Industry News
KarstadtQuelle Awards EDS Contract Expected to be Worth Approximately $1 Billion
Representatives of EDS announced an agreement with an expected total contract value of approximately $1 billion with KarstadtQuelle AG, Europe's leading retail and tourism group, to manage the company's applications and information technology (IT) environment for the next eight years. The deal is subject to standard regulatory approval.
As part of the contract, EDS will assume responsibility for the company's IT services subsidiary, ITELLIUM Systems & Services GmbH. ITELLIUM will provide the foundation for EDS' new Germany-based Competence Center of Retail Expertise (CORE), which will be located in Essen and Nuremburg and will support KarstadtQuelle and the European retail sector.
ITELLIUM has approximately 700 employees with profound knowledge and experience in IT support for department stores and e-commerce. In addition, EDS Agility Alliance partners will bring to CORE their expertise in the retail industry.
CORE will focus on ways to further modernize and optimize KarstadtQuelle's IT environment offering the company significant savings over the life of the contract.
The agreement's scope includes IT services for Karstadt's department stores across Germany and the international mail order businesses of Primondo (Quelle). EDS will develop and maintain KarstadtQuelle's critical software applications used for running the department stores and supporting its diverse e-commerce activities.
EDS will also manage all third party contracts with regard to the company's entire IT infrastructure including a communications network that connects all of its locations and sales outlets. Lastly, EDS will manage and provide support to employees for the company's desktop computers, PDAs, laptops, and printers – more than 15,000 computing devices.
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Navy Awards General Dynamics $47 Million For Sub Maintenance and Modernization Work
The U.S. Navy has awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat a $46.7 million contract to perform routine maintenance and modernization work on the USS Alexandria (SSN-757), a Los Angeles-class attack submarine. Electric Boat is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics.
Under the terms of the contract, Electric Boat will perform a Selected Restricted Availability, which consists of repairs, maintenance work, alterations and several major systems upgrades. The work will take place at the Navy Submarine Base in Groton and involve up to 300 employees at its peak; it is expected to be completed by September 2007.
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Lockheed Martin Awarded $40 Million Radar Contract from United States Army
Representatives of Lockheed Martin announced Monday that it has been selected to provide a Tactical Reconnaissance and Counter-Concealment Enabled Radar (TRACER) capability to the United States Army. Under this contract, Lockheed Martin will work with the Army to incorporate low frequency synthetic aperture radar systems into Predator class unmanned aerial vehicles. The total value of the TRACER contract is approximately $40M.
Work on the TRACER program includes the development, integration and test of two VHF/UHF dual-band synthetic aperture radar systems, which will be integrated into Predator class unmanned aerial vehicles. These dual-band synthetic aperture radars can provide images to ground units in all-weather, day or night conditions and incorporate a data link that allows processed results to be downlinked to ground stations immediately. The workscope includes upgrading the associated ground stations that provide the mission planning and image exploitation. All work on these high technology radar systems will be done at Lockheed Martin's Phoenix, Arizona, facility over the duration of the 32-month program.
TRACER addresses the Army's critical need to identify hidden targets, enemy equipment and facilities. The system's design is predicated on the corporation's proven foliage penetration (FOPEN) technology, which was developed specifically to detect vehicles, buildings, and large metallic objects in broad areas of dense foliage, forested areas and wooded terrain. Developed under the sponsorship of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force in the late 1990's, the FOPEN system has successfully flown hundreds of missions.
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Raytheon Names Retired Marine Corps Lt. General Edward Hanlon Jr. President, Raytheon International, Inc., Europe
Representative Raytheon Company has named Edward Hanlon Jr. president of Raytheon International, Inc., (RII) Europe. He succeeds Norm Ray who is retiring.
A retired Marine Corps Lt. General, Hanlon will be based in Brussels and report to Torkel Patterson, president of RII. As president, RII Europe, Hanlon will have primary responsibility for Raytheon's strategic relationships with European senior customers and for achieving the company's growth goals in the region.
Before joining Raytheon, Hanlon served as the U.S. Military Representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Military Committee, NATO Headquarters, Brussels. As the representative of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he worked closely with the military representatives of NATO and Partnership for Peace member nations to develop policy recommendations for the political authorities of the alliance.
Previously, he was the commanding general of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command, Quantico, Va. Hanlon served two previous military tours in Europe: in London at the Fleet Marine Headquarters, and in Naples, Italy, at Naval Striking and Support Forces, Southern Europe.
