IBM Scores Net-centric Warfare Deal

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — IBM chips and networking subsystems will become the basis for various Honeywell International "net-centric warfare" projects for the Defense Department under a 10-year contract between IBM Corp.'s Engineering and Technology Services Group and Honeywell's Defense and Space Electronic Systems Group.

The contract covers design and development services, as well as intellectual-property licenses to such key IBM architectures as the PowerPC.

Robert Blackburn, vice president of the aerospace and defense segment of IBM's engineering and services group, called the Honeywell pact "the single most significant deal we've done, with the potential to generate several hundreds of millions of dollars." While the IBM defense segment has worked with several prime contractors, Blackburn said that "something more profound is going on here. This pretty much puts Honeywell's defense and space group out of direct design engineering. We are their electronics engineering shop going forward."

IBM is no stranger to the host of new Defense Department programs lumped under the rubric of net-centric warfare. In September, IBM joined with more than two dozen other companies to form the Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium, which will work to ensure that future DOD and intelligence-community information programs interoperate easily.

Access to expertise
Ed Wheeler, vice president and general manager of Honeywell Defense and Space Electronic Systems, said Honeywell design teams will participate in the new programs, though IBM will handle most of the development work. IBM will play a key role in legacy programs as well, Wheeler said, helping Honeywell design follow-on systems to existing military electronics systems. Those system may be upgraded with faster processors or open protocols.

Wheeler said Honeywell sees opportunities for multiple projects in the Army's Future Combat Systems network, including navigation systems and possible graphic displays for vehicles. Space design-ins for satellites such as the Transformational Satellite and Space-Based Radar also will be a key area of IBM-Honeywell collaboration. Wheeler said retrofit electronics for existing military aircraft such as F-18 and F-16 fighters could be an important area for the two companies to explore, but the unmanned air vehicle market may be "too fragmented and fledgling" for the team to play a role for now.

Honeywell has licensed a range of patented IBM technologies, from microprocessor architectures to networking protocols.

Net-centric warfare contracts include Pentagon-wide initiatives such as the Global Information Grid, service-specific programs such as the Army's Future Combat Systems, and intelligence-agency-led programs such as the National Reconnaissance Office's Transformational Satellite System. The programs all seek to provide broadband, Internet Protocol-based communications to U.S. military and intelligence bases worldwide, as well as to extend communications capability through wireless and optical links to individual planes, ships, vehicles and even soldiers in the field.

Blackburn said Honeywell systems that tap IBM engineering could move into testing within two to three years.0