Plugged in: Army struggling with rising demand for communications.

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Date: 01 April 2008
• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Published date: 01 April 2008
• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.

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Soldiers want to be plugged in, 24/7. They want video-teleconferencing, as well as streaming, high-def full-motion video.

Conveniences of the information age that troops in combat used to regard as luxuries are now viewed as necessities.

Even for an Army that labels itself a "network-enabled force," the demand for communications services sometimes can get out of hand.

"People are innovating, but they are creating more demand for bandwidth, for information sharing," says Army Col. Patrick Rayermann, chief of the space and missile defense division at Army headquarters.

"Those of us in the business of getting that information have to figure out how to meet the demand," Rayermann says at a recent satellite industry conference in Washington, D.C.

The thirst for information is so great that it has been hard for the Army to keep up, he asserts. "We are not getting them everything that they perceive they need."

The Army appreciates that soldiers are so techno-savvy, but every time they come up with new "killer app" idea, all of a sudden, people want more information, Rayermann says.

Among the applications that most drains the Army's available bandwidth is video-teleconferencing. Officers have become addicted to it.

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