Navy's intranet creating 200 jobs

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

A big "intranet" hub for Navy and Marine Corps voice, video and computer data transmission opened in July on Ford Island, and now it's doing some big hiring.

Approximately 200 entry-level computer technicians are being sought — now — to help meet program installation needs in October, the Virginia-based firm doing the hiring said yesterday.

"Work would begin right now, and you know, it's a pretty good gig for people (in this economy)," said Alfred Schreiber, president of the U.S. Alliance Group.

Ann H. Chung, executive director of the Hawaii Technology Trade Association, couldn't agree more.

"I think it's great news because it will hire up 200 of our local people," Chung said.

"In Hawai'i, we have a lot of small to mid-size technology firms," she said. "Any firm employing over 200 computer technology people is a big company, so the fact the Ford Island project is already hiring 200 technicians is very big news."

U.S. Alliance said the jobs will be available on "select military bases" here. Applicants must have security clearance, understanding of Dell PC configuration, and A+ certification or equivalent experience. The recruiter said military experience is a plus. No information on salary or length of employment was available yesterday. To apply, go to www.usalliancegroup.com.

The Navy Marine Corps intranet center on Ford Island is the third hub to be built in a $6.9 billion plan to link 400,000 Navy and Marine Corps desktops across the United States, Puerto Rico, Iceland, Guantanamo Bay (Cuba) and Japan.

The system's goal is to replace a hodgepodge of 200 computer systems with a single cohesive network.