VA to Open Network to Popular Mobile Devices

The Veterans Affairs Department expects to enable employees to use iPhones, iPads, Androids and other popular mobile devices on the departmental network by Oct. 1, VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker has announced.

"Our date is Oct. 1 to allow these types of devices to be used inside VA,” Baker said in a conference call on June 30. An audio record of the call was made available by FierceGovernmentIT.com.

Details of how the mobile devices would be connected, secured and used on the VA networks and whether the department would help buy the devices for employees are still being worked out, said Baker, who also is assistant secretary for information and technology.

The VA is considering two approaches on connectivity, Baker said. In the first approach, the employee mobile device would access network applications such as data on its VistA electronic health record system in a “read only” mode. The mobile device would serve as a thin client that would not download or store any VA information.