Symantec to Handle Info Security for NMCI Contract

Symantec Corp. announced April 25 it has shipped almost $10 million worth of its information security products to fill an initial order that is part of the $6.9 billion Navy-Marine Corps Intranet project.

Symantec of Cupertino, Calif., is providing a significant portion of the security components in the NMCI project, including firewall, virus protection, content filtering, vulnerability assessment, and intrusion detection solutions to safeguard the onshore technology services for Navy civilians, sailors and Marines.

The prime contractor for NMCI is Electronic Data Systems Corp. of Plano, Texas. Its teammate on the project, Raytheon Co. of Lexington, Mass., is responsible for the network security and information assurance aspects of NMCI and placed the order with Symantec, said Vincent Steckler, Symantec's vice president, public sector.

"This order was for near-term needs, the next three to five months," Steckler said. All of the products shipped were commercial off-the-shelf, he said.

Between 45,000 and 60,000 seats will be up and running between now and the end of the government's fiscal year in September, and if NMCI reaches its full potential, it will involve somewhere between 360,000 and 400,000 seats, Steckler said.

"We recognize that a key factor in the success of NMCI is the vendor partnerships and quality of solutions we implement," said Tim Bashara, NMCI program director for Raytheon's Secure Networks. "To that end, NMCI is carefully selecting best-of-breed solutions from world-class companies such as Symantec to deliver secure voice, video and data services at a lower cost, which in turn enables us to meet our e-government goals."