Raytheon to launch IT solutions unit

In January, Raytheon Co. of Lexington, Mass., will launch Raytheon Information Solutions, a division that will concentrate on information technology offerings, said Bruce Walker, who will be its chief technology officer.

Although Raytheon, perhaps most widely known for defense-focused electronics and systems engineering, already does a substantial amount of IT work, the new unit will be "more visible in competing for contracts as prime integrator," both for defense and civilian agency contracts, Walker said. Walker is now director of high performance computing programs in Raytheon's command, control, communications and information systems unit.

With the creation of the new unit, Raytheon joins other defense contractors, such as General Dynamics Corp., Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp., which in recent years have used their defense work as springboards to providing broad IT offerings to all federal agencies. Raytheon today generates approximately $700 million in IT work annually, according to Walker. The new unit will fall under the Intelligence and Information Systems division, which does approximately $2 billion in business.

The new unit will headquartered in Reston, Va., will encompass 3,500 employees and will be headed by Tom Anderson. The division will pursue work in areas such as information assurance, a task it performs as a subcontractor for Electronic Data Systems Corp.'s $6.9 billion Navy-Marine Corps Intranet project. Anderson joined Raytheon in June from Northrop Grumman Information Technology, where he was vice president of strategic programs. His title at Raytheon is vice president of Information Solutions.

High-performance computing is another strength of the new unit, Walker said. The division will draw from its experience with defense and intelligence agencies as well as its research and development work in grid computing.

The company will leverage the data processing work it does for the Department of Education's Federal Family Education Loans and National Student Loan Data systems to offer similar educational tools to the state governments, Walker said.

Although the company will formerly launch the unit in January, it has already been bidding on work under the name. In October, the company announced that the unit was one of nine companies that won a spot on a $600 million task order contract to provide information technology services for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.