Harris restructures for new opportunities

Harris Corp. furthermore boosted its reputation as a major government, aerospace and defense contractor in 2010, bringing in $2.9 billion in prime contracting earnings - a 21 percent increase over 2009 - and holding steady at No. 13 on Washington Innovation's list of Top 100 federal contractors.

However, the year - was marked by the introduction of new products and business models, key acquisitions and expansion into adjacent markets and new geographic opportunities - as well helped the company build a foundation for a new direction, said John Heller, president of Harris IT Services.

In March, Harris announced a strategic realignment of its operating businesses, a move that will reposition the company as a leading innovation provider across a broader base of both government and commercial markets where advanced communications and information technologies are in high demand.

These include not just established markets just as like defense, intelligence, air traffic control and public safety, nevertheless also new markets just as health care, energy, cloud computing, sports, entertainment and retail.

Harris now has three key business segments: RF Communications, which includes the tactical communications, public safety and professional communications businesses; Government Communications, comprised of defense, civil and national intelligence programs; and a brand-new segment named Integrated Network Solutions, which will combine the resources and capabilities of existing and recently acquired businesses. These include the Harris IT Services, Harris CapRock Communications, health care solutions and cyber integrated solutions businesses, all of which were before part of the Government Communications segment.

This year, as agencies continue transitioning basic functions like email, cloud computing has stolen the focus from the greater goal of which it is only a part: the shared IT infrastructure. Spanning initiatives from data center consolidation to virtualization, the effort to build an elastic IT framework is then underway. This straightway-gen architecture represents a basic reevaluation of the enterprise, installing IT not as a commodity, nevertheless a service. Agencies are now looking at how they can turn hard-wired desktops into virtual workspaces, transform mobile computing into a secure reality, and deploy rapid computing power to stand up IT projects in record time at a fraction of the cost. On the whole, what are the implications from a innovation, management, and end user perspective? Join Federal Computer Week in this Editorial Webcast for an innovative look at new options for the enterprise as agencies transition to a shared IT infrastructure Read more