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nastyleg
07-15-2011, 10:35 PM
Army CIO: Kill CAC sleds, standardize comms

By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jul 14, 2011 18:49:17 EDT

The Army’s new chief information officer wants wholesale changes to the service’s network — including ridding the service of the much-despised common access card sleds and developing a single standard interface for combat computer and communication systems.

Lt. Gen. Susan Lawrence, who took over her new post in March, said she is tired of her service languishing in old technology and handcuffed by an acquisitions system that leaves the Army way behind the commercial sector.

The service has grand plans for its network strategy, but Lawrence hasn’t lost sight of some of the simplest technological hurdles for soldiers, like signing onto their Blackberries. Soldiers slide their military I.D. cards that have computer chips attached into readers to sign on to their accounts on Army cell phones.

Lawrence said she wants to get rid of the CAC card sleds and she expects solutions by the end of the year. She told a group of Army officers and defense industry officials to expect a request for information for a CAC sled alternative soon.

“Get us something else fast. It is cumbersome. It is hard to use. We have to protect our identity and make sure our information is secure but we have to do it a little bit better than we have today. Those were designed in 2002. It’s time we move on to new technology and I think you guys got it so you’re gonna see something from me very shortly,” Lawrence said at the Association of the U.S. Army breakfast July 14 in Arlington, Va.

A brigade stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas, spent four weeks in combat-like conditions at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., testing multiple radios and computers the Army wants to integrate into its network . It was the first iteration of the Network Integration Evaluation, which will be held twice a year.

Service leaders hail the tests as the most effective way to field equipment.

“The soldiers told us more in five minutes than we would have learned in five years if we kept it in the lab,” Lawrence said.

She said the current way the Army buys communications and computer equipment doesn’t work. Officials get too bogged down in the process to field “state-of-the-art technology soldiers need now.”

To be more agile requires a more focused set of requirements for the Army network. The service features too many networks and standards it could do without, according to Lawrence.

“We can’t have an enterprise with 50 quarterbacks and 50 playbooks on the battlefield. We are going to a single set of TTPs,” or tactics, techniques and procedures, Lawrence said.

Soldiers also struggle with too many systems that require their own screens and unique parts. Lawrence said the Army network must become more user friendly and deliver information in a more simple manner. She wants to eliminate vehicles that feature multiple screens or have soldiers forced to carry a host of hand-held devices.

The Army “needs one standard interface across the board,” Lawrence said
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/07/army-cio-kill-cac-readers-standardize-comms-071411/