Symmetricom Awarded $4 Million Contract to Supply Timing for Next Generation Global Positioning System (GPS)

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Symmetricom^®, Inc. (NASDAQ: SYMM), a worldwide leader in precise time and frequency technologies that accelerate the deployment and enable the management of next generation networks, today announced the company has been awarded a contract from ITT Corporation Space Systems Division valued at a minimum of $4 million, part of the building of GPS IIIA, the next generation Global Positioning System (GPS) Space System program. Under the award, Symmetricom will deliver its Model 9552 Ovenized Quartz Master Oscillators over three years, including developing, qualifying and delivering flight oscillators for the first two space vehicles.

“The 9552 is an excellent choice as it delivers the highest levels of reliability and performance available in a space qualified quartz oscillator, including excellent short-term stability, phase noise and aging characteristics under severe environments.”

“The Model 9552 oscillator continues Symmetricom’s legacy in the GPS program beginning with our cesium clocks for GPS blocks I, II, IIA and IIF,” commented Peter Cash, director, Space, Defense & Avionics Group at Symmetricom. “The 9552 is an excellent choice as it delivers the highest levels of reliability and performance available in a space qualified quartz oscillator, including excellent short-term stability, phase noise and aging characteristics under severe environments.”

The Model 9552 is a high performance oven-controlled quartz crystal oscillator that produces a highly stable, low noise reference frequency output. It is particularly suited to space applications and can be used as the on-board frequency reference for a satellite or ground station. The oscillator will produce the output frequency for the GPS IIIA Navigation payload by means of steering from the on-board Atomic Frequency Standards.

“Symmetricom’s contributions in upgrading the GPS system will have significant impact in helping to increase accuracy and assuring availability for military and civilian users worldwide,” commented Russ Bouwense, GPS IIIA subcontracts manager at ITT. “ITT Space Systems and Symmetricom have established an excellent working relationship with a strong emphasis on risk reduction and mission success. We look forward to working together to meet and exceed the customer’s requirements for this and future phases of the program.”

The U.S. Air Force announced last May that Lockheed Martin was awarded the contract to build GPS III. Under the $1.4 billion contract, Lockheed Martin along with ITT and General Dynamics will produce the first two GPS IIIA satellites with first launch projected for 2014. The contract also includes options for up to 10 additional spacecraft.

GPS III will improve position, navigation and timing services for military troops and civilian users worldwide with anti-jam capabilities that will yield superior system security, accuracy and reliability. The new satellites will also interoperate with Europe's Galileo satellite navigation system. Symmetricom customers who utilize precision GPS technology will benefit from the GPS III satellite system as increased transmission power along with new civilian frequencies and signals will increase both accuracy and coverage.

For more information on Symmetricom’s ovenized quartz master oscillators, visit: http://www.symmetricom.com/products/frequency-references/high-reliabilityruggedized-frequency-sources/9500/.

About Symmetricom, Inc.

As a worldwide leader in precise time and frequency products and services, Symmetricom provides “Perfect Timing” to customers around the world. Since 1985, the company’s solutions have helped define the world’s time and frequency standards, delivering precision, reliability and efficiency to wireline and wireless networks, instrumentation and testing applications and network time management. Deployed in more than 90 countries, the company’s synchronization solutions include primary reference sources, building integrated timing supplies (BITS), GPS timing receivers, time and frequency distribution systems, network time servers and ruggedized oscillators. Symmetricom also incorporates technologies including Universal Timing Interface (UTI), Network Time Protocol (NTP), IEEE 1588 (Precision Time Protocol) and others supporting the world’s migration to Next Generation Networks (NGN). Symmetricom’s QoE video quality management solutions provide the tools necessary to accurately monitor and analyze video quality and bring higher satisfaction levels to the end user. Symmetricom is based in San Jose, Calif., with offices worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.symmetricom.com.

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