King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology Gains Access to World’s Highest Resolution Commercial Earth Imaging Satellite with Half-Meter Ground Resolution
Dulles, Va., Dec. 8 — GeoEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOY), a premier provider of satellite and aerial-based geospatial information and services, announced today its Regional Affiliate, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) began directly downlinking high-resolution satellite imagery from the GeoEye-1 Earth-imaging satellite. In addition to directly acquiring GeoEye-1 imagery, KACST will be able to provide other GeoEye-1 imagery and value-added products to its customers. KACST has the exclusive right to sell GeoEye-1 imagery in Saudi Arabia and the nonexclusive right to sell GeoEye-1 imagery outside of Saudi Arabia.
KACST is an independent scientific organization of the Saudi Arabian government located in Riyadh. It has been GeoEye’s partner and Regional Affiliate for IKONOS satellite imagery collection and distribution since September 2002.
"GeoEye-1 satellite imagery will be an important component of KACST’s effort to create new strategic partnerships and expand our strategic presence in the oil and gas, energy, mining, infrastructure and national, state and local government markets," said Dr. Abdulaziz Almadi, director, Space Research Institute for KACST. "The satellite’s highly accurate, unprecedented resolution and color imagery will also be beneficial to our ongoing scientific research and operational applications."
"KACST has been an important IKONOS anchor tenant for GeoEye over the past eight years," said Mr. Matthew O’Connell, GeoEye’s chief executive officer and president. "We share the same vision of excellence, which is one of the reasons our relationship has grown and will continue to prosper with this new commitment to market and distribute GeoEye-1 imagery."
About KACST
King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) is an independent scientific organization of the Saudi Arabian government, established in 1977 under the name of Saudi Arabian National Center for Science and Technology (SANCST), and in 1985 renamed as King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology. From its inception in 1977, KACST had been carrying out its mission in the promotion of science and technology in the Kingdom by coordinating and cooperating with various universities, agencies, and institutions concerned with research and technology, and encouraging Saudi experts to undertake research that will help promote the development and evolution of the society. KACST is governed by a Supreme Committee, which is chaired by the King and is composed of the ministers of the major ministries to which science and technology are of greatest relevance. For more information, please visit http://www.kacst.edu.sa.
About GeoEye
GeoEye, Inc. is an international information services company serving government and commercial markets. The Company is recognized as one of the geospatial industry’s imagery experts, delivering exceptional quality imagery products, services and solutions to customers around the world. Headquartered in Dulles, Virginia, the Company has 534 employees, as of September 30, 2009, dedicated to developing best-in-class geospatial communications and information products, systems and services. GeoEye is a public company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol GEOY. The Company provides support to academic institutions and non-governmental organizations through the GeoEye Foundation (http://www.geoeyefoundation.org). Additional information about GeoEye is available at www.geoeye.com.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
This release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Without limitation, the words "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "will" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All statements that address operating performance, events or developments that we expect or anticipate will occur in the future, including statements relating to growth, expected levels of expenditures and statements expressing general optimism about future operating results, are forward-looking statements. Similarly, statements that describe our business strategy, outlook, objectives, plans, intentions or goals also are forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking statements and those presented elsewhere by our management from time to time are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those described in "Risk Factors" included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008, which we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on April 2, 2009, and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2009, June 30, 2009 and Sept. 30, 2009, which we filed with the SEC on May 12, 2009, Aug. 10, 2009 and Nov. 9, 2009, respectively. Copies of all SEC filings may be obtained from the SEC’s EDGAR web site, http://www.sec.gov/, or by contacting: William L. Warren, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, at 703-480-5672.