NMCI gains 100,000 seats

The Defense Department has given the Navy the green light to cut over 100,000 computer seats to the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet, marking a major advance for prime contractor Electronic Data System Corp. and the $6.9 billion outsourcing program.

EDS already has assumed responsibility for 49,000 seats. NMCI's director, Rear Adm. Charles Munns, learned of the decision May 3 during a meeting with Defense CIO John P. Stenbit and Michael W. Wynne, principal deputy undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, technology and logistics.

"I think we achieved a significant milestone," Munns said during a briefing at the program executive office in Arlington, Va. "We're now going from a pilot phase to a rollout phase."

Munns attributed the DOD approval to the "many laborious hours" invested by sailors at the three initial sites. "They were the brave souls to go first," he said.

The next step will be to cut over 20,000 of the 100,000 new seats at nine sites to EDS before July, Munns said. The seats will be ready for contractor testing in July or August, he said.

NMCI eventually will consolidate 200 networks into an intranet linking more than 400,000 sailors at sea and ashore.