Network operations center working hard to make AFNet migration happen

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Grace Lee
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  At Luke Air Force Base there's been a noticeable amount of email notifications sent from the 56th Communications Squadron to prepare base members for the Air Force Network migration.

According to Air Force officials, the AFNet migration will improve security, save money and give members permanent email addresses.

"The most obvious difference is that email addresses will change," said Master Sgt. Denise Ziwisky, 56th CS network operations section chief. "The first.last@luke.af.mil address will be replaced with a standard first.last@us.af.mil address."

Having one email address is convenient for the transient Airman lifestyle.

"Benefits to the AFNet are that email accounts will be universal," said Tech. Sgt. Kristoffer Scott, 56th CS network integration NCO-in-charge. "Once the Air Force is fully migrated, there will be no need to create a new account when moving bases, on temporary duty assignments or deployed. The new email can be accessed from any Air Force computer. Another benefit is improved security, due to the centralized oversight."

Airmen at the network operations center are determined to make the migration go smoothly.

"The NOC is comprised of two sections; Network Infrastructure and Network Operations," Ziwisky said. "These sections rely on each other to form the Luke network."

Ziwisky said network infrastructure manages the network architecture, from the switches and routers that pass data from one point to the other, to the cables that connect to the computers. Network operations deal primarily with network servers. These servers manage email, file storage, email backups, files, connection to other bases and networks, and Web access.

Although the task may seem simple, Ziwisky said Airmen at the NOC worked hard to make this migration possible for the 8,000 users and organizational accounts at Luke.

"There is a specific Air Force Network Integration Center team assigned to Luke that provides our tasks and checklists," she said. "There are hundreds of checklist items that we have been working on for the past three months. Some of these items have been quite simple and can be completed within a few hours while other items have taken more than two weeks to complete. Our main focus has been to verify and standardize all aspects of the network."

Ziwisky said the total migration should be completed within a few months.

"Migration of the general base populace will start, in a phased approach beginning Monday after the testing process has occurred," she said. "A handful of 56th CS members migrated Aug. 14. The most important thing is that the users at Luke read all their AFNet related messages and desktop pop-ups in order to make the process easier."