Lockheed Martin has received a 2005 Excellence Award from the Systems and Software Consortium, Inc. (SSCI), in recognition of the development and market launch of its I-GUIDES(TM) software in response to the Department of Defense's (DoD) Unique Identification (UID) requirements.

All SSCI Excellence Award winners were selected by a committee of impartial technology experts not affiliated with SSCI or any of its members.

I-GUIDES is a flexible and easy-to-install software application that enables defense and civilian government agencies to respond to the DoD's requirement for unique identification of new production, government-furnished property and legacy inventory. It was adapted and redesigned from Lockheed's proprietary manufacturing enterprise system into a fully functional, commercially available Web-based application. I-GUIDES accepts multiple input protocols which allow legacy systems to comply with the DoD mandate without modifications -- saving companies millions of dollars in development costs.

"We are delighted to recognize the I-GUIDES design team for their agility in quickly creating an application that helps government and industry meet an essential defense mandate," said Dr. Jim Kane, SSCI president and chief executive officer. "The team demonstrated a highly innovative approach in adapting and redesigning a manufacturing enterprise system to help government agencies and industry begin marking and registering assets delivered to the Department of Defense. I-GUIDES is now contributing directly and significantly to the ability of our armed forces to track and deploy defense materiel around the world."

SSCI (formerly the Software Productivity Consortium) is a nonprofit partnership of industry market leaders, key government agencies and academic institutions who co-invest to develop solutions to improve their business performance by enhancing their systems and software engineering processes. The SSCI Excellence Award series, now in its second year, salutes member companies for outstanding achievements in maximizing the business value of their systems and software development programs and for their technological leadership. The awards offer SSCI members with critical peer-recognition for successfully applying leading-edge practices in the service of commercial and government customers, particularly in complex, "systems of systems" environments.

"This industry recognition of I-GUIDES demonstrates that we have created a highly innovative solution to the UID requirements -- one that can be used by companies of all sizes and in every facet of the defense industry to achieve UID success," said Richard Erickson, program manager for I-GUIDES at Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems & Sensors' Tactical Systems line of business. "While other possible UID solutions are still in the design stage, I-GUIDES is already making a significant impact for the Department of Defense."

Lockheed Martin was the first Department of Defense contractor to register uniquely identified products in the UID registry and has adopted I-GUIDES as its corporate tool for UID compliancy. More than 20 individual Lockheed Martin business units use I-GUIDES to register items in the registry. I-GUIDES is available for sale nationwide through a network of system integrators and hardware manufacturers, including label printer and direct part-marking device manufacturers and reader/verifier system manufacturers supporting defense industry UID implementation.

Headquartered in Bethesda, MD, Lockheed Martin employs about 130,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and integration of advanced technology systems, products and services.

For additional information, visit our Web site: http://www.i-guides.com/ or http://www.lockheedmartin.com/ .

SOURCE: Lockheed Martin