DeJarnette departs IBM DIN-PACS team

DeJarnette Research Systems has decided to withdraw from the IBM consortium participating in the U.S. military's Digital Imaging Network-Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (DIN-PACS) deal. The Towson, MD-based firm had been contributing its connectivity products to IBM as part of the team, but will no longer be involved in the engineering and product improvement plans on the project.

DeJarnette elected to withdraw from formal participation on the IBM team due to differences in corporate goals, technical direction, and business objectives between the two companies, said president Wayne DeJarnette. He declined to provide further details on the differences, other than to say that cultural differences between the companies led him to make the decision.

The company said that its decision will not affect its relationships with Department of Defense customers, however. The company anticipates it will contribute its products on an OEM basis to IBM and will continue to sell its products into other military accounts.

Although some analysts had estimated DIN-PACS spending to reach $165 million this year (PNN 6/98), actual awards to date have been under $35 million. This was not a factor in the decision to withdraw, however, DeJarnette said.