The Navy will complete a deployment of thin client computers to 7,500 seats on the Navy/Marine Corps Internet by next spring, said Shawn Hendricks, program manager of the Naval Enterprise Networks program office, while speaking Oct. 28 with reporters in Washington, D.C.

The thin client limited deployment could pave the way for tablet computers operating on the Navy land-based network, Hendricks said, noting that mobile devices like tablets are "a solution we're looking at." The Navy currently is a BlackBerry-only enterprise.

The Navy is still identifying users to be switched to the thin client deployment, Hendricks said, adding they'll likely be deployed around Washington, D.C., Norfolk, Va., or in the Pacific Fleet.

"If you're a guy down at NAVAIR and you're doing F-18 computational flow dynamics, you need a machine that does the work sitting next to you. If you're me, or if you're most of the people in my office, the applications you use are generally available on thin client, and they're low-bandwidth applications," he said.

Whether the thin client will be browser-based or otherwise is yet to be determined, Hendricks said. While the Navy hasn't settled on applications to be delivered via thin client, Hendricks said user needs would have to include email access, PowerPoint and Excel.

"Citirx, VMware, Cisco, Brocade, HP--they have all been in my office telling me about their thin and zero client solutions," he added.

Hendricks said the limited deployment will include his workstation, adding that he's been through bad thin client deployments in the past.

"One of them was so horrible in its deployment that people would...wait in line to use a thick client rather than use the thin client that was sitting on their desk. It was that bad," he said.

Hendricks's press availability occurred following a presentation to an industry day in Washington, D.C., held for prospective bidders to the NMCI contract successor, the Next Generation Enterprise Network. The NGEN contract will last 5 years (1 year plus 4 options years) and be worth about $10 billion.

For more:
- listen to Hendricks' Oct. 28 press availability

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