please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article relies too much on references to primary sources . please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources . august 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message a major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject . it may require cleanup to comply with wikipedia s content policies particularly neutral point of view . please discuss further on the talk page . november 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message this article contains content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . september 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message harris corporation harris corporation logo type public traded as nyse hrs s & p 500 component industry telecommunications equipment founded 1895 1895 founder alfred s. harris headquarters melbourne florida united states key people william m. brown chairman president and ceo products defense and communications revenue us 5012.0 million 2014 1 operating income us 795.4 million 2014 1 net income us 534.2 million 2014 1 total assets us 4931.2 million 2014 1 total equity us 1825.4 million 2014 1 number of employees 23 000 2015 2 divisions rf communications integrated network solutions government communications systems website www.harris.com harris corporation is an american technology company defense contractor and information technology services provider that produces wireless equipment tactical radios electronic systems night vision equipment and both terrestrial and spaceborne antennas for use in the government defense and commercial sectors . headquartered in melbourne florida the company has approximately 7.5 billion of annual revenue and more than 21 000 employees including 9 000 engineers and scientists . 3 the company is the largest private sector employer in brevard county florida approximately 6 000 . 4 the company was the parent of intersil harris semiconductor . most of the wireless start ups in south brevard county were founded and are staffed by former harris corporation engineers and technicians . citation needed the company s digital telephone systems dts division was sold to teltronics . in june 2015 harris acquired exelis inc. and subsequently reorganized the company . in 2014 harris was named one of the top hundred federal contractors by defense news . 5 in january 2015 wired magazine ranked harris corporation tied with u.s. marshals service as the number two threat to privacy and communications on the internet . 6 contents 1 history 1.1 chief executives 2 board of directors 3 business segments 3.1 communication systems 3.1.1 caprock communications 3.2 critical networks 3.3 electronic systems 3.4 space and intelligence systems 3.4.1 cell site simulators 4 list of harris acquisitions 4.1 prior to 1995 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit harris mr80c88 processor the harris automatic press company was founded by alfred s. harris in niles ohio in 1895 . the company spent the next 60 years developing lithographic processes and printing presses before acquiring typesetting company intertype corporation . in 1957 harris acquired gates radio a producer of broadcast transmitters and associated electronics gear but kept the gates brand name alive by putting the gates sticker on the back of numerous transmitters that were labeled harris on the front panels . in 1959 they acquired microwave technology company prd electronics of brooklyn new york . citation needed in 1960 they merged with radiation inc. of melbourne florida a developer of antenna integrated circuit and modem technology used in the space race . the company headquarters was moved from cleveland to melbourne in 1978 . citation needed in 1969 harris corporation acquired rf communications and farinon furthering its microwave assets . the printing operations were sold off in 1983 and are now known as gss printing equipment . gss printing equipment later acquired lanier worldwide which itself was spun off from harris corporation in the late 1990s . citation needed clarification needed in 1979 harris formed a semiconductor joint venture matra harris semiconductors mhs from which harris withdrew in 1989 . after further changes mhs was taken over by atmel . 7 in 1988 harris acquired ge s semiconductor business which at this time also incorporated the intersil and rca semiconductor businesses . these were combined with harris existing semiconductor businesses which were then spun off in 1999 as an independent company under the intersil name . in 1996 harris corporation formed a joint venture with shenzhen telecom company to produce and sell harris digital microwave radios and integrate them with other systems . citation needed clarification needed in november 1998 harris sold its commercial and standard military logic semiconductor product lines to texas instruments which included the hc hct cd4000 ac act and fct product families . harris retained production of the radiation hardened versions of these products . in 2005 the corporation spent 870 million on research and development . 8 harris corporation developed a hand held computer for use during the address canvassing portion of the 2010 united states census . 9 secured access via a fingerprint swipe guaranteed that only the verified user had access to the unit . a gps capacity was integral to the daily address management and the transfer of information that was gathered . of major importance was the security and integrity of the personal and private information of the populace . in january 2011 harris re opened its calgary alberta avionics operation harris canada inc. . the expanded facility s operations include among others the support of the work to be completed under the company s six year 273 million cad services contract with the government of canada for the cf 18 avionics optimized weapon system support owss program . 10 on december 2012 harris corporation sold its broadcast equipment operations to the gores group which operates as harris broadcast . 