When the Navy upgraded its Navy-Marine Corps Intranet to the Next Generation Enterprise Network, the Marine Corps decided to go its own way, with a government-owned, government-run network for the service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Marine Corps Enterprise Network is the result of that decision, something officials say they have been working on for years to continue providing Marines with communications and networking requirements. That work is growing along, according to Ken Bible, deputy director for C4 and deputy CIO at the Marine Corps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The need to provide assured means of communication and the need to defend the network [war fighters] are relying on to get their mission done \u2013 that changes the equation,” Bible said April 21 at the AFCEA Cyber Defensive Operations Symposium in Washington, D.C. “And one of the things I really appreciate about the Marine Corps is they understand that mission and get after that problem\u2026starting with the Marine Corps enterprise information network unification plan.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
The plan aims to tie together the Marines’ Corps\u2019 <\/span>pieces of the former NMCI, the service\u2019s secret classified network, the Secure Operational Networks Infrastructure and Communication program, and other communications-related efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “From a unification perspective\u2026we’re bringing all these things together to support a Marine Corps enterprise network that can support from the fighting hole at the edge back to the garrison. Because we don’t have time to build a new network when we go out the door to fight,” Bible said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bible pointed to three main “lines of access” to support the ongoing efforts in deploying and transporting the network and supporting Marines at the edge:<\/p>\n\n\n\n