Pentagon backs industry committee

Leaders at the Defense Department and the Association for Enterprise Integration reached an agreement last month that endorses the Global Information Grid (GIG) Enterprise Services Industry Advisory Committee for military and industry officials to discuss enterprise services and data strategies.

“This forum is aimed at greatly increasing the understanding and opportunity for the defense industry and its customers to leverage commercial information technologies, information infrastructures, and architectural practices with the range of operational possibilities that these technologies, infrastructures and practices might afford,” said DOD and industry officials in the two-page charter signed in mid-February.

Linton Wells, chief information officer at the Pentagon; Ray Witter, chairman of the board of directors at AFEI; and Jacques Gansler, chairman of the Net-Centric Operations Industry Forum; signed the charter. AFEI comes under the Net-Centric Operations Industry Forum, which falls under the National Defense Industrial Association, an industry trade group.

“This is not an exclusive agreement,” said Dave Chesebrough, president of AFEI. “We created this committee so industry and [the Office of the Secretary of Defense] have an opportunity to focus communication.” He emphasized industry officials can participate in the committee free of charge.

Military and industry officials on the GIG Enterprise Services Industry Advisory Committee already started work on a draft report. They want to know the issues with Web services in a services-oriented environment, Chesebrough said.