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An Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center-led initiative to replace outdated telephone switches across the Department of the Air Force is on pace to finish installation of 75 new systems by mid-2025.
Called “Switch Blitz,” the program is a collaboration between AFIMSC, DAF Chief Information Officer, major commands and installations to replace aging systems with Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, technology.
“These analog switches are often over 30 years old and way past their life expectancy,” said Maj. Mary Vasta, AFIMSC Switch Blitz program lead. “The communication squadrons have worked magic to keep them alive this long, but there are no more parts available to fix them.”
Cyberspace and information technology experts in the AFIMSC Capability Portfolio Integration and Optimization Division are working with installations to replace the switches. VoIP technology provides service improvements to increase reliability and help DAF avoid fines from U.S. states that seek to recoup costs to remain backward compatible with the old technology. "We’re working with the DAF CIO and Air Combat Command to accomplish two sides of the same coin,” Vasta said. “Our focus is on upgrading the base telephone switches to VoIP while ACC is tackling the long-haul circuit communications upgrades necessary to complete the full transition.”
The AFIMSC-ACC partnership has been instrumental in ensuring all 96 legacy telephone switches at DAF active-duty installations are targeted for transition.
“In two years, we will have spent $53 million and only have 17 legacy telephone switches left to convert to VoIP. AFIMSC alone has funded 53 of those projects,” she said.
Each base is different, Vasta said, making the minutia of an enterprise-wide transition a major effort for her five-person team, vendors executing the upgrades and Airmen at each installation communications squadron.
“Major Vasta and her team are doing what many said can’t be done in this resource-constrained environment. In doing so, she and her team are significantly improving operational readiness through Switch Blitz,” said Don Lewis, Capability Portfolio Integration and Optimization Division chief. “These switches do more than support voice traffic. They also often enable emergency response, airfield systems and medical systems, which must be preserved."
| Date Taken: | 08.14.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 08.23.2024 15:46 |
| Story ID: | 478611 |
| Location: | SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 33 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, AFIMSC leads DAF-wide transition to VoIP technology, by Craig Rodarte, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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