Finmeccanica Joins Transglobal Secure Collaboration Program

PRESS RELEASE

HERNDON, Va. (Feb. 3, 2009) - The Transglobal Secure Collaboration Program (TSCP) today announced Finmeccanica, a world leader in the aerospace, defence (A&D) and security industry, as their newest member. Finmeccanica joins the TSCP's growing roster of organizations, governments and technology providers committed to driving common standards for secure collaboration across the global A&D industry. As a platinum member of the TSCP, Finmeccanica will contribute to the development and implementation of new information security specifications that allow defence firms and government partners to team up on mission-critical projects without jeopardizing classified and sensitive information.

As cyber security threats become increasingly common, global online collaboration needs continue to rise. Securing highly sensitive information has never been more important, and the TSCP provides Finmeccanica a forum where they can collaborate to create and adopt new security specifications.

Finmeccanica will contribute a team of IT architects to the TSCP's security initiatives and will sit on the TSCP's Governance Board, giving the company a voice in the overall direction of the program. The company will benefit from early access to TSCP specifications and solutions nine months before they are released into the public domain.

"This partnership reflects significant progress in the development of one standard set of requirements for industry-wide secure collaboration and information-sharing," said Keith Ward, TSCP chairman and enterprise identity management and security director at Northrop Grumman. "With Finmeccanica on board, we're one step closer to eliminating various standalone solutions that are ultimately unsustainable for the industry."

As the only government-industry partnership of its kind, the TSCP works to define specifications for secure collaboration, information sharing and identity assurance in mission-critical environments. Members include the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), U.K. Ministry of Defence (MoD), Netherlands MoD, BAE Systems, Boeing, EADS, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and Rolls-Royce.

For more information on membership, please visit www.tscp.org.

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About TSCP

TSCP is the only government-industry partnership specifically focused on designing solutions to address the most critical issues facing the A&D industry: mitigating the compliance, complexity, cost and IT security risks inherent in large-scale, multi-national collaborative programs. The TSCP was founded in 2002, and has delivered several specifications and guidance documents on securing A&D supply chain data. The group today focuses on identity federation policies and governance. The TSCP is open to government organizations, prime contractors, integrators, suppliers and member trade groups. For more information, please visit www.tscp.org.

About Finmeccanica

Finmeccanica plays a leading role in the global aerospace and defence industry, and participates in some of the sector's biggest international programmes through its group companies and well-established alliances with European and US partners. A leader in the design and manufacture of helicopters, defence and security electronics, civil and military aircraft, aerostructures, satellites, space infrastructure and defence systems, Finmeccanica is Italy's leading high-tech company. Finmeccanica also boasts significant manufacturing assets and skills in the transport and energy sectors; it is listed on the Milan stock market and operates via a number of group companies and joint ventures. It has around 73,000 employees, with 12,400 working in the USA, 10,200 in the UK and 3,600 in France. As part of its drive to maintain and build on its technological excellence, Finmeccanica spends 14% of its revenues on Research and Development.