U.S. Army Garrison, Baumholder • UNKNOWN

Baumholder breakes ground for $7 million high speed

infrastructure project

By Ignacio “Iggy” Rubalcava

U.S. Army Garrison Baumholder Public Affairs Office

A ground breaking ceremony symbolizing the start of a $7 million project was held Oct. 14 on Smith Barracks. The Installation Information Infrastructure Modernization Program, or I3MP as it is known, will develop Baumholder’s information infrastructure, putting the garrison on the information highway fast lane. The project will upgrade the capacity and reliability of voice and data communications to state-of-the-art technology. The project is expected to take one and a half years to complete.

Cable installation will be concentrated on Smith Barracks and Quartermaster Kaserne. The official name of the project is Germany 4A Baumholder.

I3MP will provide support for installation communications during readiness, training and mobilization and for tactical and strategic systems that operate within the confines of the installation. It will also enhance connectivity between deployed and rear detachment forces.

Nokia Siemens Networks has been contracted to spearhead the project. Nokia Siemens Networks is based in Mannheim, Germany and many of its staff lives in the Rheinland Pfalz. Before the ground breaking, Darren Mowery, Nokia Siemens Networks, I3MP Program Manager, stated that the company has been working with the U.S. military for more than 50 years in the field of telecommunications and data technology.

Participating in the ground breaking ceremony were Darren Mowery; Lt. Col. Sam McAdoo, U.S. Army Garrison Baumholder commander; Heike Raab, Rheinland-Pfalz State Secretary of Interior, Sports, and Infrastructure; Lt. Col. Eric Aslakson, 102nd Signal Battalion commander; and Maj. Sean Troyer, Assistant Program Manager-Europe, I3MP.