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| Subject: Re: Northrop Grumman ERG/Seattle delay expected to be resolved later this year | |
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Author: anonymous |
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Date Posted: 04:17:28 10/10/02 Thu In reply to: anonymous 's message, "Northrop Grumman Information Information Technology" on 09:47:50 10/04/02 Fri http://www.egoli.com.au/newsandviews/archives/17958.html ----------------------------------------------------------- ERG signs US$70m US smartcard deal 29-October-2001 Smart card company ERG Ltd (ERG) announced today that it is in exclusive negotiations for a regional fare collection contract in Seattle, USA worth US$70 million (A$138 million). ------------------------------------------------------------ ERG said today the Association of Transit Authorities in Seattle and the Central Puget Sound area of Washington State would pursue negotiations exclusively with ERG with a view to concluding a contract worth about $US70 million ($A137.55 million) to install and operate a regional smart card fare collection system. ----------------------------------------------------------- ERG is to provide a "seamless" smart card fare collection system initially to five, with an option to expand to seven, public transport agencies responsible for the region's 2,000 buses and the commuter rail network and ferry systems. ------------------------------------------------------------ The project will use ERG's MASS (multi-application smart card solution) technology to manage the integrated fare collection system. ------------------------------------------------------------ The contract being negotiated with ERG includes the provision of card management and settlement services for 10 years. ------------------------------------------------------------ ERG said the seven public transport agencies deliver services to about 3.1 million residents in the four-county Central Puget Sound region of Washington State, providing 130 million passenger trips a year and collecting more than $US160 million in annual passenger revenue. ------------------------------------------------------------ ERG said additional functions such as toll collection, banking and electronic purse can be added to the smart card at a later stage. ------------------------------------------------------------ ERG said the contract is expected to be signed early next year with the first phase of implementation starting in 2003. ------------------------------------------------------------ One fully implemented, between 500,000 and one million smart cards are expected to be issued. ------------------------------------------------------------ Chief executive Peter Fogarty said the the major US contract was an important milestone for the Perth-based company, providing further proof that its smart card technology has worldwide recognition as being the best in its field. ----------------------------------------------------------- He said the Seattle project would enable ERG to leverage its existing San Francisco service bureau which was established to support its smart card collection project in the Bay area. ------------------------------------------------------------ "The cental service bureau we have established in San Francisco will become the first in the world to process transactions for multiple cities," he said. ------------------------------------------------------------ Meanwhile, ERG has forecast a base inflow of $180 million of cash collections during 2001/02 with possible payments reaching $265 million. ------------------------------------------------------------ So far it has received more than $75 million of that amount with further project receipts anticipated over the next 30 days. ------------------------------------------------------------ At 1344 AEST, ERG shares were 6c, or over 10% higher at 65c. ------------------------------------------------------------ http://stocknessmonster.com/news-item?S=ERG&E=ASX&N=224434 ------------------------------------------------------------ ERG LIMITED 2002-10-04 ASX-SIGNAL-G HOMEX - Perth +++++++++++++++++++++++++ ERG Transit Systems (USA) Inc (ERG) a global leader in smart card-based transit fare collection and management systems, today announced it has signed a teaming agreement with Northrop Grumman Information Technology (IT) (Northrop Grumman IT), a recognised leader in government-related smart card initiatives, to pursue transit opportunities throughout the United States. As part of the agreement, the two companies are currently bidding together on the contract for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Regional Customer Service Centre. The WMATA project calls for the establishment and operation of a smart card customer service centre and the clearing and settling of smart card transactions across all transit agencies in the Northern Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC areas. The WMATA project will start a new era of integrated transit in the greater Washington DC area, allowing passengers to use a single smart card to pay fares across every major transit system in the region. The combined resources of Northrop Grumman IT and ERG represent a unique set of capabilities for delivering total smart card solutions to US mass transit systems. Northrop Grumman IT is a leading smart card consultant and integrator to the Federal Government. Its parent company, Northrop Grumman, is one of the largest private sector employers in Maryland and Virginia. ERG has already implemented the most sophisticated and scalable fare collection systems in the world. The Company's solutions have the proven capacity to integrate numerous transit agencies and transportation systems with a single smart card fare collection and settlement system. ERG built Hong Kong's well known "Octopus" system. Octopus is the largest smart cardpayment system for mass transit in the world, with some 8.6 million smart cards issued to date and over 7.2 million transactions processed each day. ERG is also engaged in the largest smart card contract in the United States to design, build, operate and maintain the TransLink(R) fare payment system in the San Francisco Bay Area. ERG has been awarded contracts for other major smart card fare collection systems in Las Vegas, Toronto, Singapore, Rome, Manchester, Gothenburg, Berlin and several cities in France. ERG is also the preferred contractor for projects in Seattle and Sydney. "I believe smart card systems will play a major role in the future of American mass transit," said Denis Brown, Vice President, Civil Security and Public Safety, Government Solutions, Northrop Grumman IT. "We have found that ERG provides an impressive capacity for interoperability and scalability across multiple transit systems and millions of passengers. ERG's open architecture was also very important to us because it will integrate new applications, such as identification and security, as these applications are deployed." The development of open architecture-based smart card fare collection systems is the first step toward integrating transit with other smart card systems, such as those used in security and identification. "This teaming agreement for the transit market represents a tremendous opportunity for ERG and a major benefit for transit operators throughout the United States," said Mr Peter Fogarty, Chief Executive of the ERG Group. "Northrop Grumman IT brings an excellent reputation for integrity, strength and know-how in working on major complex government projects. Its deep understanding of smart card technology and how it can be used to improve security, as well as passenger convenience, will be important to our customers as we move ahead." [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |