CENTECH, LGS and Video Furnance Announce Successful Implementation of Video over IP Solution to Air Mobility Command Bases Across the U.S.

THE CENTECH GROUP, Inc. (CENTECH), LGS (NYSE: ALU) and Video Furnace today announced the successful implementation of a video over IP solution for Air Mobility Command Bases across the country. The $1.9 million project is the first with a single IP video solution to be implemented across an entire command.

The video over IP solution enables the delivery of TV-quality live and video on-demand content including training modules and special events to all network-connected PCs and television sets on the bases. The system uses minimal network bandwidth by using multicast to deliver weather, commanders access channel and a variety of current news channels to base personnel at their desktop computers.

The Air Mobility Command contract was awarded in September 2006 to CENTECH, a leading provider of government systems and solutions, which worked with LGS, a subsidiary of Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) dedicated to serving the U.S. government community, and Video Furnace, a leading provider of enterprise-class IP video solutions, to deliver and install the system.

“As a team, our group was the best qualified to fulfill this mission in a way that would not only satisfy the Air Force’s needs, but would bring the highest levels of efficiency, productivity and value to the project,” said CENTECH President and Chief Executive Officer, Fernando V. Galaviz. “Working with LGS and Video Furnace clearly demonstrated our ability to be out in front when it comes to technological advances and to be able to successfully combine all of our expertise to deliver a complete, seamless solution to the Air Force.”

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“By working closely with CENTECH and Video Furnace, LGS was able to leverage its extensive planning, network integration and unmatched delivery experience to deliver a top-notch IPTV networked system to Air Mobility Command,” said Ron Iverson, CEO, LGS, a subsidiary of Alcatel-Lucent dedicated to serving the U.S. government community.

The Video Furnace IP video distribution system was chosen for this implementation because it is an enterprise-class, complete, highly scalable solution that leverages an existing network to deliver TV-quality video to any network-connected computer or TV without requiring any resident player software or hardware (standard desktop compliant). Video Furnace’s digital set-top boxes are used to deliver video to locations using television sets.

“Video over IP makes it much easier for the military to deliver live, broadcast and on-demand video to a large population versus conventional cable television,” said Howard Weinzimmer, CEO of Video Furnace. “What’s more, because we employ reliable solutions for creating, storing and delivering media streams, the military can deliver video with confidence to any computer or IP set-top box that’s connected to the base network.”

The task order was awarded under the Network-Centric Solutions (NETCENTS) indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract. NETCENTS provides the Air Force, Department of Defense (DoD) and other federal agencies a primary source of networking equipment/product supply and a means of system engineering, installation, integration, operations and maintenance for a family of DoD adopted commercially standardized networking solutions that are interoperable with Air Force, Joint and DoD Standardized Networking Technical Architectures.