Army Panel Discusses Long-Term Information Technology Plan

A panel of distinguished Army leaders discussed the future of Army information technology programs at the chapter breakfast in September at the Crystal Gateway Marriott. The speakers addressed information technology modernization, data center consolidation, cloud, netmod, UC and cybersecurity. A longer-term Army information technology strategy would help contractors plan their research and development investments, according to Chief Information Officer Lt. Gen. Robert Ferrell, USA. He floated software-defined networking and “self-healing” networks as types of capabilities the Army might explore. Gen. Ferrell made clear why more strategizing is needed. “Right now, we have so many disparate networks and too many vulnerabilities, too many backdoors that can get into our enterprise,” he said. “When you talk about the cyberthreat, we can't even see ourselves.” The chapter's breakfast series draws senior officers and professionals from across the Defense Department, armed services, intelligence and civilian agencies to discuss topics of interest to the government community ranging from networks to mobility to cybersecurity to unmanned aircraft systems/sensors. Speakers included Gen. Ferrell; Gary Wang, deputy chief information officer/G-6, U.S. Army; Doug Wiltsie, program executive officer, Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems.

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