On January 7, 2013, the U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) will begin full deployment of the Defense Enterprise Email (DEE) service provided by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). In coordination with its mission partners at NETCOM, DISA, and Army CIO/G6, Defense Enterprise Email signals a new era for Army Medicine in the delivery of cloud computing as a service. Everyone in MEDCOM will migrate to enterprise email by March 31, 2013.
"Enterprise Email generates enormous capacity for Army Medicine. This service optimizes our ability to globally communicate within the Department of Defense and with our federal, state and host nation partners," said Lt. Gen. Patricia D. Horoho, the surgeon general and commanding general of the United States Army Medical Command.
This common service delivers CAC (Common Access Card) enabled email on-demand through the Internet on a myriad of computing devices and operating systems. Here's a taste of the many new features that DEE provides:
• 4 gigabytes of email storage -- 40 times the current allotment.
• 3.9 million users in the Global Address List (GAL); that's everyone with a DoD CAC.
• Calendar sharing with DEE members. MEDCOM's current calendar is limited to OTSG/MEDCOM users only.
• Tired of wrestling with a different Outlook account configuration every time you move? DEE eliminates this hassle by allowing the user to control updates to organization, location, duty title, telephone numbers, and even display their "nickname."
"Enterprise email is the first of many cloud computing campaigns of innovation and organizational learning, enabling Army Medicine to maintain, restore, and improve health," said Col. Dave Parramore, Army Medicine chief technology officer.
As January 2013 approaches, MEDCOM personnel are advised to take the following action steps as required below:
• The very first thing you must do is access the milConnect portal https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/milconnect/. Once logged in, look for "Update GAL Info" under "Quick Links." This feature allows you to customize your name as it will appear in the GAL, your duty location, job title, telephone numbers, etc.
• You must also reduce your mailbox to less than 150MB of data. This allows for a speedy movement of your AMEDD mailbox across the Internet to its new location on DEE servers.
• If you are the current "owner" of a distribution list (DL) on the AMEDD GAL, your DL will be migrated to DEE. DLs without owners identified , however, will not be migrated.
• You also must move any files located in a "public folder" to the AMEDD Portal (SharePoint), AKO, or a shared drive in order to protect your data from unnecessary loss. The public folder capability ends with the DEE migration.
• MEDCOM is currently in the process of migrating all government furnished computers to Windows 7. The migrating concludes in December 2012. All MEDCOM government furnished computers must have Windows 7 in order for the Microsoft Outlook program to function. If your government computer has Windows XP, you will have Outlook Web Access (OWA) capability. Having OWA means that you can only access email through a CAC enabled web browser.
• You can also access DEE through a CAC enabled browser on a number of personally owned computing devices. Go to http://militarycac.com/ for configuration help.
To find out more, go to: https://mitc.amedd.army.mil/dee. This website has other helpful information and resources available to you such as tactics, techniques, and procedures for group accounts (OTSG OPS, e.g.), dual persona (you serve in the ARNG and are a government civilian e.g.), and much more.
What about AKO?
As you migrate to DEE, your AKO mailbox will begin to close. What does this mean to you? Your AKO username will remain available, but all mail addressed to your AKO account will forward automatically over to your DEE mailbox. Your AKO and AMEDD mailboxes will close after the MEDCOM's migration to DEE. The AKO portal will remain available to you so you can continue to access your resources there as usual.
You are encouraged to prepare now for this change in email service. Just like taking responsibility for your own health through positive decisions about activity, nutrition, and sleep, action steps are also required for the DEE migration. Teamwork and preparation are keys to a successful migration. Above all, the MEDCOM Enterprise Service Desk (ESD) stands ready to render assistance. Please call them at 1 800 USAMITC. Working together to prepare for the DEE migration will help make this a positive experience for you and Army Medicine.
Related Links:
Defense Enterprise Email (DEE)
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