UK government backs giving parliament chance to reject Northern Irish backstop

Kitco | January 09, 2019

The government said on Wednesday it would support a change to its Brexit plan that gives parliament the chance to vote against activating unpopular backstop arrangements designed to prevent a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. Britain’s parliament is debating whether to approve Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit agreement with the European Union a pivotal decision that would cast the departure process into chaos if the deal was rejected. Brexit minister Stephen Barclay said the government would support a proposed change to the wording of parliament’s approval which would give lawmakers a greater say later in the exit process.

Spotlight

Spotlight

Related News

Government Business

DroneShield receives a record $9.9 million DoD Contract

PR Newswire | July 05, 2023

DroneShield Ltd has been awarded a follow-on 2-year R&D contract with a total value of $9.9 million by a Five Eyes Department of Defence (DoD). Approximately $4.5 million is due in the September and December 2023 quarters. Five Eyes refers to the defence/intelligence alliance between the US, Canada, UK, Australia and NZ. The award follows DroneShield materially completing the $3.8 million contract announced 4 June 2021 with the DoD, with a final milestone payment expected this month. Oleg Vornik, DroneShield's CEO, commented, "Follow-on contracts are the ultimate customer measure of our performance. As an Australian sovereign industrial capability business, DroneShield is proud and pleased to continue undertaking multi-year contracts of increasing size with this customer." "This is the largest long-term contract received by DroneShield to date, significantly larger than the earlier, $3.8 million contract. The 2-year term locks in cash receipts over a period of time. Further larger contracts are anticipated following completion of this phase." "In the current uncertain geopolitical environment, there is a significant focus by the Five Eyes Governments to procure from defence industrial capability champions within their network of countries. Having deep engineering and research capability, TRL9 products and a track record of working with Defence, places DroneShield in a favourable position for ongoing work." Operational Update Following a strong $7 million cash receipts 1Q23 quarter, DroneShield is on track for an all-time record 2Q23 quarter and continuing on a trajectory for another record year for cash receipts in 2023. Further detail will be provided in the next 4C quarterly, due to be released later in July. Significant progress on manufacturing, operations and inventory scale-up to support additional anticipated orders for remainder of 2023. DroneShield is currently finalizing the location for a larger industrial site to move its Sydney operations to enable the growth. With the $11 million contract announced in December now fully delivered and paid for, DroneShield is progressing the inventory build of the second $11 million order announced in January, expected to be delivered later this year. Current order book (committed and binding customer purchase orders) of approximately $29 million, an all-time record. Over $200 million qualified opportunities pipeline (in addition to the order book), across approximately 80 projects. Ongoing record demand for counterdrone / C-UAS equipment, underscored by the events in Ukraine and increasing defence and security budgets globally. In addition to military and intelligence communities, significant engagement with critical infrastructure plants, airports and other civilian customers. About DroneShield Limited DroneShield provides Artificial Intelligence powered platforms for protection against advanced threats such as drones and autonomous systems. We offer customers custom counterdrone (or counter-UAS) solutions and off-the-shelf products, designed to deliver highly effective capabilities for multiple missions and use cases. Our customers include military, government, law enforcement, critical infrastructure, and airports globally.

Read More

Emerging Technology

Hughes Awarded Space Force IDIQ Contract for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Services

