Industry News
Florida Turnpike Enterprise Selects Raytheon to Negotiate for $221 Million Terminal Replacement Program
The Florida Turnpike Enterprise selection committee has chosen Raytheon to negotiate for the $221 million Toll System Replacement program. The selection committee made its decision based on Raytheon's technical and financial proposal, which provided the lowest risk.
If negotiations are successful, Raytheon will begin work by Sept. 15 as the prime contractor, responsible for the overall project of providing the state with open road, free-flow electronic tolling systems. Florida Turnpike Enterprise manages a 612-mile system of limited-access toll highways. The current toll system is a hybrid consisting of lane-based cash and electronic-tolling elements. Its turnpike mainline passes through 11 counties from North Miami to a junction with Interstate 75 in central Florida.
The replacement program calls for an upgrade of tolling hardware at 815 lanes and 174 plazas throughout the state, including replacement of the central audit system.
The new toll collection system is an arrangement of computers; communications networks; and electronic, electro-mechanical, and mechanical devices and processes that work together.
The system will be designed to be adaptable to changing business rules and will support attended and unattended toll operations as well as open road tolling lane operations.
[ FYI Index ]
General Dynamics Awarded $46 Million Long-Lead Contract for M1A2 Abrams Tank Reset
The U.S. Army has awarded General Dynamics Land Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics, a $46 million contract to provide long-lead parts to support the reset of 72 M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks.
Through the reset program, General Dynamics, in partnership with the Anniston Army Depot, will service, repair and modify vehicles to a pre-combat condition, apply modifications to bring the tanks to the latest configuration, and reissue them to Army units prior to their next deployments.
Work is slated to begin in 2007 and will be performed by existing General Dynamics employees in Anniston, Ala.; Tallahassee, Fla.; Sterling Heights, Mich.; and Eynon, Pa. Final assembly and acceptance will be completed at the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center, Lima, Ohio.
[ FYI Index ]
Alcatel Awarded a €30 Million Contract with ITPC For A Nation-wide Backbone in Iraq
Representatives of Alcatel announced Wednesday that it has been awarded a €30 million (US$38.3 million) contract with Iraqi Telecommunications & Post Corporation (ITPC), the sole fixed operator in Iraq, to deliver a turnkey high capacity nation-wide microwave backbone.
With this turnkey solution, ITPC will be able to handle the ever-growing national traffic caused by continuous increasing demands in the capital and in the country. The network will allow ITPC to provide fixed, mobile and data services very quickly according to the Telco activity development the operator wants to promote. Alcatel will provide a backbone covering 62 sites along three important routes in the country.
The World Bank will finance this contract.
Under the terms of this contract, Alcatel will supply its Alcatel 9600 LSY high-capacity long haul digital microwave radio transmission backbone along with Optical Multi-Service Node (OMSN) systems, PDH multiplex and cross connect, complemented by a powerful end-to-end network management, power supply equipment and towers providing efficient control & routing throughout the network.
[ FYI Index ]
IBM Acquires Webify
Representatives of IBM announced Wednesday that it acquired Webify Solutions, an Austin, Texas-based, privately held provider of industry-specific software and services for building service oriented architectures (SOA). An SOA is a way of reusing a company's existing technology to more closely align with business goals helping to result in greater efficiencies, cost savings and productivity. Financial terms were not disclosed.
This acquisition builds upon IBM's strategy to take advantage of its strengths in business consulting, IT services and software to develop high-value, repeatable tools that help companies optimize and transform their businesses. Webify technology will be immediately integrated into IBM Software Group under the WebSphere brand -- which has experienced 32 consecutive quarters of revenue growth and double-digit revenue growth for the first two quarters of 2006. It will also be available through IBM Global Services offerings.
Webify software helps accelerate the development and deployment of applications that business users need to quickly respond to market and competitive pressures. It provides hundreds of industry-specific, pre-built standards-based accelerators, tools and frameworks. Webify's offerings help solve business problems that are specific to a given industry such as HIPAA compliance for healthcare companies and ACORD standards in the insurance industry.
IBM's acquisition of Webify strengthens its leadership in service oriented architecture, which helps a company reuse existing technology to more closely align it with business goals, resulting in greater efficiencies, cost savings and productivity. By bringing together IBM's development and use of open industry standards with Webify's expertise in semantics, IBM can better solve common business problems in a given vertical industry. Together, IBM and Webify will help businesses run more efficiently by accelerating the integration of business processes and the sharing and reuse of proven applications and best practices.
Webify software combines these semantics with industry-specific tools and frameworks to help customers develop composite business applications to grow revenue, decrease costs and comply with government and industry regulations. Composite business applications borrow capabilities from existing applications to develop new functionality not found in any single existing applications. These proprietary applications were originally designed without the ability to communicate and share business functionality with one another. The combination of IBM's WebSphere integration middleware and services capabilities along with Webify's industry expertise can allow customers to more easily and efficiently link complete business processes and share data regardless of underlying technologies.
