Air Mobility Command centralizes its e-mail
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The Air Mobility Command is in the first phase of a server consolidation project to centrally manage e-mail accounts of 65,000 users across 12 Air Force bases.
The Air Mobility Command is in the first phase of a server consolidation project to centrally manage e-mail accounts of 65,000 users across 12 Air Force bases.
Before August, there were 17 different e-mail systems on the bases that make up the command. The e-mail servers were locally managed at each base, an inefficient way of operating that also left the systems vulnerable to attack, according to command officials.
'By consolidating, we're starting to create a center of excellence,' said Master Sgt. Bud Cool, the lead technician on the project.
Consolidating the servers will help the command create an enterprise network, officials said.
AMC has consolidated five of the bases and has assumed responsibility for roughly 30,000 e-mail accounts. The rest of the consolidation will be done within the next year, Cool said.
'Now we have a set of folks training to be security folks,' he said. 'Instead of 12 locations, now we're looking at [centralizing services at] two locations. We're able to better focus.'
The project will eventually involve consolidating mission-critical command and control systems on AMC bases, Air Force officials said.
Citing security, Cool declined to discuss the command and control applications and how they will be consolidated, aside from saying the effort would offer a layered defense against attack, making it tougher than the current configuration.
The command's Network Operations and Security Center at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., is using Unicenter TNG from Computer Associates International Inc. to manage the messaging system. The software displays a real-time operational map of the command's systems across the United States and e-mail processes for 60,000 PCs and 100 servers.
Software upgraded
The command has upgraded from Microsoft Exchange Server Version 5.5 to Exchange Server 2000. The system also will use Microsoft Windows 2000 and Active Directory, Cool said.
The Air Mobility Command consists of about 141,000 military and civilian personnel. It is the air component of the U.S. Transportation Command and manages air mobility for the armed forces. Formed in 1992, the command provides airlift, air refueling, special air mission and aeromedical evacuation services for the military. It also supplies forces to theater commands during times of war.
For more information about the command, visit public.scott.af.mil/hqamc.
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