SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Aug. 27, 2009 -- The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) and the Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) are teaming up for a Global Product Data Interoperability Summit in Mesa, Arizona, Nov. 9-12, 2009.

It is the first time the companies have co-hosted such an event, which this year combines three previous separate conferences into one: The Boeing Product Data Exchange Conference, the Boeing SOA Deep Dive and the Northrop Grumman PLM Summit.

The Summit's theme, "Common Information in a Changing World," reflects its focus on service-oriented architecture (SOA), product lifecycle management (PLM) and the shared data standards these product development solutions depend on.

"We've been dedicated to communicating the importance of data exchange and SOA for years," said David Koshiba, Boeing Research & Technology director, Advanced Lean Enterprise. "Bringing these three events together increases collaborative knowledge sharing, facilitates access between attendees and vendors, and helps keep everyone's costs in line in view of the current economy."

"PLM is at the foundation of our ongoing focus on process improvement and management," said Todd Norwood, vice president, ERP and Enterprise Programs for Northrop Grumman. "We are looking forward to broadening the scope of discussion about the key supporting role that interoperability plays throughout product development."

Attendees at this year's Summit -- being held at the Arizona Golf Resort/Hotel/Conference Center in Mesa -- will benefit from a wide selection of presentation topics across the SOA, PLM, and CAD/CAM/CAE domains. Some forums are open only to employees of the two sponsoring companies, while others are available to vendors and the invited public. Those who wish to be invited to participate and/or give presentations at the conference should contact event coordinator Elysium Inc.

"Interoperability between systems is critical to success in today's global markets," said Ken Tashiro, vice president, Elysium Inc. "This year's combined event format allows aerospace employees, software suppliers, academics and others in the PLM space to communicate with industry leaders who are using best practices for data exchange between applications." Presentation tracts will address key issues in Processes, Tools, SOA, Data and Migration. The deadline for registration and for submitting presentation abstracts is Sept. 23, 2009. 

  CONTACT:  Ed Clark
          Northrop Grumman Corporation
          (214)-524-0134
          ed.clark@ngc.com