The Army CIO on Feb. 4 announced a new plan for modernizing the service's network, updating previous related guidance and aligning with broader Army planning and operating constructs.
The Army Network Campaign Plan (ANCP) is the "overarching game plan for achieving our vision for the network" of the future, Lt. Gen. Robert Ferrell, Army CIO/G-6, said Feb. 4 at the AFCEA Army IT Day in Vienna, Va.
The ANCP centers on five lines of effort, including providing signal capabilities to the force, enhancing cybersecurity capabilities, increasing network throughput and ensuring sufficient IT infrastructure, delivering IT services to the tactical edge, and strengthening network operations.
According to Army documents, besides the ANCP Network 2020 and Beyond, the strategy also comprises two other documents. The ANCP Implementation Guidance, Near-Term "describes execution activities and is updated annually to reflect the changing realities of Army budget, acquisition, resources and mission." The ANCP Implementation Guidance, Mid-Term, also revisited annually, "charts network modernization from a capabilities perspective in order to guide resource planning and shape the Program Objective Memorandum."
The ANCP underpins broader alignment with the Joint Information Environment, the Defense Department-wide push toward enterprise IT operations, and provides a foundation for expanding cloud capabilities, Ferrell said.
To that end, the Army plans to release a formal cloud computing strategy early next month, Ferrell added.
Modernizing the network, moving data to the cloud and employing cloud-based architectures, continuing implementation of multi-protocol label switching to strengthen the Army's network "backbone," and rationalizing applications are all part of the ANCP.
Under the plan, Army officials are evaluating various as-a-service offerings, including infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, software as a service and others.
They're also determining the best ways to employ distributed and federated cloud technology, "focusing on the delta between military requirements and commercial requirements," said Chief Warrant Officer Ricardo Pina, Army CIO/G-6 CTO.
As the Army looks to potentially merge cybersecurity operations and network operations, the CIO/G-6 office is coordinating with combatant commands to build out network operations centers into regional cyber centers, with a "goal to couple providing the network and defending the network," Pina said.
