National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Awards $24 Million ClearView Contract to DigitalGlobe

By Advanced Imaging Editorial Staff


National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Awards $24 Million ClearView Contract to DigitalGlobe

DigitalGlobe (Longmont, Calif.) has been awarded a $24 million satellite imagery capacity contract modification by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. This ClearView contract enables the NGA to acquire additional commercial imagery from DigitalGlobe’s QuickBird’s high resolution commercial imaging satellite.

DigitalGlobe’s map-accurate imagery is used for a number of mapping and planning activities within defense and intelligence and commercial applications around the world.

“This award by the NGA further illustrates the organization’s commitment to reliance on the U.S. commercial satellite imaging industry,” said Jeff Kerridge, general manager of DigitalGlobe’s defense and intelligence business unit. “We look forward to continuing to serve the NGA with the world’s highest resolution commercial satellite imagery.”

In January 2003 DigitalGlobe was awarded a $72 million contract to deliver high-resolution satellite imagery to the NGA over a three-year period, as part of a ClearView contract not to exceed $500 million. In September 2003 DigitalGlobe was awarded an additional $9.8 million modification to the ClearView contract. In July 2005 DigitalGlobe was awarded an additional $6.1 million supplemental modification to the ClearView contract.

Viisage and Identix to Merge to Create Biometric Identity Solution Leader

Identity solutions provider Viisage Technology, Inc. (Billerica, Mass.) and biometric technology innovator Identix Incorporated (Minnetonka, Minn.) announced on Jan. 12 that they have entered into a definitive agreement to merge in an all stock transaction. The combined company will blend two complementary approaches to solving the challenge of protecting and securing personal identities by establishing a single platform for multi-modal finger, face, skin and imaging identity solutions.

The combined company, on a pro forma calendar 2006 basis, is expected to have revenue of approximately $220 million and EBITDA of at least $40 million, including synergies and operating efficiencies. Its headquarters will be in Stamford, Conn.

The merger promises to unlock the potential of both organizations’ strengths in biometrics, credentialing and imaging solutions and offers many natural synergies. For example, Viisage and Identix each have current customer relationships today with the Department of State, with Identix providing biometric facial recognition products for the U.S. VISA program and Viisage acting as the sole source provider for U.S. passports.

The combined technologies support multiple identity programs including visa and passport issuance, border control and security, voting program integrity, secure logical access for enterprise and government, and the myriad of government-related access card requirements. In addition, the new company also can successfully meet rigorous government mandates including HSPD12, TWIC, WHTI, US- VISIT, Registered Traveler, HAZMAT, Real ID and ePassport, among others.

The transaction is expected to close in the second calendar quarter of 2006 and is subject to customary regulatory approvals and other closing conditions, including approval by Viisage and Identix shareholders at their respective stockholder meetings.

3DLabs Wildcat Realizm 800 and 500 Selected For HP Tested and Certified Graphics Program

The 3DLabs Inc., Ltd. (Milpitas, Calif.) Wildcat Realizm™ PCI Express-based family of professional graphics accelerators has been selected for the HP Tested & Certified graphics program. The Wildcat Realizm 800, previously certified in the HP xw8200 Workstation, is now certified for the HP xw9300 Workstation. The mid-range, high-performance Wildcat Realizm 500 is now certified for the HP xw6200, xw8200 and xw9300 Workstations. HP xw6200 and xw8200 Workstations are equipped with a choice of single or dual Intel Xeon processors. HP xw9300 Workstations offer dual single- and dual-core AMD Opteron processors. All configurations support Microsoft Windows XP Professional or Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 3 operating systems.

ORBIMAGE Completes Acquisition of Space Imaging; Changes Brand Name to GeoEye

ORBIMAGE Holdings Inc. (Dulles, Va.), has finalized the acquisition of substantially all of Denver-based Space Imaging’s assets. The combined company will now do business under the brand name GeoEye. GeoEye is the world’s largest commercial satellite imagery company with a pro forma combined revenue for 2005 of approximately $160 million. The purchase price was approximately $58.5 million less amounts which were paid by Space Imaging on its existing debt as well as certain other adjustments.

“Governments can be assured, especially the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. intelligence community, that the commercial satellite imaging industry is here to stay,” said. Lt. Gen. (Ret.) James Abrahamson, GeoEye’s chairman.

The company will immediately begin implementing the planned integration of the two companies including operations, IT, administration, sales and marketing and customer service to ensure a smooth transition for customers, partners and investors.

GeoEye operates a constellation of three remote-sensing satellites including OrbView-3, IKONOS, and OrbView-2. OrbView-3, the most recent commercial satellite on orbit, offers 1-meter panchromatic (black and white) and 4-meter multispectral (color) digital imagery, which can be down linked to customer ground stations around the world. IKONOS, the world’s first commercial high-resolution satellite, produces 1-meter panchromatic and 4-meter multispectral imagery that can be combined to create a 1-meter color image. OrbView-2 offers 1.1-kilometer resolution with a wide 2,800 kilometer swath taking multispectral imagery of the entire Earth every day. Having two high-resolution satellites available for customers’ orders provides multiple benefits including more frequent visits over an area, larger volume collections in a shorter period of time, and improved overall reliability of operations.

