Industry News

Intel Outlines $1 Billion Multi-Year Investment Plans, Highlights India’s Importance

Intel Corporation Chairman Craig Barrett unveiled a multi-year investment plan for India totaling more than US$1billion.

Intel’s US$1 billion-plus, multi-year investment roadmap includes plans to invest US$800 million over the next five years to expand business operations in India. Investments will focus on expanding the research and development center in Bangalore in addition to marketing, education and community programs.

Citing the importance of venture capital investments in developing an IT nation, Barrett also announced the creation of the US$250 million Intel Capital India Technology Fund to help stimulate local technology innovation and growth. The investments will focus on Indian hardware and software companies to nurture technology development for local use. The fund will also selectively invest in technology-oriented service companies that target overseas markets.

Along with Intel’s investment of over US$700 million in India over the past 10 years, Intel Capital has provided funding to more than 40 companies in seven Indian cities since it started investing in 1998.

To grow its business operations in India, Intel will increase its development activities and staffing at the Intel India Development Center (IIDC) in Bangalore over the next five years. The IIDC focuses on hardware and software engineering for Intel products sold globally and has grown to 2,800 employees since it opened five years ago.

With its increased presence Intel also announced a program supporting local communities. The Volunteer Matching Grant Program encourages employees to volunteer in local schools. For every 20 hours an Intel employee volunteers at a school, US$50 will be donated to the institution by the Intel Foundation. Funded solely through donations from Intel, the foundation works to strengthen engineering and computer science education and increase participation in these fields by women and under-represented minorities, improve mathematics and science education for elementary and secondary students, and foster the effective use of computer technology in education.

Intel will increase its efforts over the next three years to train teachers to use technology through the Intel Teach to the Future program. Over the next three years an additional 500,000 teachers will be trained, doubling the number of teachers that have completed the program over the past five years. Intel will also expand its after-school, community-based Intel Learn program to reach students in at least six states through more than 300 community centers.

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BP Issues Final Report on Fatal Explosion, Announces $1 billion Investment at Texas City

Representatives of BP Products North America Inc. issued its final incident investigation report on the March 23, 2005 Texas City Refinery explosion and fire that claimed the lives of 15 workers and injured many more. The company is implementing the recommendations of the incident investigation team and a modernization program to secure the long term future of the refinery. The company expects to invest an estimated $1 billion dollars to improve and maintain the site over the next five years.

“The report clearly describes the underlying causes and management system failures which contributed to the worst tragedy in BP’s recent history,” said Ross Pillari, president of BP Products North America Inc. “We accept the findings, and we are working to make Texas City a complex that attains the highest levels of safety, reliability and environmental performance.”

Some of the actions recommended by the investigation team have been completed. Many are underway. Texas City site manager Colin Maclean has established a special project team to plan and drive execution of the improvement program.

The company will install modern process control systems on major units, transition to a more powerful maintenance management system, improve worker training, remove blow down stacks and implement the other recommendations contained in the final report. The project team will also develop plans for reconfiguring and simplifying the operation of the Texas City refinery.

In anticipation of a recommendation contained in the final report, BP has strengthened and changed the focus of its internal audit program to provide greater assurance that operations at Texas City and the company’s four other U.S. refineries adhere to company standards.

The investigation team “found no evidence of anyone consciously or intentionally taking actions or decisions that put others at risk.” However, “the team found many areas where procedures, policies and expected behaviors were not met.”

According to the report, “the underlying reasons for the behaviors and actions displayed during the incident are complex and the team has spent much time trying to understand them…. It is evident that they had been many years in the making and will require concerted and committed actions to address.”

The final report confirms the critical factors which led to the explosion and greatly increased its consequences. Those critical factors were identified in an interim report published May 17. The final report also identifies the following underlying causes:

• Over the years, the working environment had eroded to one characterized by resistance to change, and lacking of trust, motivation, and a sense of purpose. Coupled with unclear expectations around supervisory and management behaviors this meant that rules were not consistently followed, rigor was lacking and individuals felt disempowered from suggesting or initiating improvements.
• Process safety, operations performance and systematic risk reduction priorities had not been set and consistently reinforced by management.
• Many changes in a complex organization had led to the lack of clear accountabilities and poor communication, which together resulted in confusion in the workforce over roles and responsibilities.
• A poor level of hazard awareness and understanding of process safety on the site resulted in people accepting levels of risk that are considerably higher than comparable installations. One consequence was that temporary office trailers were placed within 150 feet of a blowdown stack which vented heavier than air hydrocarbons to the atmosphere without questioning the established industry practice.
• Given the poor vertical communication and performance management process, there was neither adequate early warning system of problems, nor any independent means of understanding the deteriorating standards in the plant.

