Industry News
Signal Solutions Awarded Army IT Services Contract
The U.S. Army has awarded Signal Solutions, Inc., a subsidiary of General Dynamics Network Systems, the Total Engineering and Integration Services (TEIS) contract, to provide information technology (IT) engineering and technical support. The indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) multiple award contract has a performance period of one base year and four option years with a ceiling value of approximately US$800 million. General Dynamics Network Systems is a business unit of General Dynamics.
Signal Solutions, an incumbent provider on the predecessor contract, will continue to provide IT support services to the U.S. Army’s Communications-Electronics Life Cycle Management Command (USACE-LCMC) and the Information Systems Engineering Command (USAISEC), as well as other federal agencies. Work will be performed in Fort Huachuca, Ariz., the National Capital Region and at USAISEC customer sites worldwide.
Since the first TEIS contract was awarded in 2000, Signal Solutions has partnered with the ISEC to provide the Army with rapid response and global support in transforming its information systems enterprise. During that time, Signal Solutions has been awarded 500 task orders, totaling more than $440 million.
USAISEC’s primary mission is system engineering and integration of information systems for the U.S. Army. Their mission includes the design, engineering, integration, testing, and acceptance of information systems. USAISEC provides matrix support to the program executive officer and program manager structure for systems engineering and integration of assigned information systems.
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Alcatel Alenia Space Signs a 147 Million Euro Contract to Deploy 25 Antennas for ALMA Project in Chile
Alcatel Alenia Space has signed a 147 million euro contract (US$ 176.7 million) with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) to supply 25 antennas for the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) project. The ALMA project is aimed at setting up an array of radio-telescopes to study the origins of galaxies and the formation of stars from Chile. When completed, ALMA will be the largest and most capable imaging array of telescopes in the world.
Alcatel Alenia Space is leading a consortium of manufacturers from France, Italy and Germany, representing the European contribution to the project. This contract covers the design, manufacture, transport and on-site integration of the twenty-five 12-meter (39-feet) wide antennas in the Atacama desert (foothills of Chile's Andes mountains) in Northern Chile.
The ALMA project is an international partnership between Europe, North America and Japan, in collaboration with Chile. ALMA will enable the most sensitive radio-telescope network in the world to collect information in millimetric and sub-millimetric wavelengths. All of these antennas will work together as if they were a single telescope, using the interferometry principle to provide spatial resolution ten times better than the Hubble space telescope.
The project started with the manufacture and validation of three prototype antennas, operating in the 30 to 950 GHz bandwidths, delivered respectively by the United States, Europe and Japan. Following the scientific evaluation of the prototype provided by Europe, Alcatel Alenia Space signed a contract for the supply of twenty-five antennas and their installation in Chajnantor, at an altitude of 5,000 meters (about 16,400 ft) on the Atacama desert in Chile. The deployment will last until 2011.
The ALMA project is a technical challenge, since the antenna surface accuracy must be within 25 microns, the pointing accuracy within 0.6 arc seconds, and the antennas must be able to be moved over a distance of 10 kilometers, and offer Sun-sighting capability. The observation array will cover more than 7,000 square meters (about 75,600 sq ft).
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Bell Helicopter and AgustaWestland Announce Realignment of Joint Venture
Representatives of Bell Helicopter, a unit of Textron Inc. and AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, announced a realignment of their joint venture Bell Agusta Aerospace Company LLC (BAAC). Effective upon regulatory and other necessary approvals, Bell is selling its 25 percent interest in the AB139 medium twin helicopter program to AgustaWestland.
AgustaWestland will assume 100% ownership of all aspects of the AB139 program going forward. In return for its 25% interest, Bell will receive payments to reflect its value in the program. Specific terms of this transaction are undisclosed.
In addition, the realignment allows AgustaWestland to confirm the ability to increase its economic interests in the BA609 civil tiltrotor aircraft, which will remain within BAAC, from the original 25 percent to a maximum of 40 percent by increasing its investments during the development phase.
