NMCI rollout begins at Quantico

Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia recently became the first Marine base to begin making the transition to the Navy Marine Corps Intranet. The Navy announced that seats at Quantico had begun to roll out Feb. 10.

The Virginia base has awarded a task order for nearly 6,800 seats to prime contractor EDS. The EDS-led Information Strike Force will assume responsibility for the Quantico network at the end of March, according to a statement released by the Navy.

Quantico users are scheduled to start working within the NMCI network environment May 5.

According to Lynda Lukschander, the Marines' program manager for the NMCI IT infrastructure, EDS survey teams will conduct engineering studies and interviews with base personnel before EDS assumes responsibility for Quantico.

Lukschander said the teams will collect information on such topics as the current network infrastructure components, location of personnel who will receive NMCI services, information assurance and information on current IT service contractors at the site.

The NMCI implementation schedule for the Marine Corps starts at Quantico and will then move to the National Capital Region and Marine Corps Headquarters. The rollout will then follow an east-to-west path, according to EDS officials.

As of Feb. 21, 58,655 seats had begun using NMCI. The pace has slackened substantially during the past several weeks, falling to as few as 100 new seats per day as the program draws close to a congressionally imposed 60,000-seat ceiling. Officials at the NMCI office expect Congress to soon approve proceeding with building out the network.