Lockheed, SAIC Develop Ed Portals in Pursuit of Army Deal

NOV. 30 ? Lockheed Martin Corp. and Science Applications International Corp. announced this week that each have developed Web-based education portals in an effort to win a $600 million Army distance learning contract.

By Gail Repsher Emery, Staff Writer


NOV. 30 ? Lockheed Martin Corp. of Bethesda, Md., and Science Applications International Corp. of San Diego announced this week that each have developed Web-based education portals in an effort to win a $600 million Army distance learning contract.


Army University Access Online will allow soldiers to earn college credits, degrees and technical certificates while they serve at little or no cost to them. Fort Benning, Ga., Fort Campbell, Ky., and Fort Hood, Texas, have been selected to first implement the online education program. The contract is expected to be awarded next month.


Lockheed Martin Systems Integration in Owego, N.Y., formed an alliance with Oracle Corp. of Redwood Shores, Calif., and PSINet Inc. of Ashburn, Va., to develop the EduXchange distance learning environment, which will be accessible at www.educ8x.com in January.


"The solutions we evolved to implement EduXchange will be applied to large-scale distance learning projects we undertake in the future," said Steve Lubniewski, senior vice president of Lockheed Martin Systems Solutions.


SAIC's portal (www.armyu.com) is operational. The systems integrator's team includes click2learn.com, a distance learning firm based in Bellevue, Wash., and more than 100 academic partners.


"This project represents a perfect synergy between SAIC's technical, educational, and military capabilities and those of our strategic teammates," said Duane Andrews, corporate executive vice president.