Northrop Wrapping $500 Million N.Y. Safety Network

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In another step toward more non-defense work for Northrop Grumman Corp., the company is finishing a $500 million wireless data network for New York City public safety workers that could greatly expand the capabilities of the city’s first responders.


“This is an innovative system because there’s really been no other dedicated broadband wireless network built to this scale for public safety use,” said Mark Adams, chief architect for Northrop’s wireless division.


Last September, city officials selected Los Angeles-based Northrop to build a system that would improve communications among firefighters, police officers and other city workers and allow them to send data and stream video across a citywide network. Among the new capabilities the network will provide to police officers is the ability to access warrant and license plate data instantly and give firefighters streaming video from the scene of a fire.


“It’s really holistically changing the way the city does business,” said Nick Sbordone, director of external affairs for the New York City Department of Information, Technology & Telecommunications. “If there were a citywide incident, you could transmit not just voice information, but also broadband video. It helps augment what they’re already hearing on the radio.”


The city tested the network last month, with 100 firefighters simulating an incident at the World Trade Center site.


Brian Snodgrass, executive director of citywide data radio infrastructure for the city, said workers are currently installing the network across the five boroughs and the city plans to take it live early next year.


The network was built in part because communications failures proved to be a major problem for first responders during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.


Under the contract, Northrop will supply the hardware and software for the network, as well as general project management services, for five years. For Northrop, the contract reflects further growth in its non-defense divisions.


The company, best known for designing and building aircraft, satellites and other aerospace products now derives $10 billion about one third of its revenue from non-traditional sectors such as information technology. The company is now the second-largest supplier of IT services to the federal government, behind Lockheed-Martin Corp.


In Northrop’s earnings report for the first quarter 2007, company executives credited the New York network with bumping up its IT sales 12 percent, to just more than $1 billion. Along with New York, Northrop has major projects in Virginia and San Diego County.


The growth in IT has been spurred by homeland security spending, with tens of billions of dollars going to IT alone. Government officials have placed an emphasis on communications technology.


Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Co. are among the other major companies expanding their IT divisions and competing with Northrop for emerging contracts in the field.


Adams said Northrop’s IT divisions have been expanding rapidly since about 2000, but the company has been building wireless networks for more than a decade. The New York project, with broadband capabilities across a major city, represents a breakthrough for Northrop, which has never built such a versatile network on such a large scale, Adams said.


“We think that we are positioned with our partnership with New York to really be a leader in this area,” Adams said.

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