Army portal Web site is marketers' dream.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.

The Army intends to promote more aggressively its computer-based courses via the vast service Intranet called Army Knowledge Online.

The AKO portal is the Army's latest attempt to consolidate useful information sources and educational programs under a single Web site that can be accessed by every active-duty, reserve or National Guard soldier.

With 1.1 million users, the AKO is considered one of the world's largest intranets.

The central focus of AKO is "training and education," said Matt Calkins, chief executive officer of Appian, the company that developed the portal under contract to the U.S. Army.

Service leaders plan to take advantage of AKO's ability to reach a huge audience and will expand advertisements for computer-based classes and other distance-learning opportunities, Calkins said.

"There are many good distance-learning programs out there," he said. "But they've suffered from one major problem--the lack of marketing to rank-and-file soldiers."

Calkins said that one particular computer-based training course announced on the portal received 20,000 web hits within the first week.

The agency in charge of the AKO portal is the Army's Network Command, in Fort Huachuca, Ariz.

The command recently was stood up in an effort to consolidate the Army's information technology activities.

Lt. Gen. Peter M. Cuviello, the Army's chief information officer, said that computer-based training is gaining support in the service.

A pilot program currently under way at the Army's Signal School, in Fort Gordon, Ga., said Cuviello, showed that a 17-week course could be reduced to seven weeks, by using distance and distributed learning.

Calkins explained that the AKO site could be viewed as a marketer's dream, because it can target explicit audiences within the Army. Certain courses, for example, would be appropriate for specific ranks and occupational specialties.

In general, however, the portal appears to be exactly what the Army needed, to spread the word about educational programs, said Calkins. "The distance learning community is looking at AKO to centralize information about classes."

The Army library system also may get connected to the AKO.

Those eligible to receive an AKO account include active-duty, reserve and National Guard soldiers, family members, Army civilians and contractors. A password is required to access the system.

Through the portal, the Army offers standard email addresses that soldiers can keep throughout their careers, regardless...