SLA for Increased Satellite Imagery Purchases

GeoEye has finalised a Service Level Agreement (SLA) modification to the company\'s existing NextView contract with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). The value of the SLA is USD12.5 million per month for a period of one year.  

GeoEye will provide satellite imagery products to the NGA under this agreement beginning with the commencement of commercial operations of its GeoEye-1 satellite. GeoEye-1 is undergoing final calibration and alignments. GeoEye expects to start selling GeoEye-1 products soon. The SLA also includes imagery from the Company's IKONOS satellite.

Bill Wilt, GeoEye's vice president of North American sales, said, "This agreement gives NGA a predictable supply of the world's highest resolution commercial satellite imagery and will give us a stable and predictable revenue stream from the NGA over the next year. We are looking forward to follow-on purchases beyond the current NextView contract and to working with the government in more fully integrating commercial imagery into the national imagery architecture."

Erol Morey, GeoEye's NextView program director, said, "This service-oriented imagery acquisition model optimises imagery collection opportunities for our constellation of satellites. It also focuses and measures our performance, reduces administrative overhead and enables us to provide the most cost-effective solutions to the NGA."

This contract, together with GeoEye's recent modifications to its business model for international commercial affiliates, will enable the company to be much more operationally responsive in meeting the imagery requirements of the NGA through its NextView program. The program is designed to ensure that the NGA has access to commercial imagery in support of its mission to provide timely, relevant and accurate geospatial intelligence in support of national security.