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PD EC2M Discusses the Future of Army Collaboration and Communications at AFCEA Small Business Networking Session
By Alison Dickson-Kozloski, PD ES strategic communications
John Howell, Product Director for Enterprise Content Collaboration and Messaging (PD EC2M) presented an overview on Project Director Enterprise Services/PD EC2M’s current focus, including upcoming activities with Unified Capabilities (UC) and Army Knowledge Online (AKO) at the February AFCEA Fort Belvoir small business networking session. “We have an affordability issue between all the legacy systems and requirements,” Mr. Howell said. “If we’re going to get to the next generation of service the Army must prioritize its enterprise requirements.” As the Army moves toward greater use of managed, enterprise services he stressed the need to focus on getting to the next generation of technologies, not on just replacing current capabilities. “AKO was the first Army Enterprise capability and it continues to serve us well. However, the days of owning and operating are numbered. Most capabilities within AKO will be eventually be replaced by managed services” he said. The one capability that must continue to be maintained, and at high rates of availability is Single Sign On (SSO), as it is critical, to both end-users and more than 600 applications with SSO integrated into their design. Eventually SSO will be replaced by a future authentication/authorization service; but until this is defined and funded, SSO will remain the primary service for this. For UC, Mr. Howell shared that, due to limited resources, the Army would likely not seek to initiate an acquisition for UC as a Service in fiscal year (FY) 2015, but instead continue efforts on market research and requirements development, with an eye towards releasing an RFP in FY 2016. “We’ve been here before- last year we asked you (Industry) specific questions about deploying a limited set of capabilities on a very limited timeline. Now that we’ve got the time to re-define the requirement we need Industry’s help in showing us what’s possible.”
Posted February 20, 2015
PEO EIS panel highlights Army IT opportunities
By David Wood, Communications Division
PEO EIS Mr. Douglas Wiltsie led a panel discussion at the Armed Forces Communications Electronics Association (AFCEA) Northern Virginia (NOVA) chapter’s Army IT Day on Feb. 4, 2015 in Tysons Corner, Virginia. The 14th annual gathering of AFCEA NOVA brought together over 1,000 members from industry and government and featured a keynote address from Army CIO/G-6 LTG Robert Ferrell.
The PEO EIS panel was composed of Project Manager Installation Information Infrastructure – Communications and Capabilities (I3C2) Mr. Michael Padden, Project Director Enterprise Services (ES) Mr. Jeremy Hiers and Project Director Computer Hardware, Enterprise Software and Solutions (CHESS) Mr. Thomas Neff.
Mr. Wiltsie’s comments focused on top-level EIS efforts, including modernizing the Army’s network. Mr. Padden expanded on that topic by discussing how Enterprise Service Management System as a Service, a key portion of network modernization, will deliver an easy-to-use, reliable and secure information technology service management capability as a managed service.
Mr. Neff provided an update on the Army’s strategic sourcing efforts, including a look at fiscal year (FY) 2014 sales figures. He also mentioned that the IT Enterprise Solutions (ITES)-Software contract is expected to be awarded during the end of the second quarter of FY15 and the ITES 3-Hardware contract should be awarded in the fourth quarter of FY15. CHESS is also planning to release a draft request for proposals for the ITES 3-Services in the third quarter of FY15. The nine-year contract will have a $14 billion ceiling.
Mr. Hiers discussed the Army’s Unified Capabilities (UC) acquisition, which is tentatively planned for FY16. According to Mr. Hiers, UC represents the next logical step of network modernization and includes integrated voice, video, chat, instant messaging as well as other potential data services. Mr. Hiers went on to say that integration of commonly used communication and collaboration capabilities at the enterprise level are possible as the network becomes more powerful and, eventually, UC will replace a significant portion of the Army’s legacy telephone infrastructure.
Another major discussion topic and frequent subject of questions from the audience was cloud computing. Mr. Hiers stated that implementing the Army cloud strategy is a critical step in enabling data center consolidation. Therefore, the Army plans to establish contractual vehicles for commercial hosting services and will be conducting market research to explore ways to increase standardization and cloud management across varying hosting environments.
The EIS leaders all expressed their interest in hearing from industry and met with a number of AFCEA members following the panel discussion. Several media outlets mentioned PEO EIS in their coverage of Army IT Day; some highlights can be found on the PEO EIS website under In the News.
More photos from the event can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/afceanova/sets/72157650734239675/
Click on the images below to view:
Posted February 18, 2015
LTC (P) Mollie Pearson Selected for Fed 100 Award
By PEO EIS Communications Division
Congratulations to LTC (P) Mollie Pearson who has been selected as a Fed 100 Award recipient for 2014. This prestigious award recognizes the top 100 professionals across the federal IT sector, Click here for article.
LTC (P) Pearson has demonstrated outstanding leadership as PdM P2E. She is solely responsible for the Army's Strategic IT infrastructure outside the continental United States. She recently led the successful execution of over $1 billion in enterprise investments while expertly managing the most complex and diverse IT portfolio within PEO EIS. Overseeing 124 government and contractor personnel across six global offices, five continents and 16 time zones, LTC (P) Pearson provided visionary leadership and tactful diplomacy with myriad senior Army leaders, DoD stakeholders, U.S. allies, and international partners. She spearheaded multiple global building projects and will continue to shape the Army's future by providing modern C4I services and seamless IT infrastructure upgrades in support of the Army's LandWarNet 2025 strategic vision. Her multifaceted contributions enabled the Army's globally deployed forces to perform their missions successfully and achieved significant cost savings for the Army.
Army Strong!
Posted February 10, 2015