Web-based command and control: the millennium experience

Describes an innovative concept for mobile Web-based command and control (C²) based on operational experience gained during the millennium roll-over period. We call this concept e-C². Like many other large companies world-wide, the leading Dutch ICT (information and communications technology) services provider, Origin, set up a hierarchy of command-and-control centres (CCC) in late 1999 to ensure continuity of operations in the face of the perceived threat of the Y2K (Year 2000) bug. Taking advantage of Web-based technologies, we enabled Origin´s managers to operate their CCC from wherever they happened to be. Infrastructure and procedures were adapted to allow for changes in the CCC location. Linking mobile commanders has profound operational potential, e.g. enabling command to pass to the on-site incident commanders. Although the Y2K bug will not have to be faced again, the concept and lessons learned are applicable wherever a C² system has to be established for a major civil or military event