The Army in the coming months will collapse the separate IT networks of the Army National Guard, Army Reserves and the Army Corps of Engineers as the service works toward a flattened, singular Army network, according to the CIO/G-6.
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The effort is part of broader, Defense Department-wide efforts to modernize the military's IT infrastructure and move toward the Joint Information Environment. It's also in keeping with DoD's implementation of joint regional security stacks (JRSS), a central piece of the single security architecture and enterprise-centric IT environment the Pentagon is pursuing.
The collapsing of the National Guard, Reserves and Army Corps of Engineers networks hinges on JRSS-related upgrades set for this summer, LTG Robert Ferrell, Army CIO/G-6, said April 1 on the sidelines of the AUSA Global Force Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama.
"Before we can collapse those networks, first DISA must upgrade the core centers at Oklahoma and at Fort Bragg," Ferrell said. "We're looking at a June or July time frame" for the upgrade work, with the network integration to follow.
So far, the Army has upgraded network infrastructure and implemented JRSS at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, and at Wiesbaden, Germany, both of which reached initial operating capacity last fall. Operational stacks will be installed at 15 locations in the U.S., Asia and Europe by the end of fiscal 2016, and eventually will total 25, according to the Army.
In preparation for the moves, the Army's program executive offices for command, control and communications-tactical and for enterprise information systems are charged with setting up the standards that will guide the network integration, Ferrell said.
"It fits in with our common operating environment and with the unified capabilities" initiatives, Ferrell said. "We're looking to see what we can do to standardize interoperability."
Across the military services, the Pentagon will spend approximately $110 million in fiscal 2015 on the JRSS initiative, according to the DoD CIO office.
