Industry News
Maroc Telecom Awards Alcatel Project to Deploy Submarine Network Connection
Representatives of Alcatel announced Tuesday that it has signed a contract with Maroc Telecom, the leading telecommunication operator in Morocco, for a submarine cable network linking Morocco and France. Based on Alcatel's market-leading optical solutions, the project, named Atlas Offshore and valued at Euro 26 million (US$33 million), will help Maroc Telecom to enhance its network capacity in support of new broadband service delivery and particularly call centers and off shoring activities.
The submarine network will span more than 1,600 km between Marseille in France and Asilah in Morocco. Once completed in early 2007, it will enable Maroc Telecom to handle the increasing number of DSL subscribers* by leveraging enhanced connectivity and broadband access capabilities. Furthermore, it will create a new traffic route offering an alternative path to the existing 3,200 km Eurafrica submarine system linking France, Morocco and Portugal. The 320 Gbit/s capacity offered by the Marseille-Asilah connection will be 570 times higher than the one delivered by the Eurafrica submarine network. In addition, the new submarine link will benefit from advanced restoration capabilities and will serve as backhaul infrastructure for Eurafrica.
The Alcatel turnkey solution will be based on its DWDM submarine equipment, including the 1620 Light Manager (LM) submarine line terminal, and repeatered cables, as well as the 1678 Metro Core Connect (MCC) for terrestrial applications. All the equipment will be managed by Alcatel's 1350 management suite. Furthermore, Alcatel will be in charge of the installation, commissioning, integration and testing of the entire system, along with post-commissioning support.
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U.S. Air Force Awards $28 Million Contract to Rockwell Collins for Next-Generation GPS Technology
The U.S. Air Force has selected Rockwell Collins to develop next-generation Global Positioning System (GPS) technology as part of the Modernized User Equipment (MUE) Receiver Card Development program.
The main objective of the program is to develop and demonstrate modernized user segment receiver cards, establishing first proof of design for the modernized GPS architecture. The current contract, to be executed through October 2007, supports preliminary design of the modernized receiver cards for ground and airborne applications. Completion of the receiver card development, test and security certification will be accomplished under a government exercisable contract option for these tasks.
This program, awarded by the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), represents the military user equipment portion of a next-generation GPS system that adds a new military signal and security architecture. The new technology offers enhanced integrity, exclusivity and improved anti-jam capabilities.
In 2003, Rockwell Collins was selected for a Program Research and Development Announcement (PRDA) contract for MUE. The objective of this three-year contract was to understand the technical, security, certification and implementation requirements, as well as the associated risks regarding development of MUE. The study also researched the ability to design, develop and produce MUE that can effectively detect, acquire, track and process the new military signal (M-Code) along with the current signal structure in a MUE receiver design.
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Electric Boat Wins $20 Million DARPA Contract to Continue Development of Shaftless Propulsion for Subs
General Dynamics Electric Boat has won a US$20 million, 18-month contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to continue development of shaftless propulsion technology for submarines. Electric Boat is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics.
Electric Boat was one of two teams that participated in the first phase of the DARPA Tango Bravo program, to develop concepts for a submarine propulsion system that would not require a propulsion shaft that penetrates the hull. After reviewing both teams' proposals, DARPA selected Electric Boat to build and test a series of small- and large-scale technology demonstrators to validate the performance predicted for its design.
The designation Tango Bravo refers to the term "technology barrier." This program is examining certain technologies to determine whether they can meet stringent submarine performance requirements while reducing ship-acquisition and life-cycle costs and improving the warfighting capabilities and mission adaptability of future submarines.
Electric Boat has won two other technology demonstration contracts under the program, one to develop externally mounted submarine weapons, and the other to radically reduce ship infrastructure.
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EDS Selected for U.S. Department of Homeland Security Eagle Contract
Representatives of EDS announced the company has been selected to provide information technology (IT) services to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under the agency's newly awarded Eagle contract. EDS is one of 25 companies in the program's "unrestricted track" that may compete for task orders under the five-year Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract.
EDS bid on and won the opportunity to compete for task orders in three functional categories of the Eagle contract: infrastructure engineering design, development, implementation and integration; operations and maintenance; and software development.
DHS agencies will use the Eagle contract to purchase a range of information technology (IT) services to support the department's mission of securing our nation and its citizens. Eagle will give DHS a vehicle for standardizing disparate IT systems and architectures and deploying enterprise-wide solutions.
EDS is backed by EDS' Agility Alliance, nine of the world's leading IT firms joined together to develop the next generation of comprehensive, integrated, and affordable services to clients. The EDS Agility Alliance includes Cisco, Dell, EMC, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, Sun Microsystems, Towers Perrin and Xerox to jointly deliver best-in-class application and infrastructure services, with emphasis on industry innovation and cost leadership.
