All Partners Access Network

All Partners Access Network

Abbreviation	APAN
Formation	June 3, 1997
Purpose	Humanitarian Aid, Disaster Management, Security Cooperation
Headquarters	Honolulu, Hawaii
Website	https://www.apan.org
Formerly called	Asia-Pacific Area Network

All Partners Access Network (APAN), formerly called Asia-Pacific Area Network, is a United States Department of Defense (USDOD) social networking Website used for information sharing and collaboration. APAN is the premier collaboration enterprise for the USDOD. The APAN network of communities fosters multinational interaction and multilateral cooperation by allowing users to post multimedia and other content in blogs, , forums, document libraries and media galleries. APAN is used for Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, Exercise Planning, Conferences and Work Groups. APAN provides non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and U.S. partner nations who do not have access to traditional, closed USDOD networks with an unclassified tool to communicate.

The origins of APAN can be traced back to the Virtual Information Center (VIC) which was created at Camp Smith in Honolulu, Hawaii. The VIC was established as an open source, information network designed to provide timely crisis-driven information to command decision makers.Admiral Dennis Blair, the U.S. Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Command, believed that genuine security within the region comes only when nations share dependable expectations of peaceful change, and act in concert to address common challenges. He maintained that armed forces, in conjunction with diplomatic efforts, should cooperate. It was at this same time U.S. coalition partners were seeking greater interoperability within the USPACOM Area of Responsibility (AOR). As a result, APAN was created in March 2000 to provide partner nations with a non-dot-mil (.mil), unclassified link into the Virtual Information Center to establish a way to communicate worldwide.