Industry News

EDS Wins $170 Million Medicaid Contract

Representatives of EDS announced that the company has been awarded a contract valued at US$170 million, if all options are exercised, to implement a new state-of-the-art Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

The agreement spans five years and nine months and includes two one-year options and a 19-month implementation period during which EDS will take over and operate the state’s existing legacy Medicaid system. This contract was signed in March 2005 and was reflected in the company’s previously reported first quarter new business signings. The new MMIS will serve Kentucky Medicaid’s more than 691,000 members and 35,000 health care providers.

The new system will be based on EDS’ interChange Health System, which already has been installed in a number of other states, including Oklahoma, Kansas and Pennsylvania.

EDS will provide a complete suite of Medicaid fiscal agent services, including system development and maintenance, financial services, real-time claims adjudication, decision support/data warehouse, call center services, mail room, data entry and provider training. The new system will allow Medicaid providers to submit claims in a variety of electronic formats, including secure Internet connection, and deliver more timely and accurate claims adjudication.

The contract returns EDS to Kentucky as the state’s Medicaid services provider after a 10-year hiatus and raises to 19 the number of states to which EDS provides Medicaid services.

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Lockheed Martin Receives US$120 Million Contract with Navy

Lockheed Martin has received a five-year contract valued at $120 million from BAE Systems for further development and test of the Long-Range Land Attack Projectile (LRLAP) for the Advanced Gun System (AGS) on the U.S. Navy’s next-generation destroyer, the DD(X).

The cost-plus-award-fee contract calls for completion of a LRLAP to provide precise, rapid-response, high-volume, long-range fire support for U.S. Marines ashore.

The new contract calls for additional development and tests in 2006-2008 and support to AGS qualification testing in 2009-2010. More than 100 projectiles will be delivered and tested under this contract. Full-rate production is expected to begin in 2011.

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General Dynamics UK Awarded US$113.6 Million Contract By Royal Netherlands Navy

General Dynamics UK Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics has signed a contract with the Royal Netherlands Navy to supply the New Integrated Marines Communications and Information System – NIMCIS – which has a program value of EUR 94 million ($113.6 million).

NIMCIS is a two-year program to equip the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps (RNLMC) with the BOWMAN C4I system, which is being rolled out to the UK Armed Forces by General Dynamics UK Limited.

NIMCIS will provide the RNLMC with a secure voice and data communications infrastructure capable of supporting a range of network-enabled command, control, communications, computing and intelligence systems. In addition to a standalone system capability for the Marines, a key feature of NIMCIS will be the interoperability it provides between the Netherlands and UK forces, as allies and as part of the UK/NL Amphibious Force, as well as interoperability with other allied forces. NIMCIS replaces a variety of legacy communications systems within RNLMC.

General Dynamics UK Limited is the prime systems integrator for NIMCIS, which brings together products from world-class communications and command and control suppliers, including ITT Defence Limited and Harris Systems Limited.

NIMCIS is a two-year program to equip the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps (RNLMC) with the BOWMAN C4I system, which is being rolled out to the UK Armed Forces by General Dynamics UK Limited.

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Raytheon to Supply Air Traffic Control Radar for Maiquetia International Airport in Caracas, Venezuela

Raytheon Company has been awarded a US$4.6 million contract to supply turnkey installation of a Raytheon airport surveillance radar (ASR) for Maiquetia International Airport in Caracas, Venezuela. Consorcio Hardwell Computer, Inc. of Caracas is the prime contractor for the project. Maiquetia Simon Bolivar International Airport, known as the "doorway to South America," is the primary airport for the Caracas region.

The all solid-state Raytheon ASR provides an upgrade to replace existing aging radars. The fully integrated primary and secondary surveillance radars provide airport terminal area primary surveillance coverage to 60 nautical miles and secondary surveillance coverage to 250 nautical miles. The Raytheon ASR's digital processing provides target and weather processing, and its design will provide reduced total life cycle costs for its owner/operator -- the Institute of Maiquetia International Airport.

Work will begin immediately at Raytheon Canada, LTD in Waterloo, Ontario, and at Raytheon Systems Limited in Harlow, U.K. Delivery of the new radar system is scheduled for December 2005.

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SAMSUNG Electronics to Export WCDMA System Hardware

Samsung Electronics has become Korea 's first corporation to export system hardware for wideband CDMA, a third-generation mobile communications technology platform. On July 11, company officials announced the closing of a supply contract with Taiwanese 3G mobile communications operator, Vibo.

Global sales of WCDMA systems have been dominated by European manufacturers until now but Samsung has succeeded in entering the overseas market.

Samsung Electronics will supply WCDMA systems to Vibo, which is scheduled to launch commercial service at the end of this year. Samsung's WCDMA system for Vibotel applies HSDPA, allowing easy migration when Vibotel starts HSDPA service.

