New Networks

f your agency hasn't upgraded its communications networks recently, you can bet an overhaul is in the works. The upsurge in communications traffic-especially Internet use-and the rapid advances in technology mean that old networks simply can't do the job. What's more, newer communications systems may well be more cost-effective.

Two of the civilian federal organizations that rely most heavily on telecommunications-the Treasury and State departments-are beginning major programs to install the next generation of network technologies. In today's telecom world, however, choices have proliferated. Not only have the technologies multiplied, there are more acquisition options, too.

Until now, Treasury has bought most of the telephone switches and data devices that power its communications systems. But now the department wants to get out of the business of being its own network service provider. Officials plan to pursue an agenda of outsourcing throughout this decade that will move Treasury toward a fee-for-service telecommunications and network infrastructure.

But while outsourcing might be the best solution for Treasury, it isn't the answer for the State Department, which must deal with highly sensitive diplomatic, intelligence and military data. Plus, State has offices in nearly every country in the world. The department faces not only an enormous network connectivity challenge but also a security risk. As a result, State officials plan to keep network operations in-house.

Security Issues

State, like many agencies involved in world affairs, has had trouble changing the habits it acquired during the Cold War. One relic of that period is an information technology infrastructure that is costing far too much.

State supports three distinct networks. ClassNet is a classified network that lets diplomats transmit intelligence and diplomatic data around the world without worry of interception.

OpenNet is the department's business network for sensitive but unclassified data. The
network is not attached to the Internet (except for connections that enable limited e-mail), so OpenNet users cannot browse the Web or send e-mail to people outside State. State's third network, which is limited mainly to employees in the Washington area, gives some workers access to the Web and e-mail connectivity.

To keep the network traffic separated, many State employees in Washington have three computers at their desks. The lack of interconnectivity has become a barrier to productivity rather than an enabler.

State has 60,000 employees spread across 250 posts worldwide. The department is spending $5,000 a year per user to keep the three networks operating and provide functionality more typical of a pre-1995 network than one in the 21st century. Embassy employees overseas cannot communicate electronically with their counterparts in other agencies even if their offices are in the same building.

Besides being expensive, administering three networks is a management nightmare and a distraction from important IT issues at State, department officials say. "We haven't had enough money to keep up those infrastructures," says Fernando Burbano, State's chief information officer.

Burbano would like to install security technology that would enable State employees to use the Internet through an advanced network called OpenNet Plus. The new technology would filter and rigorously examine all transmissions coming into the network. By creating OpenNet Plus, Burbano hopes to eliminate the need for the third network, decreasing acquisition and upkeep costs.

"Money is a driver," says Donald C. Hunter, director of State's Office of Architecture and Planning. "And by combining the networks, we are able to focus our attention more on information."

Platform for Progress

Burbano's plans don't stop there.

State has five major information technology goals it aims to attain by 2005. The department wants new software to support its international affairs mission, enhance messaging and improve document management. State also wants to streamline its administrative applications and provide employees with online training. This links into department officials' desire for a better-trained and more productive workforce.

But all of these goals depend on successful implementation of OpenNet Plus. Such a network would expand State's collaboration with think tanks, universities, and even foreign governments, enabling what is now known as "e-diplomacy."

There are a number of stops on the road to OpenNet plus. The first is what the Defense Department calls a "defense in depth" security strategy. Cyberterrorists, snoops and computer virus distributors would be blocked by a series of protection products, including multiple, sequential firewalls and intrusion detection systems. Constant auditing and vulnerability testing (known as "white-hat hacking") would be employed as well. In short, State aims to use the best available tools and practices to protect OpenNet. Beyond the technology, State plans to train users on security risks and provide security leadership by creating information systems security officers. The department will tailor disaster recovery and contingency plans to the newly merged OpenNet Plus, and impose sanctions on those who violate department security policy. IT planners have worked with the department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security every step of the way.

