Executive Summary

Paragon Micro designed, engineered, and delivered a mission-critical VDI solution for the United States Air Force 76th Software Engineering Group at Tinker Air Force Base.

The solution supported 1,600 users across a multi-site architecture and provided secure, scalable, and resilient remote computing capability aligned with USAF Command, Control, and Compute requirements.

Paragon fulfilled 100 percent of the technical and schedule requirements, with no deviations or waivers.

Mission Challenge

The USAF required a redundant, multi-site VDI architecture capable of supporting 1,600 users across geographically separated environments.

Key requirements included:

• Multi-site active architecture
• Support for 1,600 end users
• Encrypted data at rest
• Integration with existing external storage
• Budget constraint adherence
• Scalability for future growth
• Secure remote access for globally dispersed operations

Initial competitive pricing exceeded available funding. The requirement remained mission essential.

Engineering Strategy

When the initial RFQ process was halted due to budget constraints, Paragon proactively partnered with the 76th SWEG to redesign the architecture.

Over twelve months, Paragon:

• Built and demonstrated multiple solution alternatives
• Tested varying Intel processor tiers
• Modeled RAM configurations
• Demonstrated storage density options
• Evaluated Cisco switching architectures
• Modeled cluster sizing scenarios

More than 25 revisions were completed to refine performance, redundancy, and budget alignment.

Final Architecture Delivered

Paragon recommended Dell VxRail hyperconverged infrastructure using VMware vSAN.

The solution included:

• Multi site active active management clusters
• Separate user clusters supporting 800 users per site
• Integrated compute and storage within each node
• Simplified expansion path for user growth
• Encrypted data at rest
• Compatibility with existing external storage

Hyperconverged architecture improved workload management, simplified scalability, and reduced operational complexity.

Integrated OEM Coordination

Paragon coordinated solution validation with:

• Dell
• Cisco
• VMware
• Nvidia
• Thales

This ensured technical accuracy, security compliance, performance validation, and extendability.

Preferred OEM pricing and federal partnership discounts enabled immediate cost savings and minimized long-term operational expenses.

Acquisition and Execution

The solution was procured using Paragon’s prime 2nd Generation Information Technology BPA.

Paragon provided no-cost acquisition and pre-sales engineering support, including:

• Compute and storage validation
• Network connection verification
• Backend data center compatibility review
• Bill of materials accuracy validation

Paragon’s engineering eliminated the USAF’s burden of coordinating across multiple OEMs and the cost of redefining requirements to meet budget constraints.

Performance Metrics

Operational Impact

• Enabled secure remote work capability
• Improved resilience across two operational sites
• Established encrypted data at rest
• Supported the USAF cloud journey foundation
• Reduced OEM coordination burden on government

Why This Matters

VDI environments supporting Command, Control, and Compute operations require architectural precision, security assurance, and discipline in scalability.

This engagement reflects Paragon’s ability to deliver integrated product and solution-based services aligned with SEWP Category A requirements and complex DoD computing environments.