As part of NATO's Readiness Action Plan, the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) is providing connectivity for NATO's six – soon to be eight – new small headquarters in Eastern Europe, in order to help ensure that they become fully operational by the Warsaw Summit in July 2016.
Successful installations took place at the NATO Force Integration Units (NFIUs) in Latvia, Lithuania and Romania in fall 2015, followed by installations in Estonia, Bulgaria and Poland.
Leading the way to modernized NATO IT
Fully centralized communication and information system (CIS) services are being provided at all NFIU locations, leading the way for the NCI Agency's future architectures and modernized IT infrastructure. NFIU users receive application services through private cloud-based application provision for operations and exercises.
Due to the common approach across all NFIUs, the single sign-on and same work structures will be seen across each unit's work stations, ensuring that visiting forces will have the same experience no matter their location. A mix of NATO and national personnel will work at each NFIU location to provide effective support when NATO's Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) deploys into a NFIU Nation in the context of NATO Response Force exercises or operations, providing coordination with the national government and on-the-ground logistic and legal support. The capability deployed within the NFIU will be able to support additional surge personnel from visiting units to aid coordination.
The NCI Agency has been responsible for establishing CIS for NFIUs under extremely tight timelines dictated by the Summit declaration in Wales and the Defence Ministers' political commitment in February 2015. Success was achieved thanks to effective teamwork, bringing together expertise from almost all areas of the Agency, with a can-do and problem solving attitude from all involved, monitored at Director's level through the establishment of the Connected Force Readiness Programme.
The NFIU project installation schedule continues with further deployments in Hungary and Slovakia.