Implementing the CIS infrastructure for SFOR HQ in Bosnia

In July 1998 NC3A was tasked by SHAPE to design and implement the CIS infrastructure for a new headquarters for the Stabilization Force (SFOR) in Sarajevo. In July 2000 the system was handed over to SFOR for operational use. Organizationally, the project was to be a collaborative effort between NC3A, SFOR and NACOSA, with a substantial number of short-term participants. The overall requirements called for a design that was resilient, flexible, secure, low-cost, and that satisfied minimum military requirements and used COTS equipment. Furthermore, the transition from the old site to the new site had to be accomplished with all functions of SFOR HQ fully operational. The final system was based on a camp-wide SDH ring carrying a distributed ISDN PABX network with mobile phone capabilities and an embedded unclassified intranet. It was decided to build an SFOR secret network for general SFOR use, and a smaller NATO secret network for users requiring access to NATO classified data. This paper is based on the many lessons learned throughout the project. It addresses the design issues, the implementation issues and some of the over-arching organizational issues. Suggestions are made that may be of benefit for similar projects in the future.