MIT 16-2 (March 2012)

The Voice of Military Communications and Computing

Efficiency Leader Douglas K. Wiltsie PEO EIS U.S. Army

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C4

March 2012

Volume 16, Issue 2

SATCOM Savings O DISA COMSATCOM Update O Fires Control Android Security O Boutelle on the Issues

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(U.S. Army photo by Spc. De’Yonte Mosley/Released)(100429-A-6285M-020)

ReLiAbiLiT y NeveR ReACHed SO FAR ™

Military Information Technology

March 2012 Volume 16 • Issue 2

Features

Cover / Q&A Seeking Smartphone Security

As the Army and DoD look to greater use of mobile devices, the security of the popular Android system is a key concern.

By William Murray

6 Everything over IP Champion

10

Top defense officials need to exercise strong leadership in order to transform the military’s information systems into a global enterprise based on Everything over IP, according to Lieutenant General Steven Boutelle (Ret.), a former Army chief information officer/G6.

By Harrison Donnelly

Precision Fire Support Chain Originates with Handheld Applications

12

Mobile fire support systems being developed by the Army allow soldiers at the tactical edge to collaborate with the commander to choose the correct weapon-target pairing for precise munitions delivery.

By Kathryn Bailey

Saving on SATCOM

21

Industry experts say there is more the government can do to make the process of acquiring SATCOM bandwidth and services by defense, intelligence and other government agencies more efficient and economical.

By Peter Buxbaum

COMSATCOM Center Update

An update on the latest news from the Defense Information Systems Agency’s Commercial Satellite Communications (COMSATCOM) Center.

24

17 Douglas K. Wiltsie Program Executive Officer Enterprise Information Systems U.S. Army

Departments 2

Editor’s Perspective

4

Program Notes/People

14

Data Bytes

26

COTSacopia

27

Calendar, Directory

Industry Interview

28

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Barry Leffew Vice President, Public Sector Adobe

Military Information Technology Volume 16, Issue 2

EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE

March 2012

The Voice of Military Communications and Computing Editorial Managing Editor Harrison Donnelly harrisond@kmimediagroup.com Online Editorial Manager Laura Davis laurad@kmimediagroup.com Copy Editor Laural Hobbes lauralh@kmimediagroup.com Correspondents Adam Baddeley • Peter Buxbaum • Cheryl Gerber Scott Gourley • Karen E. Thuermer Art & Design Art Director Jennifer Owers jennifero@kmimediagroup.com Senior Graphic Designer Jittima Saiwongnuan jittimas@kmimediagroup.com Graphic Designers Amanda Kirsch amandak@kmimediagroup.com Scott Morris scottm@kmimediagroup.com Kailey Waring kaileyw@kmimediagroup.com Advertising Account Executive Cheri Anderson cheria@kmimediagroup.com Daniel Call danc@kmimediagroup.com

KMI Media Group Publisher Kirk Brown kirkb@kmimediagroup.com Chief Executive Officer Jack Kerrigan jack@kmimediagroup.com Chief Financial Officer Constance Kerrigan connik@kmimediagroup.com Executive Vice President David Leaf davidl@kmimediagroup.com Editor-In-Chief Jeff McKaughan jeffm@kmimediagroup.com Controller Gigi Castro gcastro@kmimediagroup.com Administrative Assistant Casandra Jones casandraj@kmimediagroup.com Trade Show Coordinator Holly Foster hollyf@kmimediagroup.com Operations, Circulation & Production Distribution Coordinator Duane Ebanks duanee@kmimediagroup.com Data Specialists Rebecca Hunter rebeccah@kmimediagroup.com Tuesday Johnson tuesdayj@kmimediagroup.com Raymer Villanueva raymerv@kmimediagroup.com Summer Walker summerw@kmimediagroup.com Donisha Winston donishaw@kmimediagroup.com

The Network Integration Evaluations (NIE) being conducted by the Army have attracted a lot of positive comments for their focus on testing of communications and related systems as they operate and interact under demanding field conditions.

But while the tests have drawn active industry participation, there apparently has been skepticism in some quarters about how much actual effect the NIE results will have on procurement. As Major General Alan Lynn, commanding general of the Army Signal Center of Excellence, observed in a recent interview, “I know that many are waiting to see if the Army will end up making an acquisition decision Harrison Donnelly Editor at the conclusion of an NIE event.”

In the interview, scheduled to run in the next issue of MIT, Lynn makes clear that the NIE results will have an impact. As if to validate his promise, the Army recently announced the first procurement action resulting from the NIEs and the Agile Process. The latter is the Army’s new quick-reaction acquisition methodology to address defined capability gaps and insert new technologies into the overall network at a lower cost.

The Army issued a “sources sought” notice for a single-channel, vehicle-mounted radio.

Running the Joint Tactical Radio System ( JTRS) Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW), the radios will transmit information between the squad- and team-level JTRS Rifleman Radio and the Army’s larger tactical communications network.

The Army plans to buy approximately 5,000 of the vehicle-mounted radios, also known as SRW Appliqué. Recently conducted NIEs confirmed an operational need for these single channel radios.

“This procurement illustrates how the NIEs and the Agile Process allow the Army and industry to work together to quickly fulfill our network hardware and software capability gaps,” said Colonel Dan Hughes, director of the Army’s System of Systems Integration Directorate. “This is the first formal procurement action for commercial technologies as the Army continues to mature the Agile Process and align existing acquisition policy with our new way of doing business.”

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PROGRAM NOTES

Compiled by KMI Media Group staff

Small Businesses Offer Customized SATCOM Services The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and General Services Administration (GSA) have selected four small businesses to help military and other government agencies in designing and deploying satellite communications capabilities that meet their unique needs.

As part of the Future Commercial Satellite Communications Services Acquisition (FCSA) program, DISA and GSA recently awarded the Custom Satellite Communications SolutionsSmall Business (CS2-SB) contract to AIS Engineering; By Light, Professional IT Services; Knight Sky Consulting and Associates; and UltiSat. The CS2-SB contracts have a fiveyear contract period (three base years with two, one-year options) and a ceiling of $900 million.

CS2, the overall contract vehicle that includes the recent small business awards, represents the third of three legs of the two

agencies’ FCSA program. The first two parts of the contract, covering transponded capacitydedicated satellite bandwidth on commercially available frequency bands, and subscription services, pre-engineered, off-the-shelf fixed and mobile satellite service solutions, have already been awarded.

CS2 is distinguished from its cohorts by its emphasis on custom-tailored products and services. The contract is expected to be worth $3.5 billion over five years, including the $900 million set aside for small businesses.

The CS2-SB contract holders can compete for task orders that consist solely of satellite professional support services such as analysis and testing. CS2-SB, along with the future award of CS2, provides access to customer-defined endto-end solutions that include satellite bandwidth, teleport access, network management, the equipment needed for satellite communica-

tions, and engineering support such as integration, operations and maintenance.

Awards for the companion CS2 full and open contracts for large scale end-to-end solutions are expected soon.

The GSA and DISA satellite communications partnership for FCSA was formed in August 2009 to help control the burgeoning costs associated with federal agency’s use of satellite services, and to provide the government with single point access for the purchase and delivery of mission-critical services with significant savings for taxpayers.

“FCSA offers the U.S. government, and particularly the Department of Defense, unparalleled access to the best technologies, the most capable staff and the agility to economically solve our global communications issues,” said DISA Program Executive Officer for Communications Bruce T. Bennett.

PEOPLE

Compiled by KMI Media Group staff

enterprise information systems directorate, Air Force Materiel Command, Maxwell Air Force Base-Gunter Annex, Ala.

Brig. Gen. Craig S. Olson

The list of Air Force brigadier generals recently nominated for appointment to the rank of major general includes Brigadier General Jim H. Keffer, who is currently serving as the deputy chief, Central Security Service, National Security Agency, and Brigadier General Craig S. Olson, who is currently serving as the program executive officer for business and enterprise systems/director of the

4 | MIT 16.2

Navy Reserve Rear Admiral (lower half) David G. Russell has been nominated for appointment to the rank of rear admiral. Russell is currently serving as reserve component deputy commander, Navy Cyber Forces, Virginia Beach, Va. David Bennett has been assigned as vice component acquisition executive, Defense Information Systems Agency, Fort Meade, Md. Bennett previously served as DISA program executive officer for GIG enterprise services.

Z Microsystems has named Bob Kopas, a former Navy surface warfare officer with more than 28 years of military experience, to the position of vice president of military programs.

General Dynamics C4 Systems has named Thomas Kreidler as vice president of worldwide product sales, a new position reporting directly to Chris Marzilli, president. Kreidler will be based at a new General Dynamics C4 Systems’ facility in Annapolis Junction, Md. Iridium Communications has appointed Admiral Eric T. Olson (Ret.), former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, to its board of directors.

Michael Singer

Quest Software Public Sector Inc., a subsidiary of Quest Software, has announced the appointment of Michael Singer as vice president of federal sales.

QinetiQ North America has announced the appointment of John Sutton as general manager and executive vice president of its Mission and Information Solutions Business.

www.MIT-kmi.com

As th

e Ar my a of m nd D obil o Andro e devices, D look to the grea id sy secu ter u stem r i se t y of is a

By W key t illia h e m c p o opul Murr MIT C ncer ar ay orre n. spon

dent

Recent approvals by key defense agencies of technology designed to improve the security of Android mobile operating devices have marked important milestones in the quest to combine the protection of information with the mobility and ease of access offered by smartphones and other devices.

Early this year, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) certified the first secure android OSbased platform, enabling mobile device management and data loss prevention capabilities offered by a company called Good Technology to be used on the Global Information Grid.

In addition, the National Security Agency recently certified SE Android, the first version of a securityenhanced version of the popular mobile operating system that has improved access control features.

Meanwhile, the Army, which has been leading military efforts in this area, is continuing to study the options of either Android or the other mobile operating system most popular with consumers, the Apple iOS.

6 | MIT 16.2

In that competition, observers say, the issue of potential security vulnerabilities in Android is of critical importance.

“They have to look at deploying the Android very carefully,” said Andy Hayter, anti-malware program manager at ICSA Labs, an independent division of Verizon Business that offers third-party validation of security products. “The fact that the Android is an open operating system is a sore point for many people.”

Android’s status as open source software is a benefit and a detriment, analysts say. The benefits of open source software are that the publication of the software code enables multiple parties to work to improve it.

The detriment, as Hayter points out, is that both “good guys” and “bad guys” have access to the open source code. The openness of the Android operating system, furthermore, makes it hard for users to verify the security certificates that developers use. Users also have to trust that the permissions used by developers are legitimate.

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“There’s too much opportunity for rogue applications and geolocation,” Hayter said, since the GPS capabilities on an Android smartphone can enable adversaries to locate a servicemember who has neglected to disable GPS on his or her phone.

“For use in a military environment where security is a prime consideration, the Android is not quite there. There are too many security issues,” Hayter said, while acknowledging that Android version 4.0 has improved security features over previous versions.

Third-Party Testing

Dan Cornell of the Denim Group questions how Android applications would be nominated for approved use in the Army.

He thinks it’s important for Air Force, Army and Navy officials to develop a nomination process with third party testing measuring trust and authentication for Android and other smartphone applications.“You don’t want military Android users to be able to get applications from any store,” Hayter said.

