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home > September 10, 2007 issue > article
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| Air Force Photo |
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| The consolidation effort will save us money, make better use of our shrinking personnel structure and improve e-mail control and security. - Capt. Jason Fields |
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E-mail addresses: You can take it with you
By Capt. Jason Fields
Special to Defense Systems
It seems everyone is trying to make better use of resources, and the Air Force is doing that with an initiative called E-mail for Life, or E4L. The E4L program is the first step in consolidating the service’s multiple e-mail systems and Active Directory architectures.
The consolidation effort will save us money, make better use of our shrinking personnel structure and improve e-mail control and security. It’s both logical and physical, and the new architecture will be housed in 10 Air Force Area Processing Centers (APCs) that are being designed and built around existing communications facilities.
Part of the consolidation effort begins with E4L, which gives everyone an e-mail address with a universal format. In the past, people have had e-mail addresses specific to their assigned base.
Each time they moved, the host unit would change their addresses as required, and the new base might be on a separate network server system. Now, the new E4L addresses are not Air Force base or unit specific, such as @scott.af.mil, but have the extension of @us.af.mil. Every user can keep the same address as long as they’re associated with the Air Force, no matter what unit they belong to.
With some exceptions, service members have already been notified of their new E4L addresses. As the Air Force consolidates the servers during the next couple of years, local e-mail accounts will disappear, and users will be left with only their E4L addresses and accounts for future use.
Consolidating the 14-plus e-mail systems and architectures across the Air Force requires a costly initial investment. However, maintaining the new architecture will reduce spending levels. The savings will be realized in a number of ways, such as combined systems maintenance costs and a reduction in necessary contractor support.
Perhaps more importantly, the e-mail consolidation helps Air Force organizations deal with active-duty manpower cuts. Ongoing personnel reductions are challenging communications organizations whose system maintenance requirements do not decrease as their staff levels shrink. By co-locating system equipment in APCs and standardizing implementations, the Air Force will be able to do more with less.
In addition to the financial savings and manpower management benefits, the program will bring efficient operational control and increased security. The advantages of having a single e-mail system that authorized groups can control from afar are hard to ignore.
Information security on the E4L system is also of great concern. The system has deployed layers of anti-spam technology designed to protect the future consolidated environment with the ability to expand in capability, if necessary.
Even now, members of the Air Force are using the E4L protection to filter their daily operational e-mail. Combined with content filtering capabilities, the Air Force Network Operations focal point is poised to protect and defend the service’s e-mail environment. That organization is one of the partners, along with the Air Force Directory Services, to work with the Air Force Communications Agency in this effort.
Air Force Capt. Jason Fields is project officer of the E-mail for Life initiative. He works for the Air Force Communications Agency at Scott Air Force Base, Ill.
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