Industry News
Commonwealth Bank of Australia Extends EDS Contract in $310 Million Deal
EDS has strengthened its relationship with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia after significantly revamping a US$310 million service-based contract to deliver desktop and other end-user computing services for the next five years.
The new contract covers all end-user computing services, including desktop, service desk, ATM services, managed output, email, messaging, MS Outlook web access and mobile information protection. The new contract is focused on significantly enhancing business outcomes through improved service delivery.
The deal follows last year's US$350 million signing of a new master IT&T Agreement involving Enterprise Processing Services (EPS) for mainframe, midrange and data storage until 2012.
Chris Mitchell, EDS vice president for Australia and New Zealand, said the agreements were in line with a more collaborative and strategic relationship being developed between the two organizations to decouple arrangements and deliver specific business outcomes.
The partnership between EDS and the CBA began in 1997 with a 10-year agreement for IT services.
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Rockwell Automation Acquires ICS Triplex
Representatives of Rockwell Automation, Inc. announced that it has acquired Industrial Control Services Group Limited which does business as ICS Triplex. As first announced on May 25, 2007, the deal is valued at £110 million (US$149 million) in cash. The process of delivering cash to ICS shareholders will continue through August, 2007.
ICS Triplex is a leading global supplier of critical control and safety solutions to process industries. Headquartered in Maldon, United Kingdom, ICS Triplex has more than 500 employees and operations across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and North America. With 40 years of experience, ICS Triplex develops, delivers and maintains advanced products and solutions for high availability, fault-tolerant applications in process industry segments worldwide. These industries primarily include oil and gas exploration, production, transportation, and refining as well as chemicals and power generation.
ICS Triplex will continue to operate under its current brand name as a subsidiary of Rockwell Automation. It will be included in the Control Products & Solutions operating segment.
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Iberdrola and IBM in $84.4 Million Innovation Agreement
Iberdrola, one of the world's leading private energy groups with a presence in approximately 40 countries, and IBM have entered into an US$84.4 million agreement that will promote IT innovation in Spain.
Through the agreement, INSA, an IBM company, will open an Innovation Center at Iberdrola's new facilities in Aldeatejada (Salamanca, Spain). The center will begin by working on a software development and maintenance project for Iberdrola and its worldwide subsidiaries.
Iberdrola is one of the largest wind energy producer in the world, one of the leading international developers of combined cycles, the lowest-emission generator in Spain, and one of the cleanest energy producers in Europe.
Along with this initial agreement with Iberdrola, the center will also be dedicated to increasing the productivity of IBM's clients in Spain and Portugal through the design, development and maintenance of applications in diverse technological platforms.
IBM and Iberdrola have also signed a second agreement for IBM to manage the IT infrastructure of Iberdrola's new data processing center at Aldeatejada.
With this 10-year, US$8.1 million agreement, Iberdrola will be able to optimize its IT resources. Through this second project, Iberdrola will be able to focus its resources on more value-added activities and boost innovation through access to the best technologies and practices.
Both agreements were signed in June 2007.
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General Dynamics Awarded $44 Million U.S. Army Contract for Small-Caliber Ammunition
General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics, has been awarded a $44 million modification to an existing contract for production of small-caliber ammunition by the U.S. Army Field Support Command, Rock Island, Ill. This award is the third delivery order executed under this systems contract for a cumulative total of $500 million.
This delivery order is for the production of 5.56mm, 7.62mm and .50 caliber small-arms cartridges to replenish stockpiles used in training and expended during combat operations. General Dynamics serves as the systems integrator coordinating supply-chain management of a consortium of small-caliber ammunition producers whose purpose is to respond to the U.S. Defense Department's needs for small-caliber ammunition.
General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems is a world leader in the manufacture of large, medium- and small-caliber direct and indirect-fire munitions, mortar weapons and systems, artillery projectiles, bomb bodies and BALL POWDER Propellant. The company also manufactures precision metal components; provides explosive load, assemble and pack services for a variety of munitions, tactical missile and rocket programs; and designs and produces shaped charge warheads and control actuator systems. More information on General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical is available online at www.gd-ots.com.
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BP and D1 Oils Form Joint Venture to Develop Jatropha Biodiesel Feedstock
Representatives of BP and D1 Oils announced that they are to form a 50/50 joint venture, to be called D1-BP Fuel Crops Limited, to accelerate the planting of Jatropha curcas – a drought resistant, inedible oilseed bearing tree which does not compete with food crops for good agricultural land or adversely impact the rainforest – in order to make more sustainable biodiesel feedstock available on a larger scale.
Under the terms of the agreement, BP and D1 Oils intend to invest around $160 million over the next five years. D1 Oils will contribute into the joint venture their 172,000 hectares of existing plantations in India, Southern Africa and South East Asia and the joint venture will have exclusive access to the elite jatropha seedlings produced through D1 Oils' plant science program.
The joint venture will focus on jatropha cultivation in South East Asia, Southern Africa, Central and South America and India. It is anticipated that some one million hectares will be planted over the next four years, with an estimated 300,000 hectares per year thereafter. Investments will be made through directly managed plantations on owned or leased land, which will also provide employment for local communities, and through contract farming and seed purchase agreements.
Jatropha oil produced from the plantations will be used to meet both local biodiesel requirements and for export to markets such as Europe, where domestic feedstock produced from rapeseed and waste oil is unlikely to be sufficient to meet anticipated regulatory led demand for biodiesel of around 11 million tonnes a year from 2010.
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Ericsson and Stanford University Collaborate in Africa
Representatives of Ericsson announced at the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit in Geneva that it is collaborating with Stanford University to explore the innovative use of mobile technologies in distance e-learning.
Ericsson will work with Stanford University's International Outreach Program to bring distance learning to countries in Africa. The program offers students on different continents the opportunity to learn from researchers in environmental sciences from several countries and perspectives, as well as contribute to lively discourse and debate through Internet and mobile phone interaction.
As part of the program, Ericsson is providing smart phones fully equipped with video cameras, audio recorders, and Internet capability. Ericsson will also support the program by leveraging its relationships with mobile operators in Tanzania, Uganda and South Africa to help Stanford and others implement an environmental e-learning program. This program involves faculty and students from the University of the Western Cape in South African, Mweka College of African Wildlife Management in Tanzania and Makerere University in Uganda.
The international mobile learning project, called Dunia Moja or "one world," utilizes a GPRS or 3G mobile connection and an Internet-enabled mobile handset from Sony Ericsson to allow students and faculty in remote locations to submit and access video, audio and text-based course materials, participate in online discussion forums, post blogs, produce multimedia content and otherwise interact as they learn.
