The DoD has been very proactive in realizing the need for Social Media security awareness and creating training material, and has some great information available.
Microsoft’s private cloud evaluation software is now available for download and testing for those interested in how a private cloud is implemented and managed.
Sharon Morrisey Named Distinguished Young AFCEAN!
Our very own Sharon Morrisey, who is on the Board of Directors as the VP of Publicity as well as the Young AFCEAN assistant VP and assistant VP of Expositions, has been named a Distinguished Young AFCEAN. She will be traveling to San Diego, CA to accept the honor and represent the AFCEA - North Carolina Chapter at the WEST 2013 AFCEA Conference.
Ms. Morrisey is an amazingly energetic and focused young woman who accomplishes every task set before her with exemplary skill and dedication. She remains calm under fire and is a genuine pleasure to work with. It is with great pride we’ve watched her grow so quickly into a force to be reckoned with and there is no better representation of what it means to be a Distinguished Young AFCEAN.
August 9th Luncheon: Science Teaching Tools awards!
Thursday August 9, 2012 - Thursday August 9, 2012
Ft Bragg Club: Hodge Room
Description:
Recipients of the 2011 STT award!
Every year, the North Carolina Chapter of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) grants several awards up to the amount of $1,000 each to schools in Cumberland County and surrounding areas.
These awards are given to schools with a demonstrated need for money to buy tools, equipment, or material for teaching science courses.
Last year, the chapter gave more than $20,000 to 18 local schools to support science and technology education. Recipients included Benjamin Martin Elementary School, which was destroyed in a tornado that struck Fayetteville, North Carolina, on April 16, 2011. The scholarship donation helped the school re-establish its science teaching tools area.
Please join us in the Hodge Room to welcome and congratulate recipients of the 2012 Science Teaching Tools awards!
Lasher - FORSCOM: Smaller Budgets and Force Signal Command Focus on Innovation
Bill Lasher, CIO/G6 FORSCOM
Mr. William Lasher, CIO/G6 for US Army Forces Command (FORSCOM), spoke about technology as an enabler for the force at the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) monthly luncheon at Peaden’s Seafood, Thursday, March 9.
Lasher, a former Army officer, contractor and now senior executive, detailed the role of FORSCOM in shaping the future force, discussed key areas of focus for the command moving forward, and discussed how technology will enable them to better train the force at less cost.
FORSCOM, according to Army.mil, is the Army’s largest command, and “prepares conventional forces to provide a sustained flow of trained and ready land power to Combatant Commanders in defense of the Nation at home and abroad.” Lasher iterated this is a challenging tasking, but one the command is tackling head-on. One of the challenges Lasher sees currently is equipping returning forces with the IT assets needed for time in station and in retrofit for downrange operations. To solve this challenge, Lasher and FORSCOM are looking at Army Baseline IT services or ABITS, as a way to consolidate, standardize and deploy IT services for inbound and outbound commands.
“We want to see the installation as a docking station,” Lasher said. “We want the ability to provide the soldier simplified yet robust IT services whether they are in garrison, at home or in the field,” Lasher said. He mentioned the main challenge to getting there is security and information assurance.
Lasher’s view of the future for FORSCOM and its support of the warfighter is mixed with promise and challenges, too. “As the force returns, drawdowns are sure to occur,” Lasher mentioned. “It’ll be a return to more garrison-based operations. That means our challenge to train the force in a productive way becomes even more important.” And with budgets tightening, greater scrutiny placed on contracts, commands asked to do more with less, Lasher is looking to partner with industry to help him solve many of the challenges.
“One area we’re exploring more is around live, virtual constructive gaming,” Lasher said. “Instead of packing up forces and sending them to a theater for an exercise (e.g. REFORGER), we make use of simulation-based training. This reduces costs in logistics and should amplify training time.”
Lasher also stressed to industry partners that innovation and diversification are two areas they can prepare themselves for the budget confines of a smaller Army. “The Army will get smaller and spend less,” Lasher said. “It’s important for you then, our industry partners, to help us find cost-effective, simple solutions to help FORSCOM complete the mission and help our warfighters maintain a lean-forward posture.”
Newsletter: “Tip of the ‘tenna” - Spring 2012
Check out the latest edition of “Tip of the ‘tenna” by clicking the link below. Enjoy!
Tip of the ‘tenna - Spring 2012 Edition
Tip of the ‘tenna: Fall 2011
May Luncheon: Jane Brightwell, VP Strategic Business Development
When: May 10, 2012; 11:30 - 1:00
Where: Peaden’s in Fayetteville, NC
Please register on the Monthly Luncheons page.
As Vice President, Strategic Business Development, Ms. Brightwell is responsible for the development of the focus markets Government, International, and MWBE/Diversity. She returned to the telecommunications industry with Walker in 1997. Prior to that Ms. Brightwell had been Manager Customer Satisfaction World Wide for Sara Lee Corporation as well as serving in other roles within the textile industry.From 1984-1988, Ms. Brightwell had worked with the fiber optic start-ups of Celwave and DITEL which became Draka Communications.
Education achievements include MBA from the Babcock Graduate School of Management’s Executive Program at Wake Forest University, MA from George Washington and BS in Journalism/PR from the University of South Carolina.
She is the Carolinas Regional Vice President for Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) and has been board member of the North Carolina Chapter of AFCEA. She is an active member of Women In Defense Palmetto (SC) Chapter. In addition, Ms. Brightwell has served on the Board of Directors of Wake Forest University’s Family Business Center and City of Winston Salem Citizen’s Budget Committee.
AFCEA 2012 Golf Tournament
The AFCEA Spring 2012 Golf Tournament was a wonderful event, thanks to all of our sponsors, participants, organizers and volunteers. We’ll be posting more about the event, including some memorable photos, so stay tuned!
AFCEA South Carolina: Semantic Technology Symposium Series with Dennis Wisnosky
The Lowcountry Chapter of AFCEA South Carolina presents in cooperation with SPAWAR Atlantic, and DOD DMCO, the Semantic Technology Symposium Series!
This event will feature Dennis Wisnosky, Chief Technical Officer and Chief Architect, Office of the Deputy Chief Management Officer, U.S. Department of Defense. Mr. Wisnosky is leading the transformation of architecture-driven business systems / services development and deployment, and the need for enterprise architecture standards, domain ontologies, and the utilization of semantic technology to support data interoperability. As Mr. Wisnosky presents the Department’s strategy, he will also give an overview of the work being done towards realizing efficiency and interoperability within the DoD by demonstrating a new management tool his team recently developed utilizing Semantic Technologies.
This full day of presentations and demonstrations featuring the application of Semantic Technologies to solve real world problems. This event is designed to showcase projects that have successfully developed and are working to deploy semantic based solutions.
Registration is currently open. Space is limited so sign up early! For more details visit: https://charleston.afceachapter.org/News.html