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BP Makes Strategic Investment in China Aviation Oil (Singapore)
Representatives of BP Singapore announced this week that the company plans to purchase 20 per cent of the equity in China Aviation Oil ( Singapore) for some US$44 million.
The investment follows approval from the creditors of China Aviation Oil ( Singapore) for the company to seek a strategic investor as part of the restructuring process prior to seeking re-listing on the Singapore Exchange.
Under the equity investment agreement, BP will appoint two directors to the Board of China Aviation Oil ( Singapore) and have the ability to appoint staff to a key trading role and a key governance and control role.
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Don Humphreys to Be Elected Senior Vice President and Treasurer of Exxon Mobil Corporation
Representatives of Mobil Corporation announced that it is anticipated that the company's board of directors will elect D. D. (Don) Humphreys as senior vice president and treasurer of the corporation effective January 1, 2006.
Humphreys currently vice president and treasurer, Exxon Mobil Corporation, will be a member of the Corporation's Management Committee.
During his almost 30-year career with the Corporation, Humphreys has served in various assignments -- both domestic and international.
Humphreys joined Exxon Chemical Company in 1976. Ten years later, he transferred to Exxon Corporation in New York as senior financial advisor in the Controller's Department. In 1988, he moved to Exxon Company, International as financial reporting manager and later served as assistant general auditor. In 1990, Mr. Humphreys became upstream controller of Exxon Company, U.S.A.
In 1993, he moved to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as financial director of the Esso companies in Malaysia. Humphreys became an assistant treasurer of Exxon Corporation in January 1997 and was elected vice president and controller in July 1997.
Concurrent with the merger with Mobil, Humphreys was named vice president and controller of Exxon Mobil Corporation. In July 2004, Mr. Humphreys was named vice president and treasurer of Exxon Mobil Corporation.
He graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1971 with a B.S. degree in industrial engineering and management. He served in the United States Army from 1972-1974. He obtained an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1976. Mr. Humphreys is a member of Financial Executives International, the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council, and the Conference Board's Council of Financial Executives.
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Fujitsu Pioneers Use of Carbon Nanotubes for Heatsinks for Semiconductors
Representatives of Fujitsu Limited and Fujitsu Laboratories, Ltd. announced that they have succeeded in the world's first development of carbon nanotube-based heatsinks for semiconductor chips. The use of carbon nanotubes as heatsinks for high-frequency high power amplifiers successfully achieves heat dissipation and high amplification simultaneously.
The new technology represents a major step forward in developing practical applications that take advantage of the superior thermal conductivity of carbon nanotubes. It also enables the realization of high-performance amplifiers with high frequency and high power for next-generation mobile communication systems.
Details of the technology will be presented at the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) to be held in Washington, D.C. from December 5. This research is part of the Advanced Nanocarbon Application Project consigned to the Japan Fine Ceramics Center, by Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).
The new technology enables the simultaneous achievement of high amplification and heat dissipation, in high-frequency, high power amplifiers. Fujitsu has succeeded in the world's first application of carbon nanotubes, which have excellent thermal conductivity, for the bumps in a flip-chip structure.
With the technology, Fujitsu was able to connect carbon nanotube bumps to the miniature electrode of a high power transistor. Carbon nanotubes have thermal conductivity of 1400W/(m-K) - a level much higher than that of metal, and because it is possible to connect carbon nanotube-based bumps very near to the heat-generating miniature electrodes, Fujitsu successfully achieved the high amplification of flip-chips with heat dissipation levels equivalent to face-up structures. Compared to conventional face-up structures, ground inductance is reduced by more than half, thereby enabling an increase in amplification of at least 2 decibels at high frequencies of 5 gigahertz or greater.
Fujitsu intends to continue to refine the site density of carbon nanotubes in bumps to enable further improvements in heat dissipation, paving the way for development of high-frequency, high power flip-chip amplifiers using carbon nanotube bumps. Fujitsu targets deployment of this new technology in base stations for next-generation mobile communication systems in approximately three years.
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Intel Announces Chip Technology Breakthrough Using New Materials
Representatives of Intel Corporation announced Wednesday the development of a new, ultra-fast, yet very low power prototype transistor using new materials that could form the basis of its microprocessors and other logic products beginning in the second half of the next decade.
