Industry News
Mike Zakirovski Named Nortel President and CEO
Representatives of Nortel Networks Corporation announced that its Board of Directors appointed Mike S. Zafirovski as president and chief executive officer (CEO).
Zafirovski will succeed Bill Owens as president and CEO on November 15, 2005.
Zafirovski, has a 30-year career of leadership with two of the world's highest profile corporate innovators, General Electric and Motorola. From 1975 to 2000, Zafirovski served with General Electric in a succession of senior executive positions in a number of the company's key divisions: president and CEO, GE Lighting; president, GE Capital Mortgage Corporation; and president and CEO, GE Capital Fleet Services. In 2000, Zafirovski joined Motorola, first as president and CEO of the Personal Communications Sector, and from 2002 to 2005, as president and chief operating officer of Motorola.
Zafirovski, a native of Macedonia, emigrated to the United States in 1969. He is a director of The Boeing Corporation as well as a variety of philanthropic and educational institutions.
Zafirovski has also been appointed president and CEO of Nortel Networks Limited, (NNL), the Company's principal operating subsidiary, and a director to the Boards of the Company and NNL, effective November 15, 2005.
Upon leaving Nortel, Bill Owens will continue his engagements around the world in serving on various boards, in promoting good governance, and will continue to pursue entrepreneurial endeavors as well as his philanthropic interests.
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Cisco Systems to Invest Over US $1 Billion in India over Next Three Years
Representatives of Cisco Systems announced a major investment initiative in India totaling US$1.1 billion. This announcement highlights the growing importance of the Indian market in the global economy. The announcement was made by John Chambers , President and CEO of Cisco Systems, on the first day of his three-day visit to India.
Chambers discussed Cisco's investment plans in India with the Honorable Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and the Honorable Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Shri Dayanidhi Maran, while in New Delhi today.
The Indian networking market has grown rapidly in the last few years, fueled by liberalization, market reforms and telecommunications deregulation. In order to better service the needs of Indian customers, eighteen months ago Cisco India formed five separate vertical business groups: IT Services, Enterprises, Service Providers, Government and Defense, and SOHO/Consumer.
Cisco's three-year expansion plan in the country will direct investments in the following areas:
US$750 million will be allocated to research and development (R&D) activities, including training, development and staffing over the next three years. Cisco's own R&D activities will be complemented by work done by Indian strategic partner companies.
US$150 million will be dedicated by Cisco Systems Capital - a division of Cisco Systems, Inc. - to provide leasing and other financial solutions to Cisco customers and partners.
US$100 million in venture capital will be earmarked by Cisco to invest in Indian start up companies.
US$100 million will be invested in customer support operations - a significant portion of which will be allocated for technical services, spare parts depots and channel development.
Cisco first established operations in India in 1995 and today employs over 1400 people in the country in its Global R&D center in Bangalore and offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkatta, Pune, Hyderabad and Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The company also committed to expanding the Cisco Networking Academy Program in the country. There are currently 141 networking academies across 22 States and Union Territories in India and the program will be extended further within each State and Union Territory by 2006.
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BP and HPCL Sign Letter of Intent to Form a Refining and Marketing Joint Venture in India
Representatives of BP plc and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) announced that they have signed a letter of intent to form a 50/50 strategic joint venture covering the refining and marketing sector in India.
One of the joint venture’s first major projects will be the construction of a US$3 billion refinery, with an annual capacity of at least 9 million tons (180,000 barrels a day), at Bhatinda, in Punjab, India. At the same time, the partners will begin to develop a joint marketing activity, including the establishment of a retail service station network, in preparation for the refinery coming on stream in 2009.
In addition, the joint venture will provide assistance in crude selection and supply for other refineries of HPCL.
This strategic partnership would also provide opportunities for HPCL to acquire/participate in refining & marketing assets that the BP group may identify from its overseas portfolio.
The agreement was signed by John Manzoni, BP’s chief executive of refining and marketing, and Mahesh Behari Lal, Chairman of HPCL, in the presence of Mani Shankar Aiyar, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Lord Browne, group chief executive of BP, at a ceremony in Delhi.
The two companies will now establish a joint working group to progress the development of the joint venture and also examine a range of other opportunities, including some outside India.
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Top Officials and Specialists From All Space-Faring Nations Meet at the First Space Safety Conference in Nice, France
At the 40th IAF congress in Beijing, China, in October 1989 the then NASA Associated Administrator for Safety and Mission Assurance, George Rodney, concluded his presentation on Space Station safety with the following remark: "Over the long run, the safety of all human beings in the global commons of space is a responsibility that must be shared by all space-faring powers."
Despite these prophetic words and in contrast to what happens in the aviation world where an international organization for aviation safety, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), has existed for 60 years, safety issues associated with spaceflight are still dealt with today at individual national level. Most of the existing laws, agreements and safety regulations governing space activities were written to make it easier for governments to function in space.
In recent years marked by increased cooperation among space-faring nations and the arrival of new players, such as Brazil and China, and the first steps towards private space tourism, there has however, been growing awareness that it is time to reform and harmonize the existing legal and regulatory framework for space safety and make it easier for the private sector to undertake the development of commercial space activities.
Advancing space safety is not only a moral duty, but the key to expanding space programs and making them more and more economically viable. Each space accident has a tremendous impact on the overall progress of the exploration and exploitation of space due to calendar delays, the drain on limited personnel and financial resources and loss of political and public motivation for new space endeavors.
In particular in the field of human spaceflight, international programs, rather than national ones, will represent the norm in the future. However, there are important cultural differences that can increase the threat to safety. This applies to crew operations as well to development teams and goes far beyond the obvious language barrier. Cultural differences lead to differences in the approach to safety which originate in varying tradition, past experiences, environment, government policies and different degree of public acceptance of risks.
