Navy OKs Trying to Corral Cyber-Info With ERP
AT & T; Wireless officially launched its San Diego network last week, on the same day the company formally split from AT & T.;
AT & T; Wireless acquired the former GTE network here in October, along with networks in the San Francisco Bay Area and Houston, in a $3.3 billion deal.
Since then it has taken down equipment using the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) radio interface and put up Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) equipment. The company also bought new handsets for the former GTE customers.
For mobile data, AT & T; Wireless put up an entirely new Cellular Digital Packet Data network.
The carrier spent more than $50 million on equipment upgrades (including handsets) in the San Diego market, said Fred Devereux, AT & T; Wireless’ general manager for San Diego. Work went to San Diego contractors Wireless Data Services and Wireless Facilities Inc.
Now the company plans to migrate to the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) standard.
AT & T; Wireless has 175 local employees.
The Redmond, Wash.-based company trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AWE.
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Taking The ERP Plunge:
The Navy is trying out enterprise resource planning or ERP, a sophisticated kind of information system designed to serve multiple departments within an organization.
SAP of Walldorf, Germany, is the vendor for the commercial, off-the-shelf software. PricewaterhouseCoopers is the system integrator. San Diego’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center is one of four venues for the Navy pilot program.
In San Diego, the software went into limited use July 2. More aspects of it will be phased in over several weeks.
Ultimately, center staff members hope to use the SAP system for asset management, procurement, human resource and financial management, strategic planning and program management.
The different parts of the system draw from common data.
A majority of the center’s 3,500 employees have spent a combined 40,000 hours in training for the new system.
Mark Your Calendars:
San Diego hosts a number of high-tech conferences in the coming months. In many cases, registration has already begun.
Among them:
– The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association has scheduled its Wireless IT and Internet 2001 show for Sept. 11-13 at the San Diego Convention Center. “Energize Your Enterprise” is the theme. The show promises to cover handheld computing on top of wireless Internet and mobile data. For information, go to (www.wirelessIT.com).
– The Code Division Multiple Access mobile telecommunications protocol will be the focus Oct. 31-Nov. 2 at the 2001 CDMA Americas Congress at the San Diego Convention Center. The Institute for International Research and the CDMA Development Group co-host the conference. For more information, call up (www.cdma-americas.com).
– Military technology will be one highlight of West 2002, the Western Conference Exposition of the Armed Forces Communication and Electronics Association and the U.S. Naval Institute. The theme for 2002 is “The Art of Change: Top to Bottom, Nothing’s Sacred.” The conference runs Jan. 15-17 at the San Diego Convention Center. Information is available on the Internet at (www.west2002.org).
If you don’t mind going out of town, don’t mind being overwhelmed by exhibits, and are unfazed by the concept of Elvis being in two or more places at once, register for the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The Consumer Electronics Association has scheduled the show for Jan. 8-11. For more information, go to (www.CES web.org).
Send high-tech news to Graves via e-mail at bgraves@sdbj.com. Biotechnology news may be directed to mwebb@sdbj.com.
