Let's give credit where credit is due. NMCI does do some things right. Albeit a bit late.
In an effort to allow laptop users to utilize higher bandwidth legacy and "secular" networks, NMCI began officially rolling out its Broadband Unclassified Remote Access Service (BuRAS) in late March. BuRAS is not much more than a virtual private network (VPN) solution that is custom tweaked to operate correctly with the NMCI software and OS load.
EDS reports that it is officially pushing BuRAS to "Navy flag officers, SES personnel, and their direct staffs" and expects to push to all 80,000 NMCI laptop users in a phased approach. It has not been rolled out to Marine Corps seats yet. It remains a mystery why initial pushes to high-ranking personnel were deemed more important than any other user. With rank comes privilege, apparently....
BuRAS has been in beta test for several months with select users. It works well although, like some other software VPN solutions, takes a fair amount of time to establish a connection before the user can begin working. Once connected it offers the mobile user full access to all NMCI assets such as shared drives, E-mail and intranet servers.
Users can connect via any high speed connection such as ADSL, cable modems, corporate Ethernet networks, and hotel or airport networks. It uses the RJ-45 Ethernet port on the laptop. USB connectivity via external adapters is not supported.
