Plugged in: Army struggling with rising demand for communications.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: IN FOCUS: DEFENSE AND TECHNOLOGY NEWS - United States Army

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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.

Video is the next best thing to face-to-face contact, Rayermann says. "Commanders like to look at their subordinates in the eye ... It gives them a reinforcement that they're in agreement."

To accommodate the requests for VTC, the Army has acquired additional capacity from commercial satellite communications providers, he says. "We've been able to provide the technology, even if the video is a little bit jerky."

Another IT dilemma for the Army is how to provide more reliable communications to dismounted soldiers who are constantly moving around.

"The soldier on the front line probably does not need the throughput that a commander does or the brigade," Rayermann says. "The Army does not envision every soldier to be satellite-enabled."

The future Army will feature a mix of lower data rate and higher data rate terminals and services, he explains. But he acknowledges that the Army must come to grips with the notion that soldiers live in a wired world, and expect it to stay that way, even when they are deployed.

"Young kids grow up always connected. If they are not connected when they are part of the military, they are not sure they want to join," Rayermann says.

Information technology is just not that simple to deliver...