In addition to the above three satellites already in orbit, GeoEye plans to launch a satellite in early 2007 to service a contract with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. It will have a ground resolution of 0.41-meters, and will be the most advanced sub-half-meter commercial imaging satellite in the world. It will collect both panchromatic and multispectral imagery simultaneously and will be able to down link imagery to ground stations around the world.

DALSA Receives Major Camera Contracts for Flat Panel Display Inspection

DALSA Corporation (Waterloo, ON, Can.), an international high performance semiconductor and electronics company, has received contracts totaling CDN $1.3 million from Next Instrument, a leading Korean supplier of flat panel display inspection equipment. Under the terms of the contracts DALSA will provide the customer with its latest generation electronic cameras, which are designed to image at very high speeds under low light conditions. The DALSA cameras, which are expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2006, will be “the eyes” of Next Instrument’s flat panel display inspection system. The customer’s system searches for defects on flat panel televisions, notebook PCs, and monitors as they are being manufactured, allowing flat panel manufacturers to maintain better quality control, improve yield and lower costs. “We’re pleased to provide Next Instrument with our very latest high performance cameras,” commented Savvas Chamberlain, CEO of DALSA Corporation. “These contracts are early indicators from our key OEMs of strong market acceptance of our new line of cameras.”

Ciprico Selects Chelsio’s 10G Ethernet For Digital Media Storage Solutions

Ciprico Inc. (Plymouth, Minn.), a leading storage solutions provider for the content creation, broadcast and delivery markets, announced on Jan. 12 the selection of 10Gb Ethernet protocol acceleration technology from Chelsio Communications, Inc., (Sunnyvale, Calif.) for its recently announced DiMeda 10G NAS system. The DiMeda 10G NAS allows multiple creative users to share and view both uncompressed Standard Definition and compressed High Definition video content over 10Gb Ethernet networks.

“Chelsio’s T210 10Gb Ethernet TCP Offload Engine has been proven to have the highest throughput and lowest latency technology in the industry, and digital media applications are clearly turning towards 10Gb Ethernet infrastructure for higher performance,” said Mike Ascher, vice president of engineering at Ciprico. “By switching to Chelsio’s unique TCP offload architecture, DiMeda products have seen a 30 percent performance improvement over previously tested 10GbE NICs.”

The DiMeda 10G supports DV, SD and lower resolution HD non-linear video applications, global command and control applications and many other high performance computing applications. The system is platform and application agnostic, supporting Windows, UNIX and Mac via CIFS/SMB, AFP, NFS, FTP and HTTP protocols.

“Ciprico clearly recognizes the opportunity for 10Gb Ethernet within the video storage market, and has delivered the world’s first 10Gb Ethernet NAS for high-definition content creation and broadcast applications,” said Kianoosh Naghshineh, president and CEO of Chelsio. “The Chelsio TOE architecture is uniquely capable of delivering the 10Gb Ethernet performance rates required for this high throughput application space.”

NEC Display Solutions Europe bundling Matrox AuroraVX™ Series Display Controller Board

NEC Display Solutions Europe (Munich, Germany) announced that it is bundling the Matrox (Montreal, Canada) AuroraVX™ Series display controller boards with its MD Series medical grayscale displays models including the MD21GS-2MP and MD21GS-3MP.

The AuroraVX Series of display controller boards power three displays from a single low-profile PCI Express board. The AuroraVX Series supports a Navigation Console (NC) up to a resolution of 2 MP, and two Twin Imaging Displays (TIDs) of up to 3 MP each.

“Bundling the Matrox AuroraVX Series board with our displays is a major step forward to simplified installations of triple screen configurations, which are a commonly used configuration in filmless diagnostic reporting,” says Norbert Funk, manager business development medical displays, NEC Display Solutions Europe. “By using the fast PCI Express slot for graphics output – installing only one driver – customers are able to get a three output solution under control of NEC’s Quality Assurance software.”

Equipped with Hardware Pivot, the AuroraVX Series of display controller boards is capable of driving various combinations of color and grayscale displays in portrait and/or landscape modes, and features an 8- or 10-bit display output for 256 or 1024 simultaneous shades of gray, depending on the available displays attached. Providing medical imaging professionals with versatile multi-display options, the AuroraVX Series is ideal for picture archiving and communications systems, and a variety of modalities such as X-Ray imaging, Computed Tomography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Digital Radiography.

Redlake and Geospatial Systems Extend Partnership to Provide Solutions for Multi-Spectral Imaging Applications

Redlake (Tucson, Ariz.) and Geospatial Systems, Inc. (Rochester, N.Y.) have entered a strategic partnership for exclusive development, distribution and support of Redlake’s multi-spectral, 3-chip line of digital cameras for military and commercial applications. Under this agreement, GSI will become the exclusive reseller of the existing MS product line and will assume responsibility for technical and application support for the products and its customers.

The MS-3100 and MS-4100 products will continue to be offered with the currently available configurations. In addition, GSI will provide custom filter designs to customers that demand higher levels of multi-spectral discrimination, customized optics and system integration services.

“The ability to offer custom filtered solutions will open large opportunities in the machine vision and medical markets as well as expand opportunities in the company’s traditional remote sensing and military market,” said Dr. William Kent, president and CEO of GSI.

Multi-spectral imaging is becoming a leading solution in both government and military markets encompassing many applications including real time target identification, remote sensing, reconnaissance, food inspection, fire detection and power line imaging.