Air Force Network migration on its way to Kirtland

  • Published
  • By 377th Communications Division
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  Kirtland will become the next Air Force Materiel Command base to migrate its computer users into a central Air Force Network, or AFNet.

Over a six-week period beginning Oct. 14, technicians will begin migrating Kirtland workstations, network users, and e-mail to the AFNet. During the migration, Kirtland users should be prepared for occasional service interruptions as migrations progress and expect to restore some features to their desktop environment (e.g., Outlook preferences, SharePoint access, drive mapping) after they've migrated.

Although software and hardware problems are to be expected, the AFNet migration project represents a major change to how computer networks are managed, and is one of the most complex DoD technology initiatives ever attempted, according to Hoang Nguyen, 377th Communications Division director.

"Until now, MAJCOMs and various other Air Force organizations have been operating their own independent networks, consequently driving unique and unit specific requirements. This 'county option' approach led to standardization and security problems, high operation and maintenance costs, and a lack of enterprise situational awareness," Nguyen said. "The AFNet migration project addresses these issues, and places Air Force cyber operations under the operational control of a single commander."

Nguyen said this approach will yield a significant improvement in the Air Force's ability to fight daily virus activity and malicious intrusion attempts. Additionally, AFNet migration will centralize services like e-mail and data storage, significantly improving network security and standardization. Operational and training costs will be reduced through the elimination of redundant systems and services.

The most visible change will be in the format of your e-mail address. The migration formally replaces the old first.last@kirtland.af.mil e-mail address with a standard first.last@us.af.mil address. Regardless of the base or organization assigned, this new address will remain with users for the duration of their career, employment, or affiliation with the Air Force.

As more bases join the AFNet, Airmen will be able to log into their accounts from any AFNet base without requesting and creating an additional account, allowing easy access to the network during deployments, and throughout TDY or PCS moves. Sites such as the Air Force Portal, Air Force Personnel Center, Defense Finance Accounting Service, will also remain easily accessible regardless of duty location. The migration will also result in a "consolidated" customer service help desk called the Enterprise Service Desk at https://esd.us.af.mil/esdportal, designed to serve as a "one-stop shop" for the resolution of common user problems.

A team of Air Force Network Integration Center, 690th Network Support Group, and 377 Communications Division technicians are busy preparing equipment and resources to facilitate the migration of almost 8,500 users.

For more information, contact the Communication Focal Point at 846-5926.