Weekly GEOINT Community News

Boeing to Buy Millennium Space Systems

Boeing has agreed to purchase Millennium Space Systems for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition is an effort by Boeing to broaden its portfolio of space and satellite platforms. Millennium Space Systems will operate as a subsidiary reporting to Mark Cherry, vice president and general manager of Boeing’s Phantom Works business. The acquisition is expected to conclude by the end of Q3 2018.

Descartes Labs Launches Geospatial Analysis Platform

Descartes Labs announced its geospatial analysis platform is now out of beta testing. In addition to imagery analysis and predictive modeling, the company is adding weather data to its library as well as commercial high-resolution imagery thanks to a new partnership with Airbus’ OneAtlas program. A new “viewer” tool allows any user to work with the high-res OneAtlas base map and add layers of information on top. A customized infrastructure running on Google Cloud means the platform can quickly deploy thousands of CPUs and process quadrillions of pixels to handle any model’s requirements.

CACI to Buy General Dynamics Engineering Business

CACI International agreed last week to purchase a General Dynamics business unit for approximately $80 million. The transaction involves CSRA’s former systems engineering and acquisition services unit that was acquired by General Dynamics through its purchase of the government information technology services contractor in April.

GSA Launches Pilot Program for Commercial Acquisition

The General Services Administration launched a new Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) procedure, a streamlined service for high-speed contracting of innovative commercial products, technology, and services. CSO is designed to attract start-up companies and those new to the federal market, and offers accelerated vendor selection timelines and simplified contract terms. GSA has also created an internal Procurement Innovation Resource Center (PIRC) to help implement the CSO procedure. The pilot program limits contracts to $10 million and will end Sept. 30, 2022.

Microsoft Announces Azure Stack

Microsoft announced its Azure Stack is now available to order for Azure Government customers, offering a hybrid cloud approach across identity, subscription, registration, billing, backup, and disaster recovery solutions. Users can perform intelligence gathering and analysis at the tactical edge and run analytics in both connected or disconnected environments. Agencies can also modernize legacy applications that are not ready for the public cloud due to cyber concerns or other requirements.

Peer Intel

The U.S. Defense Department appointed Michael Conlin, former CTO for U.S. public sector at DXC Technology, as the department’s first Chief Data Officer. He began his new role July 30.

Stacey Dixon, deputy director at the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) was appointed to succeed Jason Matheny as the agency’s new director. Dixon has more than 15 years of science and technology experience within the Intelligence Community, including positions at CIA, NRO, and NGA.

Photo Credit: Descartes Labs