11 harris received 225m for the transaction exactly half of what it paid seven years earlier for leitch technology its final acquisition for the broadcast division . 12 on may 29 2015 the purchase of competitor exelis inc. was finalized almost doubling the size of the original company . 13 in july 2015 harris corporation sold its healthcare division harris healthcare solutions to nanthealth . 14 chief executives edit chief executives name title tenure alfred s. harris president 1895 1947 ray vernon mitchell 1947 1955 george s. dively chairman & ceo 1955 1972 richard b. tullis chairman & ceo 1972 1978 joseph a. boyd chairman & ceo 1978 1987 john t. hartley chairman & ceo 1987 june 1995 phillip w. farmer chairman ceo & president july 1995 january 2003 howard l. lance chairman ceo & president february 2003 october 2011 william m. brown chairman ceo & president november 2011 present board of directors edit william m. brown ; chairman ceo & president peter w. chiarelli thomas a. dattilo terry d. growcock lewis hay iii vyomesh i. joshi karen katen stephen p. kaufman leslie f. kenne david b. rickard dr. james c. stoffel gregory t. swienton hansel e. tookes ii business segments edit communication systems edit the harris communication systems segment serves markets in tactical and airborne radios night vision technology and defense and public safety networks . caprock communications edit harris caprock communications provides managed communications services in remote and harsh locations for energy maritime and government customers . it uses a combination of a dozen teleports on six continents and links from more than 60 satellites to connect remote customers . 15 caprock signed a five year deal in 2012 with royal caribbean international to improve satellite broadband connectivity across their entire fleet of cruise liners . 16 17 critical networks edit the harris critical networks segment provides managed services for air traffic management energy and maritime communications and ground network operation and sustainment as well as information technology and engineering services . electronic systems edit the harris electronic systems segment provides products and services in electronic warfare avionics wireless technology c4i undersea systems and aerostructures . electronic systems es division provides the alq 214 radio frequency jamming equipment for the u.s. navy s f a 18 hornet aircraft . the alq 214 was originally developed by exelis es which harris acquired in 2015 . 18 es is also a provider of components in the avionics package and targeting systems for the u.s. navy s f a 18 and ea 18 growlers . 19 space and intelligence systems edit the harris space and intelligence systems segment provides capabilities in earth observation weather geospatial monitoring space protection and intelligence including sensors and payloads ground processing and information analytics . 20 cell site simulators edit harris corporation produces multiple cell site simulator products such as the stingray and hailstorm phone trackers see table below ; these masquerade as legitimate cellphone towers duping mobile devices to connect to them instead of real cellular networks so all wireless voice and data traffic originating in a given area are intercepted by the systems enabling stingray operators to conduct mass surveillance and triangulate the position of mobile devices . 21 22 23 originally developed for the u.s. navy and later used in the global war on terror outside the us they ve increasingly been used by us police agencies . 24 more than six u.s. federal agencies use these platforms including the fbi drug enforcement administration and immigration and customs enforcement . the american civil liberties union aclu says at least 53 law enforcement agencies in 21 states use this or similar devices . 25 these platforms are controversial 26 27 as they surveil communications of all mobile devices in their vicinity including those of individuals not suspected of any crimes . 28 29 harris have been criticized by civil rights advocates for requiring local municipalities police and state governments to enter into non disclosure agreements nda 30 and to conceal usage of these platforms from citizens and the courts . 31 32 such nda may violate public record and open access laws . the aclu electronic privacy information center epic electronic frontier foundation eff filed two successful civil lawsuits over denied freedom of information act foia requests and violations of the public records laws of florida . 33 34 35 in september 2014 as a result of successful litigation aclu received documents and emails between harris corporation and the federal communications commission relating to fcc approval of harris surveillance systems . 36 aclu then sent a letter to fcc stating in their view harris misled fcc office of engineering and technology staff during the regulatory review process by falsely claiming the systems were only used in emergency situations and not criminal investigations . 37 in 2006 harris employees directly conducted wireless surveillance using stingray units on behalf of the palm bay police department where harris has a campus 38 in response to a bomb threat against a middle school . the search was conducted without a warrant or judicial oversight . 39 40 41 42 in 2015 santa clara county withdrew from contract negotiations with harris for stingray units noting the reason was the onerous restrictions imposed by harris on what could be released under public records requests . 43 mobile phone monitoring products from harris corp. 44 45 46 47 product introduced cost features stingray 2001 68 479 imsi catcher . gathers information from mobile phones including location and metadata stingray ii 2007 134 952 imsi catcher . gathers information from mobile phones including location and metadata kingfish 2003 25 349 surveillance transceiver for tracking mobile phones amberjack 2002 35 015 directional antenna used to help track mobile phones ; used in conjunction with stingray gossamer and kingfish harpoon 2008 16 000 19 000 linear amplifier to boost the signal of a stingray or kingfish hailstorm 169 602 imsi catcher . gathers