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Comm Marines take back network

30 Apr 2013 | Cpl. John Wilkes Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort

The transition from the Navy Marine Corps Intranet to the Next Generation En­terprise Network, now three years underway, is sched­uled to be completed Oct. 1, 2014.

The transition from NMCI to NGEN began in fiscal year 2011. The original NMCI contract ended on Sept. 30, 2010. However, with the Continuity of Ser­vices Contract it has been extended until fiscal year 2014 to allow for a smooth transition. CoSC provides a bridge between NMCI and the Marine Corps reclaim­ing the network.

The Department of the Navy’s Next Generation En­terprise Network is the fol­low-on to the Navy Marine Corps Intranet. NGEN will supply a secure information technology infrastructure for the continental United States and select locations overseas.

“The Marine Corps is tak­ing back the network,” said Capt. Benjamin Shea, the Air Station’s communica­tions officer-in-charge. “We are not 100 percent there yet but we are making great progress.”

According to Terry Hal­vorsen, the Department of the Navy’s chief informa­tion officer, the next step for NGEN, a government owned and operated solu­tion with vendor support for the United States Marine Corps, is to finish the tran­sition process. The Marine Corps’ transition to NGEN is scheduled to be complet­ed by the end of fiscal year 2014.

“At its current stage Ma­rines aboard [Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort] are beginning to handle lower level trouble tickets,” said Shea. “By Oct. 1 of this year we will be handling a major­ity of all troubleshooting.”

The staff, Marines and civilians alike, is redefining itself to adapt to the learning curve.

“By reclaiming the net­work, Marines in IT related military occupational spe­cialties will be doing work more related to their MOS,” said Shea. “We are getting Marines back in the IT fight.”

“This also allows us to de­velop better responses and quicker response time to the issues Marines are having,” said Brant Huff, Air station information technology of­ficer. “Moving forward, the most important goal is to en­sure that this transition goes unnoticed by our users and that their services remain uninterrupted.”

For more information on the transition contact the IT help desk at 228-6785.