What's left of Lockheed's IT business? Plenty
By
Nick Wakeman
Lockheed Martin is selling the bulk of its IT business to Leidos, but that doesn't mean there won't be plenty of IT left at the defense giant. You'll just have to look a little harder for it.
While Lockheed Martin is selling the bulk of its IT business to Leidos in a cash and stock deal worth $5 billion, it isn’t completely exiting the IT business.
When the company announced its plan to divest IS&GS last year, it planned to retain what it calls its mission IT and some other pieces of IT that support specific missions or platforms.
Over the last quarter, it has been pulling those pieces out and placing them in other business groups at Lockheed.
Here are some details, according to the company’s latest quarterly filing:
- Mission IT and services programs that support the company’s platforms were moved to Mission Systems and Training group.
- Energy solutions programs moved to Missiles and Fire Control
- Space services moved to Space Systems
One piece of work – technical services programs – was moved from Missiles and Fire Control and put into IS&GS, so it will go to Leidos.
A Lockheed spokesman declined to give revenue figures for the retained businesses or specific examples of the work.
But it is important to keep in mind what Lockheed said it wanted to keep. For example, it said that would keep IT services that directly support platforms. So, think about the platforms Lockheed is building – missiles, missile defense, naval systems, unmanned systems, launch vehicles, etc.
It’s a broad group of products, but they still need software, cybersecurity, training and supply chain support and plethora of other areas where IT is embedded into what they do.
Energy is an interesting area and one where Lockheed has been investing. The IT rich portion of Lockheed’s include smart grid services, energy efficiency, and something the company calls “intelligent microgrid solutions.”
Real-time sensor data is an important part of Lockheed energy production solutions around wind power.
Will Lockheed retain its No. 1 ranking on the Washington Technology Top 100? No, though depending on the timing of when the deal closes, it might still be No. 1 for 2016. After the sale is final, could Lockheed still be in the top 20 or 25? Yes, I think it has a good shot at that.
So, if you are thinking of IT as desktop support, mobility and networking, yes, Lockheed is getting out of the IT business, but there is a much bigger IT world where they’ll continue to be an important IT player. They just won’t call it IT.