Nortel won a key U.S. govt. contract to help move the Defense Dep...
Nortel won a key U.S. govt. contract to help move the Defense Dept.’s Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to a VoIP network completely under Pentagon control. Once updated, the system, now housed in MCI-owned facilities, will shift to 6…
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Air Force bases across the U.S., a process sources said should take about one year. Nortel won a $20 million contract to provide the technology to help DoD switch to VoIP. Nortel is working under General Dynamics and CSC, which won the contract to redesign the Defense Switched Network (DSN). “The DSN is a large, sophisticated global network that is well designed and operated, but it also has relied on a managed service from private sector… providers for a portion of its infrastructure,” said Chuck Saffell, pres.-federal solutions for Nortel. “That means that the ability of the DSN to respond to any given crisis could be restricted because it is not under direct governmental control.” “What this starts is the process of the [network] becoming VoIP,” a Nortel federal solutions official told us: “For us, it’s a seminal event and we hope DoD views it that way as well.”