Navy Shipboard Thin Clients

The list of subcontractors Northrop Grumman Corp. supplied me with for its $637.8 million Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services contract does not yet include any name brand desktop or laptop computer suppliers, but intriguingly does include a thin client company, Beatty and Company Computing, a small business that hangs out in Rancho Santa Fe, a tony and horsy suburb of San Diego.

Capt. D.J. LeGoff, the CANES program manager at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, told me last week he wanted to tightly manage the network, and I can't think of a better start than to use thin terminals, which lack drives that allow users to add their own software.

I've asked both Northrop and the command if CANES includes computers with drives along with the Beatty thin clients, but have not heard back from them yet.

IF CANES is a pure thin client play, it could end up being one of the largest installations in the government.