REDONDO BEACH, Calif., July 23, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- The Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT)/Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) Transformational Satellite Communications (TSAT) team today announced its partnership with Juniper Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq:JNPR) to apply the company's Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) routing software and related expertise in the design of the team's TSAT processor/router.
The TSAT system will provide warfighters with high-bandwidth, networked connectivity by extending the reach of the U.S. Department of Defense's Global Information Grid (GIG) through advanced satellite communications.
Juniper Networks has been supporting Northrop Grumman for the past three years in developing the Next Generation Processor/Router (NGPR) for the TSAT system, which will use Internet Protocol routing on board the satellites to connect users with the GIG. The company has licensed its JUNOS software product for Northrop Grumman's use. JUNOS is the routing control software being fielded across Juniper's widely used commercial routers. It is the first IPv6 software approved for use by the Defense Department, which has fielded JUNOS software and Juniper's router hardware for terrestrial use in the GIG network.
"We are excited about the opportunity to be involved in this global initiative and fully support the Defense Department's net-centric vision for a secure, reliable enterprise IP infrastructure," said Haywood Talcove, vice president of Public Sector Americas for Juniper Networks. "We are confident that Juniper Networks' JUNOS modular operating system will deliver the high-performance and advanced IPv6 capabilities critical to the enablement of the dynamic situational awareness, holistic information assurance and collaboration requirements in the TSAT system."
The Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman TSAT space segment team is currently working under a $514 million contract for the risk reduction and system definition phase. The team, including Juniper Networks, is competing for the subsequent development and production phase of TSAT, which the U.S. Air Force plans to award in late 2007.
"Juniper has been a valuable partner in developing a high-performance, low-risk NGPR during the risk reduction and system definition phase of TSAT," said Stuart Linsky, vice president of Satellite Communications at Northrop Grumman's Space Technology sector. "For the development and production phase, JUNOS reduces development risk and minimizes integration risk with the larger end-to-end GIG network. As GIG routers evolve, we can upload improvements to the TSAT router, ensuring compatibility well into the future."
The integration of JUNOS with Northrop Grumman's TSAT-unique software was demonstrated in the recent NGPR-2 testing conducted with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory, which verified NGPR functionality and performance in tests completed last February.
"With Juniper's IP router expertise and experience with the Defense Department's networking requirements, we are well positioned to help our customer attain its TSAT objectives," said Mark Pasquale, Lockheed Martin's TSAT vice president. "We look forward to offering an incremental, low risk TSAT solution to the government and stand ready to achieve operational excellence and mission success on this vitally important program."
Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Sunnyvale, Calif., serves as the prime contractor. Northrop Grumman is responsible for the communications payload, including laser and radio-frequency communications and on-board processing. The U.S. Air Force is managing the program at the MILSATCOM Systems Wing, located at the Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif.
Juniper Networks, Inc. is the leader in high-performance networking. Juniper offers a high-performance network infrastructure that creates a responsive and trusted environment for accelerating the deployment of services and applications over a single network. This fuels high-performance businesses. Additional information can be found at www.juniper.net. Juniper Networks and the Juniper Networks logo are registered trademarks in the United States and other countries. JUNOS is a trademark of Juniper Networks, Inc. All other trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks, or registered service marks are the property of their respective owners.
Northrop Grumman Corporation is a $30 billion global defense and technology company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products and solutions in information and services, electronics, aerospace and shipbuilding to government and commercial customers worldwide.