He indicated, however, that the tight schedule he envisioned would require direct involvement by the three services. Clemins' intranet plans surprised top officials at the Defense Information Systems Agency, which has been developing the worldwide, tri-service Defense Information Systems Network for more than five years. The Navy also has a staunch ally in Marv Langston, the Pentagon's deputy chief information officer, who previously served as the Navy's CIO after a long-term career as a naval officer. Industry sources aware of the infighting say Langston has embraced Clemins' plan. It can be done in a year.
Industry has the capacity to do the job.
Gauss said the Navy intranet plans are far more complex than just installing long-haul pipes. To develop the intranet, Gauss said the Navy has to develop a fully integrated network architecture, starting with local-area networks in buildings that then hook up to larger networks covering naval bases. Those naval base networks, in turn, hook into larger metropolitan-area networks in cities where the Navy has a substantial presence. Navy officials, however, said they need other software products to build the intranet - possibly Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT operating system and Office suite as well as security, videoconferencing and Internet browser software. He said the Navy also will consider leasing a long-haul carrier's switched Asynchronous Transfer Mode service.