Winner of the US Army’s Army Command and Control System Common Hardware and Software ACCS/CHS programme, the first in a series of significant US Federal bids to be awarded (CI No 963), is, as reported briefly, Melville, New-York-based Miltope Corp, which succeeded against Philips’ Magnavox Electronic Systems’ bid of Unix-based Apple hardware. Miltope, teamed up with Ford Aerospace, GTE and Analytics to bid for the contract, valued at around $600m over the first five years, and will provide systems integration and support, Hewlett Packard HP9000 Unix hardware and Uniplex Business Software, along with other software programs including a validated Ada compiler compatible with the common hardware. The procurement calls for up to 100,000 Unix systems, and Uniplex, of Hemel Hemstead, Hertfordshire, reckons that the software revenues alone could exceed $20m during the life of the contract. ACCS/CHS is aimed at providing the basic components for the Army’s command and control systems, and the use of commercially available hardware and software with maximised commonality, along with ruggedised equipment, has resulted from efforts to keep costs down. The US Army, with a 1989 Information Systems budget of $2,300m, is second only to the Air Force’s $2,500m: other top spending US government agencies are the Navy, $2,200m; Health, $1,600m; the Treasury, $1,300m, NASA, $1,300m; and Energy, $1,200m. And aside from those contracts listed in CI No 963, news of two more is expected over the next few months: the CEAP Corps of Engineers proposal for 77 Unix mainframes, to be awarded in November; and the US Navy’s NARDAC pro.cw 8 posal, also due in November, for 150 Unix systems.