Early this year, Vibol decided to launch WCDMA service in the 2.1GHz band and has been preparing for launch ever since.

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Alcatel and Shanghai Media Group team up to establish an IPTV Lab in Shanghai

Representatives of Alcatel and Shanghai Media Group (SMG), one of the most prestigious media groups in China, announced the two companies have jointly set up an IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) lab in Shanghai to drive the commercialization of IPTV services in China. The initiative is the first of its kind in China, combining the strengths and expertise of a content provider and a telecom equipment supplier. The lab has become an integral part of Alcatel's Asia Pacific IPTV Solution Center managed by Alcatel Shanghai Bell, Alcatel's flagship company in China.

In the Lab, Alcatel integrates SMG's broadcast content and head-end equipment with Alcatel's end-to-end IPTV service delivery architecture, as well as terminals to simulate a complete network environment for developing, validating and test-running IPTV services.

A joint team, comprised of IPTV experts from both companies, will work together to develop solutions that are critical to the delivery of IPTV services to end users, such as digital rights management (DRM) solutions, a broadcast control management platform, content integration and service management platforms tailored to the needs of Chinese service providers. In addition, the joint team will carry out in-depth studies on various business cases for IPTV so that comprehensive consulting services can be provided to help operators launch profitable IPTV services.

Alcatel and SMG signed a strategic partnership agreement in June 2004 pledging extensive cooperation in broadband access and mobile video. According to the agreement, Alcatel will integrate SMG's TV and video content into Alcatel's 3G networking and broadband access solutions, using Alcatel's fully integrated end-to-end video solution. The establishment of the IPTV lab represents a major and concrete step in the further cooperation between the two companies.

Alcatel has the widest IPTV expertise and field experience in the world. To date, more than 25 IPTV projects have been undertaken by Alcatel worldwide and, of the over 2 million IPTV subscribers around the world, approximately 70% use Alcatel-provided networks. This April, Alcatel launched an IPTV Solution Center for the Asia Pacific region in Shanghai. Managed by Alcatel Shanghai Bell, Alcatel's flagship company in China, the Center designs tailored IPTV solutions that fit the individual requirements of operators and provides comprehensive technical support as well as consulting services to assist operators in every stage of new service development. The new Alcatel/SMG IPTV Lab is an important part of Alcatel's overall triple play strategy and will accelerate the deployment of triple play services in the Chinese market.

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Boeing Names Sir Roger Bone to Lead Business in the United Kingdom

The Boeing Company has appointed Sir Roger Bone, a former senior British ambassador, as the new president of Boeing United Kingdom (UK), effective Sept. 1. He succeeds Sir Michael Jenkins, who for the last two–and-a-half years has overseen Boeing’s broad-ranging activities throughout the UK. Sir Michael will continue to engage in a number of activities for Boeing as a part-time consultant.

Sir Roger’s 40-year diplomatic service career culminated in his role as British ambassador to Sweden (1995 to 1999) and Brazil (1999 to 2004). Key elements of Sir Roger’s career include promotion of UK trade interests overseas and support for inward investment in the UK. He will seek to bolster the industrial and technology links between Boeing and the UK, where the company supports some 30,000 jobs through an average annual purchase of $2.62 billion (£1.5 billion) of advanced systems, services and components from a large network of suppliers.

Fluent in French, Swedish, Russian and Portuguese, Sir Roger has worked around the globe. Prior to serving as British ambassador in Brazil and Sweden, he was political counselor at the British Embassy in Washington D.C. He was a visiting fellow at Harvard University and served as a private secretary to the foreign secretary (Francis Pym and then Sir Geoffrey Howe) between 1982 and 1984. He was an assistant under-secretary of state in the Foreign Office between 1991 and 1995.

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Microsoft and Marvel Sign Worldwide Licensing Agreement for Game Development

At Comic-Con International, the world’s largest comic book convention, Microsoft Corp. and Marvel Enterprises Inc. announced a licensing agreement that will team the entertainment powerhouse Marvel with Microsoft’s proven creative and technology success in the interactive gaming space. Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft has obtained the exclusive rights to develop and publish massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) featuring Marvel’s iconic universe of Super Heroes™ for use in games developed for the Xbox 360™ system and published by Microsoft Game Studios.

Marvel’s stable of Super Heroes is known throughout the world and their epic stories have been forever etched into popular culture. Though originating in comic form, the Marvel myths have been a force in feature films, television shows and video games such as best-selling titles based on the Spider-Man, X-Men and Hulk franchises.

MMOGs, which enable thousands of players to interact online simultaneously, represent one of the biggest areas of growth for the multibillion-dollar interactive entertainment industry. The Marvel-based titles will be developed for the Xbox 360 console platform.