Industry News
Raytheon Awarded $31.7 Million U.S. Navy Contract
Raytheon Company has been awarded a US$31 million contract from Naval Sea Systems Command for integrated combat control systems for the next five Virginia class submarines.
As the prime systems integrator for the submarine combat control suite, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) will procure, produce, test and integrate all combat control hardware and software, including tactical software and logistics support, delivering the advanced communication, navigation and weapon launch capabilities that are critical to submarine combat operations. Under the contract, Raytheon will also provide combat control system modernization and technology refresh for the first two submarines of the Virginia class, the USS Virginia (SSN 774) and USS Texas(SSN 775).
The Virginia class submarine combat control subsystem consists of centralized data management systems for weapon control, interface and weapon launch capabilities. Raytheon's Weapon Interface Panel provides special purpose hardware to support generation and control of weapon data, control signals and weapon power for pre-launch, launch, and post-launch control of four horizontal tube-fired weapons and 12 vertical tube fired weapons.
Work on this and other submarine combat system programs is performed at Raytheon's Maritime Mission Center in Portsmouth, R.I.
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Alcatel Selected by T-Mobile International to Deploy a Fully Integrated Interactive Mobile TV Solution in Europe
Representatives of Alcatel announced it has been selected by T-Mobile International, a world leading mobile operator, to provide its affiliated companies in Germany, the UK and Austria with a fully integrated interactive mobile TV solution. This solution will enable T-Mobile's innovative "TV in Your Pocket" service, allowing the operator to address the booming mobile TV market, while enhancing its subscribers' experience with interactive and personalized mobile TV programs.
Leveraging superior encoding and streaming technologies, Alcatel's interactive mobile TV solution offers EDGE and 3G users a best-in-class mobile TV experience, thanks to rich-media player and electronic program guide (EPG) features, smart navigation and fast channel zapping, as well as video and audio quality optimized for mobile handsets.
Alcatel will provide T-Mobile International with an end-to-end integrated solution, including comprehensive customer care facilities and full flexibility in implementation of tariff schemes. Moreover, based on a joint T-Mobile and Alcatel Content Governance Model, T-Mobile has granted Alcatel responsibility for aggregating live TV content, as well as "made for mobile" channels. In the first phase of the project, Alcatel will also host and technically operate the complete service platform for all three countries from its centre in Stuttgart, Germany.
Alcatel's music and video solutions have already been adopted by more than 80 mobile operators in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America to enable their mobile video, music and live TV services.
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IBM and Spector Sign Three-Year Outsourcing Contract
Spector Photo Group NV has chosen IBM as its outsourcing partner for the Group's strategic digital expansion project. IBM will provide hosting for the Imaging Group's various websites (under the company's own brand names Spector, ExtraFilm, and Wistiti, and under licensed brands such as Kodak Images), as well as storage of digital images and the photography group's infrastructure for processing orders on-line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
For a long time consumers have been able to visit the group's various European websites to print or process digital photos. Customers can upload and print digital photos over the internet, store them on-line in a free personal album, share them with friends and family, or use them to produce a digital postcard or gift. IBM now provides the infrastructure and hosting of these sites, storing the photos at the IBM data centers in Nossegem and Machelen ( Belgium). For consumers, storing digital photos on one of the Imaging Group's websites is a safe way to archive them.
Digital photography is making rapid strides. Provisional estimates for 2005 suggest that the digital sector now accounts for 25% of all the jobs that Spector gets compared with 75% for analogue photography. It is expected that this ratio will have increased to half by the end of this year, and increase even further by 2007. Spector has also seen rapid increase in the mail-order segment: many customers prefer to have their digital photos delivered to their homes than to collect them from a retail outlet.
This market growth has led to Spector Imaging Group's investment in infrastructure.
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Nortel Signs 2G/3G Deal with Cingular Wireless
Cingular Wireless has signed a three-year contract with Nortel to provide wireless network services and equipment.
Nortel's GSM and UMTS wireless voice core technology will support Cingular's rapid network expansion and subscriber growth and help enable Cingular to reduce costs, increase network reliability and improve the quality of service for subscribers through the use of a more cost efficient, packet-switched core network.
Under the new agreement, Nortel will deploy its 2G/3G 3GPP Release 4 compliant MSC ( Mobile Switching Center) Server and Media Gateway products to support Cingular's UMTS/HSDPA network deployment. These products are compliant with 3GPP Bearer Independent Core Network standards. Nortel's R4 technology will help provide a significant increase in call handling capacity - up to 300% according to Nortel estimates.
