Tuesday, 18 August

Session 1: Network Service Center (NSC) Operational Validation

Speaker: Mr. Lester Gordy, 9th SC (A) G3

From 26 April to 8 May 2009, the Army conducted the very first Operational Validation (OPVAL) of the Network Service Center (NSC) by simulating the deployment of a real brigade (18th Fires Brigade) from its home station at Ft Bragg, NC to an OCONUS area of operations as part of EUCOM's Exercise Austere Challenge ‘09. During the OPVAL, 18th Fires Brigade operated from both garrison and field locations using it’s newly fielded Battle Command Common Services (BCCS v3) suite. This set of battle command applications was replicated within Area Processing Centers (APCs) at both Ft Bragg and Grafenwohr Germany.  At several points during the validation, as the unit progressed through the six phases of Joint operations, the unit drew its battle command applications directly from the APCs via fiber and satellite.  The validation proved that the NSC could successfully support key Warfighter doctrinal tenets such as: 1) early pre-deployment collaboration; 2) single digital identity through all operational phases, 3) fight upon arrival, and 4) seamless battle command during digital failover events. This presentation provides an overview of the OPVAL and identifies key findings of this extremely important and successful Operational Validation of the Network Service Center.

Session 2: Theater Operations Lessons Learned

Speaker: LTC Geoffrey Mangelsdorf, 11th Signal Brigade

This briefing/open discussion provides an overview of the challenges and benefits of deploying a TTSB with a mission to support a Corps Headquarters (part of a Multinational Force). Since OIF 07-09 is the first rotation without a Corps Signal Brigade, this presentation provides information on how the TTSB Commander and staff interact with Corps G6 staff, Division G6s and the other separate Brigade Commanders. Other items of emphasis are Network Operations and Expeditionary Signal Battalion Observations. The Network Operations portion of the briefing, which focuses on Joint versus Service network operations and Tactical versus Strategic network operations, will identify opportunities and friction points in a dynamic combat environment. Finally, the briefing will examine the challenges and lessons learned from 11th Signal Brigade's experiences providing battle command and maneuver of Expeditionary Signal Battalions.

Session 3: LandWarNet Battle Command Capability Based Fielding Sets

Speaker: COL William Scott, LWN/BC G3/5/7

At the DEC 07 C4ISR Summit, the VCSA and AAE directed the ARSTAF to transform the current serial-based, individual system development processes

to an aggregate System of System (SoS) construct and develop an enabling

management process in order to more effectively field network-enabled LWN/BC

capability sets to meet the needs of the balanced force and effect the next PPBE cycle.  In support of this directive, the LandWarNet/Battle Command (LWN/BC) Directorate has established a strategy to deliver relevant, affordable, and interoperable LWN/BC capabilities to Generating and Operational Forces within the ARFORGEN process over time.  This strategy will establish an approach to prioritize, synchronize, and coordinate efforts through the development and delivery of LWN/BC capability sets. This briefing is designed to provide an overview of the Capability Set development and fielding processes to include how key organizations and processes are transforming to meet the C4ISR Summit's requirement for a system of system construct in fielding LandWarNet and Battle Command capabilities.

Session 4: 7th Signal Command Support to CONUS Operations

Speakers: COL Mike Kell, 7th Signal Command G3 and Mr. Richard Breakiron, Deputy G3, Future Operations

A panel presentation where the CONUS Theater is discussed as unique from the other theaters in their organization, design, and operational tenets. The discussion will outline the Theater and its three Army Commands (ACOM), six Army Service Component Commands (ASCCs), and nine Direct Reporting Units (DRUs) without a coherent Higher Command (HICON). Also discussed will be the context of how to synchronize the four Network Operation Security Centers in the theater (CONUS, South, Reserve, and National Guard) with the operations centers of the theater. The discussion will also address the Global Network Enterprise Construct (GNEC) implementation issues that are unique to the theater – multiple Network Operation Security Centers (NOSC), Defense Enterprise Computing Centers (DECC), and Regional Hub Nodes (RHN).

Session 5: Network Centric Operations and the Complex Operational Environment

Speaker: Mr. Fred Stein, MITRE

This presentation provides an analysis of the impact of complexity on current Net Centric Operations. Its bottom line is that complexity is increasing in all areas of the battlefield and that our communications and information systems, while solving some problems, add vice reduce the level of complexity. The presentation traces the impact of the current and future states of adversaries, populations (Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants), missions and operations to the current set of information systems, products and services as well as the supporting communications systems. It concludes with some thoughts on how to approach the issue of increased complexity in order to reduce its impact on the Warfighter. The presentation draws from Army examples at the Brigade and below level and uses examples from recent Brigade Combat Team Rotations at the Joint Readiness Training Center and National Training Center.

Session 6: Battle Command Common Services (BCCS) 7th Signal Command Support to CONUS Operations

Speaker:  Mr. Rob Pitsko, PEO C3T, MITRE

This presentation provides an overview of the analysis to include the identification of issues and the potential solution areas required to migrate to a Global Network Enterprise Construct. Network dependent capabilities require deliberate ‘Expeditionary’ Engineering.  This presentation discusses the required enablers and the balancing act the Army maintains between efficiencies of scale in the generating force as well as mission effectiveness in the operating force.  One of the key enablers from an applications perspective is the Battle Command Common Services (BCCS) application.  BCCS is an integral System of Systems (SoS) component of the Army Battle Commands Systems (ABCS) supporting the infrastructure requirements for all Army Battle Command systems, therefore enabling both tactical unit digital modularity and Joint interoperability. In addition to BCCS'S mission to field a standardized infrastructure solution for battle command applications which is integrated with Command Posts (CP) Brigade and above; BCCS’s mission is to engineer, accredit, train, and support the integrated capabilities of tactical business enterprise services with the server based battle command applications required to support digital command and control (C2) in the Tactical Internet. This brief presents the challenges in delivering BCCS equipment and software, training of soldier and civilian administrators, assisting in CP SoS integration, and providing run time support across all operational phases from garrison to deployment for the BCCS hardware, enterprise services, and battle command application software systems in migrating to an expeditionary construct.

Session 7: Army Voice Communications for the Generating Force: Voice over IP, Voice over Secure IP, and Univied Communications

Speaker: Mr. Steven Schliesman, PM NSC

Army voice communications at generating force locations are on the threshold of a transformational change. Unclassified voice will transition from circuit-switched voice to end-to-end Voice over IP (VoIP). Voice over Secure IP (VoSIP) provides an effective and economical alternative to current secure voice communications capabilities and will be expanded to serve the generating force. Since both VoIP and VoSIP are software-driven, additional features like video, ad-hoc conferencing, and presence can be added to provide unified communications (UC). This briefing will describe VoIP, migration from circuit-switched to VoIP, expansion of VoSIP, unified communications, and the Army's participation in both the DISA VoIP/UC pilot and the Army's own Regional VoIP/UC Pilot.

A cumulative review of key issues and highlights from the Track's presentations will follow this discussion.