Conference 7.286::space

My understanding is that this is one of the job functions of Gene Cernan.
    
    He is to 'introduce' DEC to the Aerospace industry and the Aerospace
    industry to DEC.  It would be interesting to get a statement from
    Gene on this topic.  Would the base noter care to forward the base
    note to him to see if he would care to reply?
    
    jim
    

    
    re: -.1
    
    Good idea...I'll send him a copy and post any response.
    
    
    -Steve-

    I think Digital should look into R&D of a semiconductor
    processing plant in microgravity.  The Russian have publish
    papers showing that one can grow semiconductors xtlas with
    40 times less defects and 10 times faster.
    
    

    >                        -< What would be its mail stop >-

LEO, of course!
    
    

    
    Hmmmm....  the facility would, probably, be formed out
    of used external tanks, or something similar?  Undoubtedly
    it would have a cylindrical shape, with flat ends.  With
    a few people like the other respondents to this base note,
    the facility (LEO, yes, yes...) would surely be nicknamed
    "The Barrel of Monkeys".  (As in "you guys are funnier than....")
    
    Thanks.... I needed a good laugh this morning, and
    you gave me one!!
    
                                     - Ed -

    So what's the scoop with Cernan? IS he consulting for DEC, or was
    the last few replies about him a joke?
    
     I noticed that there IS a Eugene Cernan (nicknamed Gene) working
    out of Stow...
    
    		Gregg

    	According to Topic 242, he apparently is.
    
    	Larry
    

    Here's the latest scoop (as of 9:30am).
    
    Captain Gene Cernan (the astronaut) DOES work for Digital.  He was
    hired a while ago to help determine Digital's strategy towards the
    Aerospace Industry and to help position DEC in the lucrative
    space business.  That is to say, many of the companies that are involved
    with providing the hardware (rocket engines, heat-shield tiles,
    etc...) need the computer know-how to help them manage/plan/design
    materials and improvements.   Since they lack the "computer" know-how
    of how to best configure and design applications to bring about
    business solutions, they often work with (joint-venture, perhaps?) 
    computer companies to provide support in this specialized area.
    
    Capt. Cernan is stationed in Houston and works with Tom Short (sp?),
    who is a good friend of his.  He did receive my mail message 
    and, due to his unbelievably busy schedule, asked John Ganley to
    follow up on it.  John works in Stow, MA (OGO) and is also involved
    in defining the Corporate Strategy.  But since Capt. Cernan's contacts
    are mostly in Houston, not to mention the fact that that is where
    he happened to live before DEC, he is working from Houston.
    (Hopefully this explains all the confusion earlier around the 
    Stow vs. Houston question.)
    
    Incidentally, Gene is at the Summer Olympics at this moment and
    is then off to DECWorld.
                            
    John mentioned that they are continuing to position DEC in such a way
    that we will be able to provide the necessary computer support for
    the Aerospace companies.  We (DEC) are working with the various
    companies in order to "listen" to what they need rather than tell
    them what we think they need.  Also mentioned were two groups within
    Digital that are involved in some way or another with the Aerospace
    industry.  One was Government Systems Group (GSG) and the other
    was the Industry Marketing Group.
    
        

    Yes, it *is* Gene Cernan from the Apollo program, and he does work
    for DEC.  RE: .8 hit it on the nose.  Funny about the mail you had
    sent, as he has replied to all of mine.
    
    I work for GSG (TEMPEST engineering based in Merrimack N.H. MKO2)
    and we are heavily involved in the aerospace business (both commercial
    products and TEMPEST), as well as any other military contractors
    or other Federal Gov needs.  The addition of Gene Cernan to our
    ranks is, hopefully, going to have two positive effects.  One is
    to make DEC truely aware of what the aerospace needs are and how
    to meet them, Two is to make the aerospace industry aware of who/what
    DEC is and that we can solve their problems in a short term and
    long term maner.  A recent interview with G. Cernan in a DEC
    publication noted that some aerospace companies had never even heard
    of DEC and some who "had" heard of *us* thought we were a Japanise
    company!!!  Boy, do we *need* more visibility!  Gene Cernan is here
    to provide just that!
    
    jim
    

    [Many forwards removed.]

                  I N T E R O F F I C E   M E M O R A N D U M

                                        Date:     24-Jul-1991 11:07am EST
                                        From:     Dave Mitchell @ORO
                                                  MITCHELL.DAVE AT A1 AT ODIXIE 
                                                  AT ALF
                                        Dept:     Gulf States Govt. Accounts 
                                                  Group
                                        Tel No:   DTN:  353-6263; 407-875-6263

TO: See Below

Subject: MAJOR WIN!!!

