Creating and Operating AKO
In 1999, the U.S. Army recognized a critical need to move beyond its various stovepipe legacy IT systems, which significantly hindered access to mission-critical information. With the information and communication needs of its global troops rapidly expanding, the Army required a cost-effective solution that would enable more efficient, advanced, and secure knowledge management, collaboration, and information sharing.
The Army turned to CRGT to design and develop the Army Knowledge Onlinge (AKO) program, an encrypted internet solution that integrates diverse, Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) applications into a user-friendly knowledge management portal. It provides fast, secure, worldwide access to a wide range of information, tools, and services, a few of which include forms and regulations, installations, change-of-station information, communities of interest, Army news, and AKO Knowledge Center. CRGT incorporated a global e-mail address solution so that, instead of having a different e-mail address hosted by each installation, soldiers can now keep the same secure e-mail address no matter where they are stationed.
Serving almost 2.2 million registered users globally, AKO has grown into the most successful intranet portal operating in the Defense community today. In fact, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has adopted AKO as the foundation for the Defense Knowledge Online (DKO) portal, a DoD-wide intranet that will serve the Joint Forces. CRGT will provide operations and maintenance support to DKO, including portal software integration, data center management, managed hosting, information assurance, physical security, help desk services, asset management, and acquisition services.