New backup for Army knowledge

Army officials will launch a new disaster recovery site on the Army Knowledge Online portal next week to provide continuity of business services. It will help guard Army and military installations and networks against physical attacks or cyberattacks.

The service will activate the AKO backup site at an undisclosed location and temporarily shut down the portal's key hub at Fort Belvoir, Va., to install new system updates, said Vernon Bettencourt, deputy chief information officer in the Army's Office of the CIO.

The portal's disaster recovery site is up and running this week except for its user accounts. They will we ready next week, said Bettencourt, who spoke this morning at the TechNet International 2004 Conference sponsored by AFCEA International.

About 1.6 million soldiers, their families and industry contractors use the unclassified portion of AKO, with 70,000 people using the classified one. The Army will release a solicitation for a lead systems integrator next month to help the service manage the portal, he said.

The Army and a vendor will announce an AKO software update next week to improve collaboration and standards, said an industry official familiar with the situation.