An astute Airman on McChord Field and a tech-savvy civilian network engineer on Lewis Main came up with a winning idea that likely saved Joint Base Lewis-McChord several million dollars.

Airman 1st Class Eric Tedor and Tim Allman were working on a project that gave Air Force employees computer access to Air Force networks on Lewis Main. Conversely, the network would give Army employees on McChord Field access to the Army's computer network. Tedor is a 21-year-old computer network technician known as a cyber transport specialist with the 62nd Communications Squadron. Allman is a network engineer for Network Enterprise Center, or NEC.

Sure, it seems like a simple problem, until you find out that each military service must use its own proprietary network. For many security and administrative reasons, there just isn't a way for the military to use one central network.

According to Department of Defense regulations, service networks are separate, so Army and Air Force networks can't commingle. With the joining of Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base, there is ample reason to ensure that all civilian and military leaders can communicate with one another via e-mail and computer.

Fixing the problem looked complex and expensive. One of the primary solutions to the problem on JBLM was to run fiber-optic cable from McChord Field to Lewis Main.

"We aren't allowed to create an integrated or ‘purple' network, one that would combine Army and Air Force," said Air Force 1st Lt. Mica Myers, 62nd Communications Squadron officer in charge of networks and infrastructure. "So it looked like the only option was to run one from McChord Field to Lewis Main. It was estimated it would cost up to $13 million to run a fiber-optic network to Lewis Main."

Not only was the price tag high, the major construction project would have taken time and effort. According to Myers, just digging the trench for the cable would have taken several months.

With some sharp analysis and creative thinking, Tedor and Allman came up with an inexpensive way to piggy-back the systems - and save the joint base considerable time and money.

"The Network Enterprise Center worked in coordination with the 62nd Communications Squadron to develop the proposal of this solution that was presented to both the Air Force and the Army," said Heather Robinson, chief of services management, JBLM NEC.

"This joint effort ensured the solution was accepted and accredited by both services and is being implemented on base," Robinson said. "With this solution in place, we are able to save both the Air Force and Army millions of dollars in new infrastructure costs."

Tedor explained how the solution saved taxpayer money.

"When we came up with the proposal of a virtual network, or VLAN, it seemed like a best way to proceed," Tedor said. "It was the best use of our time and money.

"We used a VLAN network to extend one network through the other network. It allows us to tunnel the Air Force network through the Army's network without the networks touching each other, which keeps data from each branch isolated.

"In the field, we have a way of incorporating a network within a local area network. We thought this would be a perfect use of that configuration."

Currently, several computers to key leaders and employees are linked by the VLAN, with more connections likely in the future. With low start-up, maintenance and upkeep costs, the network appears to be an efficient and economical solution for Air Force and Army users on JBLM.