After a number of tragic accidents, hitting practically all space-faring nations, and the advent of new governmental and private human spaceflight endeavors, the beginnings of space tourism and the expansion of space exploration beyond low Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars, it is time to move forward with international cooperation in space safety and make a new start in the search for harmonized and coherent safety rules and standards, leading ultimately perhaps to the creation of a single international space safety organization, similar to the ICAO in the aviation field.
This is the purpose of the first Conference of the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS) to be held in Nice, France, from 25 to 27 October 2005. Sponsored by ESA, NASA and JAXA, specialists from the space agencies, industry and research institutes of all space-faring nations, including in particular China, India, and Brazil, will come together to discuss the lessons to be learnt from space accidents, the prevention of human error, safety risk management, organizational culture of safety, safety on long-duration human space missions, emerging safety regulations for space tourism and many other relevant safety-related issues.
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Mercer Human Resource Consulting Awards IBM $58 Million Contract
Mercer Human Resource Consulting has awarded IBM a US$58 million contract to manage its IT procurement systems as well as its desktop infrastructure and help desk support, primarily in the U.S. and the U.K. Under the five-year contract, IBM will deploy software that it relies on to manage its own procurement, help desk, and desktop services functions.
IBM will use its OrderNow! procurement software to build a special online catalog for Mercer that employees can use to order IT products, such as laptops, servers and software. OrderNow! will keep track of orders, facilitating the company's goal of improving procurement processes and recognizing savings through a reduction in the number of so-called "one-off" orders.
Similarly, IBM will build a customizable Web-based portal, using its HelpNow! software to assist Mercer users in solving IT problems quickly and cost-effectively. The IBM solution will support the needs of Mercer's consulting workforce, providing them with 24x7 services that support the varied work practices within Mercer.
These software solutions will enhance IBM's maintenance and support of Mercer's 10,500 U.S. and U.K. employees in the use of personal computers and laptops.
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Esterline’s Palomar Products Wins Lockheed Martin $6.8 Million VH-71 Helicopter Subcontract
Lockheed Martin has awarded Esterline Technologies’ Palomar Products subsidiary a US$6.8 million contract to provide aircraft intercommunication systems for the new VH-71 Presidential Helicopter program. Work conducted under this contract will begin immediately and continue through December 2007 at Palomar’s facility in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA.
Palomar is one of America’s leading companies providing communication products to U.S. military customers through the design, manufacture, marketing, and integration of high quality audio and data distribution systems. The company currently provides voice communications for the existing Marine One helicopters. Palomar was recently acquired by Bellevue, WA-based Esterline, a leading manufacturer of specialized avionics, sensors and advanced materials for aerospace/defense markets.
Lockheed Martin Systems Integration – Owego is the prime contractor and systems integrator for the U.S. Navy’s VH-71 Presidential Helicopter program with overall responsibility for the program and aircraft system. The VH-71 is based on the US101 helicopter, the American variant of AgustaWestland’s successful EH-101 multimission helicopter. AgustaWestlandBell, the U.S. principal subcontractor to Lockheed Martin, has responsibility for the air vehicle design, configuration management and support. More than 200 suppliers in 41 states support the VH-71 program.
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Microsoft and Yahoo! Announce Interoperability Agreement
Representatives ofYahoo! Inc. and Microsoft Corp. announced an agreement to connect users of their consumer instant messaging (IM) services on a global basis. The industry’s first interoperability agreement between two distinct leading global consumer IM providers will give MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger users the ability to interact with each other, forming what is expected to be the largest consumer IM community in the world, estimated to be more than 275 million strong.
Being able to instant message between IM communities is one of the features most requested by MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger users. In addition to exchanging instant messages, consumers from both communities will be able to see their friends’ online presence, share select emoticons, and easily add new contacts from either service to their friends’ list, all as part of their IM service. Yahoo! and Microsoft plan to introduce these interconnectivity capabilities between MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger to customers around the world in the second quarter of 2006, and in doing so expect to help make IM an even more useful part of consumers’ online communications and communities.
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Alcatel Deploys Its First Mobile NGN Network in China with Zhejiang Mobile
Representatives of Alcatel announced the company has successfully completed the deployment of its first Mobile Next Generation Network (Mobile NGN) in China for Zhejiang Mobile, a subsidiary of China Mobile. With this network in place, Zhejiang Mobile will be able to improve quality of service, reduce network operation and maintenance costs. The next generation network project was implemented by Alcatel Shanghai Bell, Alcatel's flagship Chinese company.
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EDS and Guthy-Renker Extend Long Term Relationship Through 2010
Representatives of EDS and Guthy-Renker, one of the world’s largest direct response marketers, announced the extension and expansion of the companies’ long-term relationship for business process outsourcing (BPO) services through 2010.
This new agreement is one of EDS’ largest BPO agreements to date, and continues EDS’ current customer relationship management (CRM) services for Guthy-Renker’s U.S. operations and add similar services for its Australia and New Zealand markets. Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed.
As a part of this contract extension, EDS will support Guthy-Renker’s global growth by providing CRM services to Guthy-Renker’s growing customer base in the southern Asia Pacific region. EDS will operate out of a new fulfillment facility in Australia and expand its existing New Zealand customer contact center to support Guthy-Renker’s consumer-direct business.
EDS will continue to process orders and payments, and manage assembly services, fulfillment, distribution and customer support of GRC's consumer sales of beauty and skin care lines and various other consumer products and categories in the United States, through 2010. Guthy-Renker shares these facilities and EDS’ global infrastructure, which helps it lower costs, streamline operations, improve customer service, increase revenues, and remain focused on product marketing.
