Sterling Software division wins SOFIA subcontracts.DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 18, 1996--Sterling Software Inc. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :SSW) Wednesday announced its Scientific Systems Division, located in Redwood City, Calif., received two subcontracts this week as part of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy: see infrared astronomy. (SOFIA Sofia (sōfē`ə, sō`fēə), Bulg. Sofiya, city (1993 pop. 1,114,476), capital of Bulgaria, W central Bulgaria, on a high plain surrounded by the Balkan Mts. ) contract, awarded by NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. Ames. The subcontracts, valued at more than $10.5 million during their base and option periods that last 15 years, will include software development and systems administration support services for SOFIA. Under the subcontracts, Sterling Software will provide services to Universities Space Research Association (USRA) of Columbia, Md., the main contractor, and to Central Texas Aircraft Systems (CTAS) of Waco, Texas. The SOFIA project calls for the USRA team to acquire an existing Boeing 747SP aircraft and modify it to incorporate a large infrared telescope provided by the German space agency DARA. SOFIA also will test, deliver and operate the flying astronomical observatory. Science flights are scheduled to begin in 2001. Operations will include development and installation of state-of-the-art science instruments and an extensive SOFIA educational outreach program. CTAS, a division of Raytheon/E-Systems, has primary responsibility for modifying the aircraft, and integrating and testing the complete observatory. Sterling Software will work with CTAS to design, integrate, and test the mission control and communications system for SOFIA. The flying observatory's development phase will last five years, and systems integration will take place in Waco. Most of Sterling Software's systems development will take place at or near NASA Ames Research Center NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) is a NASA facility located at Moffett Federal Airfield, which covers 43 acres at the borders of the cities of Mountain View and Sunnyvale in California. This research center is most commonly called NASA Ames. in Mountain View, Calif. Sterling Software's computer support services subcontract under USRA includes administering nearly 100 UNIX UNIX Operating system for digital computers, developed by Ken Thompson of Bell Laboratories in 1969. It was initially designed for a single user (the name was a pun on the earlier operating system Multics). , Macintosh and PC/Windows systems networked together. These systems support SOFIA operations at its NASA Ames Research Center base and at deployment sites throughout the world. USRA's plans for the observatory call for more than 160 scientific flights per year, including those based from remote sites in the southern hemisphere. Operations will start after completion of the five-year development and test phase of the contract. Once SOFIA begins operations, it is expected to perform airborne astronomy for at least 20 years. Aircraft operations and maintenance support on the contract will be provided by United Airlines, while educational outreach will be performed by an alliance of SETI Institute and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) was founded in San Francisco in 1889. It has the legal status of a nonprofit organization. It is the largest general astronomy society in the world, with members from over 70 countries. . The University of California at Berkeley (body, education) University of California at Berkeley - (UCB) See also Berzerkley, BSD. http://berkeley.edu/. Note to British and Commonwealth readers: that's /berk'lee/, not /bark'lee/ as in British Received Pronunciation. and the University of California The University of California has a combined student body of more than 191,000 students, over 1,340,000 living alumni, and a combined systemwide and campus endowment of just over $7.3 billion (8th largest in the United States). at Los Angeles will participate in the development of software and science instrumentation for the flying facility. This work represents a continuation of more than 20 years of Sterling Software's support for NASA's airborne science program NASA's Airborne Science Program is administered from the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, in Edwards, California. The program supports the sub-orbital flight requirements of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise. . Sterling Software held a succession of computer support contracts from the Kuiper Airborne Observatory Kuiper Airborne Observatory: see infrared astronomy. , the predecessor to SOFIA, and from NASA's DC-8 Flying Laboratory. "The award of the SOFIA subcontracts to Sterling Software, in conjunction with Sterling Software's performance as the prime contractor on the NASA Ames Research Center Computer Software Services and Computational Capabilities Resources contracts, expands its role as the premier provider of scientific services for Ames," said Gene Konopik, president of Sterling Software's Federal Systems Group. Sterling Software's Federal Systems Group, located in McLean, Va., holds numerous technical professional services contracts with civilian and defense agencies. The group's core capabilities include: secure communications; distributed computing; systems integration; scientific and data systems development; weather applications; high-performance computing and communications; image processing/imagery analysis; scientific support; scientific data visualization; system and network administration; and legacy systems migration. Sterling Software is a leading provider of software products and services for applications management and systems management, as well as highly technical professional services for the federal government. The company is also an international distributor for certain Sterling Commerce (NYSE:SE) products. Sterling Software, with its headquarters in Dallas, has a worldwide installed base of more than 20,000 customer sites and has 2,600 employees in 70 offices worldwide. CONTACT: Industry: Phil Kiviat Federal Systems Group 415/802-7100 Financial: Julie Kupp Investor Relations 214/891-8600 Media: Melanie Ofenloch MCC (The Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation, Austin, TX) The first high-tech research and development consortium in the U.S., created in 1982 by leading companies within the electronics industry. 972/480-8383 |
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