Industry News
IBM and India Tax Authority in $45 Million Services Agreement
Representatives of India's Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and IBM announced a US$45 million, 5-year services agreement to modernize CBDT's IT Infrastructure. As the systems integrator IBM will offer integrated infrastructure solutions to CBDT's three data centres in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai and facilities management services for the Income Tax Department (ITD) across 745 offices in 510 cities in India. The solution includes IBM's high performing System p servers, storage, security solutions and a host of other associated technologies and services.
The partnership will further help improve CBDT's IT systems portfolio. The objective is to improve efficiencies by creating a standardized ecosystem through a single database available to CBDT officers across India. This project along with other key projects being executed by CBDT will lead to an increase in its tax base and revenues. This will also make it faster, cheaper and more secure for CBDT to scale up for future demands. The new, flexible solutions will also allow CBDT to quickly accommodate new or amended tax legislation and priorities.
Since 1 January 1964 the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has been charged with all matters relating to various direct taxes in India and it derives its authority from Central Board of Revenue Act 1963. The CBDT is a part of Department of Revenue in the Ministry of Finance. On one hand, CBDT provides essential inputs for policy and planning of direct taxes in India, at same time it is also responsible for administration of direct tax laws through Income Tax Department.
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Lockheed Martin Awarded Contract from Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center
Lockheed Martin was selected by the Air Force Space Command, Space and Missile Systems Center to continue providing support and evolutionary growth to the command's premier weather satellite receiving stations. If all options are exercised, the contract is valued at $47 million over the next nine years.
The MARK IVB System is a recently redesigned global satellite weather system, capable of supporting the military forces beyond 2020 with all currently defined satellites. Its leading edge technologies provide for flash updated satellite changes and full system redundancy with significant growth opportunity as many more satellites are added to the world's multi-national weather constellation.
The MARKIVB system supplies data to all Coalition Operation's Centers, every Air Expeditionary Force, every Air Expeditionary Wing, all Army Battalions Forward, all Navy Task Forces, all Marine Companies Forward, and every Marine Expeditionary Force.
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Raytheon Receives $29 Million Contract for Production of Towed Decoys
Raytheon Company has received a $29 million contract for continued production of its ALE-50 line of towed decoys.
The award by the 542nd Combat Sustainment Group, Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Ga., represents the 11th production lot of ALE-50 equipment ordered for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy as part of an original contract that began in December 1996. The Lot 11 contract calls for 934 decoys for the Air Force and 335 for the Navy to be delivered
through September 2009.
Raytheon recently produced its 23,000th ALE-50 decoy and achieved 11 years of on-time deliveries. Completion of the Lot 11 program will bring the total number of decoys produced by Raytheon to 24,634.
Towed decoy systems enhance aircraft survivability by acting as a preferential target for many types of missiles. Raytheon's ALE-50 system has played a key role in aircraft self-protection for several military conflicts and is currently operational on F-16, B-1B and F/A-18 aircraft.
Work on the towed decoy system is being done at Raytheon's Space and Airborne Systems business by its Electronic Warfare organization in Goleta, Calif.
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General Dynamics Awarded $11 Million Seaport-e Order to Support the Naval Postgraduate School
General Dynamics Information Technology, a business unit of General Dynamics, has been awarded a U.S. Navy Seaport-e task order to provide technical and functional support for the Office of Continuous Learning (OCL) at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, Calif. The task order has a total potential value of $10.8 million over five years if all options are exercised.
Under the award, General Dynamics will provide a wide range of information technology, managerial, production and general administrative services to support the Naval Postgraduate School's Distributed Learning Initiative. General Dynamics has supported OCL through similar contracts for seven years. In addition, the company will provide guidance and training on current educational technologies, assist in the design and production of instructional materials, provide Instructional Systems Design (ISD) supervision and project management, and assist NPS personnel in the design and execution of faculty development events that promote the benefits of distributed learning and best practices.
The Office of Continuous Learning (OCL) is chartered to develop, coordinate and deliver focused, relevant, quality learning opportunities to those Naval and defense customers who are not able to attend NPS on a full-time residential basis. Methods to deliver graduate level courses include: visiting NPS faculty (MET), video tele-education (VTE) systems, streaming video and web-based education.
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3M Acquires Diamond Productions Inc.
Representatives of 3M announced it has acquired Diamond Productions Inc., a manufacturer of superabrasive diamond and CBN (cubic boron nitride) wheels and tools for dimensioning and finishing hard-to-grind materials in metalworking, woodworking and stone fabrication markets. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Diamond Productions Inc. (DPI) brings industrial metalworking strengths as well as new applications for stone processing to 3M's strong offering of grinding and finishing tools for the industrial and commercial markets. The combination of 3M and DPI expands the capabilities for dimensioning hard-to-grind materials to include stone, marble and concrete. The addition of DPI's metal, resin and vitrified superabrasives enhances 3M's cutting and grinding capabilities for such things as kitchen countertops, monuments and structural granite as well as difficult to grind carbides, ceramics and glass.
3M Abrasive Systems Division is 3M's "heritage business," upon which the company was founded in 1902. 3M's brands are recognized around the world, making the company a leading abrasives supplier to manufacturers of medical, electronics, aerospace, automotive and thousands of other products. 3M abrasive technologies and brands, including Cubitron, Scotch-Brite, and Trizact, mean customers can trust 3M to provide quality, innovative products and solutions for virtually every purpose – from grinding to polishing.
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Steven S. Reinemund Elected to ExxonMobil Board
Representatives of Exxon Mobil Corporation announced today that shareholders elected Steven S. Reinemund to its board of directors. Mr. Reinemund is the retired chairman and chief executive officer of PepsiCo, Inc.
With Mr. Reinemund's election, the ExxonMobil board stands at twelve directors, ten of whom are non-employee directors.
Reinemund held a number of key leadership positions during his tenure at PepsiCo. He was the executive chairman of PepsiCo from October 2006 until May 1, 2007. He served as chairman and chief executive officer from May 2001 until his retirement in October 2006. He was elected a director of PepsiCo in 1996 and served as president and chief operating officer from September 1999 until May of 2001. Reinemund began his career with PepsiCo in 1984 at Pizza Hut, Inc. and held progressively more responsible positions until he became president and chief executive officer of Frito-Lay's North American snack division in 1992. He became chairman and chief executive officer of Frito-Lay's worldwide operations in 1996.
Reinemund also serves as a director of Johnson & Johnson, Marriott International, Inc. and American Express Company. He serves as the chair of the National Minority Supplier Development Council and as a trustee of the United States Naval Academy Foundation.
A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Reinemund served five years as an officer in the United States Marine Corps, achieving the rank of Captain. He obtained his MBA from the University of Virginia in 1978.