Bigham is also very concerned about the Army Location, Encryption Issues and other Department of Defense organizations potentially purchasing Android phones through The issue of geolocation is an important one, vendors that would have difficulty guaranteeing said John Dickson, chief executive officer with John Dickson that the Android phones they sold were made in a Denim Group, a software developer, security trusted manufacturing facility. assessment and developer training company. “It’s john@denimgroup.com There are two other major smartphone operhard to know when geolocation is turned on or ating systems—Research in Motion’s BlackBerry off,” he said, noting that Android devices use and Microsoft Windows Mobile. BlackBerry’s their GPS capabilities to geo-tag photos and that adoption in the Army has been dogged by the commalware on an Android smartphone could enable pany’s overall business problems and less-thanoutside parties to track the movements of users certain corporate future, but it is a very secure and individual military units. operating system, according to Cornell.

There are also device-level encryption and The FIPS 140-2 certification for the Blackauthentication weaknesses to Android smartBerry 6 cryptographic module qualifies it for use phones that adversaries could manipulate by by the government for sensitive but unclassified implanting malicious code into a host smartinformation. phone and seeking escalating privileges on a Dan Cornell “The Android and iPhones are well ahead in network, according to Dickson. This means that terms of user acceptance” in the Army, according the malicious code allows its architects to exploit dan@denimgroup.com to Raytheon’s Bigham. “The BlackBerry has some the vulnerability to gain access to gain increased fundamental challenges, and Microsoft (Windows Mobile) is runaccess to information that is normally protected from a user or ning way behind.” application. An application with more privileges than intended “Microsoft has demonstrated over and over again their inabilcan then perform unauthorized actions. ity to do this type of work,” Cornell said of adopting the Windows “With an application written in Java running on a virtual Mobile platform for use in the military. “I don’t know how commachine, it’s relatively easy for an outside party to do analysis” mercially successful or viable it’s going to be.” in a wireless environment to diagnose vulnerabilities, Dickson Cornell noted that Apple iOS is a platform controlled by the said. company, as opposed to the open source Android. “It doesn’t Android’s application security model is based on the default have the openness and malleability” of Android, he said of iOS. Linux discretionary access control. “At the end of the day, an With Apple’s strengths in the consumer market, furthermore, Android phone is a mobile Linux box,” Dickson said, adding Cornell doesn’t see the company putting forth much effort to that he sees significant opportunities for vendors to train Army develop business in DoD. users to develop secure mobile applications.

Despite this lack of effort in the military, there appear to The Army “needs secure systems with minimal security be a significant number of Apple users in uniform. A former risks,” said Mark Bigham, vice president of business developAir Force officer, Dickson said that he is hearing anecdotally ment for Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems. that the adoption of iPads and smartphones in the Air Force Bigham said he doesn’t necessarily foresee widespread adopand Army is being partially driven “top down,” with general tion of hardened encrypted smartphones in the Army, seeing a officers telling chief information officers that they need to strong preference for the commercially available smartphones make the ever-popular iPad work with military portals, for both for their price and look and feel. “As soon as you start example. going with a custom phone, the price goes up exponentially and “Figure it out,” is the common refrain that general officers creativity also goes down,” he said. reply with when told that the enterprise can’t accommodate the Bigham sees progress made by the Army and its vendors iPad, Dickson said. “You don’t want to be the CTO, J-6 or A-6 who with the smartphone hardware and applications. “There consays ‘no’” to such a request, he added. tinues to be a positive outlook for us for commercial handheld For example, there is a significant number of military devices in the Army. There are important lessons to be learned,” aviators who want to work with iPads rather than haul 50 to 80 he added. pounds of maps with them on missions, according to Dickson.

There is likely to be continued interest in a militarized verHe calls this demand for the iPad a “bottom up” adoption. sion of a commercial smartphone, moreover, he said. www.MIT-kmi.com

MIT 16.2 | 7

In early January, meanwhile, NSA released SE Android, the first security-enhanced version of the operating system that has improved access control features. It follows NSA’s work with Security Enhanced (SE) Linux, which began in 2000. SE Linux is a collection of Linux kernel security modules and other tools that provide a flexible mechanism for restricting what resources users or applications can access.

ICSA’s Hayter recommended that the Army follow a similar approach: Select a version of Android and add hardened security features to the software. He thinks the Army needs to look closely, moreover, at the issue of Android applications talking with each other.

The major smartphone carriers are AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon, and they are migrating towards offering multiple operating systems.

According to Melanie Ortel, a spokesperson for Verizon Wireless, her company has “built our government services around addressing the here-and-now needs and down-to-earth budgets of our government customers, while delivering the nation’s most reliable wireless network and best-in-class support.

“The company has the stability, infrastructure, culture and relationships” to best support the Army, she said.

PC Replacements

Ortel predicted that smartphones could replace larger, heavier and pricier PCs in the Army, enabling soldiers to securely access applications and data from the field.

Not so fast, said Dickson, who pointed out that while GSM is a well-known international cellular standard, he’s concerned about how thoroughly it’s been tested for security. “I’m more concerned internationally with government control of networks,” he added.

“The lost device threat is very real internationally,” he said, speaking of scenarios where devices lost by American servicemembers could end up in the wrong hands.

“Our goal is to help bring new efficiencies to daily agency operations and powerful new capabilities to the field,” Verizon’s Ortel said in a statement. “As the nation’s largest wireless company and owner and operator of the nation’s most reliable wired network, we’re able to leverage our relationships with device manufacturers and partners across all mobile operating systems—Android, iOS, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile—and with Mobile Device Management partners, like Good Technology, which secures devices to meet Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) certification by the Defense information Systems Agency. We support Good Technology’s Secure Android partner program that works with device makers to develop STIG-compliant services.”

8 | MIT 16.2

Breaching the Castle Walls?

While experts search for ways to improve the security of Android and other mobile operating systems, some in the security industry are voicing concerns about the approach being taken and the implications of deploying technologies based on the consumer market.

One such industry player is Tony Busseri, chief executive officer of Route1, a provider of security and identity management solutions based on FIPS 140-2 cryptographic modules.

Using the analogy of a medieval castle, BusTony Busseri seri says that Android-based and other mobile devices are essentially bringing data out into the tony.busseri@route1.com open, where it is vulnerable and protected only by software authentication, rather than protecting it within the safety of the castle walls—or in the modern case, the firewall.

“Why should we take what is most important to us and allow it to go outside of the castle walls?” Busseri asked. “The argument for doing so is that we need the data, whether it’s an Android operating system-based tablet or any other form of computing. But we believe strongly that data should always stay behind the firewall—where administrators know who has access to it, where it’s going and how it’s going to be used.

“Data has entitlements with it—some people can use it, and some can just read it. As soon as you allow it outside the fortress, you lose complete control over those elements. We’re big believers that whether it be military or civilian applications, the principle shouldn’t change,” he said.

“Android has become a lightning rod, but this issue is not specific to Android.

We have allowed ourselves to get comfortable with the idea that software applications are sufficient to authenticate an individual,” Busseri continued. “Some people talk about having multi-factor or two-factor authentication, but they really don’t. A true factor is having a separate and discrete enabling device and then having a password or PIN. Using a tablet is a fancy form of a single-factor authentication and isn’t better than having a hardware multi-factor authentication. There is a degradation that the tablet manufacturers will have us believe is acceptable.

“We’re not saying no to tablets, but there are better ways of providing a mobile computing experience, whether for in-theater military operations or for a secretary working from home,” he said.

“There’s a compromise being made to go along with this particular product’s approach,” Busseri warned. “It’s great to see the government being progressive and using the latest consumer tools, but I think there is a real issue about security degradation if that approach is followed.”

Like Verizon, Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems is “platform agnostic,” said Bigham. The company works with the Android, BlackBerry, iOS and Windows Mobile operating systems. What Bigham likes about the Android is its openness, which he says is in contrast to the iOS. “There are literally thousands of Android apps” according to Bigham, and he’s fascinated by some that have been developed in the field by Army users. One can learn to do an Army-approved pushup through an Android app or can watch a video file with the Army Bugle Call through Android. Another application allows users to order supplies.

A more sophisticated app is a “buddy tracking” app, which allows users to do blue force tracking. “Every soldier’s a sensor www.MIT-kmi.com

Mobile Business Unit at LGS Innovations. “They’re trying to who is reporting back” through the application, according to balance the use of commercial technology while also meeting Bigham.

DoD’s security needs,” he commented.

He is excited about the mixture of free and pay-for-use apps With the Android’s open applications developthat should spring from the “range of ideas” that ment, Army officials can decide to restrict users are germinating among the Army’s smartphone from using Android applications from public users, but he thinks there will continue to be markets, which would tend to carry malware, tension between the creativity of users and develaccording to Nicole Nemer, smart device softopers in the field and the Army’s security needs. ware architect at LGS Innovations. “Through “The Army needs to be comfortable with the apps management security, the government can set used,” he added. “With the [Android app] pilots up approved app stores for the Android. There are coming up, how do you control the devices withdefinitely ways around,” the malware application out stifling creativity?” problem.

The Army’s increased use of smartphones, in “There are problems to be worked out, but Bigham’s mind, creates an interesting procureClark DeHaven they’re not show stoppers,” DeHaven added. ment challenge that he hopes will be resolved LGS Innovations is trying to help DoD orgawithin a few months. “For procurements below nizations improve network security by authenticating smart$500,000, it comes more to do the acquisition than the [value of phone data and also “wipe data clean when you leave,” the the] acquisition itself,” he said. He wonders what would happen network, DeHaven said. O if the Army agrees to pay per use of an application and then the apps go viral, getting far broader usage than military procurement officials would have expected.

Despite the obvious squeeze that security officers and chief information officers are feeling as users in the field are anxious For more information, contact MIT Editor Harrison Donnelly to use smartphones, much progress has been made since late at harrisond@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives 2011 based on conferences that have taken place in recent for related stories at www.mit-kmi.com. months, according to Clark DeHaven, general manager for the

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MIT 16.2 | 9

Everything Over IP Champion Former Army CIO urges bold leadership to transform military systems into a global enterprise based on

By Harrison Donnelly MIT Editor

10 | MIT 16.2

EoIP.

Top defense officials need to step up and exercise strong leadership in acquisition, satellite policy and other areas in order to transform the military’s information systems into a global enterprise based on Everything over IP (EoIP), according to a former Army chief information officer/G6.

Lieutenant General Steven Boutelle (Ret.), now a Cisco executive, has been taking his longstanding EoIP message on the road of late with an active schedule of addresses at government and industry conferences.

He recently spent some time with MIT outlining his overall vision as well as providing an update on the Internet Routing in Space (IRIS) project he has Lt. Gen. Steven Boutelle (Ret.) headed.

Boutelle, who served as Army CIO from 2003 to 2007, currently serves as a vice president of business development for the company’s Global Government Solutions Group.

Speaking a few weeks before Department of Defense officials outlined plans for major funding reductions, Boutelle emphasized both the need for an enterprise strategy in a time of limited resources and the benefits to the military of closer cooperation with industry, in particular commercial satellite companies, in pursuing that approach.

“We need to have IP on a global constellation of satellites. It’s not hard, or a technical issue to move the DoD satellite programs into an enterprise commercial program.

A lot of people talk about it, but no one is doing anything about it,” he said.

“The industry wants to move forward. If government organizations stepped up today and invited major satellite companies to provide schedules and make proposals to launch hosted payloads, they would cooperate immediately. The organization is what is missing. The requirements are fragmented, with the Air Force having one set of requirements and the Navy another,” Boutelle observed.

www.MIT-kmi.com

What is needed is an organization with acquisition authority that can step up to define the requirements, put them together and lay out a program. “I believe Congress would be very open to that,” he said, pointing to the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency’s commercial imagery programs as a successful example.

