Wednesday's signing of a deal between AAPT and Alcatel for the management of the company's Australian network completes two five-year outsourcing deals, with an estimated combined value of US$106 million, which see Alcatel taking increased responsibility for the management of Telecom's network planning, development and operations services in New Zealand and Australia. The Telecom Group includes Telecom New Zealand and AAPT in Australia.

The two agreements are for outsourcing services and are in addition to Alcatel's contracts to supply equipment to Telecom and its Australian operation, AAPT. The agreement between AAPT and Alcatel in Australia, valued at US$36 million follows the signing of a similar agreement last week (June 20) between Telecom New Zealand and Alcatel in New Zealand, valued at US$70 million.

Under the deals, Telecom is working closely with Alcatel, to deliver customer services for the future. The agreements cover Telecom's network in New Zealand and its AAPT operation in Australia. Telecom and Alcatel have a strategic partnering relationship to jointly manage the development and integration of Telecom's trans-Tasman Next Generation Network.

The agreements form one of the largest and most comprehensive outsourcing deals the telecom industry has seen to date. They also represent a ground-breaking shift in the traditional telecom operator-vendor relationship, from that of customer and supplier to collaborators deciding on network evolution.

The agreements involve the transfer of approximately 100 staff from Telecom's AAPT operation to Alcatel in Australia and almost 200 Telecom New Zealand staff to Alcatel in New Zealand from July 1 2003.

The U.S. Air Force recently exercised a contract option associated with Phase III of the F-16 Common Configuration Implementation Program (CCIP) by awarding Lockheed Martin US$26.6 million for retrofit kits to modify 22 Block 40/42 aircraft. With follow-on options to provide kits for nearly 400 Block 40/42 F-16s in the Air Force fleet, Phase III has a potential total contract value of US$396 million.

The F-16 CCIP is designed to provide the latest capabilities to approximately 650 Block 40/42/50/52 F-16s operated by the active USAF and Air National Guard. The resulting configuration provides a high degree of commonality in hardware and software, with attendant benefits in logistics support costs, training, operational flexibility and future upgrades. The upgrades also provide a high degree of commonality with new production F-16s for international customers and with the F-16 Mid-Life Update being performed on 400 F-16A/Bs operated by five European NATO partners.

The program is divided into phases: Phase I and IA for the initial systems to Block 50/52 aircraft; Phase II for the full modification to Block 50/52 aircraft; and Phase III for the full modification to Block 40/42 aircraft. (Phases I and II are being incrementally funded and are in work under previous contracts.)

The F-16 is the choice of 24 countries. More than 4,000 aircraft have been delivered, hundreds more are on order, and production is expected to continue beyond 2010. Major upgrades for all F-16 versions are being incorporated to keep the fleet modern and fully supportable over the aircraft's long service life.

Raytheon Company was recently awarded an US$11.2 million Program Research and Development Announcement (PRDA) contract for initial development work related to the Air Force's next generation of military Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers.

Under the contract, Raytheon's Space and Airborne Systems business will study the implementation, certification, integration and operation of a modernized military global positioning user equipment (MUE) security architecture; the ability to design, develop and produce MUE; and the feasibility and advisability of implementing the military's Y-Code GPS signal in MUE.

Contract work will be completed by February 2005, in time to support the start of the MUE engineering development phase.

Precision Guidance Systems (PGS), an organization within Raytheon's Space and Airborne Systems business, designs and develops integrated navigation systems for weapons, avionics, and handheld applications. PGS is an industry leader in GPS anti-jam solutions, including analog and digital adaptive antenna systems and ultra-tight coupled GPS/INS systems. PGS also manufactures GPS Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM) receivers.

Representatives of ACS, a provider of business process and information technology outsourcing solutions, announced that it has signed a $1.4 million contract with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) to support to the organization's payroll and travel operations. The contract is for a four-month base period, plus four option years. This award extends ACS' 20-year business relationship with PBGC.

PBGC is a federal government corporation established by Title IV of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Based in Washington, D.C., the PBGC insures private-sector defined benefit pension plans and provides timely and uninterrupted payment of pension benefits to participants in plans for which it has taken responsibility. The PBGC currently protects the retirement incomes of about 44 million American workers in more than 32,500 private defined benefit pension plans.

ACS staff will continue to support the payroll and travel operations for all PBGC employees, including records analysis and records correction services.

Representatives of Advanced Neuromodulation Systems, Inc. (ANS) announced Thursday that J. Philip McCormick has been elected to its Board of Directors and will serve as Chairman of the Audit Committee. McCormick, who lives in Houston, Texas, is the eighth member of ANS' Board and the seventh outside director.

McCormick, 61 years old, is a Certified Public Accountant and was an audit partner, member of senior management, and member of the Board of Directors of KPMG Peat Marwick and KMG Main Hurdman, New York from 1973 to 1991. He served in senior management positions with the Lone Star Gas Division of Enserch Corporation, Dallas, from 1991 to 1995, and was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Enserch Exploration Inc. from 1995 to 1997. McCormick was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Highwaymaster Communications, Inc., Dallas, from 1997 to 1998. Since 1999, he has been an independent investor and corporate advisor, as well as a director and board committee chairman of a privately owned manufacturing and distribution company with US$200 million in annual revenue.

Advanced Neuromodulation Systems designs, develops, manufactures and markets implantable systems used to manage chronic intractable pain and other disorders of the central nervous system.

Representatives of Alcatel, a leader in optical networking, announced Monday the successful completion of a fiber optic cable repair, fully satisfying customer expectations. The repair was carried out in water depths close to 9,400 meters - thereby breaking the world record for deep-sea cable repair operations.

The Alcatel operated cable ship, C.S Heimdal, completed the fiber optic cable repair on a transpacific cable system connecting Japan to the US continent approximately 700 km off the coast of Japan. Due to water depths varying from 5,300 meters to the world record breaking 9,400 meters, Alcatel developed a purpose-built grapnel to avoid the cable breaking under its own weight, while drawing it up from the sea bed for repair.

Based in Japan and fully mobilized with a complete crew, as well as remotely operated vehicles (ROV), the C.S. Heimdal vessel enables Alcatel to help its customers responding to potential cable outage within 12 hours.