DOD enterprise e-mail reaches one million user milestone

The Defense Department's Enterprise E-mail (DEE) system reached the one million user threshold when a soldier at Fort Riley, Kan., registered for a new e-mail account on March 12, the Defense Information Systems Agency said in a news release.

The milestone comes two years after the effort began, and it puts the the DOD's Enterprise E-mail system in the class of the largest independent e-mail systems in the world, DISA said.

"For the warfighters, using DEE means wherever they are, they can use their email, whenever they need it. It is not necessary to start a new e-mail account when you move or deploy. It is as mobile as the servicemember," Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronnie Hawkins, DISA's director, said in the announcement.

"DEE also supports DOD's adoption of the Joint Information Environment, as it enables seamless collaboration among the services," Hawkins said.

DEE saves millions of dollars for the department by leveraging the buying power of the entire department, DISA said. Enterprise services reduce costs by consolidating system hardware requirements and maintenance, eliminating unnecessary and inefficient administration and resource allocation. That means the military services and defense organizations using enterprise services can save money in IT services to preserve more resources for their primary mission.

DOD Enterprise Email also provides joint capabilities that are not available in service-unique or organization-specific email systems, such as being able to access the DOD Global Address List. All common access card holders along with their professional contact information are automatically entered into the Global Address List. Users can update and maintain their information using MilConnect.

The Army is in the final phase of its migration to DEE, and the service has migrated 967,000 user accounts to date, Mike Krieger, the Army Deputy CIO/G-6, said in the news release.

RADM Earl Gay, commander of the Navy Recruiting Command, finds the joint aspects of DEE especially useful for members of his command. "We've received superb technical support from DISA," Gay said in the news release. "Most importantly, the feedback from our recruiters has been very positive, which is always my primary focus for any IT solution."

The Navy Recruiting Command migrated to DEE in October.

DEE has a number of redundancies designed to avoide system-wide outages," Alfred Rivera, principal director of DISA's Enterprise Services, said in the news release. "DISA maintains absolute command and control of all enterprise email infrastructure assets," he said

"We want our warfighters to know that they have the most reliable email system available," Rivera said. "We've got their back. We are providing them with the key IT and communication tools they need to conduct their day-to-day mission."

"Mobility is another important advantage of DEE," John Hale, chief of DISA's Enterprise Applications Office, said in the news release. "Our BlackBerry infrastructure is one of the largest in the world with more than 80,000 users. And DEE is accessible on multiple smart phones and tablets through the DOD Mobility pilot."

DEE is the e-mail service for the Joint Staff, Europe Command, Africa Command, Army and DISA. With new organizations migrating to DEE, the system is expected to reach 1.5 million users by late summer.