“Industry is ready to do this, but there has to be leadership in the acquisition community,” he suggested. “They have to say, we’re going to do this, we’re going to drive down costs and create a global capability that is based on commercial EoIP. We’re going to minimize the legacy systems that we have.”

It’s a different way of doing business, Boutelle observed. “Those who built the legacy systems will not be your best friends.

They won’t be an advocate for that, because it changes their business model, which is very lucrative. It’s like what happened in the 1980s with the telephone system—you had one provider with one wired line to your house. After the phone systems were broken up and IP came alive, we moved to voice, data and video and the choices we have today.

“The commercial satellite industry needs the same transformation that happened to the telephone industry. It has to be driven by senior leadership in DoD, and executed by the services and the Defense Information Systems Agency. If that isn’t there, it will be done eventually, but it will cost DoD more and take longer,” Boutelle warned.

The end-to-end IP network has to extend to the ground as well, he said.

“Looking at the global IP architecture for satellites, agencies need to look at where it comes down to earth, and to modify and converge DoD’s ground environment in the same way as an enterprise IP network, just as the commercial world is doing today. We need to emulate that and look not only at the satellites, but also at how it is brought to earth. The goal is to create a clean, efficient and more cost-effective enterprise IP network.”

Routing in Space Launched in 2009, the IRIS program comprises a router and modem installed on Intelsat’s IS-14 satellite. By routing IP traffic in space, it enables IP users to directly communicate over satellite without having to double-hop data to and from www.MIT-kmi.com

an intermediate earth station, thus saving time and money.

Cisco last year turned over operation of IRIS service to TeleCommunication Systems (TCS), which is now offering the world’s first commercial service offering of a Cisco enabled IRIS managed network service.

In the interview, Boutelle focused on the results of the IRIS Joint Capabilities Technology Demonstration (JCTD) managed by Cisco for the DoD. The tests were extremely successful, Boutelle reported. “What people found is that once you move to an all-IP network, you dramatically drive down costs of voice, video, data and other communications.

You also increase the capability and user friendliness. The same devices that you can buy for your home can be used on IP on the ground or in space.”

While the system performed well in the area selected by U.S. Strategic Command, covering much of the Americas, Africa, Western Europe and the Mediterranean, the tests also reflected some of the technical and other challenges involved in implementing this approach.

“The downside is that anytime you build something for DoD, they look at a global footprint—something that can operate in the U.S., Asia and the Middle East,” Boutelle noted. “The footprint only covered a piece of that. So the users would say they liked it in Europe and the U.S., but they needed to train on what they were going to be using in Southwest Asia.

So they would have to go back to their legacy systems, because that was what they were going to take into theater. So it was a great demonstration of IRIS, but the utility of it to military personnel who were transitioning back and forth to the Gulf was minimal. They have to have something that they can train on in the U.S. and then use in Afghanistan or wherever they are.”

Now that TCS is operating IRIS, Cisco is working on the next generation system, which is envisioned as a router and modem combined with a channelizer. Currently being used in the military’s Wideband Global SATCOM program, channelizers enable the movement of bandwidth on demand between users and locations, thus achieving greater efficiencies.

“We are seeing increased use of channelizers. We’re putting together systems that have a router behind a channelizer,

which appears to be the optimal solution in the commercial sector,” Boutelle said.

“If you look at what you can do with a channelizer and router, there are some dramatic things that provide the same capabilities for a lot less cost than what DoD is spending today, or do a lot more for the same cost,” he continued. “As we start to see a draw down of the budget and forces, you have to look at how you can maintain what you have for less, or get more capability for the same cost. If we start to focus on Asia, for example, we can look at global constellations of capabilities.”

“Why would routing and channelizing help you?” Boutelle asked. “First of all, we found that when you put a router on a satellite, many things happen that we at Cisco, which isn’t officially a satellite company, didn’t understand. Now that we’ve been in this for a couple of years, we’ve learned a lot. We’ve learned that you can have double the capacity on the same satellite dish when you move it to IP, and that when you put a router on a satellite, you can decrease the size of the power amplifiers by half, so you can build a smaller satellite or add more capability to the satellite.”

“The fact that the system is software controlled from the ground offers tremendous versatility,” he added. “You can put multiple routers and modems on, and you can upload the entire router from the ground. Redundancy is provided by uploading multiple routers, and you can change or upgrade the software from the ground.

Today, when you launch a satellite, what you have on it is what will be on it in 15 years. But on Intelsat 14, which IRIS is riding on, we’ve uploaded that satellite, changed the software and added capabilities multiple times, from the ground,” Boutelle said.

Over the coming years, IRIS will support the deployment of a truly mobile network that allows users to connect and communicate how, when and where they need to, and that continuously adapts to changing needs without depending on a fixed terrestrial infrastructure. This technology will transform how government agencies and commercial organizations use IP-based network services to accomplish their missions, Boutelle said. O For more information, contact MIT Editor Harrison Donnelly at harrisond@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.mit-kmi.com.

MIT 16.2 | 11

Precision Fire Support Chain Originates with Handheld Applications Forward entry devices link soldiers,

commanders for accurate munitions delivery.

Perched on the edge of a rugged mountainside, a soldier peers at an intended target that is located three kilometers away. He retrieves his pocket-sized forward entry device (PFED), a handheld device used to transmit and receive fire support messages over standard military line-of-sight, high frequency and satellite communications.

The warfighter aims a laser range finder, connected to the PFED, toward the target and requests a call for fire. Within a few minutes, the target is destroyed. Behind the scenes, a conglomerate of sophisticated applications, interacting harmoniously, played a crucial role to bring about this precise strike.

Developed and supported by Project Manager Mission Command (PM MC), assigned to the Army’s Program Executive Office, Command, Control and Communications-Tactical (PEO C3T), fire support systems such as PFED allow soldiers at the tactical edge to collaborate with the commander to choose the correct weapon-target pairing for precise munitions delivery. PM MC’s Fire Support Command and Control (FSC2) office develops and maintains all fire support system capabilities.

Through the use of the integrated precision fires image viewer, the soldier has access to a digital image in which every pixel represents a measured coordinate, shown in a view that corresponds to the terrain the soldier is assessing. Once the soldier aims the laser at a target, the grid location is automatically plugged into a call for fire message.

During the Army’s recent Network Integration Evaluation 12.1 at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., Sergeant Steven Wilson of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division (2/1 AD) and 3,800 fellow soldiers evaluated dozens of networked systems, including fires capabilities, in a realistic operational environment.

12 | MIT 16.2

By Kathryn Bailey

Wilson has been in the forward observer role for more than seven years and has firsthand knowledge of how communications sent through a PFED are received more accurately than through a standard radio to initiate digitally aided close air support.

“I can enter the grid in my box as an inactive target,” he said. “If I want to engage, I make it active and send it out.”

Without the laser and PFED, the time to key in the coordinates not only slows down the process, but also leaves open a chance for human error, and at worst, fratricide. “If you’re using a PFED in conjunction with the laser, it speeds up what you’re doing,” Wilson said.

Chain of Communications As with any call for fire support, an accurate transmittal of technical and human communications up and down the chain must occur.

To proceed with the transmission, the forward observer accesses the image on the PFED to locate the target. He receives precise coordinates and an auto-load call-for-fire message that he sends up the fires chain to the company commander via the mounted lightweight forward entry device (LFED). The LFED is a ruggedized handheld computer that hosts the forward observer system software, which enables mounted forward observers and fire support officers to plan, control and execute fire support operations in coordination with the commander’s plan and scheme of maneuver at the platoon and company levels.

At this point, the commander and forward observers can collaborate to determine if a short-range strike is viable, and if so, the commander relays the call to the mortar fire

direction center (FDC). This team ensures the strikes aren’t violating restricted locations, such as places of worship or schools, or using unapproved ammunition. These crucial details are previously coordinated with the commander and higher fire support authorities.

For additional approvals or longer range fires, the company can send the message to the battalion fire support element (FSE), which houses the Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFATDS), an automated system that processes, analyzes and exchanges combat information to support planning, coordinating, controlling and executing fires and effects. All this information is coordinated with the maneuver commander in support of his plan and scheme of maneuver, priorities and guidance. Both LFED and the AFATDS EMT use Precision Strike Suite-Special Operations Force, which provides accurate coordinates from multiple satellite pictures taken at different angles.

“The AFATDS is basically the central hub for all of our fires within the companies,” said 2nd Lieutenant Richard Miller, who is in charge of the fires unit inside the battalion TOC for 1-35 Armor, a battalion within the 2/1 AD. “We review it and then send it down to the guns,” he said. “You can adjust shells that you’ll be using and adjust ammunition trajectory for high and low.”

The main message they change concerns volleys, or the number of shells fired, Miller explained. The forward observers send down the number of volleys they want and they adjust to what’s on hand.

The system has multiple built-in capabilities that ensure that it and the troops are ready to engage. A “red gumball” on the AFATDS screen tells the user not to proceed with the mission. The FSE checks to ensure www.MIT-kmi.com

the fire area is safe and the fire direction officer ensures the location of the intended target is correct.

Many factors can affect the trajectory, including computational and meteorological data, explained Sergeant John Howell of the 2/1 AD, who participated in NIE 12.1 by operating AFATDS mounted in a Caiman vehicle.

“If you’re outside in negative 30 degree weather or in 110 degree weather, the same charge may land in different places,” he said.

“Since we’re in the desert, one minute it could be calm and the next minute it could be outrageous, so we try to keep the weather data updated every four hours so that if something drastic does change we’ll still be shooting within safety parameters.”

“The communications string takes less than two minutes, depending on how fast we can clear the ground and air,” said Miller.

Some instances require the battalion commander to send the request for fires up to brigade. The brigade may determine that resources are not available and that an air strike may be a better choice. Sometimes the

www.MIT-kmi.com

amount of air traffic can be a determining factor.

“What happens is you have various restricted operating zones, and you will see you have one that restricts aircraft to operating above 10 kilometers above ground level,” said Wilson. “You can fire anything below that, such as mortars, without brigade intervention.”

Computing the Quadrant Once the tactical decision is made about which platform and unit will perform the fires, it’s time to make technical gunnery decisions. Technical fire control will compute the quadrant (elevation of the tube) and deflection (the direction the tube points) for the firing unit. AFATDS then computes and sends the information to the gun display unitreplacement (GDU-R).

The GDU-R receives and displays firing commands with data such as method of control, quadrant elevation, deflection, shell-fuze combination, powder charge and number of rounds to allow accurate cannon firing.

Back at the beginning of the fires chain, the forward observer remains positioned throughout the call for fire, as they are the final validation point in the process. The FDC announces “shot” when the rounds are fired and “splash” five seconds prior to impact.

The FDC then announces “rounds complete,” digitally or by voice, after the last round in a fire mission is shot.

Speed and accuracy are the reasons why FSC2 systems continue to receive high marks from the soldiers. When asked what it would be like if he couldn’t coordinate the call for fires digitally, Miller responded, “It would be a very difficult process. Just the transmissions alone would double the time, two to four minutes, and when you’re in contact you really don’t want to be waiting that long.” O Kathryn Bailey is a staff writer for the PEO C3T. For more information, contact MIT Editor Harrison Donnelly at harrisond@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.mit-kmi.com.

MIT 16.2 | 13

DATA BYTES Air Force Orders More Airborne Gateways The Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman a $47.2 million contract for the purchase and integration of two more Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) payloads on two existing Block 20 Global Hawk aircraft.

