When Col. Timothy Fong started running Army Knowledge Online (AKO) in 2002, the service's information technology officials ordered him to improve the Web portal's activity and stability. Fong, a West Point graduate and career signals officer, followed those orders.

In three years, he helped increase AKO's subscriber base by 800,000 and file downloads by 29 million. He also built a vital backup site.

However, the Army's technology director downplays those stats. Instead, he speaks proudly about soldiers in Afghanistan using the portal to discuss enemy tactics and about how 70 percent of the soldiers with the 1st Cavalry Division in Iraq used it last July for work and personal matters.

"Whatever we can do to help soldiers make better decisions and prepare for their missions, that's what we're here for," Fong said.

Army IT officials think so highly of Fong that they asked him twice to postpone retirement to oversee portal upgrades.

"Col. Fong is an outstanding technologist who has been instrumental in taking AKO to the next level of maturity from its earlier developmental stages," said Lt. Gen. Steve Boutelle, the Army's chief information officer.

Almost 1.8 million Army military and civilian employees and veterans, their families, and employees of companies who work for the service subscribe to AKO. About 250,000 of them log on to it daily, which totals 550,000 sessions a day for a variety of functions including warfighting collaboration and chatting with loved ones.

As of January, subscribers had performed 29.9 million file downloads from AKO's Knowledge Collaboration Center, up dramatically from 10,000 in 2002. The center contains 1.5 million files, compared with 1,200 in 2002. In January, subscribers also sent 14.7 million instant messages via the portal.

Usage and content also increased on AKO's classified portion, which has 96,000 subscribers, compared with 1,200 in 2000. They downloaded 194,000 files from the classified version of the Knowledge Collaboration Center, up from 8,700 in 2003. The center now houses 63,100 files, up from 5,200 two years ago.

Army and industry officials give kudos to Fong and his eight-person staff for the portal's tremendous expansion during wartime.