MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan -- Misawa Air Base’s email server recently received an overhaul by the 35th Communications Squadron and the Air Force Network Integration Center, here, April 16.
The two teams worked together to move all the information from the base servers to a larger Air Force cloud servers, providing significantly more storage space to each user.
Transitioning to this program gives users significantly more space in their inbox, upgrading the space from 100MB to 99GB (99,000MB) or 1,000 times the amount of storage.
“From a user’s perspective, they get more space, and they’ll no longer have to migrate your profile because it's on the cloud,” said Staff Sgt. Brennan Williams, a 35th CS project manager.
The new system now allows users to use Office365, which is a cloud-hosted program, allowing users to transfer email information without a hassle.
This means the new cloud service makes computer hardware and software functionality available to the user via the internet, enabling the user to nix the extra step of installing or maintaining individual files computer-to-computer.
“These servers are in the cloud and get backed up far more frequently,” said Williams. “With the old system if someone’s computer crashed, we would have to go into their account and try to retrieve any data that was lost. With this system, everything is stored digitally.”
The new program has already saved thousands of hours in troubleshooting--both for users and network technicians.
“The migration is important for the mission because it will push the Air Force closer to the cutting edge of Enterprise technology,” explained Staff Sgt. Jonathan Spooner, the 35th CS communications focal point NCOIC. “As a result, customers who are not able to use the same computer everyday will always be able to access all of their emails.”
The 35th CS will continue to troubleshoot any issues users are having until the migration is fully complete.
If users experience any issues during the migration process, they should contact their unit cybersecurity liaison, submit a virtual enterprise services dashboard ticket or contact the communication focal point at 226-2666.
“Users now have way more space and won’t have to deal with those pesky ‘your inbox is full,’ emails anymore,” explained Spooner. “Overall, this makes the new program more user friendly.”