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The U.S. Army should work closely with the U.S. Marine Corps as it modernizes its worldwide networking capabilities over the next three years, the Marine Corps' deputy chief information officer said during a panel discussion at AUSA 2009.
The Army initiated planning work earlier this year on what it is calling the Global Enterprise Networking Construct, an array of information hubs, applications and security measures that would form an "operationalized" version of the LandWarNetwork the service has struggled to field.
The construct would provide "end-to-end" communications from the continental United States to warfighters in Afghanistan and Iraq, said Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Sorenson, the Army's Chief Information Officer. The Army decided to spread investment in the new networking capabilities over three years when the effort's billion-dollar-plus price tag turned out to be too high in the view of Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey, Sorenson said.
"Where the Army is looking to go, the Marine Corps has been doing probably for 15 years," said James Craft, the Marine Corps' deputy chief information officer.
Craft said the Marine network is centered around mobility and a lean command structure.
Even so, he noted that Marines are not content and are in the midst of a "radical transformation" that will bring more networking responsibilities into the Corps as opposed to heavy reliance on contractors.
"We have taken back the SIPRNET," Craft said. "That [transition] will be completed by the end of this year."
At the same time, Craft said the Marine Corps needs the industry for many things, including its "Green IT" initiative which calls for lighter batteries and generators for networking equipment. "We've got to lessen the load. We have to work with industry," he said.
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