DISA eyes replacement for Hawaii telecom network
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By
Bob Brewin
Agency looks for an IP-based system to serve the Pacific Rim.
As the Pentagon shifts its focus to the Asia-Pacific region, the Defense Information Systems Agency has started planning a replacement for its network providing voice, data and video service to Hawaii and voice service to Singapore, Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, and Wake Island in the North Pacific Ocean.
The agency is looking for a private sector company that could provide telecommunications services as a follow-up agreement to a $250 million Joint Hawaii Information Transfer System contract DISA awarded AT&T in 2006. That contract expires in 2016.
In Hawaii, home of the U.S. Pacific Command, as well as the Army, Navy and Air Force Pacific commands, JHITS provides broadband data service at speeds of up to 9.6 gigabits per second and supports 52,000 telephone lines.
JHITS runs on time-division multiplexing circuits, but DISA wants to switch almost everything to an Internet Protocol system, which digitizes all traffic as packets, including voice and video.
DISA also wants JHITS to support enterprise directory services, Web collaboration, chat and instant messaging, and enhanced emergency 911 services. Interested vendors need to reply to the JHITS request for information by Dec. 12.