What an exciting three months it has been—starting with the openings of the Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) Network Operating Centers (NOCs) in Norfolk on July 9, and San Diego on August 6, and ending with the DON CIO sponsored Knowledge Management Community of Practice (KM COP) Meeting and eBusiness (eB) Knowledge Fair, August 29 and 30. The KM COP and eB Knowledge Fair were dynamically interactive events featuring motivating speakers and ideas to reengineer DON processes to optimize the electronic sharing of information.
The KM COP speakers included Mr. Joe McCrea, Director, Knowledge-enhanced Government, United Kingdom and Ms. Monica Shephard, Director, Task Force Web (TFW), who gave an update on the TFW and the Navy Enterprise Portal. There were other excellent speakers covering several KM topics.
The keynote speaker was the Honorable Gordon R. England, Secretary of the Navy. We are planning to feature Secretary England's vision for the DON in the CHIPS Winter 2002 issue. CHIPS and Connecting Technology (CT) team were part of the SPAWAR team exhibiting in the beautiful SPAWAR corporate booth at the fair. Please look for CHIPS and the CT team in the SPAWAR booth at future events. For more information on the eB Fair, go to the DON eBusiness Knowledge Fair article in this issue.
I wish you could have been with me to witness the excitement and pride of those involved in achieving the historic activation of both the Norfolk and San Diego NOCs. Both NOCs are filled with truly splendid, highly advanced technology equipment and highly professional staffs. I want to thank the DON CIO and the Information Strike Force for the opportunity to be a part of the celebration of the history-making NMCI deployment. I particularly enjoyed meeting the first Sailors to train and work in the Norfolk NOC. They are smart, professional and especially articulate in describing the NMCI military training program and what it means to DON operations.
Please go to the Norfolk and San Diego NMCI NOCs Open article to read more about the program and NOC openings. I also want to thank PH2 Aaron Peterson, photographer from Fleet Combat Camera Atlantic for all the great shots of the Norfolk NOC shown in this issue.
The above was written before the recent attack on America. Like every American, our hearts are sick with grief at the loss of lives and the suffering of so many. We are one in our grief, but we also stand united and proud of our nation—ready to serve in any way we can.
See you at Connecting Technology (CT) Fall 2001 at the Town & Country Resort, San Diego, California.
Sharon Anderson