...shall we...?

"...CHIPS, the Department of the Navy Information Technology magazine..."

Do they include articles on "Chips of the Line"?

...paeans to "men who go down to the sea in chips..."?

...recommendations on keeping your intranets "chip-shape and Bristol-fashion"?

Does this mean that the Navy won't be buying any more licenses for Windows for Warships?

I hope not. It's the coolest product MS makes.

...that the Admirals are talking about the -current- state of affairs called NMCI, which was ostensibly to rid the DoN of the then-legacy state of affairs. (I.e. that each NAS/MCAS, base, lab, depot, etc. etc. - even divisions at any site which had different sponsors - could have wildly different systems, services, data formats, etc. It was a mess, unless one really liked systems integration. :) )

However, NMCI is due to expire in Oct. 2010, and with that ends the current contractual lock-in to MS2K, Office2K, Outlook - and other aspects of the (MS) server-based environment. The open environment envisioned in the article is a services-based one, the Naval Networking Environment 2016 (NNE-2016). Although the NMCI contract will likely be extended a few years, it'll still be a huge grunt to "open up" at the desktop level everywhere. Oh well. The USN likes to pop off a shot across a bow every now and again.

(Besides, Vulture Central reported another USN IT bow-shot almost 3 years ago at <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/17/navy_counts_servers/>. Is there still a potential Novell lock-in for the future, hmm?)

A nitpick: The CHIPS interview was not with VADM Edwards but his civilian counterpart, Robert Carey. Since flag officers normally move on to different duties* every 2-3 years, it'll be much more Carey's responsibility than not to "make it so".

*Official USN-speak is "rotate through different positions" but this being El Reg, well you know... there really isn't supposed to be a PH angle here.

"“The linchpin of modern warfighting is a robust network-enabled joint force, able to securely share information and who possesses a common understanding of the battlespace. Protection and control of cyberspace is therefore imperative. Key to this effort is the implementation of a National Military Strategy for Cyberspace Operations (NMS-CO).”

– Vice Adm. Nancy E. Brown

Director for C4 Systems, The Joint Staff (J-6)" ...... CHIPS .... http://www.chips.navy.mil/archives/08_Jan/web_pages/VADM_Brown.html

MeThinks that El Reg could supply Nancy with Advanced IntelAIgents on the Creation in CyberSpace of the Command and Control of Computers and Communications ... C42 Quantum Control Systems.

When the man said "capability return", I think he really meant "capability return", not "capability of return".

The Navy is not looking to make money, it is looking to enhance its capabilities. So instead of a financial return, it wants a capability return.

"The Navy is not looking to make money, it is looking to enhance its capabilities. So instead of a financial return, it wants a capability return." ..... By Anonymous Coward

Posted Thursday 27th March 2008 05:46 GMT

AC,

Enhance its capabilities and it will provide both returns, which is something the MOD could be doing with too.

One Quantum System to Provide for them All?

'We will no longer accept systems that couple hardware, software and data'

That keeps Crapple well and truely away from important systems. Now if only the Army would learn

Um, does that mean that, next time the fleet commander gives an order, the first thing that the empowered sailors will do is blog about it on the intra-fleet Wiki ?

I can see it now :

"Ooh, we've been ordered into battle !"

"OMG no !"

"FIRST POST !"

"Do you think we're going to still get Doctor House at sea ?"

"Yeah man, did you see last week's episode where he totally pwned that cop ?"

"That was great ! DrHouse rules !"

....

And I always thought that "empowering" sailors was done by giving them a mop and a bucket.