Fort Meade Public Affairs Office
Network officials preparing for migration from Microsoft Teams CVR to IL5
Many employees at Fort Meade are preparing to make the transition to different technology base that will include hosting Microsoft Teams among other applications. The transition moves connectivity to a more integrated system for communicating across the garrison with increase security, interconnectivity and storage space.
The United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), which includes Fort Meade garrison, is transitioning user accounts to Microsoft Office 365 Impact Level 5 (O365 IL5) beginning this June. Army network specialists say O365 IL5 is a software-as-a-service, cloud-based solution which is deploying in a phased, multi-year approach. Full implementation of both USNORTHCOM’S defense information systems agency (DISA) and the Army O365 IL5 environment will include a complete suite of fully integrated applications (apps) that initially include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, One Drive for business (ODFB), and exchange online (Outlook) email. O365 IL5 features collaboration tools such as Teams and SharePoint online.
Fort Meade garrison transitions to Army O365 IL5 cloud services on June 15, 2021, according to garrison operations officials. It provides office apps, SharePoint, individual cloud storage, and organizational team sites to support garrison missions.
All garrison users on the CVR environment will transition to the O365 environment IL5 by the June 15 date. Users will be able to utilize both networks until that date, and should operate in the environment that meets the mission’s needs, officials say.
This transition will take place over three phases:
During Phase I: Between now and the June 15 target date, all users accounts will have migrated to O365 and users can login and validate their new account. This phase is complete once all garrison user accounts are validated.
In Phase II, information transfer from CVR will occur. This phase begins once section points of contact have a validated account. Section POCs and individual users will be required to download any information they need from the CVR environment for transfer to the O365 environment. Users will also need to reestablish groups, channels and meetings in the new O365 environment. This phase is complete once all data have been transfer off CVR environment.
During the final Phase III, garrison directorate and section buildout is completed and the CVR Environment will close. The Phase begins once users validate their O365 accounts as of the June 15 target date. Officials state this phase is complete once all mission functions are transitioned to theO365 environment.
Current plans call for all garrison users to login with their new account sign on information to validate their O365 account during the first week in June. Operations officials state directorate/section POCs have appropriate details to share and help their teammates transition to the O365 environment.
Transitioning to the Army O365 IL5 environment, officials state, increases the Army’s strategic readiness by enhancing workplace efficiency, productivity, and collaboration. As well, modernizing through the use of O365 gives the Army the workplace agility of the commercial industry.
Officials add that O365 is a secure, cloudâbased suite of products that merges Microsoft Office applications used on a daily basis with voice, video, chat, and file sharing capabilities, and addresses cybersecurity issues by enabling the Army to stay ahead of cyber threats by adopting proven secure solutions that balance the benefits of commercial cloud services with the need for information and cyber security.