Army Knowledge Online transitions to next-generation enterprise services

Army Knowledge Online will transition to next-generation enterprise services over the next several years, according to a transition memorandum from Secretary of the Army John McHugh.

"To achieve the anticipated financial economies, efficiencies and security improvements, the Army must modernize current Army Knowledge Online infrastructure and services to become more interoperable across DOD and compliant with emerging joint information environment architectures, (as well as) implement current best practices for cloud-based managed services," McHugh wrote in the memo.

The transition follows the Army's migration of 1.4 million email accounts to DOD enterprise email. That full transition will be complete in July.

"The Army is moving towards enterprise services for collaboration, content management and unified capabilities (including chat, presence, voice and video over IP)—all drawing upon the authoritative identity service that underpins enterprise email," said Mike Krieger, deputy, Chief Information Office/G-6, as quoted in an article published by the CIO/G-6.

The Army is developing a transition timeline for AKO services and accounts that will include military and civilian retirees, as well as Army family members. Details will be published by September in an Army execution order.

All Army business processes will move off the current AKO platform onto next-generation enterprise services over the course of several years. Only business users will have access to enterprise services, the CIO/G-6 office reports.

"The Army retains a responsibility and a mission requirement to remain virtually connected to all of our military retirees," said McHugh. The AKO transition EXORD will include how the Army will remain connected with military retirees and families.

Army military retirees and family members will continue to have access to DOD online self-service sites like Tricare and MyPay through DOD self-service logon, according to the CIO/G-6 office.

Army retiree and family AKO email accounts will become inactive by mid-2014. Unlike when AKO began, email and other AKO features are now available commercially and at no cost to the public. Today, less than 10 percent of the 412,000 Army retirees and family members use AKO email, reports the CIO/G-6.