Air National Guard to upgrade messaging

RESTON, Va., Jan. 11 (UPI) -- The U.S. Air National Guard announced it has awarded NCI Inc. a contract to implement the company's engineered Microsoft Exchange messaging solution strategy.

NCI, a U.S. government provider of information technology services, will use its engineering design, analysis and planning from early 2007 to implement the Air National Guard Microsoft Exchange 2007 e-mail, calendar and unified messaging solution. The messaging upgrade makes the Air National Guard one of the largest U.S. Department of Defense organizations to deploy the program.

Officials say under a U.S. Air Force network-centric solutions task order for approximately $12.6 million, officials say NCI will implement the program over a 12-month period.

Additionally, NCI will be implementing "application processing centers which facilitate central enterprise-level core services and application hosting capabilities to support the Air National Guard's alignment with the Air Force network operations initiative," the release said.

"NCI recognizes the importance of this work as part of a larger Air National Guard and Air Force effort to meet its infrastructure mandates as well as advancing interoperability," Terry Glasgow, NCI president and chief operating officer, said in a statement. The Air National Guard continues to exhibit its leadership role in implementing emerging technology to enhance support of the war fighter. We are very pleased to continue our strong partnership with the Air National Guard as we together drive to accomplish their vital mission objectives."