EDS moves legacy apps online

As part of the NMCI contract, EDS will now offer Navy commands the option to move legacy applications to a Web-hosting service.

Navy's NMCI Web Site

As part of the Navy Marine Corps Intranet contract, EDS will now offer Navy commands the option to move legacy applications to a Web-hosting service.

The original contract included application hosting as a service for the company to provide, but the specifics were undefined, making it difficult to arrange. Navy officials have since created service-level agreements for the service, and EDS is prepared to begin moving legacy software on to the network.

"Basically, now you have a defined service offering that Navy commands can use," said Kevin Clarke, an EDS spokesman. "They can take applications that have not yet been cleared to run under NMCI and move them to the Web-hosted platform, therefore eliminating the need to maintain a legacy network."

The company has already cut the number of legacy applications to 30,000 from 100,000. Officials ultimately want that figure down to 3,000 total applications.

Officials from the Navy and EDS anticipate significant savings as they move to enterprise application servers, according to Navy Capt. Chris Christopher, staff director of NMCI.

Company officials declined to comment on exactly how much they expect to save from the new offering. So far, EDS has lost about $1.6 billion on the contract.

NMCI is a long-term initiative between the Navy and EDS to deliver a single integrated departmentwide network for Navy and Marine Corps shore commands. At $8.8 billion, it is the largest federal information technology contract ever awarded.

NEXT STORY: Park Service works with states