Navy awards contracts to build prototypes for shipboard network
By
Bob Brewin
Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman will compete to produce what the service terms a revolutionary change in its information technology systems.
Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. won contracts on Thursday to develop prototypes of the Navy's next generation of shipboard networks.
The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center awarded development contracts under its Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services program to Lockheed for $14 million and to Northrop for $17.4 million. The two contractors beat industry teams led by BAE Systems and Boeing Co.
After developing and testing systems for a 14 month period, the Navy plans to select one of the contractors to install a common computer network on at least 275 ships at a cost of $1.5 billion.
Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, told a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee in February 2008 that he viewed the CANES program as a way to develop an affordable shipboard network that was a "revolutionary change in our information technology infrastructure and it is absolutely vital for us to excel in 21st century warfare."
Bernie Skoch, a consultant with Suss Consulting, said CANES marks a bold new approach to equipping and managing shipboard computing. Currently the Navy deploys shipboard applications with their own dedicated computers, requiring excessive and redundant hardware to be installed within the limited confines of a ship.
The statement of work section of the CANES contract calls for developing a common computing environment to host multiple applications. Such a network eventually could save the service billions of dollars by eliminating multiple computer systems and connecting networks, Skoch said.
During a press briefing in January, Lockheed officials said CANES will eliminate redundant shipboard servers and networks and provide a common system that handles voice, video and data on one network.
CANES is the shipboard portion of the Navy's Next Generation Enterprise program, a new network that will replace the Navy Marine Corps Intranet. Roughead told Congress last week that he expects the onshore network to be in operation in 2012.
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