GIG Version 2.0 in development

The Defense Department will release a new planning, budgeting, purchasing and interoperability policy this fall for its fast-growing, worldwide network of sensors and systems.

The Global Information Grid Architecture Version 2.0 will give DOD and industry program managers clear acquisition guidance for the next five to 10 years.

DOD will create a simpler form of the 7,000-page document called the Net-Centric Operations and Warfare Reference Model, said Terry Hagle, architecture and interoperability program manager in the deputy chief information officer's office. He was speaking Sept. 10 at the E-Gov Enterprise Architecture 2003 conference.

The reference model will explain net-centricity for DOD and industry program managers and their architecture and capabilities' developers, Hagle said.

The services have their own architecture frameworks, he said. The reference model will establish a departmentwide framework. For example, each service defines a local-area network differently, Hagle said. "We will provide a simple definition of a LAN."

Net-centric operations and warfare rely on getting intelligence quicker to warfighters. DOD's current task, process, exploit and disseminate data-processing policy is based on the Cold War era. "We want to post information whether processed or not," Hagle said. "It recognizes a fully networked force. You search, you pull."

DOD leaders contend that network-centric operations and warfare increase combat power by networking systems, commanders and warfighters. It facilitates faster command, a faster warfighting tempo, greater firepower and increased survivability, he said.