By Ann Roosevelt
C2 Central is the place to go if you want to find out about Command and Control (C2) systems, performance, platforms or interoperability, whether you are a developer or a user.
C2 Central is a website managed and hosted by the U.S. Joint Forces Command’s Joint Systems Integration Center (JSIC), that officially debuted Oct. 1, said Mike Powell, deputy director of JSIC, who leads the Advanced Systems Analysis Directorate.
“It’s the result of the past three years’ effort in collecting data for the system” and working with the users, Powell said in an interview.
JFCOM is the Defense Department’s Command and Control capability portfolio manager.
C2 Central has three main purposes, the first of which is centralization of information management, Powell said.
Today, to find such information, a user or program official has to access a variety of different databases and websites, each with their own firewalls and accessibility, he said. JSIC has already done this.
Secondly, C2 Central hosts technical information about C2 system characteristics and performance, program information, migration plans, who manages the program, what platforms it is on, how it is configured, and overall interoperability.
Third, the system holds general information on C2 events, training, exercises, conferences and seminars. There is also an encyclopedia of articles, like Wikipedia, that is updated constantly on all relational things, such as platforms, communications equipment, and networks, Powell said. Interested parties can get information via a Twitter-like feed, or an RSS feed to keep up to date on calendar items and news.
“We’ve saved the warfighter time, in being able to lay their hands on information [that is centralized],” Powell said. “One of the main things it (C2 Central) does is it closes the information gap between the user and program acquirers and developers of equipment and those who manage performance.”
The stakeholders are the warfighting operators of the equipment, from those who actually put their hands on the keyboard, to those who set up architectures and connect and establish networks, and their peers and supervisors who need such information.
Other stakeholders are equipment and system developers, contractors and civil servants, and those at warfare centers working on C2 efforts.
Additionally, those within the Beltway, those system acquisition and program management people who need to know particulars of other systems, can go to C2 Central and find who is managing what system in what service, major development timelines, financial information, architectures, technology migration schedules, Powell said.
For example, Powell said, if there’s a specific need to emulate the function of the Army Maneuver Control System (MCS), the interested party goes to C2 Central, looks up MCS and sees what the tasking is for it, and what the Army uses it for. Looking at functions and performance, gaps and redundancies can be found.
Additionally, someone can look up a particular function or capability that will map to all the different C2 systems that provide that capability, he said. From there, the user can navigate to services, program managers, look at requirements and quickly see what systems are out there.
For JFCOM decision makers, finding gaps and overlaps is important as the command manages the C2 capability portfolio, which was established in 2006 as a result of the Quadrennial Defense Review.
“JSIC was tasked to define the capability space of the portfolio,” Powell said. A database was set up for C2 information, called the C2 Registry in 2007. Over three years, the database changed names and function and evolved to C2 Central over three years.
C2 Central is for DoD users only now. JSIC is in the process of incorporating similar NATO information that only U.S. users could see.
“In parallel, NATO is developing a similar system,” Powell said. JSIC personnel have traveled to NATO to offer support and works with NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency (NC3A).
“In future we’ll try to find a way to connect that information” to C2 Central, he said.
Coming up, Powell said the office will be developing “executive dashboards,” custom tailored user interfaces to help senior executive service, flag and general office leaders make decisions. These officials have an interest in seeing some, but not all the information available.
Content will continuously expand over the year, he said. As well, C2 Central will be established on the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet).
The office also will be working to better define collaborative systems where warfighters could have open forums to discuss issues and problems and offer general commentary.
JSIC is keeping track of C2 Central metrics. “Since its inception in Oct 1, we have a continuous upward expanding of users,” Powell said.
As far as general commentary on the site, Powell said they received “almost unanimous support” last year talking to all the service program executive officers and program managers explaining what C2 Central was all about. The biggest concern for these officials was potential overtasking of their personnel by keeping their own content on C2 Central up to date.