The integrated service will enable commanders to communicate with superior officers, help maintenance personnel order spare parts and allow Marines and sailors to look up their own military personnel files faster and more efficiently than ever before. That's a quantum leap from what's in place today, as the Marines use a single, but older, network and the Navy runs 200 separate systems. EDS, which will manage the contract with several subcontractors, will build the network and operate, maintain and manage 360,000 computers now run by uniformed Marines and sailors and civilian workers by 2003.
Intranets link computers within a large network that is only accessible to authorized users.
We are constantly engaged throughout the globe. Thousands of Marines and sailors and about 100 ships are deployed at sea on any given day. By contracting it out, Navy officials hope that economic forces in the information technology industry would ensure the contractors will continually upgrade the system to keep it modern and relevant. Many Marines and sailors trained as information specialists leave the military to take better-paid jobs in the private sector. As envisioned, the intranet would provide a single digital, voice and video communications system with centralized monitoring and access by users with passwords.