Hanlon has a bachelor's degree from Southeastern Oklahoma University and graduate degrees from Pepperdine University and the University of Minnesota.
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Microsoft Announces New Corporate Vice President of Communications Sector
Representatives of Microsoft Corp. announced Wednesday that Martha Béjar has been named corporate vice president of Communications Sector, effective June 4, 2007. In this role, Béjar will report to Jean-Philippe Courtois, president of Microsoft International. Béjar succeeds Maria Martinez, who became corporate vice president of Worldwide Services for Microsoft in January 2007.
Microsoft's Communications Sector works with service and content providers around the globe, addressing the specific needs of wireline and wireless telecommunications companies, cable operators, hosting service providers, and media and entertainment organizations.
As Nortel's president of Caribbean and Latin America (CALA) regions, Béjar reported to Nortel President and CEO Mike Zafirovski, and had responsibility for sales, operations and marketing. Before that, Béjar was responsible for the North American Sales organization in support of the regional operating telecommunications companies in the United States and Canada.
Since joining Nortel in 1989, she held a number of key executive positions, including general manager of voice over IP solutions, general manager of the Network Access Division and general manager responsible for driving sales in the Latin America division. Before joining Nortel, she held numerous technical and commercial positions at BellSouth Corp. and Bell Communications Research.
Béjar holds a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering from the University of Miami and an MBA from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. She also is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University Business School.
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Nortel to Appoint New President for Caribbean and Latin America Region
Nortel President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Zafirovski announced that Alvio Barrios will be appointed President, Caribbean and Latin America (CALA), effective June 1, 2007.
Reporting directly to the CEO, Barrios will be based out of Nortel's Sunrise, Florida office and will be responsible for sales, operations and marketing for the CALA region.
A proven leader, Barrios has been with Nortel for over a decade, most recently serving as Regional Sales Vice- President responsible for some of Nortel's largest customers and strategic accounts in the CALA region. He has a solid sales and management track record and an in depth knowledge of the region.
Barrios will replace Martha Bejar, who has decided to leave Nortel to accept an opportunity at Microsoft.
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Toshiba Opens R&D Center in Vietnam
Tuesday, Representatives of Toshiba announced that it has established a new R&D center in Hanoi, Vietnam, with the mission of enhancing the embedded software integrated into digital consumer products.
Toshiba Software Development (Vietnam) Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation, will be positioned as the core overseas development center for embedded software and will start operation in June this year. The initial staff will be of some 20 people and Toshiba expects the company to have some 300 employees by FY2010.
The main responsibility of the new center will be development of lower processes and functions to integrate into upper processes developed in Japan, with the goal of expanding the capabilities and functionality of digital consumer products and handsets. Locally hired engineers will be given extensive training in Toshiba's original development process, a move that is also expected to reduce the risk of compromising know-how comprise though outsourcing.
The increasing pace of inward direct investment in Vietnam, including investment by Japanese companies, is driving growth in the Vietnamese IT sector. The availability of skilled personnel and a cost edge makes the country an attractive option for software development for companies like Toshiba. In addition to this, Toshiba is seeking to expand its software R&D over the medium term, and to do so without concentrating activities in a single country or location. For these reasons, the company decided to establish a new R&D operation in Vietnam, to complement those it has already set up in India and China.
Toshiba has long standing relations with Vietnam, including scholarships to Vietnam National University, an education institution under the direct jurisdiction of Vietnam's prime minister, and Hanoi University, one of Vietnam's leading engineering universities. Toshiba will seek to further enhance its partnership with these universities and to secure excellent human resources.
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3M to Open Oil and Gas Customer Center in Houston
Representatives of 3M Energy and Advanced Materials Division recently announced that it will open a Customer Center for the company's Oil and Gas business in Houston, Texas. The center is scheduled to open in spring 2007.
The Customer Center, a first of its kind, will be dedicated to accelerating application development, and will spotlight 3M's proven applications and innovative technologies in the oil and gas industry. The facility includes laboratory, meeting and demonstration space to showcase, demonstrate and develop viable solutions for the industry. Many proven applications will be highlighted at the Customer Center, with specific focus on four application development areas within exploration and production: drilling fluids, low density cement, liquid filtration and pipe insulation. Technical experts will team up with customers and collaborate on their specific needs. The center will serve as a pipeline for 3M's proven applications that utilize 3M's 45 core technology platforms. This facility allows for synergy and interaction between customers and technical experts in a laboratory setting to delve into the challenges companies face that match 3M's offerings.
3M's Oil and Gas business has operations in more than 30 countries.