    *** This Message Is From Jim Coleman, Lloyd Berry and Dave Mitchell***
    
    We are excited and pleased to announce that after 18 months of effort 
    against stiff competition from IBM and Honeywell/Hewlett Packard, who were 
    the incumbents, we WON the first VAX9000 database MIS integration sale with 
    NASA at Kennedy Space Center.  The PDMS (Payload Data Management System) 
    award is a fixed price contract of $20M+ for an MIS system that will manage 
    the integration of all payloads at KSC -- a major mission critical 
    application for NASA and right out of our competitors' backyard.
    
    After many years of minimal success at KSC, we assigned the account to Jan 
    Garavano, an Executive Sales Representative who had a track record of 
    creative solution selling and a person who had demonstrated the courage to 
    take on tough assignments.  Jan worked NASA from the Center Director level 
    to the Procurement Departments with unbounded energy.  It wasn't long 
    before NASA was really listening to the Digital story. The big challenge 
    she had was convincing NASA that we were a solutions integrator capable of 
    managing a large program versus our reputation of being simply a 
    manufacturer of excellent hardware and software products.  Jan put together 
    a technical team of Bob McLean (Solutions Architect), Pat Worthington 
    (Technical Documentation), Joe Prevo (Networks), Mary Ann Hodges (Database 
    Integration), Dick Riley (Customer Services), and Larry Sears (Educational  
    Services) that absolutely blew the socks off our customer's technical 
    staff, to the point that we could see our influence start to take place 
    when NASA issued the PDMS RFI.
    
    The proposal effort was a 9-month, 18 hours a day, total team involvement 
    led by Chris Rhone and Eileen George.  Their involvement continued well 
    after the proposal was submitted, through the orals and final negotiations.
    
    We also send a "thank you" to Joe Kirklin for managing our effort through 
    the proposal phase.
    
    We really got NASA's attention when they saw the quality of our proposal 
    and our technical solution.
    
    Things started to really turn at the Live Test Demo at our Vermont 9000 
    facility.  NASA could not get over the enthusiasm of everybody in that 
    facility from the Receptionist to the actual technical staff.  Everybody in 
    that facility was selling and we cannot thank them enough.  That impressed 
    the heck out of the customer.
    
    Pricing our proposal was an extremely complex task which resulted in many 
    long nights and weekends on the part of the GSG Pricing Group led by Mike 
    Miller, Gordon Williams and Tom John.  Others in the Pricing Group whose 
    help was invaluable were Dean Moneski, Tom Pariser, Will Kendrick, Paul 
    Dery, Charles Starks, and Linda Shaffer.
    
    Now, although we had the customer excited about our technical solution, 
    they were still concerned about our ability to manage a large integration 
    program such as PDMS.  That's when Tom Hagman, Technical Support Manager, 
    jumped in and with the outstanding help of Don Cooley, put together a 
    Project Management proposal that, in combination with our outstanding 
    technical proposal and staff, convinced the customer that there was 
    something here that they could not pass up.  In June, NASA gave us a 
    conditional award based upon our being able to convince them that we could 
    manage this major project.
    
    Our negotiating team led by Dave Calabro (Operations) with Dan Zogran 
    (Contracts) and Paul Snyder (Program Management), and the superb support of 
    the GSG Pricing and Subcontracts team, spent two weeks with NASA 
    negotiating and convincing them that we could deliver the program 
    successfully.
    
    I am happy to say that the contract is signed and the customer is as 
    enthused as we are.  Here is another example of what this company can 
    accomplish when we work together as a team.
    
    Thank you all for your tireless effort and a phenomenal win.
    
    Best Regards,
    
To Distribution List:

NAME: BOB BARNARD <BARNARD.BOB AT A1 at CSSE at OGO>,
NAME: Larry Dolan <DOLAN.LARRY AT A1 at CSSE at OGO>,
EARNSHAW @CSSE @VMSMAIL,
EICHER @VMSMAIL @CSSE,
HARRY FLEURY @GEO,
_CSSE32::LFOX AT A1 at CSSE at OGO,
NAME: DON HERBENER <HERBENER.DON AT A1 at CSSE at OGO>,
NAME: VIN INDORATO <INDORATO.VIN AT A1 at CSSE at OGO>,
NAME: WILLIAM LAHTINEN <LAHTINEN.WILLIAM AT A1 at CSSE at OGO>,
PITZ @CSSE @VMSMAIL,
LOIS SCHIAPPA @OGO,
SHEBELL @CSSE @VMSMAIL,
NAME: DAVID SLARSKEY <SLARSKEY.DAVID AT A1 at CSSE at OGO>,
NAME: FRANK TORRES <TORRES.FRANK AT A1 at CSSE at OGO>,
_CSSE32::FLORENTINE AT A1 at CSSE at OGO,
SNYDER @CSSE @VMSMAIL,
_KALKI::LANG AT A1 at CSSE at OGO,
PAUL CIARDULLO @BUO,
_ASDS::POTTER AT A1 at CSSE at OGO,
NAME: GARY ATWATER <ATWATER.GARY AT A1 at CSSE at OGO>,
SCHATZ @ASDS@VMSMAIL,
_asds::Padovano AT A1 at CSSE at OGO,
don metzger @mko