BACN is a high-altitude, airborne communications and information gateway system that maintains round-the-clock operational communications support. The persistent connectivity that BACN provides improves situational awareness and enables better coordination between forwardedge warfighters and commanders.

BACN bridges and extends voice communications and battlespace awareness information from numerous sources using a suite of computers and radio systems.

After the BACN payloads have been integrated on the Block 20 Global Hawks, the aircraft will be designated as USAF EQ-4B unmanned systems, providing long endurance and high persistence gateway capabilities.

Counter-Countermeasures Protect Tactical Comms Harris has introduced new capabilities in electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM) aimed at enhancing the information security and reliability of tactical communications for international armed forces. The company has developed two new high-performing waveforms—Quicklook 3 and Quicklook-Wide— that deliver significant advances in ECCM techniques. The first provides enhanced agility through ultra-fast frequency hopping rates, while the second delivers improved throughput of 64 Kbps of IP data while frequency hopping.

The waveforms will be available on the Harris Falcon III RF-7800V VHF series. The new Harris waveforms are part of an expanded line of ECCM for protecting tactical communications from jammers or unfavorable atmospheric conditions. Quicklook 3 offers a 10-fold increase in frequency hopping rates over traditional frequency hopping options and will be available in the Falcon III RF-7800V Combat Net Radio. Quicklook-Wide provides a five-fold increase in data throughput for frequency hopping.

SATCOM Waveform Offers Secure Voice and Data Using the Joint Tactical Radio System Handheld, Manpack, Small Form Fit twochannel networking radio (AN/PRC-155), General Dynamics C4 Systems recently completed the first demonstration of secure voice and data communications via the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite-communications waveform. The demonstration used an AN/ PRC-155 manpack radio running the MUOS waveform software to transmit encrypted voice through a MUOS-satellite simulator

to the MUOS ground station equipment that will soon be deployed in Sicily. MUOS is a military satellite communications system that will enable secure, mobile networked communications worldwide, in even the most austere environments. Development of the MUOS waveform remains on track for completion in the third quarter of 2012.

By year-end, the MUOS capability will be available on the AN/PRC-155 manpack radio, the first MUOS terminal that will be available to soldiers.

Missile Range Readies Major VoIP System Quintron Systems has completed the initial delivery of a major DICES Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system to the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), N.M. This DICES system will be the first major IP-based user system introduced onto the WSMR Test Support Network and will replace several disparate, aging voice systems. This upgrade will put WSMR at the leading edge for U.S. ranges in the migration to net-centric architectures. An incremental delivery process was planned from the initial contract award, with several major engineering enhancements also incorporated to support the overall WSMR requirements. Key in this 14 | MIT 16.2

regard are two new user stations that will provide direct drop-in replacements for existing stations to simplify the implementation process. Major software enhancements include distributed central servers with database replication to support independent North and South Range operations at WSMR while keeping a hot back-up server available for either. A planned DICES VoIP feature, the IP Trunk was activated for the WSMR project as well. This feature provides for direct sharing of audio circuits between the distributed central servers to facilitate common operations with least bandwidth utilization. www.MIT-kmi.com

Compiled by KMI Media Group staff

Consolidated Satellite Ground Systems Simplify Operations The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) has awarded Integral Systems, a subsidiary of Kratos Defense and Security Solutions, a $15.69 million extension to its Command and Control System-Consolidated (CCS-C) contract. Under the terms of the contract extension, Integral Systems will continue to provide the Air Force and SMC with its EPOCH Integrated Product Suite (IPS)

to simplify operations by consolidating satellite ground systems. The award extends CCS-C system sustainment, hardware maintenance, software maintenance and operations support through 2012. The CCS-C contract, first awarded in 2002, enables a unified C2 capability for the 50th Space Wing’s complete family of MILSATCOM satellite programs. CCS-C is currently configured to support

Air Force Enterprise Program Selects Rugged Notebook The Air Force has selected the Getac B300 fully rugged notebook computer as part of its Quantum Enterprise Buy (QEB) program. The Air Force Information Technology Commodity Council, which includes senior Air Force officials, led the QEB selection process, evaluating vendor solutions for quality, performance, price and compatibility with the Air Force’s strict

security requirements. The B300 rugged notebook computer was selected for the program for meeting those stringent requirements while delivering performance, reliability and consistent ability to withstand harsh work and environmental conditions. The Getac B300 rugged notebook is powered by a 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost Technology up to 3.2 GHz.

MILSATCOM satellites across four systems: the Defense Satellite Communications System, Milstar, Wideband Global SATCOM and AEHF system. CCS-C consists of high-specification, commercially available computer servers and workstations running commercially available telemetry, tracking and command software packages on a local area network-based client/server architecture.

Platform-as-a-Service Supports Army Cloud Migration Seeking to aid the Army’s pursuit of data center consolidation, a new contract provides the Architecture Services Division of the Software Engineering Center (SEC), part of the Army’s Communications-Electronics Command, with a license for OutSystems’ Agile Platform, supporting services to deliver the first migration project and training for initial rollout to Army personnel. A primary component of the federal government’s data center consolidation initiative is the creation of a private cloud infrastructure. Motivated by this initiative, SEC needed a high-performance application development and delivery environment that could function with platform-as-aservice (PaaS) capabilities. OutSystems’ Agile Platform provides SEC with a rapid application development PaaS solution that works out-ofthe-box and is easily leveraged in the Army’s new private cloud environment. Beyond being able to quickly develop new applications in the cloud, the Agile Platform provides the Army’s IT personnel with the ability to quickly, safely and efficiently migrate legacy systems to the new cloud architecture.

Waveform Links U.S., U.K. Forces on the Battlefield ITT Exelis has delivered an updated Joint Tactical Radio System ( JTRS) Bowman Waveform ( JBW) to the JTRS Information Repository as part of a $4.2 million delivery order that also included Soldier Radio-Multifunctional (SR-M) software-defined radios. The JBW allows U.S. forces to communicate directly and securely with U.K. allies using the Bowman

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VHF waveform on the battlefield. JBW functionality enables users from both countries to work as a cohesive team during combat operations, sharing situational awareness information more efficiently and effectively, rather than using separate channels to pass information back and forth.

Functional qualification of the waveform in the JTRS Information Repository has

been completed. The SR-M radios delivered to the JTRS Program Executive Office in this sale will be transferred to the U.K. government for upcoming assessment and trials for the JBW. JBW development and production of SR-M radios were completed at Exelis Electronic Systems facilities in Fort Wayne, Ind., Clifton, N.J., and Tempe, Ariz.

MIT 16.2 | 15

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Efficiency Leader

Q& A

Managing Procurement for Business, War Fighting and the Enterprise Douglas K. Wiltsie Program Executive Officer Enterprise Information Systems U.S. Army Douglas K. Wiltsie assumed command of the Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS) on October 5, 2011.

His responsibilities include program management of more than 60 Department of Defense and Army acquisition programs across the business, war fighting and enterprise information environment mission areas. These systems support Army and DoD-wide communications, logistics, medical, finance, personnel, biometrics, training and procurement operations. He also has responsibility for five major enterprise resource planning efforts representing a projected Army investment of $8 billion over their life cycles. The PEO EIS organization consists of approximately 2,650 military, civilian and contractor staff around the world, and executes approximately $4 billion per year.

Prior to his assignment as PEO EIS, Wiltsie was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in June 2008 and served as the deputy program executive officer for intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors until October 2011. In this position, he was responsible for the development, acquisition, fielding and life cycle support of the Army’s portfolio of intelligence, electronic warfare and target acquisition programs.

Previously, Wiltsie served as the assistant deputy for acquisition and systems management in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology from 2004 to 2008.

He also has held a wide range of acquisition and technology positions in ISR and other fields.

Wiltsie holds an M.S. in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech.

Wiltsie was interviewed by MIT Editor Harrison Donnelly.

Q: How would you describe your overall approach to your new position in light of expected budget restrictions?

A: First, PEO EIS has been the leading organization providing the Army with enterprise-level capability for a long time. The team continues to lead Army technology modernization by developing and delivering integrated, net-centric capabilities to meet the needs of the nation, with recognition of and planning for a new and changing environment.

The team has done a remarkable job, so my first objective is to not significantly change the way we execute our business. With an anticipated reduction in funding, we need to ensure that we execute the mission that Army has entrusted us to do in the most efficient way. Using a system-of-systems portfolio approach forces us to look at the various alternatives available to execute an integrated solution for the required capability. That may mean modifying an existing program instead of starting a new system or negotiating a lower requirement.

The Army will achieve significant efficiencies from the programs under development and/or in production within EIS. The business www.MIT-kmi.com

systems that we develop and field help the Army to better manage installations, pay systems, equipment accountability, communications and computer infrastructure. The reality, however, is that the department will face significant reductions in funding. While the specifics of the funding reductions will be made public when the budget request is presented to Congress, we are working to ensure that the innovative capabilities promised to our warfighters are delivered on time and within budget, regardless of changes in the fiscal environment.

Other initiatives we are implementing as we go forward are Better Buying Power, aligning our priorities with the priorities that are emerging from the capability portfolio reviews, and challenging requirements to get 80 percent capability in the field sooner through incremental deliveries.

One of PEO EIS’ major strengths is in leveraging government and industry partnerships to successfully shape the Army’s technology evolution, ensuring readiness today and preparedness for tomorrow.

PEO EIS leads the Army in transforming technology efficiently and effectively, managing close to 35 percent of the Army’s IT budget. We continue to deliver innovative, leading-edge capabilities with a commitment to responsible management of taxpayer dollars.

Q: What is your strategy for achieving greater efficiency and effectiveness in PEO EIS operations?

MIT 16.2 | 17

A: EIS embraced the Army Affordability initiatives to seek program efficiencies through the Better Buying Power mandate, and many of our programs are producing strong results.

The fiscal year 2011 consolidated buys from the Product Director, Computer Hardware Enterprise Software and Solutions [PD CHESS] have yielded $46.1 million in cost avoidance to Army and DoD customers. CHESS has also leveraged enterprise license agreements to reduce direct life cycle license costs by $30 million over five years, avoiding $10 million in administrative costs and maintenance renewals. Another example is the Project Manager, Army Enterprise Systems Integration Program [AESIP], which negotiated a multi-year SAP user license for ERPs, reaping a $30 million savings.

PEO EIS will continue to focus on integrated services and on large-scale applications that inherently save money, while also providing greater capability to the warfighter—abiding by the mandate to “do more without more.” As DoD evolves the guidance for the shouldcost initiative, customers can expect greater efficiencies and savings from EIS programs.

Q: How will you measure success in 2012, and at what numbers will you be looking most closely?

A: Simply put, PEO EIS measures success by the capabilities we’ve delivered to our DoD customers. We can track this success by frequently assessing our programs’ cost, schedule and performance.

Ensuring that the development and fielding of our programs does not run over budget, yet provides the greatest return on investment possible, is what drives our success, as does a timely obligation of funds.

Setting and maintaining our development and fielding schedule is our promise to our customer—that we will deliver the capability they need when they need it, which we achieve by meeting milestone decision schedules.

We modify and field a wide range of commercial off-the-shelf and government off-the-shelf products and services that support the soldier. Our goal is to get the best solution into their hands as quickly as possible. That measure of success is most critical.

Q: Among PEO EIS programs, what are some of the recent successes that you would like to highlight?

