Digital Government

Army unveils battlefield communications strategy

The Army has kicked off a multibilliondollar project to revamp its battlefield communications systems, a project that calls for replacing or upgrading virtually every piece of the Army's battlefield communications infrastructure, from cables to radios to switches to satellite terminals. The new Wa

Digital Government

Airborne ops centers to get $20M-plus comm upgrade

The Air Force plans to upgrade the communications systems on its fleet of four E4B Boeing 747 aircraft that serve as National Airborne Operations Centers (NAOC), under a $20 millionplus program that will see each of the planes equipped with advanced commercial switching and telephone systems. The

Digital Government

AT&T brings Nimitz crew, families closer

AT&T Government Markets has developed an FTS 2000based interactive voiceresponse system that the USS Nimitz supercarrier used during a recent deployment to help close the information gap between the 6,000 crew members and their families. Capt. Alfred Harms, the Nimitz's commanding officer, said A

Digital Government

Tech glitch shuts out Bosnia e-mails

Last week cartoonist G.B. Trudeau treated readers of his "Doonesbury"comic strip to a fictional Internet exchange between troops in Bosnia and the folks at home. "Doonesbury" depicted a fictional Navy Lt. Tripler, identified as a "NATO IFOR (Implementation Force) morale officer," effortlessly

Digital Government

Sysorex: Desktop V pricing unrealistic

The heavily censored protest filed by Sysorex Information Systems Inc. against the Air Force's Desktop V contract released last week by the General Services Administration's Board of Contract Appeals offered some intriguing, if incomplete, insights into the winning solutions proposed by Hughe

Digital Government

ELVIS to tour with GCCS

The Defense Information Systems Agency plans to distribute World Wide Web browser software, dubbed "ELVIS," that will allow "almost ubiquitous access" to the common operational picture carried on the Global Command and Control System (GCCS). Unlike commercial Web browser software, which present

Digital Government

Vendors use protests to sell more PC wares

Air Force buyers will not have to wait long to get Desktop Vlike pricing and technology, despite protests that have halted the procurement, because several firms are putting together what analysts call "DT V killer" packages. These companies intend to market PCs aggressively to Air Force users d

Digital Government

INTERCEPTS

Army turn at J6? It looks like the Joint Chiefs of Staff will tap an Army general to replace Vice Adm. Arthur Cebrowski, who moves back to the Navy as director of Space and Electronic Warfare a job he once held not even long enough for the ink on his business cards to dry before zipping off to t

Digital Government

Contract-a-year plan boosts PC competition

ORLANDO, Fla. The Army has decided to dramatically ratchet up the competition for its standard PC contracts and plans to award a new twoyear contract every year, according to officials of the Army's Small Computer Program (SCP) office. The new procurement policy will apply to all future desktop

Digital Government

Vendors add Pentiums, desktops to Army pacts

ORLANDO, Fla. Vendors vying for a piece of the $300 millionplus Army PC market kicked off the summer selling season last week, introducing upgrades to all the key standard contracts managed by the Army's Small Computer Program (SCP). The vendors unveiled the new product lineups at the SCP's sem

Digital Government

HCNS puts security funds near half-billion mark

Defense Department spending on information security could hit more than half a billion dollars between now and 2001 as a result of language inserted into the 1997 Defense authorization bill by the House Committee on National Security (HCNS). The committee also included what it called "substantial

Digital Government

NISMC chief speeds technology to the fleet

"The folks in the rear often don't send the right gear" is a complaint Rear Adm. James Davidson, commander of the Naval Information Systems Management Center (NISMC), has grown accustomed to in his decadeslong career in the Naval Aviation Supply Corps. But thanks to input from his daughter, an A

Digital Government

GAO rejects AT&T protest

The General Accounting Office denied a protest against the multibilliondollar Defense Information Systems Network filed by AT&T late last year. AT&T filed the protest to head off the multipleprocurement strategy devised by the Defense Information Systems Agency. DISN will replace the Defense Comm

Digital Government

Hughes, Sun launch Air Force buy

Hughes Data Systems and Sun Microsystems Inc. have kicked off aggressive sales campaigns for their Air Force Workstations (AFWS) contracts, each vowing to offer buyers in the tactical, scientific and engineering communities price/performance packages unavailable on other government highperformance

Digital Government

Survey ships sail into history

The Navy has started to deploy the most computerized oceanographic survey ships in its history, with the Navy standard Tactical Advanced Computer4 (TAC4) contract providing most of the computing muscle for this new class of TAGS 60 ships. Not only do the central computers in the TAGS 60 class h

Digital Government

Intercepts

Info warfare aweigh. Look for Vice Adm. Walter Davis, currently director of the Navy Space and Electronic Warfare Command (N6), to take on a new information warfare role within the month. To reflect this new mission and the importance of IW the command will be renamed Space, Command and Contr

Digital Government

Hughes, ZDS grab $1B Desktop V prize

Hughes Data Systems and Zenith Data Systems last week won the richest federal PC prize of the year: the Air Force's Desktop V program, valued at roughly $1 billion. The Air Force awarded Hughes a contract valued at $924.4 million and ZDS a contract valued at $1 billion. Each of these contracts cove

Digital Government

Commanders, Soldiers Bridge Distances With VTC

SARAJEVO, Bosnia Step inside the nondescript door of one of a series of standard 40foot shipping containers that serve as overflow offices at the CINC IFOR compound here, and you'll see a plush video teleconferencing room with three giant TV screens. Adm. Leighton Smith, commander in chief of t

Digital Government

Rockwell snares $1.3B GPS satellite contract

The Air Force last week ensured the viability of the Global Positioning System well into the next century by awarding Rockwell a $1.3 billion contract for 33 improved GPS satellites. Donald Beall, Rockwell's chairman and chief executive officer, called the award "a significant milestone" for the

Digital Government

POP Goes the Internet

The Army overcame significant technical challenges to provide Internet service over the narrowbandwidth tactical command and control networks supporting the Bosnian peacekeeping mission. The digital field switches and tactical satellites used by the Army's Tactical Packet Network (TPN) were desig