Motorola lands $329 million contract for Virginia statewide system
Motorola announced it won a $329 million contract from the Commonwealth of Virginia to design and deploy a statewide VHF digital trunked communications system that will carry both voice and data transmissions. The system will be deployed in seven phases, the first of which will serve central Virginia and is slated for completion in late 2005, according to Motorola. The company estimates the entire project will be completed in 2009. The STARS [Statewide Agencies Radio System] network will consist of 130 land mobile radio and digital microwave sites to connect LMR, mobile data, telephone and “alarm and control” networks. Each city and county government will have at least one interoperability connection to the system at no cost, Motorola said.
In other news, Motorola announced second quarter 2004 GAAP [generally accepted accounting principles] earning of $800 million, a substantial increase over the $112 million reported for the same quarter one year ago. Motorola said its sales for the quarter totaled $8.7 billion, a 41% increase year over year. The company’s Commercial, Government and Industrial Solutions segment reported a 13% increase in sales, to $1.1 billion, compared to the year-ago quarter, and operating earning of $183 million, a 61% increase year over year. Motorola attributed the increase in part to continued emphasis by government customers worldwide on border, airport and homeland security.