distance and did not own any IT assets used in the program. Rather, they were owned by the prime contractor, and services are provided to the government on a per-seat basis. Pricing is primarily assessed on a per-machine basis that includes security services, help desk support, and periodic technology upgrades; however, fees for additional services (such as classified connectivity, mission-critical service, additional user accounts, software installation, seat moves, remote access from mobile devices, etc.) did apply. Videophones that provide equal access for Deaf employees are not permissible under NMCI regulations. As of October 2007, the per-seat price for all of NMCI was reduced by 15 percent. Desktop PCs and laptops as well as other network components are being continually upgraded in order to enhance performance and security. NMCI is the first large-scale federal government IT centralization and outsourcing project. Its lessons have informed other government agency efforts to consolidate and outsource IT services. According to industry analyst Warren Suss of Suss Sonsulting, "In the long run, government agencies will come to see the need for similar types of solutions, and I think they'll look to NMCI for lessons learned." The NMCI program is managed by the Navy's Program Executive Office–Enterprise Information Systems (PEO-EIS). History On 6 October 2000, the NMCI contract was awarded to Electronic Data Systems (EDS), now HP Enterprise Services (HP). Secretary of the Navy Gordon England summed up the Navy's IT Environment prior to the commencement of NMCI: “We basically had 28 separate commands budgeting, developing, licensing, and operating IT autonomously. It was inefficient and from the larger Department perspective, produced results that were far from optimal.” NMCI consolidated roughly 6,000 networks—some of which could not e-mail, let alone collaborate with each other—into a single integrated and secure IT environment. HP updated more than 100,000 desktop and laptop PCs in 2007. The program also consolidated an ad hoc network of more than 8,000 applications to 500 in four years and 15,003 logistics and readiness systems to 2,759 over a two-year period. Sub-contractors to HP include: Apple Inc., Cisco, Dell, DTech, McAfee, Microsoft, Oracle Corporation, Sun Microsystems, and Symantec Harris Corporation (which acquired Multimax formerly known as Netco Government Services and WAM!NET), which provided enterprise network infrastructure design and support until its contract expired in 2014. Verizon, which provides wide area network (WAN) connectivity. HP also provides the security services once provided by Raytheon. HP also has worked