Satisfying defense information needs with unified communications
Posted on: March 28, 2018 by Paul Bender
“In the high-stakes fast-moving environment of defense there can be no more efficient and quicker model for keeping defense personnel connected”
The application of unified communications represents an exponential leap in the capability to exchange information quickly and accurately among defense personnel.
The communications domain of the defense community is like no other. It contains the requirement to pass highly sensitive intelligence data, secure orders and important logistic detail across the globe in an operational environment which is permanently contested. The secure communication requirements overlap the need for extensive corporate business processes such as training, personnel, and administration.
The burden on defense communications is increasing. This is due largely to much greater reliance on the transmission of data, size of the user community and the need to incorporate wider government agencies and allies within communications networks. Put simply the communications appetite will continue to grow in response to the twin horns of technology expansion and the rising demands of operations.
Why is unified communications so useful within the defense sector?
The size and diversity of the defense user community has resulted in the evolution of communication networks which have been built with narrow specialist functional application and employing main-frame technology.
They are often poor at collaborating and require intensive management to maintain and operate. But the modernization of infrastructure backbones with unified communications technology offers the chance to align communication needs more efficiently and across business areas. Unified communications offer the potential to bring together a range of communication and data domains into single governed information environments.
Conducting communications upon a single platform freed from user constraints provides significant potential to increase communications and data collaboration right across warfighting and non-warfighting networks. It is like releasing a knight from his armor presenting unconstrained mobility and agility but retaining the protective capability. The unification of networks has the benefits of enhancing security, reducing on-site, support and lifecycle costs and removing duplication while providing a more resilient capability that is scalable and keep pace with future ICT demand.
How does UC work for defense personnel?
The technology behind unified communications is drawn from the rapidly evolving technology trends. For example, cloud technology is freeing defense organizations from the burden of systems management, while increasingly powerful SIE applications allow greater collaboration between user groups. Unifying secure and non-secure networks into single communication environments will transform the way data is passed and managed creating more efficient business processes across the whole of the defense area.
The effect of unifying communications is to move communications with the human element to create a single network which is simply a part of decision-making and situation awareness. In the high-stakes fast-moving environment of defense there can be no more efficient and quicker model for keeping defense personnel connected.