PR Newswire | August 23, 2023

Hughes Network Systems LLC, an EchoStar company, today announced that it has been awarded a five-year, Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract by the U.S. Space Force for proliferated Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite-based services. Under the IDIQ vehicle, valued at up to $900 million, U.S. Department of Defense, other federal agencies and international coalition partners can procure fully managed, low-latency LEO services from Hughes leveraging capacity on two constellations: OneWeb and EchoStar Lyra™. "As government and defense agencies explore the power and potential of LEO services in delivering capabilities to the warfighter faster and at lower cost, we're proud to offer not one, but two compelling solutions," said Leslie Blaker-Glass, vice president, Hughes. "Our OneWeb offering – with our low-power, light-weight, flat panel antenna – and our next-generation EchoStar Lyra S-band IoT system position us to deliver customers in the DoD and federal government robust and resilient low-latency connectivity at a competitive price." Hughes previously announced a distribution agreement with OneWeb Technologies Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of OneWeb, to deliver managed, wideband LEO services to the DoD; those services are now available under the IDIQ and the GSA Schedule. Also available under the IDIQ are narrowband services over the EchoStar Lyra constellation, the system that EchoStar, parent company of Hughes, is developing for Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity and ongoing market development that includes 5G non-terrestrial networks (NTN). "These important LEO capabilities will give the DoD cost-effective solutions and added reliability and resiliency in satellite communications across all domains and we look forward to addressing upcoming requirements for procurement of these services," added Rick Lober, vice president and general manager, Defense and Government Systems Division, Hughes. About Hughes Hughes Network Systems LLC, an EchoStar company, provides broadband equipment and services; managed services featuring smart, software-defined networking; and end-to-end network operation for millions of consumers, businesses, governments and communities worldwide. The Hughes flagship internet service, HughesNet®, connects millions of people across the Americas, and the Hughes JUPITER™ System powers internet access for tens of millions more worldwide. Hughes supplies more than half the global satellite terminal market to leading satellite operators, in-flight service providers, mobile network operators and military customers. A managed network services provider, Hughes supports approximately half a million enterprise sites with its HughesON™ portfolio of wired and wireless solutions.

Read More

Emerging Technology, Cybersecurity

OwnBackup Achieves FedRAMP® Authorized Designation

Businesswire | July 20, 2023

OwnBackup, the leading SaaS data protection platform, today announced it has achieved FedRAMP® authorization for its OwnBackup Government Cloud solution. With this authorization, OwnBackup is now listed on the FedRAMP® Marketplace, and is eligible to provide data protection services to all U.S. Federal Government customers. Established in 2011, FedRAMP® is a government-wide program that promotes the adoption of secure Cloud services across the Federal Government, forming a public-private partnership to promote innovation and the advancement of more secure information technologies. By achieving FedRAMP® authorization, OwnBackup has demonstrated that it meets the rigorous security and compliance requirements of the program to host sensitive information in the Cloud. “FedRAMP® authorization is a significant milestone for OwnBackup, and reaffirms our position as the market leader in SaaS data protection,” said Sam Gutmann, Chief Executive Officer at OwnBackup. “This designation allows us to bring our best-in-class solutions to Federal Government agencies, partnering with these vital organizations to accelerate their digital transformation goals, while ensuring that critical Federal Data and Metadata remains secure.” OwnBackup’s FedRAMP® announcement comes at a time when the U.S. Government is making cybersecurity a clear priority. Earlier this year, the Biden-Harris Administration announced a new National Cybersecurity Strategy focused on strengthening the Nation's digital infrastructure, emphasizing the importance of Cloud security and resilience, and protecting citizens and businesses from cyber threats. While no individual or company is immune to cyber threats, these attacks disproportionately target the public sector. The public sector manages a wide array of sensitive information, making it a popular target for cyber criminals. According to Verizon’s 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), the public sector had the second most attacks of any industry. With OwnBackup, U.S. Government Agencies can be better prepared to avoid disruption to critical services, ensure a continuity of operations, and uphold trust and confidence with the citizens that they serve. OwnBackup’s Data Protection Platform, which is used by over 6,000 customers across critical SaaS ecosystems, was designed with security in mind from its inception. OwnBackup’s solutions are architected with a variety of security controls across multiple tiers to address a range of security risks. About OwnBackup OwnBackup is a leading SaaS data protection platform for some of the largest SaaS ecosystems in the world, including Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and ServiceNow. Through capabilities like data security, backup and recovery, archiving, and sandbox seeding, OwnBackup empowers thousands of organizations worldwide to manage and protect the mission-critical data that drives their business. Co-founded by seasoned data recovery, data protection, and information security experts, OwnBackup is a trusted independent software vendor (ISV) partner on the Salesforce AppExchange, AWS Marketplace, and Microsoft Marketplace. The Company is headquartered in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, with research and development (R&D), support, and other functions in Israel, EMEA and APAC. OwnBackup has raised over $500 million in venture funding, is ranked on the Forbes Cloud 100 as one of the world's top private cloud companies, and is the partner of choice for some of the world’s largest users of SaaS applications.

Read More