A: The enterprise resource planning systems [ERPs] are critical components in ensuring that the Army meets the goal of financial auditability by September 2017. The systems provide a seamless, enterprisewide environment for logistics, financial and manpower visibility spanning the factory to the foxhole.

Several significant accomplishments were realized in 2011 by the Global Combat Support System-Army [GCSS-Army] and its technical component, AESIP. In August 2011, the milestone decision authority granted GCSS-Army a Milestone C approval to enter the production and deployment phase of the acquisition life cycle. The Milestone C decision was largely a result of the successful operational assessment of GCSS-Army at the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Irwin, Calif., following the “go live” in July 2010.

In June 2011, General Fund Enterprise Business System [GFEBS] was granted a full deployment decision. This decision affirmed the deployment readiness of the GFEBS solution and authorized system implementation Armywide. GFEBS is a web-based ERP system that brings the majority of Army financial and real property management processes into a single system. GFEBS provides accurate, reliable 18 | MIT 16.2

and real-time financial and real property data, which enables cost management activities that lead toward full auditability of the Army’s financial statements. It will provide the core financial systems capability to support an unqualified audit opinion for the Army’s General Fund in compliance with the Chief Financial Officers Act and other statutory requirements. GFEBS records financial transactions with supporting documentation, tracks transactions to the detailed level and will produce an auditable trial balance. The Army Audit Agency’s most recent evaluation found that GFEBS complies with 1,054 of 1,113 requirements, or 94.7 percent, from the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act. The Integrated Pay and Personnel System was just awarded, establishing the development of a single ERP to improve our ability to manage Army personnel across the active, reserve and National Guard components.

In fiscal year 2011, the Program Manager, DoD Biometrics program collected, processed, stored, shared and matched approximately 1.8 million biometric records supporting military and homeland security missions. Deployed forces used biometrics to distinguish between adversaries and innocents, and were provided the necessary information to decide and act based on scientific processing.

These activities positively matched 657,397 identities, including more than 6,600 individuals identified on U.S. and coalition partner watch lists, while maintaining operational availability of greater than 98 percent. DoD Biometrics also completed the acquisition of a new handheld device, which will be deployed to soldiers and Marines in theater, that utilizes significantly faster processing capabilities on higher quality fingerprint data for analysis and matching.

The Program Manager, Medical Communications for Combat Casualty Care [PM MC4] allowed deployable medical forces to gain quick, accurate access to patient histories and forward casualty resuscitation information, and to deliver health care services remotely through MC4 tele-health capabilities. Prior to MC4, documentation of soldiers’ deployed health care was inadequate. When documented, medical records were often lost or indecipherable, soldiers endured repeated tests, continuity of care suffered, and commanders lacked data needed to make fully informed medical decisions. MC4 has addressed those deficiencies.

Supporting a Joint Staff and Central Command urgent need in early 2011, MC4 completed a major software upgrade, fielding Electronic Medical Record version 2.1.2.1 to all operational Army medical forces. The upgrade provided enhanced traumatic brain injury reporting and documentation capabilities three weeks ahead of schedule and $500,000 under budget, making it easier for deployed facilities to digitally manage their medical supplies and better track in-transit patients and equipment.

Additionally, in mid-2011, MC4 fielded commercial technology, combined with existing military systems, to digitally connect remote soldiers with mental health specialists in support of the Army’s suicide prevention campaign. By electronically connecting at-risk soldiers with mental health providers, MC4 directly supported the Army vice chief of staff-led suicide prevention campaign, facilitating faster recognition and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms and other mental health issues. This “tele-health” capability significantly intensified Army mental health providers’ ability to conduct private virtual medical consultations with at-risk soldiers, often deployed to remote combat/forward operating bases. It was fielded within six weeks of requirement identification for less than $50,000. MC4 remains the www.MIT-kmi.com

most widely used, comprehensive information management medical system on the battlefield today.

Our communications PMs continue to provide outstanding capability for both strategic communications as well as upgrading the IT infrastructure on our posts, camps and stations, both in the U.S. as well as abroad, to support one of the Army’s highest priorities—the network.

The scope and level of effort in this regard is exorbitant, and requires the right mix of effective technology and efficient processes.

I could speak all day about the outstanding accomplishments each of our PEO EIS programs have achieved, but these are probably the most significant and far-reaching accomplishments I will address here.

approach can provide an analytical understanding of where the “knee on the curve” for a certain requirement[s] exists based on the holistic capability, thereby eliminating the need to design a system to a more risky requirement. PEO EIS is committed to supporting and sustaining key Army IT programs through synchronization of requirements and resources, aligning programs throughout the fielding process and during operations.

Q: On what issues or initiatives are you spending the most of your time, and where do you see the most challenging areas facing your organization?

A: In the dynamic, evolving environment of today’s Army, our traditional process is to wait until the Army leadership asks for input to various programming drills. I believe that it is our responsibility to develop a better way to provide the Army leadership with accurate and quantifiable alternatives that capture all of the second order affects.

Again, by managing at the system-of-systems level, we should be able to look ahead and predict trends and future requirements, positioning our manpower and putting the tools in place to execute future missions.

The PEO EIS’ key focus is on acquisition speed and honing our core competencies. We have a responsibility to execute the Army’s development and production programs as quickly as possible. By working together with the contracting commands and industry, I believe we can build teams that enable us to reduce the overall source selection timeframe. It’s a proactive approach to rapidly changing requirements, and it draws on our partnerships, which strengthens our capabilities.

A: Our top challenge is to prepare for the future. In the next year, we will review the service’s portfolio of IT capabilities with sensitivity to shrinking budgets. How and when money is obligated for execution of programs will drive rapid and efficient deployment of products and services.

We also need to search out and eliminate program redundancies.

Early partnership with industry and other components of DoD will help us to plan for our future requirements from a macro-level perspective—getting the right information to the decision-makers at the right time is critical to our success.

Finally, Secretary Panetta issued an IT reform memorandum in September 2011, charging the generating force with transformation and modernization in order to deliver optimized and cost-effective IT capabilities to our globally deployed force. The vision is for one global network that is “integrated, secure, accessible, interoperable and affordable” for all soldiers, civilians and mission partners. PEO EIS will have a critical role in modernization of the Army’s network for delivery by the end of fiscal year 2015. Transitioning IT capabilities such as email, collaboration and storage are key initiatives within the Army, and EIS is leading that execution.

Our focus on the upgrade of IT infrastructure for posts, camps and stations is critical to ensuring that soldiers have the ability to execute their mission whether deployed or back in home station. This effort includes the highly visible Korean installation transformation and Yongsan relocation; EIS is responsible for the IT infrastructure.

Finally, the continued success of our development programs, to include the ERPs and the biometrics program of records, is critical to our Army’s future success.

Q: What is your approach to system-of-systems portfolio level management, and why do you think it is important?

A: The system-of-systems approach allows the Army leadership to make decisions on programs based on the holistic capability provided by the combination of programs that support it. Portfolio solutions need to be both data and system driven, and I’m convinced that if we can establish a standardized process to evaluate requirements at a higher, systemslevel perspective, we will be able to implement requirements in a more cost-effective and efficient way. As I said before, this approach allows the Army leadership to determine whether a desired additional capability can be best implemented by modifying an existing program or series of programs instead of establishing a new program potentially reducing development time and cost. In addition, the system-of-systems www.MIT-kmi.com

Q: You have emphasized the need to move from a “reactionary” to a proactive stance in dealing with issues. What does that mean in practice?

Q: What is your perspective on efforts to have more “insourcing” of operations by government employees rather than contractors?

A: I believe there is a clear balance that needs to be established between insourcing and competing operations. We will approach it on a case by case basis. I do believe that with our exit from Iraq and the planned redeployment from Afghanistan, a lot of the operational functions currently performed by contractors will be reduced.

With regard to the ERPs, we had a successful initiative in 2011 where our AESIP program completed transition of lead system integrator [LSI] responsibilities for its hub services, business intelligence/ business warehouse and master data development and sustainment to the government organization, Army Materiel Command, Research and Development Center, Army Shared Services Center [ASSC]. This transition of services provides government LSI oversight and paves the way for transition of sustainment services from the other ERP systems to the ASSC. As this effort proves successful, we may look at other areas where this process may be benchmarked for additional government lead opportunities.

Q: What is your organization doing to support the data center consolidation initiative?

A: PEO EIS is and has been working closely with the Army chief information officer/G6 in support of the Army Data Center Consolidation Plan [ADCCP] to relocate systems out of data centers scheduled for closure and into the officially designated data centers that will remain.

PEO-EIS has worked very closely with the G6 and the Defense Information Systems Agency [DISA] to transition ALTESS at Radford into an MIT 16.2 | 19

PEO EIS Key 2012 Contracts PM /PD

Project

Scope

RFP Release Date

Vehicle

PD AKO

Management Services

Task order management, system operations, development engineering and transition/migration planning

2Q12

Full & Open

PM DCATS

Communications & Trans System (CTS)

Comprehensive system & services for DCATS

2Q12

Multi-award IDIQ

PM DCATS

Land Mobile Radio Systems (LMRS)

Engineer, furnish, install & test LMR systems

2Q12

Full & Open

PM DCATS

CSS SATCOM Network Services

Network services for bandwidth & operations support

2Q12

DSTS-G

PM DCATS

CSS SATCOM Condition Based Replacement

Procure hardware for CBRs and new modems

3Q13

COMSATCOM FCSA

PM DCATS

J-AIT Passive RFI II (pRFID II)

IDIQ contract for pRFID products & services

2Q12

Full & Open

PD FMS

FMS Development & Maintenance

Base year plus 2 option year contract

Feb 2012

CHESS ITES2S

PM P2E

Afghanistan – Bagram AFB / 6 Projects

Outside plant & transmission systems

2Q12

BPA RICC – ACC

PM P2E

Afghanistan – Kabul / 5 Projects

Outside / inside plant; data

2Q12

BPA RICC – ESS IDIQ

PM P2E

Afghanistan – Kandahar Air Field / 10 Projects

Outside / inside plant; data

2Q12

BPA RICC – ESS IDIQ

PM P2E

Afghanistan / 8 Projects

Outside / inside plant

2Q12

BPA RICC – NETCENTS

PM P2E

Kuwait – Camp Arifjan / 4 Projects

Outside / inside plant; data; voice; HVAC; Power

2Q12

BPA RICC – IMOD RICC

PM P2E

Kuwait – Camp Buehring / 2 Projects

Outside / inside plant; HVAC; Power

1Q12

BPA RICC

PD CHESS

Information Tech Enterprise Sol – Hardware

Commercial IT equipment and related services

3QFY12

Full & Open

PEO EIS

Program Management Supt Services 3

Contract vehicles providing performance based services

2Q12

Full & Open

PM GFEBS

Procure to Pay (P2P)

Design, develop and field SAP supplier relationship management

TBD

Full & Open

PM GFEBS

GFEBS Sensitive Activities

Scope, design, develop & field GFEBS app in a secure network

Feb 2012

Full & Open

PM GFEBS

GFEBS Time and Attendance

Integrating GFEBS solution into Army finance system

TBD

Full & Open

PD HR Solutions

HR Task Orders / Multiple Task Orders

Management & admin support, personnel service, studies & recruitment

TBD

HR Sol IDIQ Contracts

PD IMS-A

ISM/RFMSS Support Systems

Provide post deployment software support

3Q12

TBD

PD FMS

FMS Development & Maintenance

Operate, maintain, and develop FMS IT capabilities

2Q12

ITES-2S

Army-operated DISA data center. This prevents Army programs currently at ALTESS from having to migrate again.

