Information Technology for the 21st Century

The Navy has laid down clear-cut guidelines for incorporating newtechnology in the coming years. Windows NT Magazine has included theNavy's principles here for readers who are interested in the Navy's approach.

Information Technology for the 21^st Century (IT-21) is theNavy's strategic technology plan. Its goal is to provide a philosophy not onlyto guide deployment of information technology, but to encourage there-engineering of processes throughout the service. IT-21 consists of sevenprinciples:

1. If the boss doesn't use it, don't buy it. To ensure thattechnology is adopted fully, it must have the support of those in charge. Ifthose in charge don't support, adopt, and actively use the technology, the staffwill not likely use the technology to its highest level of value.

2. Integrate tactical and nontactical applications. Maintaining separate systems for tactical and nontactical use is impractical andexpensive. The Navy had to deploy one system that supports both tacticaloperations, such as sharing battle plans and reviewing intelligence, andnontactical operations, such as logistics planning, personnel records, andtraining. The goal is to use the ship to fight and to run the ship from one PC.

3. Stay common with industry. Matching the industry resources spenton developing new hardware and software would be impossible from within themilitary. Using widespread technology lowers the initial costs and the costs oftraining and troubleshooting.

4. Drive applications to one personal computer. Allapplications must run from one Windows-based PC. This single PC should accesslegacy applications residing on mainframes to eliminate the need for multipledevices at each person's workstation.

5. Use commercial off-the-shelf products wherever possible.Off-the-shelf software is much cheaper to buy than custom, proprietary products.You can complete most tasks with off-the-shelf products. The software will costless, and the time to deploy the software is reduced.

6. Seamless sea-to-shore transitions. Users of a system shouldnotice no difference when they are in port or at sea. For instance, while theship is in port, the network may connect to the world through a fiber opticline. While the ship is at sea, the connection will be through satellite. Ineither case, users should notice no difference in their procedures.

7. No stovepipes. Stovepipes are systems designed for communicationwithin one branch of the armed forces. These systems have led to a diverse andincompatible set of protocols and procedures that waste money and hindercommunications between the services. Do not allow them.

IT-21 has also defined several standards for products to be used on ship.The Navy developed the standards in accordance with the Department ofDefense Joint Technical Architecture and Defense Information InfrastructureCommon Operating Environment specification. Table A lists some of the standards.