Webify software will be delivered as part of the IBM WebSphere portfolio, which includes WebSphere Integration Developer, WebSphere Process Server and the WebSphere Service Registry and Repository.
IBM Global Services (IGS) will use Webify software to deliver industry-focused reusable services to clients. IGS will gain immediate access to Webify's extensive library of composite business services to help speed delivery of mission-critical industry applications. These capabilities will complement the recently announced IBM Global Business Solution Center (GBSC) in India that is dedicated to the development of SOA-based composite business services. In addition, composite business services offered by IGS will be listed in the IBM SOA Business Catalog.
Manoj Saxena, Webify Chairman and CEO will continue to manage Webify and will undertake additional responsibilities for IBM's SOA strategy. Through this acquisition, 120 Webify employees based in Austin, Texas and Mumbai, India will become IBM employees.
[ FYI Index ]
Movistar Chile Selects Ericsson to Move Towards All-IP in Chile
Movistar Chile, the leading operator in Chile and part of the Telefónica group, has chosen Ericsson's Mobile Softswitch Solution, including multi-service IP transport, to upgrade its network. The move marks Movistar Chile's first step toward an all-IP network.
Ericsson's Mobile Softswitch Solution and Mobile Packet Backbone Network will upgrade and expand Movistar's network in Chile in a cost-efficient way and will allow the operator to introduce high-quality services quickly. Ericsson will also provide a range of associated professional services to ensure successful network delivery.
Ericsson's Mobile Softswitch Solution is the world's most widely deployed softswitch architecture solution. It powers around 50 percent of all mobile networks with softswitch architecture that are in full commercial service.
Ericsson's Mobile Packet Backbone Network, a world-leading multi-service IP transport solution, is optimized for mobile networks and services.[ FYI Index ]
Lockheed Martin Awarded Air Force Contract for Angels Nanosatellite Program
Representatives of Lockheed Martin announced Wednesday that the Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directorate, located at Kirtland Air Force Base, NM, has chosen the company to provide engineering design and development support for the Autonomous Nanosatellite Guardian Evaluating Local Space (ANGELS) satellite program. The contract, valued at $8 million, will extend the ANGELS Phase 3 basic effort from Preliminary Design Review (PDR) through Critical Design Review (CDR), August 2006 through August 2007. Following completion of the CDR, the Air Force will pursue a follow-on contract for production of a protoflight unit.
ANGELS will provide the Air Force with an innovative nanosatellite solution for independent localized space situational awareness and anomaly characterization of a host satellite. A demonstration flight is scheduled for late 2008 or early 2009.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, together with its teammates Space Dynamics Laboratory, a division of the Utah State University Research Foundation of Logan, UT; the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory of Cambridge, MA; Space Micro, Inc., of San Diego, CA; and Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems & Solutions, Valley Forge, PA, will support the ANGELS Phase 3 development program. Phase 3 efforts will include detailed design and analyses to assure that the ANGELS system can execute the mission within the programmatic objectives and cost constraints.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company is one of the major operating units of Lockheed Martin Corporation. Space Systems designs, develops, tests, manufactures and operates a variety of advanced technology systems for military, civil and commercial customers. Chief products include a full range of space launch systems, including heavy-lift capability, ground systems, remote sensing and communications satellites for commercial and government customers, advanced space observatories and interplanetary spacecraft, fleet ballistic missiles and missile defense systems.
[ FYI Index ]
3M Completes Acquisition of Both Archon Technologies Inc. and Security Printing and Systems Limited
Representatives of 3M announced Tuesday that it has completed the acquisition of Archon Technologies Inc., a Denver, Colo.-based provider of enterprise software solutions for motor vehicle agencies. In a separate announcement that day, the representatives announced the company also has completed the acquisition of Security Printing and Systems Limited (SPSL), a leading producer of finished, personalized passports and secure cards headquartered in Manchester, U.K.
Archon's enterprise software systems manage and integrate motor vehicle agency operations including vehicle registration, titling, driver licensing, professional licensing, dealer credentialing and revenue management.
The addition of SPSL to 3M's line of products for secure documents such as passports, ID cards, driver's licenses and visas, and secure document issuance systems allows 3M to deliver a full range of border and civil security solution products.
[ FYI Index ]
Toshiba Appoints Vice President of Business Operations
Further strengthening an already robust strategic and operational team, Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. today announced that it has promoted industry veteran, Peter Richards, to vice president of business operations and member of the company's executive team.
Prior to this appointment, Richards served as a zone sales manager in Toshiba's Northwestern territory — a top-performing area for the company. In this role, Richards will manage Toshiba's overall company operations, sales support and training, sales force automation, applications and logistical operations.
Before joining Toshiba in 2003, Richards held various sales management positions with Philips Medical Systems and Marconi Medical Systems.
