PXs send web-enabled laptops to the battlefield--for online shopping

The Army and Air Force Exchange Service is undertaking a portable kiosk program to allow personnel in isolated areas throughout the Middle East to shop online at AAFES.com so they can send gifts back home. The AAFES operates post exchanges on military bases throughout the world and serves 7.3 million military-related customers.

AAFES Tactical Exchanges are distributing 10 specially secured field-ready laptop computers to allow access to its web site. This program will make virtually all items in the regular AAFES catalog available to in-field military. For security reasons, the company is not revealing precise locations, but it notes that the laptops will be circulated among high-priority locations on an as-needed basis.

The computers use software from NetKey to allow access only to AAFES.com and not allow users to access other web sites. “This new program of laptop catalog access in the field was first developed by AAFES for military personnel during Operation Desert Storm,” said AAFES CIO and senior vice president Lou Merced. “But it has been only recently that software technology has advanced significantly to make this new program possible.”

AAFES originally licensed Netkey software for stand-alone applications using kiosks designated for its PXs. AAFES then realized it could apply the Netkey software and these same techniques and interfaces to its field laptop program, eliminating the shipping issues associated with full-size kiosk hardware solutions.