USFK Celebrate New VTC Installations

U.S. ARMY GARRISON YONGSAN, South Korea – April 3, 2017 –The United States Forces Korea (USFK) celebrated the installation of two high definition command display systems during a ribbon cutting ceremony March 29, 2017 at Command Center Seoul on U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan.

The Product Director Installation, Information, Infrastructure, Communications and Capabilities – Pacific (PD I3C2 – Pacific) United States Forces Korea Strategic Command Center (SCC) video teleconferencing (VTC) hub and Commander’s Information Display Systems (CIDS) project installation kicked off in September 2015. The project provided life cycle replacement for VTC hubs, CIDS at the Commander’s Battle Staff (CBS) room at USAG Yongsan and the Combatant Command (COCOM) room at Camp TANGO.

“A project like this takes a lot of teamwork to accomplish,” said Lt. Col. Gregory Soulé, P2E Product Manager. “That team includes USFK J6 team for planning the life cycle replacement requirement and engagement through the install and the 1st Signal Brigade for logistics and configuration support to installation. We also want to thank the USFK J33 staff for their systems operability guidance and allowing our integrators to work in between their battle rhythm.”

The CIDS installation at USAG Yongsan provides rapid transition between unclassified, secret, and coalition network teleconferences. It also replaced failing, low resolution, video projectors with 18 hi-resolution, light emitting diode monitors with multiple user configurable image sizes. The COCOM room at Camp Tango is a comparable configuration with one third the display size and emphasizes secret network connections and displays.

Soulé said USFK now has a system capable of displaying 30 to 50 different images or sources.

“The current system is entirely digital with a state of the art control board,” Soulé said. “Your conference room operators are capable of safely transitioning through unclassified to CENTRIXS-K, and SIPR VTCs faster than they can sanitize the room participants.”

Col. Douglas Mellars, USFK J6, participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony and thanked P2E as the proponent for the life cycle replacement.

Mellars said P2E delivered a valuable capability which is used almost every day. He added senior USFK leadership was aware of the upgrade in capability and he appreciated the delivery of a usable toolset.

Mellars, Soulé, and Col. Robert S. White, USFK J33, cut the ceremonial ribbon during the ceremony, marking the completion for this stage of the project.

“We’re proud of the work that was accomplished here and we think this will meet your current and future requirements for the next five years and beyond,” Soulé said. “We greatly appreciate the USFK staff and U.S. Army Communications Information Systems Activity, Pacific (USACISA-P) staff who worked so hard with us and our integrator to make this installation possible.”