No more working on the WAN

One major accomplishment during the first year of NASA's 10-year outsourcing

plan was turning over its wide-area network to a private contractor. As

prime contractor on the Consolidated Space Operations Contract (CSOC), Lockheed

Martin Corp. awarded in January 1999 a $453 million contract to Wang Government

Services to provide NASA's WAN services. The network handles data distribution

services for all crewed, Earth- orbiting and deep-space missions.

The project, which consolidated networks used by four of NASA's strategic

enterprises, is saving more than expected, said Doug Tighe, CSOC program

manager for Lockheed Martin Space Operations. A specific amount wasn't available.

Wang replaced the Asynchronous Transfer Mode switches at 13 network

locations throughout NASA with new Carrier Class ATM switches. Other plans

involve eliminating dedicated and redundant circuits in favor of a common

backbone for the agency.