groundbreaking initiative: a virtual training ground to prepare military cyber forces to prepare for digital warfare by replicating the complexities of modern cyberattacks.
The Persistent Cyber Training Environment (PCTE) is the result of an extraordinary collaboration involving but not limited to: U.S. government agencies, tech companies such as Broadcom, NetApp, and F5, and international agencies from the Five Eyes Intelligence Oversight and Review Council (FIORC). This collaboration, which began in 2017, led to the creation of a globally distributed system capable of supporting thousands of users and scaling effortlessly during high-stakes training surges. The goal was to build a platform that is robust, highly available, secure, and intuitive to manage, allowing operators to protect sensitive data without compromising performance.
A New Era of Cyber Training
Managing such scale and complexity requires more than technical expertise; it needed a cloud infrastructure capable of enabling seamless collaboration at high speed. For this reason, Cole Engineering Services Inc. (CESI), the prime contractor leading the PCTE project, adopted VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) as the system’s backbone.
VCF serves as a private cloud platform that eliminates single points of failure. It employs dual-path networking and highly available components to ensure continuous operation even during the most demanding training exercises. "If we move at the speed of cyber, we fall behind," said Gillon Helman, CESI’s vice president of engineering. The agile framework allows CESI to rapidly deploy updates and iterate in real time, helping transform PCTE into a dynamic, secure, and highly scalable training ecosystem that equips cyber warriors to meet tomorrow’s challenges head-on.
Virtualizing the Battlefield: From Cloud to Cyber Range
The virtual training ranges within PCTE simulate real-world IT environments where cyber warriors practice how to detect, intercept, and mitigate attacks on networks, software, and applications. These ranges must be deployed quickly and customized for specific training scenarios. VMware Cloud Director enables PCTE to organize multiple virtual data centers on a single physical infrastructure in order to seamlessly map to PCTE’s multi-tenancy environment. This approach ensures that resources remain compartmentalized to safeguard sensitive data and optimize system performance.
To maintain top-tier security, VCF micro-segmentation tools and network firewalls enforce strict access controls to prevent unauthorized cross-tenant interactions. Additionally, VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid extends PCTE’s capabilities by enabling containerized applications, supporting mission-critical systems with greater speed and flexibility.
Scaling Up with Speed and Precision
Rapid scalability is central to PCTE’s mission. VCF enables automated scale-up and scale-out using pre-configured templates that quickly deploy additional infrastructure as demand grows. This templated approach, bolstered by VMware Validated Solutions, simplifies expansion and lifecycle management.
Monitoring and load balancing are equally crucial for seamless performance during large-scale events. VCF Automation and VCF Operations provide real-time visibility into system health, which allows operations teams to detect and resolve issues before they impact training. Meanwhile, VMware Avi Load Balancer optimizes network traffic, ensuring that requests for resources and application data are handled efficiently, even during peak usage.
Supporting Global Training at Scale
PCTE’s impact has been remarkable. Exercises, such as Cyber Shield, have brought together more than 525 cyber personnel from 18 nations to defend against simulated attacks across networks comprising more than 1,200 virtual devices. Without VCF, such large-scale collaboration would have been nearly impossible, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when travel restrictions prevented in-person training.
VMware Cloud Director has also revolutionized content distribution. What once required physically shipping DVDs is now accomplished through synchronized global data-sharing, enabling faster preparation and deployment of training exercises. PCTE supports up to 4,500 concurrent users and manages nearly 100,000 virtual machines with four petabytes of content. These figures are expected to triple in two years, with projections reaching 30,000 users, 300,000 virtual machines, and 12 petabytes of data.
Pioneering the Future of Cyber Defense
As cyber threats continue to evolve, PCTE is preparing for the future by integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities into its operations. These advancements will enhance the platform’s ability to simulate complex attack scenarios and optimize training processes in real time. With this robust cloud foundation, the DoD and its allies can ensure their cyber warriors remain battle-ready in an ever-changing digital landscape.
VCF has transformed PCTE from a training platform into a global defense hub, where cyber operators gain the expertise needed to counter sophisticated adversaries. As demand for more comprehensive training grows, VCF will remain pivotal in shaping the future of cyber readiness and securing nations against tomorrow’s invisible threats.