Network specialist Cisco and aerospace giant Boeing will
join forces to develop systems for the military under a new 10-year
partnership.
Under the alliance, Cisco will provide network hardware and software plus
consulting and engineering services to mutual customers. Boeing will be the
lead systems integrator. The pact is non-binding and financial details were
not disclosed.
The companies have had a business relationship for 15 years and recently
began designing a secure communications system for the Department of
Defense, NASA and the intelligence community.
Boeing clearly has faith in Cisco’s products. The company is currently
installing Cisco’s IP telephony offering on its converged
network for its 160,000 employees in 48 states and 70 countries.
“As part of our overall strategy to partner with leaders in the government
sector, we are excited about broadening and deepening our existing
relationship with Boeing,” John Chambers, Cisco’s CEO, said in a statement.
Boeing has also been forging ties with other top tech firms.
“For our customers to meet their enduring needs of speed, mobility,
situational awareness, and integrated command and control we must partner
with the industry’s best,” Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing
Integrated Defense Systems, said in a statement.
The alliance is similar to a previously announced partnership between Boeing
and IBM . That collaboration has yielded a system that
lets the U.S. Department of Forestry use wireless transponders to relay data
from firefighters’ PDAs back to a central command post.
All three companies belong to the Network Centric Operations Industry
Consortium, whose 72 members are developing an industry-wide approach that
would enable sensors and information systems to interact.