In order to comply with the Army's broader operating concept and mantra of winning in a complex environment, the Army Network Enterprise Technology Command is moving out on a mission to standardize, modernize and integrate the service's networks at home and around the world.
Doing so is a multifaceted effort, one that involves upgrading hardware and software, changing policies and procedures, transforming bases technologically and enacting cultural change, according to NETCOM Commander MG John Morrison.
"We are on a journey that is going to take us toward a single, inherently joint effort. And as many things that we can do today that will move us down that road…it is an operational necessity that we do it," Morrison said Oct. 14 at the Association of the U.S. Army annual meeting in Washington.
The Army's networks launched in independent theaters around the world – the continental U.S., Europe and Southwest Asia, all operating separately but with the same, yet non-standardized, capabilities. That meant those theaters didn't have common network tactics, techniques and procedures – something that had to change to create seamless network operations amid troop rotations and more agile command posts.
"Before if we had moved a unit into Korea, that unit would have to take all of its kit and almost completely reconfigure it to get on the network in Korea. We moved the 2nd Brigade Combat Team/1st Calvary Division out and they literally just went in, plugged into the network and immediately were able to get up and running, as opposed to an extended preparation time prior to assuming mission," Morrison said. "That should be the norm. So standardizing our current capabilities, standardizing our current TTPs and operating truly as a global network is where the Army has made significant progress over the last several months."
The Army's modernization looks completely different than how it was done in the past, with NETCOM partnering with Army acquisition and the CIO, among other stakeholders, to create an integrated team approach, Morrison noted.
"If you ask [Army CIO/G-6 LTG Robert] Ferrell how many posts we had modernized prior to 2013 end-to-end, you would be hard-pressed to come up with even one installation. We had literally been at Fort Bragg for over eight years trying to modernize it because we had the wrong acquisition money," Morrison said. "So what we have done is we have flipped it on its head. We teamed very closely with [Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army of Acquisition, Logistics and Technology]. They now do commodity buys, all the purchasing of the infrastructure that we need. We jointly engineer the network and then we use our own organic manpower."
As a result, the Army has put in more than 70,000 man-hours to modernize the installations, resulting in more than 11 installations modernized end-to-end over the last 15 months. More than 50,000 Army users are operating on the new architecture at Fort Sam Houston and Fort Hood, Texas, Morrison said.
To date, over 70,000 man hours to do the installations. The result over the last 15 months over 11 installations end-to-end will be modernized. Completely different approach. Much more cost effective and much, much more operationally effective and in much more secured network environment.
But beyond modernizing and standardizing – the technical aspects of overhauling Army networks and operations – integrating is just as a critical, but requires a bit of a different approach.
"It is much less technical and much more cultural. That integration is both horizontal and meshed with our sister services, but it is also vertical internal to the Army between the strategic and tactical networks," Morrison said. "If you go to any of our deployed locations today, whether it is in Southwest Asia or whether it is Europe or whether it is the Pacific…you are seeing an unprecedented convergence of the strategic tactical networks."
It's also an unprecedented convergence of Defense Department network operations, Ferrell added.
"If you look at what we are doing I would say the network is clearly invested in the Army operating concept. It is also clearly nested in the Army's vision. And then lastly I would say a key component of what we are doing is all focused towards the joint information environment, and that is not just the Army," Ferrell said. "Those are also centerpieces at the DOD CIO level as well as our service. It's a journey and we are all on a road map to get there."
To learn more about strengthening military networks, join NETCOM Deputy Commander COL David Isaacson in a free webcast Oct. 29.