Additionally, PEO EIS is designated as the lead in the development of the Data Center/Cloud Computing Environment [DC CE] of the Army’s Common Operating Environment [COE] for the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology [ASA (ALT)].

The DC CE will be an integral component of the ADCCP and the migration to the Army data centers of the future. We are in close collaboration with CIO/G6 and ASA [ALT] to incorporate COE compliance into all PEO EIS programs and to facilitate the migration of all applications to the COE data center computing environment. ALTESS is developing this capability to allow us to better understand the costs programs can expect to virtualize their systems while executing the data tag structure standards that will be established.

Q: What is your office’s role in countering the cyber-threat?

A: One of the major thrusts for the department is the establishment of CYBERCOM as the lead against this growing threat. Our challenge is to continue acquiring, fielding and sustaining IT technologies that meet current and future Army needs in an uncertain security environment.

PEO EIS has the responsibility to work with ARCYBER to ensure that the IT infrastructure and programs we provide meet all of the latest requirements. We continue to work with ARCYBER and other leading DoD and Army agencies to ensure all enterprise cyber initiatives are incorporated into all of our systems to meet all Information Assurance compliance and reporting requirements. Ensuring system compliance with current DoD and Army policy remains a top priority for PEO EIS. 20 | MIT 16.2

In order to combat the ever-growing threat to our cyberspace, we are also working with ASA [ALT] to implement program protection education and awareness for all PMs in order to identify and protect critical program information. This will support our efforts to utilize supply chain risk management and its techniques to protect Army data and systems. Developing program protection plans and learning how the Army manages damage assessment will also be a key focus in 2012.

Q: What message would you most like to communicate to industry about how it will work with your organization in 2012?

A: In the latest Army posture statement, Secretary Panetta communicated the goal of maintaining OPTEMPO within an ever-changing and challenging environment of conflict. He emphasized the importance of the Army’s efforts to transform the business systems of our generating force through the development of a fully integrated management system, adopting an enterprise approach and reforming the requirements and resource processes that synchronize materiel distribution, training and staffing.

Clearly, funding will be reduced in the future, which equates to potential reduced opportunities. I want to be extremely transparent with industry—my goal is to continue to partner with industry to deliver on time and on budget for any and every opportunity that presents itself. We are tasked with managing change in user requirements and developing strategies for handling technology transition. Our industry partners are critical components in achieving these goals, and I intend to maximize the results of that collaboration for the benefit of the soldier and the Army as a whole. O www.MIT-kmi.com

Special Report: COMSATCOM

Saving on

SATCOM Government and industry seek new ways to achieve greater efficiency in procurement of commercial satellite bandwidth.

By Peter Buxbaum MIT Correspondent

As the U.S. military looks ahead to a future marked by both tight budget limits and a seemingly unstoppable demand for satellite communications bandwidth, industry experts say there is more the government can do to make the process of acquiring bandwidth and services by defense, intelligence and other government agencies more efficient and economical. These include: making multi-year procurement commitments, limiting the numbers of eligible vendors, incorporating the acquisition of commercial bandwidth more formally into policies and programs and otherwise thinking and acting more creatively.

The emphasis on cost effectiveness in the procurement of commercial SATCOM bandwidth and services comes as the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and General Services Administration (GSA) implement their new strategy for the acquisition of satellite bandwidth and services.

The Future Comsatcom Services Acquisition (FCSA) program, which represents a consolidation of four legacy Department of Defense and GSA contracts for the provision of satellite communications, is aimed at leveraging economies of scale, streamlining www.MIT-kmi.com

IDIQ contracts. The point of the consolidathe procurement process, promoting competion was to reduce the number of SATCOM tition among vendors and, ultimately, obtaincontracts that needed to be managed. ing lower prices for bandwidth.

The first two parts of FCSA, covering FCSA hit a bump in the road early in its transponded capacity (the dedicated satelroll-out, as the initial bandwidth prices availlite bandwidth on commercially available able from vendors unexpectedly rose, spurfrequency bands) and subscripring concern and frustration tion services (pre-engineered, among some government off-the-shelf fixed and mobile customers. Most observers satellite service solutions) now agree that the price hikes have already been awarded. were a hiccup, the result of CS2, the third leg of FCSA, several years of frozen prices will emphasize custom-taiand of the supply and demand lored products and services. situation in the Afghanistan “I noticed early on, when theater. the first task orders were Meanwhile, FCSA implebeing awarded for transponmentation proceeds apace. ded capacity, that there was The first two of three conDavid Myers some concerns from DISA tracts under FCSA have been dmyers07@harris.com about prices going up,” said awarded and the consenDavid Myers, president of government solusus is that they are working smoothly. The tions at Harris CapRock. third contract, Custom SATCOM Solutions Harris CapRock, as a provider of SATCOM (CS2), has been delayed but is expected to be solutions, is the largest commercial buyer awarded soon. and consumer of transponded bandwidth.

FCSA consolidated the Defense Satellite The price increases affected the companies’ Transmission Services-Global (DSTS-G), SATproposals under the subscription services COM II, Inmarsat and Schedule 70, the GSA’s aspect of FCSA. catchall IT contract vehicle, into mammoth MIT 16.2 | 21

Special Report: COMSATCOM was awarded last October, and has recently begun to provide services under the contract on two task orders.

“A small operator like XTAR can’t possibly cover all the opportunities and requirements coming out of various users within the U.S. government,” Ruszkowski added. “We rely on integrators to extend our reach into the community of users while we pursue opportunities directly with users as well. That has always been our strategy.”

The subscription services aspect of FCSA Supply and Demand also has the potential to provide flexibility and enhanced service to the govThe price increases were ernment, Myers said. “These also fueled by supply and are user-defined services,” demand, according to Skot he said. “The vendor proButler, director of strategic vides the customers with the initiatives at Intelsat General, equipment and bandwidth, a SATCOM solutions prothe customer pays a fixed fee, vider. “There is a great need and they can use it for whatfor capacity in the Afghanistan ever they want. They can buy theater,” he explained, “but one site or they can buy a there is not a lot of inventory network.” and bandwidth is very conSkot Butler Harris CapRock offers a strained.”

Price increases aside, skot.butler@intelsatgeneral.com solution called CommandAccess, a pre-packaged, Myers praised DISA for its COTS subscription service management of the transition that matches the requirefrom the legacy contracts to ments of the contract, accordFCSA. “In terms of how it was ing to Myers. “Only a small awarded, I tip my hat to DISA,” portion of our business is in he said. “It processed many rereselling bandwidth,” he said. competes pretty quickly. To “We have seen growth in our my knowledge, none of the subscription services with the end customers missed a beat introduction of our Commanor went without service.” dAccess product.”

“FCSA is an improved way Andrew Ruszkowski The CS2 contract will to buy transponded capacaruszkowski@xstar.com enable government agencies ity,” said Ric VanderMeulen, to procure custom network solutions. The government broadband general manager award of the CS2 contract represents compleat ViaSat. “This way, the government can tion of the “bridge phase” between the legacy buy directly from the source. Under DSTScontract vehicles and the new FCSA regime, G, the government could buy only from Ruszkowski observed. “XTAR is optimistic three companies. Anyone with satellite tranthat CS2 will work well and bring more effisponder capacity to offer had to go through ciency to the government and industry.” them.”

“What we think would be a typical task FCSA represents more options for the order under CS2,” said Myers, “is where a cusgovernment and its vendors alike, accordtomer wants a network solution for a mission ing to Andrew Ruszkowski, vice president type, with teleports, terrestrial interconnects, for global sales and marketing for XTAR, ground equipment and field services to install a provider of X-band satellite capacity. “In and maintain the system. It will short-circuit our experience, FCSA is an improvement the process for the armed services because over DSTS-G, both from the vendor and cusinstead of the Army and Navy separately protomer perspectives,” he said. “It has opened curing these types of systems, with all that up options for both.” entails, it will just become a task order under XTAR is a prime contractor under the CS2.” transponded services portion of FCSA, which “We tried to hold prices as steady as we could,” Myers added. “But operators under DSTS-G had their prices locked in for five years so they took price increases when the first FCSA vehicle was awarded. The turmoil was tamped down when they explained to the market that it had benefited from longterm pricing under DSTS-G, and that with the new contract everything got reset to market rates.”

22 | MIT 16.2

The GSA-DISA approach to FCSA and CS2 is a smart move for a couple of other reasons, Myers added. “We have seen more customers in the last couple of years looking for complete solutions. They don’t want to do integration of piece parts. They want one-stop shopping.”

The IDIQ feature of CS2, with its second level of competition at the task order level, will keep a lid on costs, according to Myers, at a time when government spending is under the knife.

CS2 Awards Awards on the CS2 contract were supposed to have been made last fall but have been held up for unspecified reasons. Industry observers speculate that DISA and GSA simply took longer than expected to nail down all aspects of the program and its procedures, in hopes of preventing frustrated bidders from successfully filing protests against the eventual award.

“Vendors are looking forward to the point where there is clarity on CS2,” said Ruszkowski. “We anticipate five to seven CS2 awardees and we intend to work closely with them. Integrators need to know where to make their investments. The party that I think is suffering the most is the end-user. Certainly it is to their benefit to have the program up and running efficiently and quickly.”

XTAR expects to see some subcontracting work out of CS2. “We see both parts of CS2, full and open as well as small business set-asides, fitting well into our sales strategy,” said Ruszkowski. “XTAR looks forward to moving beyond the current transition period to collaborate with the prime contractors of CS2 to bring the greatest possible value to government users.”

XTAR supports the FCSA CS2 model of providing end-to-end services, Ruszkowski noted.

“XTAR is an integral vendor to its integrator partners, providing efficient, cost-effective and reliable solutions to help meet each unique mission requirement. XTAR serves government users with space segment resources and allows integrators to bring all of the critical elements and technical expertise together as one complete, end-to-end capability. For CS2, XTAR will actively enable the possible primes to deliver these key services to the government end-users.”

Intelsat General is also eagerly awaiting the outcome of the CS2 bidding process. “We think it is viable for the government to have www.MIT-kmi.com

Special Report: COMSATCOM a time, it is rare for commercial operators to a mix of bidders from among integrators and put up payloads that are interoperable with operators,” said Butler. “Intelsat is not just 55 the current constellation. If the government satellites. It is also a terrestrial network and doesn’t want or need the capacity after one added value aspects that can satisfy customyear, the commercial vendor has no market ers’ end-to-end requirements.” for that capacity.”

Myers hopes that DISA and GSA will learn Butler differs with the government from the legacy contracts and not award CS2 approach of buying bandwidth in bulk as to too many vendors. The agencies reportedly if it were a commodity. “Their intention is have received around 60 proposals, and have to reduce cost on a per megahertz basis by downselected potential awardees from among buying in bulk,” he said. “But unfortunately, half that number. bandwidth is not usually a commodity. There Harris CapRock is an incumbent prime are a lot of differences among satellites in covcontractor on all four legacy contacts that erage and power. Making huge bulk purchases were rolled into FCSA. narrows down the options.”

“My hope is that they keep the number The government’s program requirements to a select few, half a dozen to a dozen qualiare sometimes overly rigid, Butler continued. fied awardees,” said Myers. “If they award too “The government often wants many slots, it becomes tough satellite traffic from Afghanito manage and end customers stan to land in Germany,” he are reluctant to use the vehiexplained. “Industry would cle because they get too many like to land traffic in other proposals for each requisition. locations like Italy or at perThere are also too many levels manent Middle East bases. It is of contention, a higher poteneasier said than done because tial for vendor protests and it requires additional staffing, the end result is that services but I think it would open up take longer to get up.” additional options.”