The project is in the beginning stages of a pilot program. After a 30-day review focused on Internet and computer security, the office of the CIO and the Bureau of Diplomatic Security will decide whether to move forward with OpenNet Plus. If State decides to pursue the plan, contractor and government security experts will test the network concept for security holes, risks and vulnerabilities. And if the network proves as secure as its creators hope, OpenNet Plus could be in the beginning stages of deployment by December.

At first, security will be the focus of OpenNet Plus implementation. Once the new, secure network is in place, Burbano expects to eliminate an entire infrastructure that is costly. That could free up money for further network and desktop upgrades, in accordance with State's strategic IT plan. The plan for the enhanced network has the support of Bonnie Cohen, the department's undersecretary for management.

Communications Enterprise

In 1998, Treasury began looking into modernizing its networks. Bureaus such as the Customs Service and the Internal Revenue Service needed networks that took advantage of lower telecommunications prices and modern technologies such as the Internet and frame relay networks.

Research showed it would be more cost-effective to outsource Treasury's telecommunications needs to the private sector.

"We want to get out of the business of owning, operating and maintaining a private network," says Tom Wiesner, director of Treasury's office of corporate systems management and main manager of the Treasury Communications Enterprise (TCE) initiative. "Treasury should be in the business of finances and law enforcement. Our mission is not to operate and maintain a wide area network."

But Treasury, like most federal agencies, owns a lot of telecommunications equipment. This means any path the department takes toward complete outsourcing is likely to be a long one. "TCE is a vision," Wiesner says. "We have a road map, and we will get there one step at a time."

Treasury's individual bureaus are each currently running different subnetworks. The department is beginning by moving all the agencies to a standardized, shared network by the end of 2000. "This is so we can move Treasury forward as one," Wiesner says. Standardizing the network also will eliminate duplicative costs.

TCE is guided in part by James J. Flyzik, Treasury's deputy assistant secretary for information systems and chief information officer. The department also has established a "board of directors," whose members are the bureau CIOs.

The TCE strategy calls for Treasury to use several contracts in the hope of finding the best deal. These contracts include the Treasury Communications System (TCS) and Department of the Treasury Telecommunications Systems (DOTTS) contracts and the governmentwide FTS 2001 contract.

TRW Inc. is the TCS prime contractor, and Lucent Technologies, Pacific Bell, US West and Vista Technologies Inc. are the DOTTS contractors. Treasury has also contracted with Sprint Communications Co. under FTS 2001 for a range of telecommunications services.

Some of Treasury's future requirements will be met by the Digital Telecommunications System contract, formerly held by Lucent but now being recompeted.

Doing More

Once each Treasury agency has access to the new network, Wiesner says the next step is to add new features, such as wireless phone service. The new network also could support e-commerce systems.

Treasury's law enforcement agencies, which include the Secret Service, the Customs Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, could use the latest wireless Internet technology to consolidate and upgrade their mobile radio programs, Wiesner says. "Today our law enforcement components have very limited secure or sensitive but unclassified voice transmissions" over their radios, he says. "Voice over [the Internet] lends itself to sensitive but unclassified transmission and gives us capabilities we don't have today."

As Treasury moves forward, officials hope to take advantage of what Wiesner sees as a major benefit of the transition to fee-for-service contracts: technology refreshment. It is difficult for the government to keep up with rapidly advancing technology, he says. He expects that outsourcing will give agencies access to technology much faster.

One new service Treasury is seriously considering acquiring is network management. Both Sprint and the other FTS 2001 contractor, MCI WorldCom Inc., offer such services.

What will happen to all the equipment in which Treasury has invested?

"We are not throwing away systems that have useful lives left and meet agency requirements," Wiesner says. "But obsolescence or new requirements do come into play. We see that as an opportunity to outsource."

While Treasury is moving toward network standardization, Wiesner is not so keen on completely merging Treasury's voice and data networks quite yet. "You can achieve some benefits of convergence in a campus environment," he says. "But expanding that across the country is a different ballgame."

When it comes to new technology, he says, Treasury does not want to get out on the bleeding edge. "Convergence is not to going to happen tomorrow," Wiesner says. When the time is right, he says, Treasury will be ready.