Taking fire, Navy Marine Corps Intranet progresses.

AuthorKennedy, Harold

Despite delays and resistance, the controversial $8.8 billion Navy Marine Corps Intranet--which is intended to connect the two service's shore bases and link up with deployed ships at sea--is growing quickly, according to Navy Capt. Chris Christopher, NMCI staff-director.

NMCI is an integrated computer network that will replace approximately 1,000 systems currently operating throughout the Navy Department, he told National Defense. In doing so, he said, the intranet will provide increased security, worldwide accessibility and interoperability with other services.

As of mid-September, more than 100,000 Navy computers were operating in NMCI, Christopher said. "We anticipate that doubling within the next couple of months."

Acting Navy Secretary Hansford T. Johnson and his staff joined the system in August. The Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., along with its tenant commands, began the transition to NMCI last spring. The first Marine computers were scheduled to come aboard in October, Christopher said.

Eventually, NMCI will include more than 360,000 Navy and Marine computers in more than 300 locations worldwide. But installation has been delayed because of massive deployments to fight wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Navy's carrier groups and the Marines, in particular, were affected, Christopher explained. "Whole bunches of them went overseas," he said. "As they come rolling back, they can be put into NMCI."

Initially, the Navy Department intended NMCI to be fully implemented by June of this year. The new goal is late in fiscal year 2004, Christopher said.

To build and manage the system, the Navy in 2000 awarded a five-year, $6.9 billion contract to Electronic Data Systems Corporation, of Plano, Texas. Under the terms of the contract, the Naval Network Warfare Command, at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, Va., would supervise operation of the sailors' portion of NMCI. (related story page 38) The Marines' director of command, control, communications, computers and information (C4I), in Washington, D.C., would do the same for the Corps.

Unquestionably, NMCI marks a major change, Christopher said. "For the Navy, this is comparable to going from sail to steam propulsion."

Three of four network operating centers have been completed at major naval hubs in Norfolk, Va.; San Diego and Oahu, Hawaii. A fourth, for the Marines, was due to be completed at Quantico in September.

Meanwhile, the intranet is replacing hundreds of separate contracts and...

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