That was the case with the Jim Mitchell Along the same vein, SATCOM II and Schedule 70 Myers urges the government contracts, Myers reported. james.f.mitchell2@boeing.com to define its requirements “The government should without defining the solution. “Let industry consider multi-year procurements,” said Jim come up with different approaches,” he said.

Mitchell, vice president of Boeing Satellite “In the past, customers and DISA sometimes Systems International. “That is how it is done predefined the solution. They got what they on the commercial side. Making a multi-year asked for but that didn’t always meet mission commitment to capacity encourages industry requirements. If, instead, the government to build capacity. The government is sacrificmore generally articulated its need for capacing savings that could be secured if it went to ity, uptime, availability and areas of coverage, a multi-year approach.” it will be pleasantly surprised at the innovative Boeing currently has a proposal before thinking it will get from industry.”

GSA to join the subscriber services FCSA conMyers also called on federal officials to tract. “We are trying to expand our services think innovatively as well by accepting the business,” said Mitchell. concept of hosted payloads. The term ‘hosted “Buying on terms longer than one year payloads’ can refer to a payload being placed at a time can guarantee the government has aboard a commercial satellite being orbited the capacity it will need and better pricing,” for other purposes, as well as to a time-sharing said Myers. “Committing to three to five years type of arrangement in which the customer at a time doesn’t fit the way they do things has access to a defined portion of the satellite’s today. But the government needs to learn that capacity. the old mechanisms don’t fit the supply and “The market is tight and there is little free demand in the space segment anymore.” capacity,” said Myers. “If a customer needs a big block of capacity, it is often hard to find.

Commodity Buying?

The government needs to look at the publicprivate partnership model like the Skynet fleet A single-year procurement approach also in the United Kingdom. They have access to sacrifices interoperability, according to Mitchthe satellite but don’t have to fund the whole ell. “With a commitment of only one year at www.MIT-kmi.com

thing, and the commercial operator can sell excess capacity. That model has worked well in the U.K. This is a concept that is now emerging in the commercial space segment as well.”

The government could also do a better job articulating its projected future capacity needs to industry, according to Butler. “Commercial operators can only supply what they are aware of. One thing DoD has talked about in the past is developing a global baseline for capacity. If DoD could sign up for longer terms, it could be sure that the capacity would be available on a global basis and industry would also be better prepared to handle surge demands for capacity.”

At a higher level, Ruszkowski believes that DoD needs to act on its already-articulated policy of integrating commercial satellite providers within the overall space capacity strategy. “The government needs to start thinking about commercial space resources as an integral part of their solution set,” he said.

“Despite a clear statement to that effect in the president’s space strategy, there appears to be a shift toward the use of government-owned assets at the expense of the commercial.”

Government officials should keep two things in mind, Ruszkowski suggested. “They should think about requirements and capabilities rather than systems. And they also need to think about commercial capacity as fully integrated into the capabilities that they deploy. If they do that, they will help establish a healthy space industry that will be able to provide capacity for the long term on a global basis. When a conflict breaks out or a need arises, they won’t have to go scrambling to get capacity in place.”

That seems like good advice, considering that demand for bandwidth is expected to increase in coming years. “Despite all of the news about budget cuts, all indications are that we will see satellite bandwidth requirements growing over the next few years,” Myers said. “Even as troops are being pulled out of theaters of operations, the military will be running more ISR missions requiring satellite bandwidth. My sense is that government demands will increase even as supply is getting tighter.” O

For more information, contact MIT Editor Harrison Donnelly at harrisond@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.mit-kmi.com.

MIT 16.2 | 23

Special Report: COMSATCOM

COMSATCOM Center Update

(Editor’s Note: Following is an update on the latest news from the Defense Information Systems Agency’s Commercial Satellite Communications (COMSATCOM) Center, based on the center’s newsletter, “COMSATCOM Scoop,” www.disa.mil/services/satcom/comsatcom-services/scoop-newsletter)

Better Than BEST New SATCOM solution will cut Military Sealift Command bandwidth costs.

In 2009, the Military Sealift Command (MSC) approached the Commercial Satellite Communications Center with a need to replace its aging Bandwidth Efficient Satellite Transport (BEST) system. MSC implemented the BEST system back in 2002 as an overlay to existing legacy International Maritime Satellite (Inmarsat) infrastructure in use since 1999. This infrastructure was based solely on L-band, and included the use of aging Inmarsat B satellites, which were rapidly reaching end-of-life. MSC wanted 95 percent global coverage within +/- 65 degrees latitude (especially in littoral waters and major sea routes) for transiting ships. Further, it needed to replace terminals nearing end-of-life. MSC was limited to a strict budget, so it desired the most bandwidth for the dollar. While some of the communications supported core operations, much was used for morale, welfare and recreation (MWR).

Fortunately, MSC had some flexibility to support communications needs, and after some initial discussions with the COMSATCOM Center, it was apparent there were several options previously not considered. The COMSATCOM Center identified 16 potential managed services and leased bandwidth solutions. Those solutions were narrowed to four commercially feasible alternatives that could provide MSC with the coverage required. The subsequent cost benefit analysis showed dual-band hybrid solutions would likely be the most effective alternative. Additionally, managed services offered the opportunity to trade a little more network congestion for a lot more bandwidth, providing much more bandwidth for MWR than MSC had expected to afford. For instance, typical bandwidth use during a day experiences varying usage rates. By setting a minimum committed

information rate (CIR) and maximum burst information rate (BIR), MSC is guaranteed a certain dedicated bandwidth—CIR—for important operational communications while allowing flexibility to “burst” at higher rates for less critical Internet and email applications.

Because industry offers such a variety of creative managed solutions, MSC and the COMSACTOM Center decided to release a statement of objectives (SOO) rather than a more narrowly defined statement of work or a performance work statement. As the SOO reflected both MSC needs and industry capabilities, industry offered a wide range of compelling proposals, and source selection culminated with an award for a Ku/L-band hybrid managed services solution.

The system will employ dual Ku- and L-bands and provide global coverage at significantly higher rates (64 kbps CIR, bursting up to 1Mbps on the “shore to ship” link) than the BEST system (48 kbps average). The dual bands will require two terminals. However, it will provide inherent backup while offering lower-cost bandwidth that can be incrementally increased to meet MSC fleet needs within budget constraints. BIR bandwidth prices can be a tenth of CIR or leases of equivalent bandwidth. Additionally, the awarded solution will eliminate the need to time-share channels and offer greater overall reliability with highly redundant coverage.

Full deployment of the Next Generation Wideband (NGW) system is scheduled to begin in spring 2012. The winning vendor has begun building the NGW support network, which will then go through testing and certification this year.

Once the system is certified to connect to the network, MSC’s target goal is to deploy the system onto 50 of its fleet of 70 ships in the first 12 months.

SHOUT Nano Portable, handheld two-way outdoor satellite messaging and GPS device offers global asset tracking and tiered usage pricing.

Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services (EMSS) provides secure global SATCOM services under the Commercial Satellite Communications Center. EMSS offers a breadth of services to include voice, secure voice, Distributed Tactical Communications System (DTCS), messaging and data to the Department of Defense, other federal departments, agencies, state and local governments, and approved foreign and allied government users. EMSS offers short burst data (SBD) with automatic billing using the “usage based tiered” pricing structure. The pre-negotiated SBD service and SHOUT Nano device pricing are exceptionally competitive with the commercial sector and also offer two key advantages—users have the flexibility of tiered data usage, to include unlimited data, and the added assurance of secure communications through the EMSS gateway.

The SHOUT Nano is a portable, handheld two-way outdoor satellite messaging and GPS device for emergency/rescue, text-messaging applications and locationbased services. The SHOUT Nano’s SBD service is enabled by the Iridium satellite constellation which offers global pole to pole coverage.

24 | MIT 16.2

The Nano has a high-resolution color LCD with menu options displayed as icons. The device is designed with ultra-low power consumption electronics drawing less than 35μA during sleep. With an internal 1.95 A-Hr rechargeable Lithium Ion battery, it can send a position report every hour for up to two months (about 1,200 reports) on one charge.

The SHOUT Nano offers a variety of other features including: • Normal tracking—programmed to automatically wake up and send a position report at a set interval ranging from continuous to once every seven days • Emergency alert—sends alerts using a 911 button and allows messaging to communicate emergency specifics • Free-text messaging—sends free-text via three different sets of on-screen keyboards • Canned text messaging—sends canned (pre-defined) messages in short codes to save bandwidth instead of the entire message body www.MIT-kmi.com

Special Report: COMSATCOM • Waypoint tracking—sends and/or saves waypoints (interested landmarks) for later retrieval • Check-in—allows a quick check-in message to be sent using a single soft key.

EMSS devices and services can be purchased through the DISA Direct Order Entry (DDOE) website at www.disadirect.disa.mil/. The 24/7 EMSS help desk is available to answer all customer questions about the SHOUT Nano as well as the full suite of EMSS devices, services, features and accessories.

The EMSS Program Office is seeking customers to share their experiences with how EMSS devices and services provided reliable and superior communications in an austere environment. The EMSS Program Office is most interested in stories in which the EMSS global services helped save the day. If you would like to share your story, please reach out to the EMSS office.

SHOUT NANO SERVICE

Cost for FY12* $81.60 one-time activation fee $133.29 per month - Unlimited $66.99 per month - up to 100 kb $26.19 per month - up to 30 kb

$10.89 per month - Inactive *Includes 2 percent DITCO fee For pricing updates, please check DDOE at https://www.disadirect.disa.mil/

SPECIFICATIONS

Dimensions: 4L x 2.2W x 0.8D inches Weight: 6.5 ounces Hardened Anodized Aluminum Casing Rechargeable Lithium Ion Battery USB Interface

EMSS CONTACTS

EMSS Program Office CML: (301) 225-2800 DSN: (312) 375-2800 Email: emssprog@disa.mil EMSS Help Desk (24/7) CML: (877) 449-0600 DSN: (312) 282-1048 Email: customer.service@gdc4s.com

Workshop Links Users, Industry Commercial SATCOM workshop focuses on DoD’s current requirements for satellite services and connectivity, and the latest technology and industry trends.

The 2011 Department of Defense Commercial SATCOM Users’ Workshop was a co-sponsored event held by the Satellite Industry Association (SIA) and the U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) from December 14-15, 2011, in Arlington, Va. This annual event brought together over 400 government leaders from the DoD as well as commercial satellite industry operators, service providers, integrators, ground equipment suppliers and manufacturers to join decision-makers from Africa Command, Central Command, European Command, Northern Command, Pacific Command, Special Operations Command, Southern Command, Transportation Command, DoD/chief information officer, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), Executive Agent for Space, Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, White House Communications Agency, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, and more. The workshop focused on DoD’s current requirements for satellite services and connectivity and introduced the latest technology and industry trends to ensure effective satellite communications for the present and future requirements of the military and intelligence community.

Cindy Moran, director of network services, DISA, was one of the keynote speakers. Patricia Cooper, president of SIA, said Moran’s thoughts added “critical

insights on the continued interplay between the satellite industry and the [DoD] as budgets tighten and requirements for satellite communications continue to evolve.”

