NEW YORK, 22 June 2005. EDO Corp. in New York is set to begin a long-awaited project to build new Marine Corps battlefield-communications equipment called the Transition Switch Module (TSM), which will provide digital voice, data, and video communications to deployed Marine units.
The equipment will allocate bandwidth dynamically to handle the needs of net-centric warfare, company officials say. EDO will do the work under terms of maximum $240 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to procure as many as 476 units.
EDO originally won the contract in June 2004, but a protest caused the Marine Corps to re-compete the contract. EDO was successful in the re-competition, company officials say. Work is to be finished by May 2010.
TSM is be a key element in the Marine Corps transition from relatively old tri-service tactical switches to current commercial technology. "EDO is aggressively seeking a larger role in battlefield communications," says James M. Smith, chief executive officer of EDO.
The TSM has three major components. The Deployable End Office Suite (DEOS) will provide voice-circuit switching and call-service-attendant capabilities. The Remote Subscriber Access Module (RSAM) will extend these telephone and data services to remote users. The Deployable Integrated Transport Suite (DITS) will provide bandwidth management, multiplexing, data distribution, and technical control functions.
For more information contact EDO online at www.edocorp.com.
