HP Holds Navy Network ‘Hostage’ for $3.3 Billion

MrX

MrX

High Octane
:drummer:

I like the last line "A Department of the Navy civilian is more blunt: “On Oct. 1st, NMCI becomes NGEN – provided we meet HP’s list of terrorist demands.” Apparently made by someone who doesnt know WTF the are talking about.



Read More HP Holds Navy Network ‘Hostage’ for $3.3 Billion | Danger Room | Wired.com



HP Holds Navy Network ‘Hostage’ for $3.3 Billion

Someday, somehow, the U.S. Navy would like to run its networks — maybe even own its computers again. After 10 years and nearly $10 billion, many sailors are tired of leasing their PCs, and relying on a private contractor to operate most of their data systems. Troops are sick of getting stuck with inboxes that hold 150 times less than a Gmail account, and local networks that go down for days while Microsoft Office 2007 gets installed … in 2010. But the Navy just can’t quit its tangled relationship with Hewlett-Packard. The admirals and the firm recently signed another $3.3 billion no-bid contract that begins Oct. 1st. It’s a final, five-year deal, both sides promise, to let the Navy gently wean itself from its reliance on HP. But that’s what they said the last time, and the time before that
 
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CrashTest

CrashTest

Well-Known Member
NMCI is not a ship or a weapons system. It's just infrastructure and the Navy continues to outsource management of much of it's infrastructure. For example, the Navy is no longer in the base housing business and companies like Smeco manage shore power. Perhaps NMCI is disfuctional because outsourcing of infrastructure works in other areas.
 
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GWguy

GWguy

*
CrashTest said:
NMCI is not a ship or a weapons system. It's just infrastructure and the Navy continues to outsource management of much of it's infrastructure. For example, the Navy is no longer in the base housing business and companies like Smeco manage shore power. Perhaps NMCI is disfuctional because outsourcing of infrastructure works in other areas.
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Wasn't NMCI the implementation by EDS? I thought the current infrastructure was pretty much the same now as when EDS had control.
 
Dev

Dev

Anti-theist
HP executive director Randy Dove calls the project the “most secure, flexible and functional network within the Department of Defense.” Dove’s company claims 87.5 percent of NMCI users surveyed said they’re happy with the service. But among sailors and marines, NMCI’s many alternate acronyms tell a different story: “No More Contracted Infosystems,” “Non Mission-Capable Internet,” “Never Mind Crash Imminent.”
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Flexible and functional? Yeah right. 87.5% satisfied? They're talking to the wrong people.
 
B

BernieP

Resident PIA
Dev said:
Flexible and functional? Yeah right. 87.5% satisfied? They're talking to the wrong people.
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Just goes to show one size does not fit all. But first look at the number of actiuve duty Navy and Marine persnnel that now have access (and email accounts) to a computer. A lot of the system was designed around them, not the RDT&E or Acquisition community. Yet that small community was absorbed in and made to conform to the one size.

Next, look at the response time the brass gets, they aren't the ones making phone calls, finding a "loaner" machine while their computer is out of service for 3 to 4 weeks.
From day one, they rolled 3 classes of machine. The least capable was delivered to the masses - a pyramid distribution. Those few at the top got the best, and most expensive, assets. Financially it works, in practice it's a joke. The people who are suppose to produce the work are hindered. The guys at the top are decision makers, they aren't sifting through all the data, they're reading the synopsis of those below them.
As the story accurately points out, it's centrally managed. The talent to maintain and operate the network is there, they just aren't enabled. I am not talking about the NMCI hotline either, that's a joke.
As for the high satisfaction rate, it's based on their closure rate more then how happy the users have been. Most people I know have a call that goes something like this:
NMCI: State the problem
User: blah blah blah
NMCI: Here's your ticket number, do I have permission to access your desktop?
User: Yes, sure.
NMCI: Oh, looks like you have to many icons on your desktop.
User: huh?, I said the error message said I didn't have enough memory...
NMCI: Does that solve your problem? Thank you for calling.
User Hey, huh, hello???
 
GWguy

GWguy

*
BernieP said:
Just goes to show one size does not fit all. But first look at the number of actiuve duty Navy and Marine persnnel that now have access (and email accounts) to a computer. A lot of the system was designed around them, not the RDT&E or Acquisition community. Yet that small community was absorbed in and made to conform to the one size.

