FORT EUSTIS, Va. –
Starting by month's end, Fort Eustis will have a "cloud" of its own, and a different e-mail address to go with it.
On Nov. 29, U.S. Army e-mail users, including approximately 7,500 at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, will transition to an Army Enterprise Email service managed by the Defense Information Systems Agency. The basic domain name, typically using the branch of the service someone is in, will change to "@mail.mil."
Instead of accessing e-mail through local installation servers, users will access e-mail from centralized servers, dubbed as the Department of Defense cloud. "Cloud" is computing's catchphrase of the moment that may have little meaning to those outside the IT department.
For those in the military, or working for Uncle Sam, cloud computing is a form of utility, like electricity, that provides all your computer needs as a service and not just a product via the Internet. In basic terms, those in the military can access their e-mail from anywhere, at any time, from any Common Access Code-enabled computer having Internet access.
Larry Burnett, Eustis system administrator for the Network Enterprise Center, is already using the new naming nomenclature. It consists of first name.middle initial.last name, with the appropriate abbreviated area, or identifier, of your organization within DOD."
For example, .mil for military personnel, .civ for civilians, .ctr for contractors and .naf for nonappropriated funds employees. Burnett's e-mail is larry.a.burnett2.civ@mail.mil. Other selling points of the system include the ability to:
- Keep your e-mail account active during moves and unit relocations;
- Share individual, organizational and resource calendars across the enterprise;
- Find e-mail addresses and contact information for Army and DOD e-mail users across the DOD;
- Store four gigabytes of information online - 40 times the current limit;
- Send larger attachments via e-mail than currently allowed.
Burnett said e-mail to the old address will automatically be forwarded to the mail.mil address for at least six months. People are being advised, though, to tell friends, family and co-workers of the change immediately.
For more information, call 878-5247.