Berlin, 18 May, 2006 - EADS Astrium, Europe’s leading satellite system specialist, has reinforced its commitment to expand activities in Earth observation services by significantly strengthening its Infoterra group. The formation of Infoterra France, which integrates ISTAR and some teams from EADS Astrium, as an addition to existing Infoterra companies in the United Kingdom and Germany, gathers complementary assets and competences to enhance the group’s operational capabilities.
The Infoterra group, with over 300 employees, is a leading provider of geo-information products and services for managing the world’s environment, development and security.
Customers will benefit directly from the pooling of a variety of resources under the Infoterra brand. With the launch of TerraSAR-X later this year – the new German radar satellite, developed in partnership with the German Aerospace Agency (DLR) and EADS Astrium GmbH, for which Infoterra holds the exclusive commercial exploitation rights – the Infoterra group will expand its range of assets. This adds to a comprehensive range of airborne sensors; access to data from all established spaceborne sensors, including SPOT satellites (Spot Image is affiliated with Infoterra through EADS Astrium’s 40% ownership); and the foremost data processing and hosting facilities available today – enabling the supply of the best-in-class geo-information services to global customers.
Marc Tondriaux, chairman of the joint Infoterra Management Board, says: “We are looking forward to making our mark on the global geo-information market in the next few years. We are excited about sharing knowledge and experience throughout the group, and the benefits this brings to our customers and Infoterra’s growing business. Profiting from synergies among the three established entities, we are able to offer a portfolio ranging from data acquisition and processing to sophisticated geo-information services. This capability is a significant competitive advantage, something only a few companies in this market are able to offer. I am confident that Infoterra will endorse and strengthen its position as a key element of EADS Astrium’s Earth observation business.”
In the commercial market Infoterra has a wide international customer base including; telecommunication operators for network planning; environmental organisations for land and resource management; national and local governments for land use and risk assessment; agricultural bodies for crop management services; oil & gas companies for exploration; and mapping companies for generating high quality maps from satellite and airborne data using Infoterra data processing tools.
Furthermore, the Infoterra group reinforces the leading role each Infoterra company has established in the European Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme - a joint initiative of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission (EC). Infoterra provides efficient, reliable services in three significant GMES priority areas – European land use/land cover state and change, risk management, and humanitarian relief – and collectively work towards establishing a sustainable public market for the services of Infoterra and its partners.
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About Infoterra
Infoterra is a leading provider of geo-information products and services for managing the development, environment and security of our changing world. With companies in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, its global customers include international companies, national, regional and local governments and authorities throughout Europe, and organisations such as the European Commission (EC) and the European Space Agency (ESA).
Infoterra operates across a comprehensive range of markets - communications, environment, security, agriculture, defence, oil & gas exploration and many more. Furthermore, Infoterra holds the exclusive commercial exploitation rights for the German radar satellite TerraSAR-X, and plays a leading role in geo-information services within the European GMES initiative of the EC and ESA.
Infoterra is a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS Astrium.