Prior to March 23, the leadership team at Texas City was working to address many of the problems later described in the final investigation report.

A control of work program had been started to ensure maintenance activities were safely performed. Training for supervisors was being improved. A program to implement a “Just Culture” in which people are held accountable for their job performance was getting underway. The workplace injury rate had been reduced by more than 70 per cent.

Maclean, who was named manager of the Texas City site May 17, has strengthened the leadership team at the refinery, bringing in new personnel from other locations in BP and reassigning others. He has simplified the organizational structure, clarified roles and responsibilities and put in place systems to improve communication and compliance with procedures.

BP’s incident investigation was conducted by a team of BP operations, refining and safety experts and salaried and union employees of the Texas City refinery. The team was directed to determine the cause of the March 23 explosion and make recommendations for preventing similar incidents in the future.

The final incident investigation report has been shared with government agencies investigating the incident and the findings and recommendations are being communicated across BP’s global operations. As promised, the report is available to the public and has been posted on the web at www.bpresponse.org .

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Lockheed Martin to Build High Altitude Airship Under Defense Agency Contract

Lockheed Martin will build a prototype High Altitude Airship (HAATM) under a US$149.2 million contract awarded by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA). This contract marks the beginning of the program's third phase, leading to prototype delivery and flight in 2009.

Under the contract, Lockheed Martin will build an airship prototype based on the design developed during the program's second phase. Operating at 60,000 feet, the prototype will demonstrate launch and recovery, station-keeping and flight-control capabilities while carrying mission re-configurable payloads. It will be about 400 feet long and 140 feet in diameter, and will have a volume of 3.7 million cubic feet. It will be built in Lockheed Martin's facility in Akron.

Lockheed Martin is a world leader in systems integration and the development of air and missile defense systems and technologies, including the first operational hit-to-kill missile defense system. It also has considerable experience in missile design and production, infrared seekers, command and control, battle management, and communications, precision pointing and tracking optics, as well as radar and signal processing. The company makes significant contributions to all major U.S. missile defense systems and participates in several global missile defense partnerships.

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General Dynamics to Acquire Anteon for $55.50 Per Share

General Dynamics and Anteon International Corporation have entered into a definitive agreement for General Dynamics to acquire Anteon for $55.50 in cash for each outstanding Anteon share.  The cost of the transaction would be approximately $2.2 billion, including the assumption of Anteon’s $100 million of net debt.

The proposed acquisition, which has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies, would be immediately accretive to General Dynamics’ earnings.  Subject to an affirmative vote by Anteon shareholders and normal regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close by the end of the second quarter of 2006.

Anteon, headquartered in Fairfax, Va., has approx. 9,500 employees in more than 100 offices worldwide.  The company has a current business backlog of $6.6 billion and anticipates 2006 sales of $1.72 billion.

Anteon is a leading systems integration company that provides mission, operational and IT enterprise support to the U.S. government. It designs, integrates, maintains and upgrades systems for national defense, intelligence, emergency response, infrastructure and other high-priority government missions. It also provides many customers with the systems engineering and program management skills necessary to manage the development and operations of their mission-critical systems.  More than 35 percent of its employees are scientists or network, systems or software engineers; more than 65 percent have secret or top-secret security clearances.

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Raytheon Awarded Two Contracts Valued at $15.7 Million to Support AEGIS Equipment

Raytheon Company has been awarded two sole source contracts by the U.S. Navy totaling US$15.7 million for AEGIS equipment support. A $10.2 million performance based logistics contract renews Raytheon Integrated Defense System's (IDS) direct responsibility for administering AEGIS technical support for spares and repairs requirements of U.S. Navy and Foreign Military Sales customers.

A $5.5 million contract calls for upgrading transmitter equipment in the AEGIS Weapon System. The AEGIS program is served by Raytheon's IDS Surveillance & Sensor Systems business area. Raytheon recently commemorated a 25-year milestone of continuous AEGIS equipment production.

