What is the purpose of the Consortium?
The Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium (NCOIC) was created by the members to accelerate interoperability in systems that serve military, homeland security, civil and commercial users. Doing this will support the defense, intelligence, law enforcement and first responder communities in their ongoing transformation into network centric organizations.

In recent decades some of the most advanced defense systems in the world have been developed, yet many of these complex systems exist as standalone islands that were not designed to be interoperable. Thus, many of today's advanced systems do not currently work together from an overall mission or joint perspective - interoperability requirements for military, other government, industrial, civil and consumer operations that are becoming increasingly imperative.

What will the Consortium do?
The NCOIC will work collaboratively with stakeholders from governments, industry and academia to identify and promote open standards, system engineering tools, commercial building blocks and education that will contribute to persistent, operational advantage for our customers against any threat, any time, anywhere in the world.

Who can participate in the Consortium?
The Consortium is open, inclusive and has a diverse membership base. Participants include representatives from

• Major defense system integrators and manufacturers
• IT industry enterprises
• Other industry enterprises from a broad range of market sectors
• Academic institutions
• Members of other industry associations with related or similar interests

U.S. and allied government organizations could participate to the level that rules for industry consortia permit. Membership is open and all interested companies, foreign or domestic, are invited to join.

Isn't similar work already underway?
Not exactly. Groups currently exist that are similar in function but have different objectives. Many of these working groups and standards bodies are working on various aspects of network centric operations, and have been doing so for many years. The NCOIC is identifying and developing systems engineering tools based on network centric principles. We will be able to focus on the identification and use of existing standards, their patterns of interoperability and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies to address increased interoperability, rapid deployment and cost efficiencies. Still, we intend to recognize any existing complementary work, provide references to potential users of this large body of knowledge and liaise with other standards bodies.

What's in this for the various members?
There is a strong value proposition for this Consortium. The government will be able to field, maintain and upgrade network centric systems quicker and more cost effectively. Defense systems integrators will be able to affect solutions faster - and thus pursue business opportunities of scale on faster time cycles - consistent with the rapid advancement of information technology. Finally, IT systems firms will benefit through the prospect of having elements of their COTS portfolios recognized as building blocks for future systems.

Why did the founding companies join the Consortium?
The founding companies believe that this Consortium has the potential to offer great benefit to our members' governments in addition to the added prospect of providing complementary benefit to industry. We have the brightest minds from many of the most innovative companies in the world contributing insight, technology and domain expertise. The Consortium is poised to bring about profound changes in the way we use network technology today, in both the military and commercial marketplaces. All of the founding companies are proud to be associated with this effort because the Consortium understands the NCO vision and shares a commitment to helping our customers achieve that vision.

How will the work of this Consortium affect competition on future pursuits?
Through the provision of an industry-wide approach that is open and available to all, it is expected that the competitive base will expand by enabling nontraditional competitors to enter the market. The Consortium will enable more competition to take place in the manner that building codes enable a city to develop and create new environments that allow for production, banking, services, sales, etc. to thrive on top of the city infrastructure. Participation in the Consortium will not affect the actions of the independent firms in pursuing business in the free marketplace. Clearly, each of the members will pursue business at their own will and may or may not elect to use exclusively the body of knowledge that is developed via the Consortium.

How does the military customer community view the Consortium?
The Consortium approach has been discussed with military leaders in several countries over the past three years. Most have readily embraced the need for such an initiative and very well understand the profound benefits of being enabled to operate in a network centric environment.

What is the status of the Consortium today?
The consortium was established as a nonprofit legal entity in August 2004 and was publicly announced in a press conference on 9/24/04.

What will be the first milestone and when do you plan to reach it?
The formal establishment and announcement of this organization in 2004 were the first milestones. However, throughout the organizational phase of the NCOIC various technical and educational committees have been working on a variety of initiatives. They include

• NCO education programs
• Open standards analysis
• Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) building blocks
• Collaborative systems engineering tools

All these initiatives are iterative - they really don't have an end state - so we will continuously be releasing findings and recommendations, in these and in others initiatives related to enabling transformation through NCO.

Who can I contact at CACI to learn more?
The CACI contact is Dick Mayo, 703-322-8164, rwmayo@caci.com