LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
The network migration of Langley Air Force Base, Va., to the unified Air Force Network, or AFNet, is scheduled to begin August 19. The goal of this project is to combine all individual Air Force, Air Force Reserve, and Air National Guard networks into one.
Though the migration is scheduled to begin in August, work has been taking place behind the scenes for the past year to ensure the change occurs as seamlessly as possible.
The process, estimated to take at least four months, will cause some outages to Langley users; however, it will provide many benefits to Air Force members. The biggest change affecting Langley Service members and civilians will be the modification of their unclassified e-mail address domain. Instead of an email address ending in an individual's current duty station, such as "@langley.af.mil," it will read, "@us.af.mil."
"This will allow [Service members] to access their email on any Air Force installation without having to create a new account every time they receive TDY or PCS orders," said Lyonel Sampeur, 633rd Communications Squadron project manager. "The fact that our Airmen can go on a deployment and immediately have access to their email is great way of keeping up morale. One of the key features of the migration is that it is going to standardize all networks across the board, and place all Air Force Cyber Operations under the control of a single commander."
The AFNET Migration will centralize services such as e-mail, improving network security and standardization. In addition, operational and training costs will be reduced through the elimination of redundant systems and services, said Sampeur.
Users will also receive the reward of an improved customer service focal point. Currently, when there is an issue with an information system or network service, users call their local communications squadron. With AFNet, users will first contact a centralized service center, the Enterprise Service Desk, who will manage fix actions with local communications squadrons.
This will enhance command and control over the AFNet, in turn saving money by centralizing most processes, said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Joanne Czumalowski, 633rd Communications Squadron wing information assurance noncommissioned officer in charge.
In addition to these benefits, the migration to this network will also improve mission security.
"In a time where cyber security is extremely important, it is good to know that the AFNet Migration is going make access to our network much more difficult to outside entities," said Sampeur.
The Air Force's presence in cyberspace has become enormously complex in order to fulfill its constantly changing mission. Through AFNet there will be increased surveillance over one of the Air Force's most valuable tools and ensuring the Air Force can continue to dominate over air, space and cyberspace.