Next, look at the response time the brass gets, they aren't the ones making phone calls, finding a "loaner" machine while their computer is out of service for 3 to 4 weeks.
From day one, they rolled 3 classes of machine. The least capable was delivered to the masses - a pyramid distribution. Those few at the top got the best, and most expensive, assets. Financially it works, in practice it's a joke. The people who are suppose to produce the work are hindered. The guys at the top are decision makers, they aren't sifting through all the data, they're reading the synopsis of those below them.
As the story accurately points out, it's centrally managed. The talent to maintain and operate the network is there, they just aren't enabled. I am not talking about the NMCI hotline either, that's a joke.
As for the high satisfaction rate, it's based on their closure rate more then how happy the users have been. Most people I know have a call that goes something like this:
NMCI: State the problem
User: blah blah blah
NMCI: Here's your ticket number, do I have permission to access your desktop?
User: Yes, sure.
NMCI: Oh, looks like you have to many icons on your desktop.
User: huh?, I said the error message said I didn't have enough memory...
NMCI: Does that solve your problem? Thank you for calling.
User Hey, huh, hello???
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We'd never get away with responses like that. I have 4 hours to respond to a ticket, and 3 days to RESOLVE it. That includes the time for hardware repairs. When the ticket is closed, the customer gets an email with a satisfaction survey. We are scrutinized at every step and the top levels of management are looking over our shoulders constantly.
 
PrchJrkr

PrchJrkr

Long Haired Country Boy
Ad Free Experience
Patron
GWguy said:
We'd never get away with responses like that. I have 4 hours to respond to a ticket, and 3 days to RESOLVE it. That includes the time for hardware repairs. When the ticket is closed, the customer gets an email with a satisfaction survey. We are scrutinized at every step and the top levels of management are looking over our shoulders constantly.
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Does your company service nearly 400,000 computer worldwide?
 
Dev

Dev

Anti-theist
Never had a problem with NMCI tech support itself, but the frequency of calls to them because of these piss poor machines is frustrating. The machine I'm on right now runs at a whopping 1.86 GHz, with an unbelieveable amount of RAM, a whole 0.99 GB. With all their spyonyou programs running in the background, it doesn't leave much to work with.
 
P

preselector

Member
BernieP said:
As for the high satisfaction rate, it's based on their closure rate more then how happy the users have been. Most people I know have a call that goes something like this:
NMCI: State the problem
User: blah blah blah
NMCI: Here's your ticket number, do I have permission to access your desktop?
User: Yes, sure.
NMCI: Oh, looks like you have to many icons on your desktop.
User: huh?, I said the error message said I didn't have enough memory...
NMCI: Does that solve your problem? Thank you for calling.
User Hey, huh, hello???
Click to expand...

Here's another trick they play.

User: When are you going to get that printer fixed. I called it in two weeks ago, I've called three times to check on status, and it's still broke.
NMCI: I'm sorry sir, let me check....oh, this is awful, it's fallen through a crack in the system. With your permission, I'll cancel the original ticket and start another one with a higher priority.
User: Oh, OK, thank you.

NMCI now reports a ticket successfully closed and gets to stall the repair a couple more weeks.

My division had a pretty nice homegrown network. Then NMCI came along and brought us less reliability and flexibility at twice the cost.
 
acommondisaster

acommondisaster

Active Member
Dev said:
Never had a problem with NMCI tech support itself, but the frequency of calls to them because of these piss poor machines is frustrating. The machine I'm on right now runs at a whopping 1.86 GHz, with an unbelieveable amount of RAM, a whole 0.99 GB. With all their spyonyou programs running in the background, it doesn't leave much to work with.
Click to expand...

I'm not trying to defend HP, but perhaps a good deal of the problem has to do with the way a contract is written? I've been on both sides of the fence - as a DoD customer and as a contractor and BOTH sides have plenty of fault - starting with the customer always wanting something "special" that doesn't come in a standard box and companies low balling contracts, thinking they'll just go back and ask for a ton more money after the award.

I'll bet more than half those "spy on you" pieces of software are all there at the customer's request in a hodgepodge manner - with the contractor asking for more money to get an all in one program to do what that hodge podge of programs do - and the government saying "no". It's a vicious circle with so many layers of beauracracy it's laughable.

And a hella lot of job security BS thrown in just to make it interesting.
 
E

EmptyTimCup

Guest
GWguy said:
Wasn't NMCI the implementation by EDS? I thought the current infrastructure was pretty much the same now as when EDS had control.
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yeah EDS did the implementation, I worked on the project @ the Navy Annex in 2001?, when they were rolling out PC's that had been sitting @ Andrews AFB for a year in a warehouse .... dumping XP and loading the Win 2000 image they had


they touted Dell PC's .... Cisco Switches ..... :blahblah:
 
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