The $5.5 million transmitter upgrade contract calls for the manufacture,test and delivery of solid state amplifiers for use in RF (radio frequency) monitor cabinets in SPY-1 radar transmitters. Whole life services and support is central to maintaining and upgrading AEGIS equipment on board the U.S. Navy's fleet, which includes Ticonderoga class cruisers and Arleigh Burke class destroyers.

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Claire Pedini Appointed Senior Vice President Human Resources of Alcatel

Representatives of Alcatel announced thatClaire Pedini is appointed Senior Vice President, Corporate Human Resources as of January 1, 2006, replacing Thomas Edig. Before this appointment she was deputy CFO. Claire Pedini becomes a member of the Alcatel executive committee.

Claire Pedini started her career in the financial department of Total where she held various positions in financial control and treasury. From 1992 to 1994, she was in charge of investor relations and was then responsible for the press office until March 1997. From 1997 to 1998, she was in charge of the new information systems introduction and organizational changes at Total Exploration Production. She joined Alcatel in 1998 as Director of Financial Services and Investor Relations. She then became Vice President, Investor Relations and Public Affairs until February 2004, when she took the deputy CFO position. She graduated from the Business school Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) and has a masters degree in media management from Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris (ESCP).

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Nortel Appoints David Drinkwater New Chief Legal Officer

Nortel President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mike Zafirovski announced the appointment of David Drinkwater as Chief Legal Officer effective December 19, 2005.

Drinkwater's background includes working both as a partner in a top-tier law firm and with world-class businesses such as Bell Canada, where he served as group vice president, Law and General Counsel. He will lead the Nortel legal department leveraging his many years of experience in advising multi-national companies and his deep understanding of the telecommunications marketplace, opportunities and challenges.

A Toronto native, Drinkwater previously worked as the Executive Assistant to the Chair of the Ontario Securities Commission, and at one time he was considered a top candidate to lead the Commission. He also previously led the Corporate Development and Legal Affairs team at Ontario Power Generation and served as their Chief Financial Officer.

Drinkwater will report directly to the President and CEO, and will be based at the Company's headquarters location.

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IBM Executive, Former DISA Director Named Vice Chair of NCO Industry Consortium

Washington, DC – December 5, 2005 – Former Lieutenant General, USAF Harry D. Raduege, Jr., of IBM has been elected vice chair of the executive council of the Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium (NCOIC). Raduege assumes the position held by Lorraine Martin of Lockheed Martin, who served as the NCOIC’s vice chair for one year and became NCOIC executive chair in October.

“As the former director of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), I have always believed in the concept of this NCO industry consortium,” Raduege said. “The NCOIC is a unique undertaking that can be used to develop common understanding, recommend common standards, and shorten acquisition cycles as it saves resources used to build integrated and interoperable network solutions, capabilities, and services. My work at IBM directly ties to NCO solutions, and I look forward to becoming more deeply involved in the direction of the NCOIC.”

As a member of the Strategic Business Relationships Team at IBM, Raduege focuses on the strategy, importance, and evolving nature of net-centric operations across war-fighting, intelligence, and business applications. With 35 years of active-duty military service, Raduege spent five years as the director of DISA, and was also commander of the Joint Task Force for Global Network Operations, deputy commander of Global Network Operations and Defense for the United States Strategic Command, and manager of the National Communications System, the latter a position he held for three years just prior to those responsibilities being transferred to the Department of Homeland Security. His organizational duties included engineering, acquiring, and maintaining interoperable, integrated command, control, communications and computer (C4) and intelligence systems in support of U.S. national objectives. He was also responsible for directing the operations and defense of the global information grid to ensure the existence of reliable and secure net-centric capabilities across strategic, operational and tactical boundaries in support of all U.S. Department of Defense operations.

Leadership positions in the NCOIC are held for a period of one year, after which vice chairs assume the role of chair, and chairs become chair emeriti. The NCOIC consists of three primary councils: executive, technical and business. The executive council is chaired by Lockheed Martin, with IBM’s Raduege as the newly elected vice chair. The technical council is currently chaired by an IBM representative, co-chaired by a Boeing representative, and the business council is chaired by an Oracle representative and co-chaired by a Sun Microsystems representative. All appointments are made via a general election process.