She emphasized the goal is to help customers save money when purchasing satellite services. She also stated that DISA is actively looking for better ways to buy bandwidth. As of now, the Future COMSATCOM Services Acquisition (FCSA) strategy has been doing a good job in enhancing opportunities for competition. As of November of 2011, there were 22 offerors on FCSA, and DISA is hoping to obtain more. She stated, “DoD needs to make the best investments for the current and future SAzTCOM capabilities.”

Bruce Bennett, Program Executive Office for Communications, also represented DISA as a keynote speaker. He spoke about the $1.5 billion cut to DoD funds and how it affects the satellite services industry. Bennett emphasized how DISA will further expand everyone’s participation in FCSA. However, he stated more efforts will need to be expended to find synergies among the industry and leverage Congress with the ongoing funding constraints.

For more information about the conference, please visit www.sia.org/dodsatcom, and for more information about SIA, visit www.sia.org.

Quick Tips Define the requirement, not the solution.

The COMSATCOM Center would like to remind everyone to identify their requirements in terms of type of applications and specific data rates in Mbps; frequency band of operation (for example, Ku-, C-, X-, or Ka-band), coverage areas/ desired locations, and network connectivity. Requirements should be identified this way as opposed to providing a specific bandwidth unless there is a critical reason for doing so. A comprehensive design of a satellite communications link requires a suitable balance between bandwidth and power. In other words, bandwidth alone is a necessary asset but not sufficient to support the overall link performance.

www.MIT-kmi.com

Earth terminal, modem specifications and equipment limitation information is also needed. This approach allows the bidding vendors to compete using various optimized solutions (modulation schemes, coding rates, compression and adaptive techniques) that will provide the best range of options available to support specified requirement.

The COMSATCOM Center offers a dedicated staff of SATCOM engineers and acquisition specialists to assist with defining customer requirements. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns.

MIT 16.2 | 25

COTSACOPIA

Commercial Off - the - Shelf Technology

Rugged Tablet Delivers Smartphonelike Experience

The Harris Ruggedized Tablet is a secure, portable device that delivers a “smartphone-like” experience to military personnel and first responders who require secure real-time information at their fingertips to execute their missions. The new Harris RF-3590 is a 7-inch ruggedized Android tablet that provides highperformance application and computing capability at the tactical edge. The unit integrates seamlessly to the most advanced military and public safety communications platforms; delivers targeted suites of missioncritical software applications to users on the battlefield and in first responder roles; and supports emerging requirements for video, monitoring position locations, accessing secure databases and other crucial ISR tasks. It is rated as a ruggedized device to provide reliable operation in heat, cold and other extreme environments. Harris has received initial orders for test and evaluation purposes and is optimistic the product will be well received. For the warfighter, the RF-3590 leverages the military’s emerging wideband tactical radio networks and enables real-time sharing of mission-critical information across the battlespace.

The Harris tablet is also designed to integrate with the Harris Falcon Networking System, an end-to-end system for connecting individual warfighters to the tactical cloud.

Compiled by KMI Media Group staff

Solid-State Drive Offers High Performance in Harsh Environments TeleCommunication Systems (TCS), a provider of mobile communication technology, has announced the availability of its ultra-rugged Galatea solid-state drive, which provides high performance for a wide range of computer and vehicle applications operating in the harshest environments. Manufactured in America at TCS’ AS9100-certified facility, Galatea works across industrial temperature ranges and has been verified by outside laboratories to meet MIL-STD-810 requirements for shock, vibration, temperature range, temperature

shock, humidity and altitude. Galatea takes data security to new levels by combining 128-bit AES encryption with high-speed, full-drive erasure in less than 15 seconds.

It provides high performance for the most demanding applications, fitting 200GB of user data into a standard 9.5 mm, 2.5-inch case while delivering sustained read/write rates of 280MB/s and random read/write rates over 40,000 input/output operations per second. In the event of an unexpected power failure, Galatea has built-in power backup to prevent data loss.

Rugged Computer Features High-Definition Video Playback The new RT10C rugged computer from GammaTech Computer Corp. features a touchscreen, 10.2-inch wide display and Windows 7 compatibility, in a compressed military-grade durable design. The GammaTech RT10C features an Intel Core i7-620UE mobile processor with integrated HD graphics providing stunning visuals and smooth high-definition video playback, and runs on either Windows embedded standard 2009, Windows 7, or Windows 7 Pro embedded operating systems. It supports both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies. Other features include an AC power connector, two USB 2.0 ports, an Ethernet port, PCMCIA slot, two mini card slots, CompactFlash slot and VGA port. An optional vehicle or office docking station includes four USB 2.0 ports, an Ethernet port, Serial port, and VGA port.

User-friendly features include a high-resolution (1024x600) WSVGA TFT LCD display with an LED

backlight to eliminate eyestrain. The resistive touch-screen display responds to both stylus and fingertips. Data is kept safe with security features such as TPM 1.2 fingerprint recognition, and an optional Smart Card reader. The unit meets military 810G standards for durability and IP65 standards for dust resistance.

Latest Forensic Tool Offers Advanced Incident Response Release of the new Forensic Toolkit (FTK) 4 from AccessData is designed to give FTK users enterprise-class capabilities at a standalone price. A new feature called Single-Node Enterprise gives FTK users the full analysis functionality of AD Enterprise, AccessData’s enterprise-class investigation and incident response solution. This gives organizations affordable access to more advanced incident response and remote investigative capabilities.

26 | MIT 16.2

Using FTK, computer forensics examiners are able to securely and remotely investigate a running computer to analyze and collect data from disk, volatile and RAM, eliminating travel and reducing response time. Corporations and investigators in many disciplines increasingly require the ability to investigate internal matters, such as HR policy violations, regulatory compliance and employee separation. Whether motivated

by regulations or internal policy, the ability to conduct remote investigations is a requirement to address the risks of a digital workplace. FTK 4 now offers the critical components necessary to manage those risks to organizations that cannot spend tens of thousands of dollars on large-scale enterprise investigations platforms. These capabilities have never been offered in such an integrated and affordable solution.

www.MIT-kmi.com

The advertisers index is provided as a service to our readers. KMI cannot be held responsible for discrepancies due to last-minute changes or alterations.

MIT CALENDAR & DIRECTORY Advertisers Index Access Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 www.upgradetoaccessdata.com Carahsoft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C4 www.carahsoft.com/dco/upgrade/ Globecomm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 www.globecomm.com GSA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 www.gsa.gov/datacenterad

Harris CapRock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C2 www.harriscaprock.com Intelsat General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C3 www.spacedelivered.com Lind Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 www.lindelectronics.com University of Maryland University College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 http://military.umuc.edu/myfuture

Calendar March 12-15, 2012 Satellite 2012 Washington, D.C. www.satellitetoday.com

March 18-20, 2012 AFCEA Belvoir Industry Days National Harbor, Md. www.afceabelvoir.org

March 22-23, 2012 CyberFutures Conference and Technology Exposition National Harbor, Md. www.afa.org

NEXTISSUE

March 27-29, 2012 TechNet Land Forces-Southwest Tucson, Ariz. www.afcea.org

April 2012 Volume 16, Issue 3

Cover and In-Depth Interview with:

Major General Alan R. Lynn Commanding General, Army Signal Center of Excellence Chief of Signal, Army Signal Corps

Special Report: DISA COMSATCOM Center

Features • Tactical Cross Domain Solutions • ID Management • Rugged Smartphones • SATELLITE 2012 Report Insertion Order Deadline: March 23, 2012 • Ad Materials Deadline: March 30, 2012 www.MIT-kmi.com

MIT 16.2 | 27

INDUSTRY INTERVIEW

Military Information Technology

Barry Leffew Vice President, Public Sector Adobe

Barry Leffew is vice president of Adobe’s Public Sector Enterprise Sales Team.

Adobe’s public sector enterprise team supports federal, state and local government organizations with implementing Adobe’s software solutions for e-forms, document management, e-learning and collaboration.

He has over 20 years of experience in the information systems industry, an extensive background in the government market and is active with a wide variety government committees and associations.

Leffew is a graduate of George Washington University’s MBA program, and has an undergraduate degree in management science from Shippensburg University.

Q: Can you provide some examples of the ways in which Adobe is meeting the needs of military and government organizations?

A: Adobe has been a long-time leader in many areas, specifically in helping the government and military enable and accelerate the transformation to a digital environment.

Our products and solutions are used to create—or make—extensive amounts of digital media, imagery, video and documents. These are products such as Acrobat, Photoshop, Premiere and our Creative Suite solutions.

Also, customers need to manage that digital content, so we support them through solutions such as our Adobe CQ Web Content Management software, and tools for collaboration such as Adobe Connect. In addition, we’re helping government agencies then take that content and make it secure, so that access to it is controlled. Finally, once that content is created, managed and secured, we help them measure how it is used, who is using it and where it is going, as well as 28 | MIT 16.2

helping them mobilize it. We’re seeing many customers needing to deploy and access content via tablets and mobile devices.

Q: How do Adobe’s solutions make collaboration easier and more secure for military and government agencies?

A: Adobe has a solution called Adobe Connect, which allows one-to-many and manyto-many real-time meetings to occur from anywhere around the world. For the Department of Defense, we’re running and operating a program for the Defense Information Systems Agency [DISA] called Defense Connect Online [DCO], which provides worldwide accessible, on-demand collaboration. There are now about 650,000 people using the solution, for everything from collaboration on the battlefield to more traditional activities such as Web conferencing and training. More recently, we’ve also worked to enable DCO in mobile environments. DoD customers can now use and access DCO through iPad tablets, Android-based devices or even cell phones to participate in meetings.

Q: What are some of the most significant programs that Adobe is currently working on with the military?

A: In addition to the DCO program for DISA, which provides services to the entire DoD, we’re also working with virtually every one of the military services to help them in the process of streamlining and taking paper processes online, and automating forms and workflow processes. These include the Navy, Army Materiel Command and Marine Corps, as well as DISA. Another interesting customer using our mobile and publishing

solutions is the Defense Media Activity. They are publishing all of their publications for DoD personnel and families around the world using Adobe’s digital publishing suite to allow them to deploy media to tablets, and to move from a world of paper publishing to an online digital environment.

Q: How is Adobe working to strengthen the security of your solutions?

A: Ensuring our products are secure has been a fundamental focus of Adobe’s for many years, and we certainly recognize the unique security requirements that government and DoD have. So we’ve done things like making sure Adobe products support key standards, such as the Federal Information Processing Standards. We have also certified our products through the Joint Interoperability Test Command certification. One area we’ve really strived to be an industry leader in is that of digital rights management. We’ve introduced a range of solutions that enable the customer to secure digital content, putting a very sophisticated security wrapper around it to make sure content is only accessible by people who should have access to it.

Q: How are you responding to the movement by the government, including the military, to cloud computing?

A: That is a key area of focus for Adobe, as well, in terms of transforming its products and solutions to be cloud-enabled. We see customers wanting to be able to take Adobe solutions and deploy them in a cloud environment. One example is DISA, which today provides DCO as a software-as-a-service offering. O www.MIT-kmi.com

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DCO IS UPGRADING! Easier to use interface Drag-&-drop sharing PDF support Improved video Create your own custom pods Improved smartphone/ tablet capabilities Tabbed chat … and much more .

DCO is upgrading to Adobe Connect 8.2!

Get a sneak peak of what’s coming here: www.carahsoft.com/dco/upgrade/

Find out what half a million DoD users already know...

Communicate and collaborate for free with Defense Connect Online

Adobe, the Adobe logo, and Connect are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.

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