WASHINGTON (Jan. 13, 2012) -- The Army has suspended its migration to Joint Enterprise Email to comply with provisions in the fiscal year 2012 National Defense Authorization Act signed into law Dec. 31.
The Army expects that full operating capability for Enterprise Email users on the non-classified network, known as NIPRNet, which was previously planned for March 31, will slip at least 45 days and possibly more.
The National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, requires the Secretary of the Army to designate its implementation of Joint Enterprise Email as a formal acquisition program with the Army Acquisition Executive as the milestone decision authority, which is in progress. The Army is acquiring Joint Enterprise Email as a service through an agreement with the Defense Information Systems Agency, known as DISA.
"The Army is using email services from the DOD private cloud instead of obtaining email from local email servers at each installation," said Lt. Gen. Susan S. Lawrence, Army Chief Information Officer/G-6. Joint Enterprise Email users with a Common Access Card can access email from anywhere in DOD, and collaborate with any user worldwide via the DOD Global Address List and enterprise calendar sharing.
"We are significantly improving capabilities and security, and simultaneously reducing costs," said Lawrence. The Army has projected $500 million in savings over five years.
The restrictions on migration pertain to the Army only. Other organizations are not affected. The Army will continue sustainment and maintenance of organizations and sites already migrated to Joint Enterprise Email.
Per the NDAA, the Army cannot use fiscal year 2012 funds to start migration of new organizations and installations to Joint Enterprise Email until 30 days after the report to Congress is delivered. The Army is preparing the report.
Migrations currently scheduled for January to March 2012 will be rescheduled, pending submission of a report to Congress by the Secretary of the Army. Planning for NIPRNet Enterprise Email migration of still unscheduled Army organizations and organizations with operationally-related temporary extensions will continue, with migration targeted for the June 2012 to March 2013 timeframe.
Over 302,000 Army and joint service users supported by the Army have already migrated, which is 44 perfect of the March 31 goal. The delay will impact approximately 234,000 Exchange users and 400,000 webmail-only users. A revised NIPRNet Enterprise Email migration schedule is expected in early February.
The Army secure network, known as SIPRNet, Enterprise Email transition is still expected to occur from April 1 to Sept. 30, 2012.