<><><><><><><><>  T h e   V O G O N   N e w s   S e r v i c e  <><><><><><><><>

 Edition : 2798               Friday  2-Apr-1993            Circulation :  7057 

        VNS MAIN NEWS .....................................   37 Lines
        VNS COMPUTER NEWS .................................  353   "
        VNS TECHNOLOGY WATCH ..............................   37   "

        Please send subscription and backissue requests to EXPAT::VNS

VNS COMPUTER NEWS:                            [Tracy Talcott, VNS Computer Desk]
==================                            [Littleton, MA, USA              ]

 Digital - NASA selects Alpha AXP systems for scientific engineering
	   workstation procurement.

   Digital has been awarded the Class 7 Scientific Engineering Workstation 
  Procurement (SEWP) Contract by the National Aeronautics and Space 
  Administration (NASA).

   Under the terms of this Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) 
 contract, Digital will provide NASA with all of the agency's general-purpose
 workstation requirements for the next five years.

   The Class 7 contract has an estimated value of $96 million and represents 
 the largest of the SEWP contracts awarded by NASA's Goddard Space Flight 
 Center.

   This program will allow the latest in UNIX workstation technology to be 
 available to NASA and other federal agency computer users and to gain the 
 economies of scale this type of procurement allows.

   NASA's users will be provided with the full line of Alpha AXP platforms 
 running the DEC OSF/1 for AXP operating system, as well as DECstation 5000 
 systems.

   According to the contract, Digital also will provide a full line of 
 peripheral equipment, software, training, and support services.  NASA will be
 supported by a hotline support team from Digital, to assist with technical
 support, configuration guidance, and administrative help.

	{Livewire, U.S. News, 1-Apr-29}

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
        Please send subscription and backissue requests to EXPAT::VNS

    Permission to copy material from this VNS is granted (per DIGITAL PP&P)
    provided that the message header for the issue and credit lines for the
    VNS correspondent and original source are retained in the copy.

<><><><><><><><>   VNS Edition : 2798      Friday  2-Apr-1993   <><><><><><><><>

============================================================================
SUBJECT:  DIGITAL TO PROVIDE NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE FOR NASA COMMUNICATIONS
SOURCE:   Business Wire via First! by INDIVIDUAL, Inc.
DATE:     March 30, 1994
INDEX:    [2]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

  MAYNARD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE) via First! -- Digital  Equipment
Corporation today announced receipt of a five-year, $15  million contract
for the National Aeronautics and Space  Administration (NASA).  Digital will
deliver Alpha AXP systems,  services and a high performance network
infrastructure based on the  GIGAswitch system, Digital's high performance
network switching  bridge for Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI)
networks.  This  contract is part of a multi-company mission systems project
that will provide engineering and development services for ground mission
operations and systems for manned and unmanned space programs at the
Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas.

  Upgrading NASA's communication system required a high performance network,
which must provide extremely stringent reliability to ensure continuous
communications with space-based missions.  The GIGAswitch  system serves as
an integration point for a variety of mixed-vendor  network configurations
combining the flexibility, performance and  reliability that this project
demanded.

  The GIGAswitch network bridge is a high performance, industry  standard
cross-bar switch that operates with any standard FDDI  device.  Up to 22
FDDI ports can be configured to support high  bandwidth applications that
require sophisticated traffic management. Examples of other network
intensive client/server applications for  which the GIGAswitch is
particularly suited include x-ray image  transfer, molecular modeling and
multimedia.

  According to John Muratore, chief, Control Center Systems  Division, NASA,
"In this competitive environment with stringent  reliability and performance
requirements, Digital's GIGAswitch was  the only product to meet the NASA
requirements for this function.  It provides exceptional performance,
security, manageability and  reliability."

  Digital Equipment Corporation is the world's leader in open  client/server
solutions from personal computing to integrated  worldwide information
systems.  Digital's scalable Alpha AXP  platforms, storage, networking,
software and services, together with  industry-focused solutions from
business partners, help organizations compete and win in today's global
marketplace.   Note to Editors:  Digital, the Digital logo, Alpha AXP and

  GIGAswitch are trademarks of Digital Equipment

  Corporation.

  CONTACT: Digital Equipment Corporation, Maynard | Richard Price, 508/486-
5198 | EYWORD: MASSACHUSETTS

[03-30-94 at 15:16 EST, Business Wire, File: b0330151.700]