At least two other teams previously have said they have plans to develop electric-powered taxi technologies, including systems under development at L-3 Communications Holdings Inc.

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"IBM wants to keep mainframes relevant, but you want to write software for the cheaper, more efficient new systems, " says Bill L. Veghte , vice president of Microsoft's Windows server division.

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L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. and OSI Systems Inc.

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He became president of SY Technology, now the SY Coleman division of L-3 Communications, a leading contractor for missile-defense systems.

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The trend toward modernizing existing aircraft and communications systems--rather than building new ones--also benefits L-3.

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The Electronic Systems business of Northrop Grumman coalesced from a series transactions that acquired parts of Westinghouse, Teledyne, L ITTon Industries and TRW. Raytheon grew to its current prominence by acquiring the old Hughes Electronics and parts of Texas Instruments.

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