Mercury in the news...any FC implications here?
British Aerospace Defence Systems
Selects Mercury Computer Systems as
Long-term Supplier of Military Digital Signal Processing
Systems
Mercury's Battle-Ready COTS(TM) Technology to Provide State-of-the-art
Capability for British and NATO Armed Forces
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 4, 1999-- Mercury Computer Systems
(NASDAQ:MRCY - news), a leading supplier of digital signal and image processing systems, has
been selected by British Aerospace Defence Systems as a primary supplier of digital signal
processing (DSP) system solutions. With the current military focus on electronic reconnaissance and
surveillance, it is expected that this agreement could lead to orders worth several million pounds over
the next five years.
Mercury's computer technology is in use today in almost 100 military programs for the international
Allied defence community. Among major programs are the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
systems aboard the Canadian Aurora maritime patrol aircraft; the United States Navy's Los Angeles
Class submarine sonar upgrade program; the Australian Jindalee over-the-horizon radar network;
and the Ericsson Microwave radar systems development for the Swedish Saab Gripen fighter
aircraft.
''As Europe's largest aerospace and defence company, British Aerospace is heavily involved in
many of the signal processing developments for British and NATO forces,'' said Andy Pine,
Managing Director of Mercury Computer Systems Ltd. ''This agreement has the potential to
increase Mercury's European business substantially, both in the short term and during the next
decade.''
This order is another example of the increasing use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology
in the defence market. Mercury's Battle-Ready COTS products are designed specifically to meet the
more exacting requirements of the military market. Demand for computing power in ever-smaller
footprints means that technology quickly becomes obsolete if it is not upgraded. Mercury's RACE®
architecture is designed to allow the insertion of new advanced processors and sensor technologies
as they become available.
''Success in tomorrow's electronic battlefield depends upon the effective use of innovative
technologies. Mercury's proven record of delivering signal processing systems for use in many of the
world's most advanced military reconnaissance and surveillance systems was a significant factor in
our decision,'' said Mr. Les Gregory, Active Array Development Executive of British Aerospace.
''The investment Mercury is making in this field and the on-going support of its product range
minimises the future programme risk and makes Mercury a natural choice.''
Earlier this year Mercury announced that it plans to invest more than $100 million over the next five
years as part of the company's commitment to ''stream computing'' for customers in the digital signal
and image processing markets. Planned investments will be made in RACEway high-bandwidth
interconnect architectures, faster processors, streaming I/O systems, and software tools. These
developments are expected to lead to major advances in defence and commercial applications.
(U.K.-based) British Aerospace is a major aerospace and engineering group employing 43,000
people, with annual sales exceeding (pound) 8 billion, of which 89 percent are overseas. The
company is one of the world's leading defence and aerospace companies and Europe's only proven
systems integrator. The company is a pioneer and leader of major international collaborative
programmes involving 27 nations.
British Aerospace Defence Systems is one of the United Kingdom's key centres of prime
contractorship and systems integration. It designs and manufactures a range of radar systems,
including SAMPSON active phased array radar selected by the Royal Navy for use in the next
generation of major vessels, and the ground-based COMMANDER three-dimensional airspace
surveillance radar in service with the Royal Air Force and a number of export customers.
Mercury's United Kingdom subsidiary, Mercury Computer Systems Ltd., is headquartered in
Bramley, near Basingstoke. Mercury Computer Systems is the leading independent producer of
high-performance digital signal and image processing computer systems that transform sensor data to
visual information for analysis and interpretation on a real-time basis. Mercury's products play a
critical role in a wide range of defence and medical imaging applications. In air-, sea-, and
land-based military platforms, these systems process real-time radar, sonar, and signal intelligence
data. Mercury's systems are also used in state-of-the-art medical diagnostic devices, including
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), and the rapidly growing field of
digital X-ray.
Mercury has also developed a range of shared storage software products that allow multiple systems
and servers to share files and data using Fibre Channel at data rates up to and exceeding 100
MB/sec. These products are marketed for use in the broadcast, entertainment, and digital prepress
industries, and for a variety of enterprise computing applications.
Based in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, Mercury serves customers in North America, Europe and
Asia through a network of subsidiaries and distributors.
This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated. Factors that
could cause or contribute to such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general
economic and business conditions, competition, changes in technology and methods of marketing,
and various other factors beyond the company's control. These risks and uncertainties include such
factors as are described in the company's Form 10Q recently filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission in the USA. The company wishes to caution readers not to place undue reliance upon
any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made.
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