UPDATED: AKO to house all Army Web sites, portals
The CIO is working on a new policy to create a common online entrance for the service.
Editor's Note: This story was updated at 2:10 p.m. Feb. 24, 2006, and again at 1:50 p.m. Feb. 27, 2006.
The Army will require all internal Web sites to reside on Army Knowledge Online (AKO), the service’s portal.
The Army’s Office of the Chief Information Officer is working on a new policy that will mandate that all internal Army Web sites and portals sit behind AKO. This will create a common online entrance for the Army and has the support of service leaders, said Vernon Bettencourt, the service’s deputy CIO. He spoke Feb. 22 at a luncheon briefing of the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council.
The Army and the Defense Information Systems Agency also continue to discuss extending AKO across DOD, Bettencourt said. AKO would become Defense Knowledge Online and be used for making available software under DISA’s Net-Centric Enterprise Services (NCES) program, an $800 million initiative providing all DOD personnel with a suite of information technology tools including search, discovery, collaboration and information assurance.
Last fall, Air Force Lt. Gen. Charlie Croom, the new DISA director, announced a plan to make AKO the provider of NCES. Croom said the Army has one of the best portals in industry and saw no need to build another portal for the program he described as the only transformational initiative under DISA.