AKO, is the official worldwide intranet website of US military. It is used by troopers and DA civilians for the purpose of transferring information through AKO email. AKO, the world’s largest company intranet, was developed in 2004. It was the result of the issues raised by the troopers supporting the Iraqi Freedom Operation. The issues were the problems that they faced while communicating with each other. With AKO, military users can send and receive messages. They can have access to all commonplace webmail options.
The AKO email has more than 2 million users that are authorized by theUSmilitary. The registered and authorized users are the active army members, their family members and retired army members. As per the website of AKO, it aims at transforming the army to a knowledge and information based organized.
To have an access to your AKO email service, you require a username and password which is common to most on-line webmail platforms. In order to understand the process, you will find a tutorial which is recorded both in text and audio format.
The maximum AKO email size is 5MB. A file is 8 bit data but when it is sent in an email it is base 64 encoded so that it can be printed. Base 64 encoding is able to convert 3 decoded bytes into 4 encoded ASCII characters which makes it printable. In other words, a file having a size of 3.7MB becomes 5MB encoded. If the AKO email includes signature or is encrypted, it takes additional space and the attachment size becomes smaller. To make an AKO email of 5MB encoded with signature and encryption, the attachment
should be of 2.6MB with no message text in order to make it through the AKO webmail. In short, an AKO email without any signature or encryption can have an attachment of 3.7MB and with signature and encryption; it can be of 2.6MB. In order to send a message of 20MB via your AKO email, you will be required to set up your AKO webmail to an external email client such as Thunderbird or Outlook.
There are certain attachment types that are not allowed through the AKO mail system. This is done to comply with the NETCOM guidance 2004-11A. These attachments include: .ace, .ad, .bat, .bhx, .shs, .txt.scr, .upx, .url, .uue, .vbs, .com, .crt, .nch, .mim, .wsf, .wsc, .ws, .vsw, .vss, .dll, .doc.bat, .doc.com, .doc.pif, .exe, .dot, .exe, .exe., .ceo, .chm, etc.
These attachments are blocked in order to protect email from viruses. Even if you want to send an AKO email with one of the above attachments, then you have to upload the file to an AKO folder and give the user the access to the file. You can send a link to the file.
AKO is a very helpful website. It is true that AKO email and other AKO options are difficult to learn and understand but once you understand them, you will come to know that it is a hub for several things.
