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Technology Stocks : Alcatel (ALA) and France -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Steve Fancy who wrote (953)	11/1/1999 1:39:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 3891

Alcatel and Litton Guidance & Control Systems Win Navy Network Contract: CG-47 Combat Vessel Upgrade BusinessWire, Monday, November 01, 1999 at 12:16 CALABASAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 1, 1999--Alcatel (NYSE:ALA) today said it received a sub-contract from the Guidance & Control Systems division of Litton Industries Inc. (NYSE:LIT) for $6 million. The contract is for the upgrade of the information systems on 27 Navy CG-47 class ships. It will be awarded in a series of options over an estimated three-year period. The information systems upgrade is part of an award announced by Litton Industries on June 11, 1999. "For 100 percent automation to work, the systems must stay up. Alcatel complements our offering with an additional layer of redundancy and a proven performance record," said Darwin Beckel, division president of Litton Guidance & Controls System division. The CG-47 ships are multi-mission combat ships capable of supporting carrier battle groups or amphibious forces, or of operating independently as flagships of surface action groups. The contract will give the Navy's CG-47 fleet a highly resilient ATM network to support upgraded shipboard control systems supplied by Litton CGS. The upgrades are part of a drive to improve both operations and defense capabilities through full automation. The newly automated functions include propulsion systems, electric plant systems, ship service auxiliaries, damage control systems, and fuel oil fill and transfer systems. The Navy believes the technology will reduce the crew needed to support ship functions by 10 percent, improve crew safety, and lower life cycle costs. The CG-47 Ship-Wide Area Networks (SWANs) will use Alcatel's modular OmniSwitches throughout, with OC-3 (155 Mbps ATM) at the core and 10/100 Ethernet extending to users. The main factors determining the network selection were: 1. Redundancy -- a Navy ship network is mission critical. The OmniSwitch, with its unique ability to extend the advanced PNNI inter-switch protocol to the edge of the network, provides a sub-second cutover if a link fails. The network design, five OmniSwitches interconnected in a mesh on each ship, ensures further redundancy. 2. Integration -- with limited space aboard a ship, the Navy needed to select a single-box network solution that physically takes up a small amount of room. The OmniSwitch integrates frame and cell technology in the same chassis. It also integrates LAN and WAN technologies to allow communications with ship-board and on-shore systems from the same switch. The high level of integration allows the Navy to use the OmniSwitch throughout its network, reducing the floor space needed for network switches and easing sparing requirements 3. Proven track record -- Alcatel has proven its ability to perform in harsh ship environments and provide top levels of service and support to the Navy. The OmniSwitch runs on more than 70 U.S. Navy ships under the IT-21 program, a four-year Navy initiative to upgrade the computing capabilities of both the 300-ship U.S. fleet and a number of on-shore facilities. "The OmniSwitch serves as the backbone for more than 70 Navy shipboard networks. The networks have been tested, proving we can operate in harsh sea conditions and offer the redundancy the Navy requires," said Tom Wilburn, Alcatel's vice president of North American internetworking sales. "While this is our third project with the Navy, this is our first working with Litton CGS. We are pleased about our new partnership as the companies have a natural synergy -- Litton CGS provides excellent shipboard systems, which Alcatel can support with a high performance network." About Alcatel Alcatel builds next generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data communications solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers worldwide. With 120,000 employees and sales of EURO 21.3 billion ($25.0 billion), Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel at alcatel.com or the US Web site at usa.alcatel.com. Note: OmniSwitch is a registered trademark of Xylan Corp.; OmniChannel and AutoTracker are trademarks of Xylan Corp. Alcatel purchased Xylan Corp. in April 1999. CONTACT: Alcatel Heather Ritchie, 408/935-7884 heather.ritchie@xylan.com or Dave Rodewald, 818/878-4976 drodewald@xylan.com KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORKING Today's News On The Net - Business Wire's full file on the Internet with Hyperlinks to your home page. URL: businesswire.com Copyright 1999, Business Wire