Intel and QinetiQ researchers have jointly demonstrated an enhancement-mode transistor using indium antimonide (chemical symbol: InSb) to conduct electrical current. Transistors control the flow of information/electrical current inside a chip. The prototype transistor is much faster and consumes less power than previously announced transistors. Intel anticipates using this new material to complement silicon, further extending Moore’s Law.
Significant power reduction at the transistor level, accompanied by a substantial performance increase, could play a crucial role in delivering future platforms to computer users by allowing an increased number of features and capabilities. Considerably less energy used and heat generated could add significant battery life for mobile devices and increase opportunities for building smaller more powerful products.
“The results of this research reinforce our confidence in being able to continue to follow Moore’s Law beyond 2015. As was the case with other Intel technical advancements, we expect these new materials will enhance the future of silicon-based semiconductors,” said Ken David, director of components research for Intel's Technology and Manufacturing Group “By providing 50 percent more performance while reducing power consumption by roughly 10 times, this new material will give us considerable flexibility because we will have ability to optimize for both performance and power of future platforms.”
InSb is in a class of materials called III-V compound semiconductors which are in use today for a variety of discrete and small scale integrated devices such as radio-frequency amplifiers, microwave devices and semiconductor lasers.
Researchers from Intel and QinetiQ have previously announced transistors with InSb channels. The prototype transistors being announced today, with a gate length of 85nm, are the smallest ever, at less than half the size of those disclosed earlier. This is the first time that enhancement mode transistors have been demonstrated. Enhancement mode transistors are the predominant type of transistor used in microprocessors and other logic. These transistors are able to operate at a reduced voltage, about 0.5 volts – roughly half of that for transistors in today’s chips – which leads to chips with far less power consumption.
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EDS Launches Nine Microsoft .NET Technology Centers
Representatives of EDS announced the continued growth of its Microsoft .NET development capabilities with the launch of nine technology centers to leverage EDS’ expertise in delivering the Microsoft development platform to its clients.
Microsoft technologies are the foundation for the software applications layer of the next generation delivery model called the EDS Agile Enterprise Platform – a network-based utility architecture that creates a flexible technology foundation to help global 2000 companies respond more quickly to changing market dynamics, realize significantly improved economics and increase their competitiveness.
EDS’.NET technology centers are located in the following global locations:
- Winnipeg , Manitoba, Canada
- Saginaw , Michigan., USA
- Kokomo , Indiana, USA
- Swansea , United Kingdom
- Cairo , Egypt
- Wellington , New Zealand
- Chennai , India
- Redmond , Washington, USA
- Sao Paulo , Brazil
With the opening of these Microsoft .NET centers, EDS furthers its commitment to Microsoft technologies by creating specific centers that will deliver against EDS’ Application, Mobility and Enterprise Integration services suite of offerings using trusted Microsoft tools and products like Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server 2005 and BizTalk Server 2006. This commitment – complemented by EDS’ strategic activities with Microsoft including EDS’ Top Gun Program, the EDS Agility Alliance, the EDS Agile Enterprise Platform, selected sell-with strategies, and quarterly portfolio offering launches – provides the industry a world-class global services provider that works closely with the world’s leading software manufacturer.
EDS is a sponsoring partner of the Microsoft Partner Solution Center in Redmond, Wash., where EDS experts collaborate with Microsoft experts to create innovative solutions for clients using .NET technologies. EDS’ on-campus presence is complemented by its own Redmond Innovation Center, home to EDS’ “Top Gun” program where the company is focused on applied innovation around Microsoft technologies. This center continues to accelerate EDS’ capabilities and offerings within the next-generation delivery model, the EDS Agile Enterprise Platform. By opening .NET technology centers around the world, EDS is making optimal use of its Microsoft expertise to deliver applications built on the EDS Agile Enterprise Platform in a standard, uniform methodology. Microsoft is the EDS standard for desktop and server operating systems and is the preferred platform for delivering integrated development environments.
