Photo By Troy Miller | Norfolk Naval Shipyard Information Technology and Cybersecurity Department (Code 109)...... read more read more
Although this “Dad joke” is out of date, the question was “What are the three fastest ways to communicate with someone?” The answers were “tele”graph, “tele”phone and “tell a” woman. Most likely, this joke was created back in the day when telegraph and landline telephones were the only ways to communicate with someone who wasn’t in earshot of you. Since then, there have been many changes in communication, including the use of cell phones, iPads, and more.
With communication being critical to fulfill Norfolk Naval Shipyard’s (NNSY) mission of repairing, modernizing and inactivating the Navy’s warships and training platforms, there is a dedicated group that ensures all shipyard employees’ telecommunications needs are met.
“The Telecommunications Office, Code 109.43, provides all communication needs for cellular phones, desk phones, pagers and iPads,” said NNSY’s Information Technology and Cybersecurity Department (Code 109) Telecommunication Office Telecommunication Specialist Kalvin Alston. “We are responsible for over 10,000 landline desk phones, over 5,000 cellphones, over 200 iPads, and approximately 50 MiFi portable wireless routers that create a personal Wi-Fi hotspot using a cellular data connection.”
Five telecommunication specialists make up the group that is responsible for all said equipment, but that’s only the start of it. Each telecommunication device comes with a customer who has a need that the telecommunications office strives to meet above and beyond expectations.
“Our customers are not just the civilians here at NNSY; we take care of the active duty Sailors too,” said Telecommunication Specialist William “David” Cannady. “We also take care of civilians and military alike at the shipyard’s remote locations such as Fleet Maintenance Submarines (FMB), Naval Station Norfolk (NSN) Norfolk, Virginia; the Off-Yard Carrier Team, NSN, Norfolk, Virginia; Mid-Atlantic Regional Calibration Center, NSN, Norfolk, Virginia; Navy Nuclear Regional Maintenance Department (NRMD) Norfolk, NSN, Norfolk, Virginia; Kesselring Site, West Milton, New York; Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Kingsland, Georgia; Nuclear Power Training Unit in Charleston, South Carolina and Naval Foundry and Propeller Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania”
Like any other job, the Telecommunications Office team faces challenges they have to overcome, such as when the computer network goes down, they are unable to assist any customers since all cell phones, iPads and pagers require access to the cellular network services.
“Customer service is our top priority,” said Alston. “We understand that their time is valuable and when something out of our control holds them up, we do what we can to ensure their needs are still met in a timely manner.”
Recently, the telecommunications team was tasked to replace all flip phones with iPhones to improve communication across the entire yard. This would allow faster and easier texting, the ability to check government email, accessibility to Microsoft Teams when not at a computer, among other things.
“We had 3,000 customers with flip phones who needed to be converted over to an iPhone,” said Telecommunications Supervisor Colon Davis. “This was a daunting task that required the Telecommunication Office’s team to reach out to our flip phone customers, scheduling them for an appointment and then doing the actual switch out during their appointment. The Telecommunication Office was given roughly three months to complete this task and we had everything completed under the three month deadline.”
Another recent win for the Telecommunications Office is recently completing placing all of its telecommunication equipment under one provider, which wasn’t always the case.
“NNSY had two contracts, one with AT&T and one with Verizon. We were tasked to place all of our cellular coverage under one provider, which we did with a quick turnaround time,” said Davis. “The reason, the AT&T contract was coming to an end, Verizon was the carrier that NNSY was to use, so we had to swap every AT&T phone over to a Verizon phone within two months or users not converted would lose service. We had over 2,000 devices to convert and we did it under the two month deadline.”
If assistance is required for government iPhones or iPads, users should keep in mind, Flank Speed is designed to allow the user the ability to set up and correct issues themselves without the need for others. If customers still require assistance, you may schedule an appointment with the Telecommunications Office by using the appointment link https://outlook-dod.office365.us/owa/calendar/TelecommunicationsC10943@flankspeed.onmicrosoft.us/bookings/. Due to the number of customers, walk-ins are not accepted; an appointment must be made.
If assistance is needed with a landline desk phone, please submit an IT Service Portal ticket by going to https://flankspeed.sharepoint-mil.us/sites/WTMS/SitePages/ITHelpdeskHome.aspx, select the “Submit an NNSY Incident Ticket” option toward the top left of the screen. Complete the form and include your name, landline desk phone number, location of the desk phone, date and time of the issue, and numbers you are calling or receiving calls from while having the issue in the “description” portion of the ticket.
| Date Taken: | 08.04.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 08.04.2025 07:10 |
| Story ID: | 544663 |
| Location: | PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 24 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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