IBM Selected by U.S. DoD to Deliver Net-Centric Collaboration Services

IBM Selected by U.S. DoD to Deliver Net-Centric Collaboration Services

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has selected IBM Global Services to provide net-centric collaboration services. The contract is valued at $17 million. The work is a key part of DISA’s Net-Centric Enterprise Services (NCES) project to provide one consistent service for collaboration that can be used by personnel across the DoD. These services will enable real time information sharing through the use of an on-demand IT services structure, based on open standards and a secure hosted environment.

“IBM is pleased to continue our long-standing relationship with the DoD and assist the department with their mission for improving and transforming collaboration capabilities available to all personnel,” said Linda Marshall, Director for Defense Agencies at IBM Global Services. “We believe the winners will be our war fighters who will benefit from the improved real-time sharing of information across the DoD organization.”

As part of the initiative, IBM will provide a variety of capabilities including instant messaging, low-bandwidth text chat, web conferencing and persistent chat rooms. Instant messaging and web conferencing both include audio and video support, while web conferencing adds shared whiteboards, desktop/application sharing, and the ability to invite non-DoD personnel to web conferences. The chat room capability includes capturing user messages and activity over time in a shared area. Chat rooms enable users to review activity and associated documents independent of other users.

IBM is working with a team of partners including ServerVault, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), FGM, Inc., InstantTech Technologies, Polycom, Inc. and CISCO, to ensure the service adheres to the needs of those working with unclassified and classified information. IBM’s collaboration capabilities are comprised of open standard, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products that have been proven at the enterprise scale. Key COTS products include IBM’s Lotus Sametime software suite for the Instant Messaging and Web Conferencing capability, and InstantTech for the Chat Room capability. These capabilities are integrated via IBM’s powerful WebSphere portal and application server, the IBM DB 2 Database, and the Tivoli Federated Identity and Access Manager.

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