Air Force Network migrations coming to 501st CSW Published Aug. 8, 2012 By Tech. Sgt. Quentin Hawkins 423rd Communication Squadron RAF ALCONBURY, United Kingdom -- The 501st Combat Support Wing will become the next U.S. Air Forces in Europe wing to migrate its computer users into a single Air Force Network, or AFNet. During a two-month period beginning around Sept. 24, technicians will begin migrating 501st CSW workstations, network users and e-mail into the AFNet. During the migration, some 501st CSW users may experience network or e-mail access interruptions, but for the majority, user impact will be minimal. Although software and hardware problems are to be expected, the AFNet migration project represents a major change to how computer networks are managed. Until now, major commands and various other Air Force organizations have operated their own independent networks, consequently driving unique and unit specific requirements. Over the years, this approach led to standardization and security problems, high operation and maintenance costs, and a lack of enterprise situational awareness. In short, there was no single organization or commander responsible for the network. The AFNet migration project addresses these issues, and places Air Force cyber operations under the operational control of a single commander. This approach will centralize and standardize services like e-mail and data storage and significantly improve network security by increasing the Air Force's ability to fight daily virus activity and malicious intrusion attempts. Finally, operational and training costs will be reduced through the elimination of redundant systems and services. The most visible change customers will notice will be their e-mail addresses. The migration replaces the old first.last@base.af.mil e-mail address with a standard first.last@us.af.mil address. Regardless of the base or organization assigned, this address remains with users for the duration of their career, employment or affiliation with the Air Force. As more bases join the AFNet, Airmen can log into their accounts from any AFNet base without requesting and creating an additional account, allowing easy access to the network during deployments, and throughout TDY or PCS moves. The migration also uses a consolidated customer service help desk, called the Enterprise Service Desk, designed to serve as a one-stop shop for common user problems. As the projected start date approaches, a team of Air Force Network Integration Center, 690th Network Support Group and 501st CSW communication technicians are preparing the equipment and resources to ease the migration of almost 2,000 users across the wing and users will receive base-specific advisories 45, 30, 15, seven, three and one day before the migration begins with migration-related instructions. The tentative dates for the migration are as follows: Sept. 24 to Oct. 1 RAF Croughton RAF Alconbury RAF Molesworth RAF Upwood RAF Fairford RAF Welford Oct. 1 to Oct. 8 RAF Menwith Hill Stavanger Oct. 1 to Oct. 29 501st CSW-supported geographically separated units