Lockheed Martin, Microsoft Join Forces in Fed Markets

Lockheed Martin Corp. of Bethesda, Md., and Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash., announced May 24 they have formed a strategic alliance to pursue new business opportunities in the federal information technology market.

The alliance between Lockheed Martin and the government division of Microsoft is an extension of existing working relationships between the two companies on several federal contracts, including a team competing for the Navy's next-generation land attack destroyer. The two companies also are collaborating on developing new products and services to link mail processing and information technology.

"The alliance means we can come to the government and show we're serious about enterprise applications. Lockheed understands what the government needs, and now we can supply a very flexible, scalable platform," said Pete Hayes, vice president, Microsoft Government. "We're already working on a variety of programs that have long-term growth potential ñ this includes embedded Windows applications all the way up through high-end, mission-critical data center solutions. Windows 2000 allows us to meet requirements where we might not have been considered before."

Microsoft spokesman Keith Hodson said previous relationships between the companies had been contract-specific, while this new arrangement is formal and open-ended. One major benefit of the agreement is that it will streamline communications between the two companies, he said.

As part of the relationship, many of Lockheed Martin's engineers will train to become Microsoft certified solution developers and system engineers, Hodson said.

"That means that Lockheed's engineers will work closely with our engineers and can be fully educated on our platform," he said. "That is important because the Windows platform, as little as a year or 18 months ago, was not perceived as being capable of performing to the extent that it could handle mission-critical applications. Now it has been demonstrated that Windows 2000 can handle [them]."

The agreement in place also provides for the two companies to develop new business proposals. The agreement is not an exclusive one, Hodson said. Each company can enter into partnerships with other businesses.