LONDON, UK, May 21, 2007

Lockheed Martin UK today announced it will provide additional address recognition services to Royal Mail as an extension of the current Address Interpretation (AI) programme.

Under the extended contract, Lockheed Martin will provide address recognition services for 20 Flats Sorting Machines (FSMs) and also will develop, deploy and support new FSM recognition solutions to enable the machines to interact with Royal Mail's latest hardware and operating systems.  The technology serves to decipher printed or handwritten addresses and exemplifies Royal Mail’s ongoing modernisation strategy.

“The additional recognition services will allow Royal Mail to continue to provide affordable and reliable services to their customers,” said Andy Robertson, managing director of Lockheed Martin UK - Distribution Technologies.

Lockheed Martin provides Integrated Recognition Platform (IRP) technology to postal authorities worldwide.  The UK AI programme is one application of Lockheed Martin’s IRP technology.  The technology provides recognition, online postage and data services for Royal Mail as well as an integrated system deployed in 70 Mail Centres and five Data Entry Centres across the country that processes more than 45 million items every day.

Lockheed Martin Distribution Technologies designs, produces and integrates mail automation, material handling, recognition and information processing systems for postal services and government agencies worldwide.  Lockheed Martin is also a leading supplier to postal authorities around the world for address recognition solutions, which read handwritten or machine printed addresses automatically.