The Defense Information Systems Agency is taking steps to boost performance and capability of defense networks, including through a new upgrade to network speed and a new cloud contract.
DISA officials on April 25 issued a release announcing that they’re in the process of upgrading the Defense Information Systems Network with the next-generation optical transport system, which will boost the network tenfold, from 10 gigabytes per second to 100 gigabytes per second.
The boost benefits combatant commands, Joint Information Environment enterprise data centers and joint regional security stacks “with improved infrastructure resiliency, service delivery node resiliency, encryption, and transitions critical legacy components to an internet protocol-based Ethernet infrastructure,” the release stated.
The upgrade will also help meet bandwidth demands by increasing efficiency, reliability and capacity, according to the announcement.
“Our goal is to provide a more robust, survivable network infrastructure that will establish multiple diverse paths. This will eliminate network outages due to single-event occurrences and improve our availability to key Department of Defense applications and services,” said Johnathan “Chris” Bunting, chief of the global projects branch in DISA’s infrastructure directorate.
The announcement comes a week after DISA officials released a draft request for proposals for the Defense Enterprise Office Solutions cloud contract. With DEOS, agency officials seek “a seamlessly integrated, enterprise [cloud service offering] as a replacement for disparate DoD legacy enterprise information technology (IT) services, such as voice, video, collaboration, email, content management, records management, and office productivity.”
DEOS would serve as the de facto next-generation solution for DISA’s defense enterprise email program employed across the Department of Defense, and would also replace the DoD Enterprise Portal Service, Defense Collaboration Services “and other disparate DoD-wide legacy enterprise collaboration, voice/video, and productivity capabilities,” according to the draft RFP.
DEOS also would be in direct support of JIE, providing the common environment and collaboration capabilities at local bases, camps, posts and stations, Kristen Brown, DEOS program manager, said in a YouTube video describing the program.
“As the war fighter and the Department of Defense move forward in enabling commercial technology and the adoption of cloud technology, we look to streamline, create efficiencies and effectiveness throughout the department in a cost-saving manner,” Brown said.
The DEOS draft RFP comes amid defense community-wide furor over DoD’s forthcoming Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud contract, which will be a single-award, multibillion-dollar contract. DEOS also will be a single-award, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract, but no dollar figure for its value has yet been made available.
