NIMA contract aimed to advance tech

The National Imagery and Mapping Agency recently awarded a contract to Rosettex Technology and Ventures Group for the advancement and commercialization of technologies in three areas of interest to the National Technology Alliance.

NIMA is the executive agent for NTA, which was established in 1987 to discover and advance commercial and dual-use technologies for national security and defense initiatives.

The five-year contract, which is worth up to $200 million, will focus on three critical technology areas for the intelligence community, military services and Defense Department:

* Imagery, geographic information services and cartography.

* Digital processing, analysis and management.

* Digital technology infrastructure.

Rosettex team members are drawn from 64 different partners, including: technology consulting firms, established and new companies, independent research institutes, academic institutions and government contractors.

ERDAS Inc., TASC — part of Northrop Grumman Information Technology — PricewaterhouseCoopers and Princeton University are among the team members, according to Rosslyn, Va.-based Rosettex.

Rosettex, which was awarded the contract Feb. 18, is a joint venture of Sarnoff Corp. and SRI International, an independent research institute based in Silicon Valley. Sarnoff is an SRI subsidiary.