Nortel has already deployed more than two million ports of its MSC solution to support Cingular's national 2G/GSM network in major markets across the United States. According to Nortel estimates, this is believed to be the industry's largest in-service R4 core network installation to date. Nortel has been a supplier of wireless infrastructure equipment in the Cingular Wireless network since 1995.
Nortel has designed, installed and launched more than 300 wireless networks in more than 70 countries.
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Cisco Systems Appoints David Rubio as Vice President, Cisco Services Asia Pacific
Cisco Systems has appointed David Rubio as vice president of Cisco Services, Asia Pacific. Mr. Rubio is based in Hong Kong and reports to Bob Singleton, vice president of Cisco Services.
In this new role, Rubio will lead the Cisco®'s Asia Pacific Services organization in working with clients to accelerate their success through innovative services delivered by Cisco's world-class people, partners, processes and tools. He will work closely with Owen Chan, president of Cisco Asia Pacific, to deliver quality solutions and services to key Cisco customers in Asia Pacific.
In the past three years, Rubio has led various teams of the Cisco's Asia Pacific Services organization to develop strategies for clients in general management, marketing and sales strategies in some of the company's highest-growth markets in Asia. Prior to joining the Asia Pacific executive team, he held the lead role responsible for developing and executing the services model for service providers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
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Toshiba to Strengthen Presence in Russian Market
Representative of Toshiba Corporation announced that it has reinforced its presence in the Russian market with the establishment of Toshiba Rus LLC in Moscow. Russia's approaching accession to the World Trade Organization is expected to provide a powerful economic boost, and the new company will support Toshiba in securing enhanced participation in the Russian market.
Toshiba Rus LLC will start marketing of Toshiba's overall product line-up in April. The company will define and execute mid- and long-term business plans, promote Group sales and marketing strategies, including branding, regional marketing and setting up a network of branch offices, and cultivate new businesses. Once Russia accedes to the WTO, the new company will extend the scale and reach of its operations by gradually integrating the various representative offices that now promote Toshiba's individual businesses in Russia.
Toshiba Rus will look for high growth in such areas as notebook PCs, digital products, electronic components and white goods, and will also initiate proactive measures to promote social infrastructure systems. Toshiba took steps in this direction in December last year, with a Moscow seminar on its social infrastructure systems, and Toshiba Rus will now seek to enhance the presence of the Toshiba brand in the promising Russian market. Toshiba will also investigate establishing an R&D center to work in such areas as software development and to leverage Russia's high-tech capabilities.
After Toshiba Rus starts business, Toshiba's Moscow Representative Office, established in 1993, will go through a transitional period of transferring its functions to the new company and then close down.
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3M to Acquire OMNII Oral Pharmaceuticals
Representatives of 3M announced Monday that the company has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire OMNII Oral Pharmaceuticals, a provider of differentiated preventive dental products, solutions and support for dental professionals. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Increasing recognition of the link between oral health and overall health is focusing much more attention on the need for preventive oral health care. As a result, there is growing demand for more and better preventive care solutions.
3M ESPE and OMNII share a commitment to quality dental products, oral health, and bringing the best and most current science to the dental market.
3M is the second-largest supplier to the dental industry in the world. The company manufactures and markets a wide range of products and services used by dental professionals worldwide to improve oral health. These products are designed to meet restorative, crown and bridge, orthodontic, preventive, infection control, and cosmetic dentistry needs.
OMNII employs approximately 100 people and is headquartered in West Palm Beach, Fla. The transaction is expected to close in April, subject to customary closing conditions.
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Vodafone Signs Strategic 3G Handset Partnership with Huawei
Representatives of Vodafone Group and Huawei Technologies announced Tuesday a landmark agreement that will see Huawei supply exclusive Vodafone-branded consumer 3G handsets for Vodafone across 21 countries for at least 5 years.
The handsets will be branded solely as "Vodafone", the first time Vodafone has offered devices branded in this way for the consumer market. The agreement demonstrates Vodafone's ability to utilize its scale to deliver increasing value to its customers.
The agreement marks Huawei's first significant entry into the European handset market. Vodafone anticipates offering the first Vodafone branded, Huawei manufactured handset, a 3G model, in September 2006.
