Clarification.
by Grauel, David
Regarding the February 2008 story, "Army to Create
'Hybrid' Network of Incompatible Blue-force Trackers." I
would like to offer the following clarifications:
* Our architecture is nowhere near operating at full capacity at
this time. The success of blue-force tracking has created great demand
for more systems. We are currently making improvements that will keep
the network more than capable of handling the increasing numbers of BFT
platforms expected to be fielded over the next several years.
* Feedback from soldiers points out occasional periods of
"longer than normal" time to send messages to one another,
This is not a symptom of network overload but most often occurs when
longer messages are sent, when satellite line of sight is interrupted,
or when periodic platform-level computer "cleanup" is
required.
* While we do have two variants of our system in the field today
tone uses line of sight radio, one uses satellite communication), and
they are not integrated into one "box," they are compatible
with one another. We have an extremely dedicated team of folks that tie
these two networks together. This network operations team ensures that
all of our worldwide users can talk. 24/7.
Lt. Col. David Grauel, USA
Project Manager. Blue Force Tracking
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