Army to Transition Workforce to Security-Focused Cloud Platform

The Army is working to transition its cloud users onto a platform designed with cybersecurity and information sharing in mind.

Microsoft Teams, emails and SharePoint systems will be migrated to the new Army 365 platform, which offers similar capabilities offered under Microsoft 365, CHIPS Magazine reported Thursday.

Lt. Gen. John Morrison Jr., Army deputy chief of staff, said Army 365 will allow personnel to move away from the commercial virtual remote environment that they relied on for telework during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Army 365 gives us an enduring capability to collaborate across the Army, along with our sister services, the joint force and industry,” Morrison said.

Morrison said Army 365 was built on a foundation of security and includes programs that are far better than what is offered on CVR.

The new platform’s resources will include video and voice teleconferencing, email, instant messaging and access to shared drives, the chief of staff added.

Morrison said the transition will occur across three phases, the first of which will be focused on migrating Microsoft Teams capabilities before the CVR’s shutdown on June 15.

For the second phase, the Army will move government email capabilities before the Defense Enterprise Email service is shut down by the end of the next fiscal year.

The third phase will be focused on moving SharePoint services. Morrison expects the final stage to take the longest because of the large data needs of each user.

Army 365 program officials will continue testing the platform and releasing guidance to ensure a seamless transition, Morrison said.