• HOME
• NEWS & EVENTS
• THE GRID

THE GRID

Conference Builds and Reinforces Partnerships to Support the Warfighter
By Miriam Moss, DISA Corporate Communications

“Imagine 1 Force…Connected” was the theme for the 2008 DISA Customer Partnership Conference, which was held at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, in Orlando, Fla., from May 5 to May 9. The conference provides a collaborative think-tank environment for the information technology community.

According to Air Force Lt Gen Charles E. Croom Jr., DISA director and commander of the Joint Task Force–Global Network Operations, this year’s conference theme emphasized the “promise our collective imaginations and today’s technologies offer for providing unprecedented capabilities to our warfighters.”

The conference focused on:

• The art of the possible as we learn from industry and government leaders.
• Working together to increase the speed of delivery of capabilities and services.
• Improving the efficiency and cost effectiveness of what DISA delivers.
• Envisioning solutions that facilitate being fully connected to the tactical edge.

As in previous years, the conference facilitates a continuing interface between DoD, federal employees, contractors, industry, and DISA customers to discuss solutions that meet the needs of the warfighter — specifically to discuss current and developing technological capabilities, initiatives, and operational requirements.

“It’s all about teamwork,” said Croom as he described the collaborative efforts of conference attendees to provide the warfighter with best capabilities in the areas of speed and accuracy of information delivery while breaking down existing information barriers. 

From conference presenters to top executives and mid-level managers, over the course of the five-day conference, the focal point of discussion was emerging technologies and how to best respond to the immense demand to deploy solutions to the warfighter.

“[The conference provides] an excellent assembly of minds that come together and to really focus on individual topics that have long-term implications for mission success, not just now but as we plan things for the next two to five years. The dialogue in itself is beneficial,” said Army COL Herb Newman, director of communications and chief information officer at the United States Southern Command in Miami, Fla.

The event-packed conference is comprised of two primary segments: plenary sessions and informational track sessions. Each segment fosters the sharing of ideas and latest in technical developments.

During the plenary sessions, attendees had the opportunity to hear presentations by senior DoD officials and top leaders in the information technology industry.

DoD speakers for this year’s plenary sessions included Army LTG Francis H. Kearney III, deputy commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command; Air Force Lt Gen Croom, DISA director and commander of the Joint Task Force – Global Network Operations; Navy RADM Elizabeth Hight, DISA’s vice director; and John Garing, chief information officer and director of strategic planning for DISA.

Industry speakers included Joseph M. Tucci, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of EMC; Safra Catz, president and chief financial officer of Oracle Corp.; Ed Amoroso, senior vice president and chief security officer of AT&T; Robert Wiseman, chief technology officer of Sabre Holdings; and Vinton G. Cerf, vice president and chief Internet evangelist of Google.

In addition, several others shared their knowledge and experience as panelists in the conference’s three plenary panel discussions.

“I think the speakers we bring from industry certainly give us wonderful thoughts to take back to federal government, especially DoD. I’ve found a couple of quick wins that I want to put in place for our strategic resource planning activities,” said DISA employee Mary Carlisle, deputy chief of corporate planning and mission integration in the Office of the Chief Information Officer and Strategic Planning.

During informational track sessions, participants attended briefings and discussion groups in which they interacted with presenters by asking questions, stating their concerns, and offering suggestions.

Among the track topics this year were the Defense Message System (DMS), Defense Red Switch Network (DRSN), Net-Centric Enterprise Services (NCES), Defense Information System Network (DISN), information assurance, and computing services. No doubt the conference inspired participants to think of innovative ways to support the warfighter.

 “I’ve attended this conference as a contractor, as a staff member, as a director, as a presenter, and now as a customer. And from the customer perspective it [the conference] gives me an opportunity to engage DISA in ways that they can assist us in accomplishing our mission out at the forward edge,” said Dr. Claudette Millsap, the Joint Region Marianas chief information officer in Guam.

During the closing moments of the conference, Croom spoke about the significance of the conference to DISA and the nation as a whole.

“What did we learn this week? For one thing, it’s all about communicating. And we have tried over the last three years to open up the DISA hallways to improve our communications, so that we can build trust [with all of you],” he said. “It’s also about speed. As we heard from Safra Catz, some think moving too fast is risky, but if you don’t move fast it’s fatal.”

Croom told the audience that we have to give warfighters additional or improved capabilities as quickly as possible even if they are only 70-percent solutions. “[The operator is] brave enough to tell you what’s wrong with it, and then you can quickly spiral out and correct it,” said Croom.

Our challenge is to remain tenacious enough to overcome our processes — the ones that often hold us back from accomplishing our mission in a timely fashion, according to Croom.

“Let me end where I began a few days ago. Information is America’s greatest weapon. And whose hands is it in? It’s in our hands, collectively,” said Croom.

The 2009 DISA Customer Partnership Conference will be held in Anaheim, Calif., from April 20 to April 24.

Return to The Grid Homepage