Raytheon looks to leverage NMCI

Officials with a Raytheon Co. division are hoping success with the Navy Marine Corps Intranet program will propel them into a greater network security role with the Defense Department and the commercial sector.

Raytheon Command, Control, Communication and Information Systems is providing total systems security for the Navy intranet program as a partner to prime contractor Electronic Data Systems Corp. Raytheon C3I is implementing a multimedia security architecture for more than 360,000 users, according to Jim Carter, Raytheon C3I vice president and general manager.

In addition, the business unit has created a new company to sell its SilentRunner product in the government and commercial markets.

SilentRunner is used to detect network intrusions from inside an organization and earned designation as a "golden nugget" this year after its performance during the military's Joint Warrior Interoperability Demonstration. Golden nuggets are marked for rapid procurement and fielding.

Raytheon C3I is coming off a successful year in which it won at least 90 percent of the contracts it competed for, including the network security portion of the $6.9 billion NMCI program.

But NMCI is just one major program the Raytheon C3I successfully competed for this year. The final tally is not yet in, but Raytheon C3I president Frank Marchilena said his company may have won as much as 95 percent of the contracts it competed for in 2000.

"Last year we were in the mid-80s range, so it wouldn't be a significant [increase] if we end up at 90; but if we end up at 95, that's significant," Marchilena said, explaining that with a winning percentage of 70 percent, a company is "doing very well."

Raytheon C3I is one of the largest businesses within Raytheon Co. and is involved in a host of DOD information technology programs, such as NMCI, satellite communications, the Joint Tactical Radio System and the Army's Tactical Internet, as well as other federal government and commercial programs.

Raytheon C3I earned roughly $3 billion in total sales in 1999, with command, control and communication systems making up nearly half of that total, and strategic systems and imagery geospatial systems constituting the other half.