Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • Networking

    Pentagon Looks to Civilian IT

    By
    Caron Carlson
    -
    November 12, 2001
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Video distribution technology that allows traders on the New York Stock Exchange floor to watch televised news programming was first developed for the U.S. Navy. Now, as the Department of Defense accelerates efforts to improve IT for 21st century warfare, the DOD is looking at ways traders use IT to improve battlefield applications.

      The pattern of military-developed technologies evolving into commercial products has come full circle: As the Pentagon hastens to develop tools for battling terrorism and fighting treacherous foes in dangerous environments, it is looking closely at advanced IT products developed for the private sector in the recent high-tech boom.

      “There appears to be a trend of picking up technologies in the consumer space and moving them into the military,” said Robert Manchise, chief scientist at Anteon Corp., in Fairfax, Va. “The main reason … is the recent speed of innovation in the private sector.”

      For private networking, the militarys heightened need to develop advanced IT tools holds the promise for technological advances that could, in turn, migrate back to the commercial sector and improve applications that have not yet gained widespread popularity. Wireless data, videoconferencing and e-commerce all stand to gain from the DODs eagerness to procure the most advanced networking technologies available.

      Anteons Pocketmultimedia, being tested by traders at the NYSE, was developed to enable the Navy to transmit highly compressed information aboard vessels.

      “Anteon took that technology and built it into commercial products that allow real-time viewing of images across a wireless network,” Manchise said. “Now were taking that technology back to the military and saying we can use it to allow people in the field to have videoconferencing or data transmission back and [forth] from the front line to command headquarters.”

      Anteon is also working with Starbucks Corp. to outfit the companys shops with an infrastructure that allows customers to receive high-quality video and videoconferencing. At the same time, the Pentagon is trying to accelerate wireless video and data transmission for warfare planning and preparation—particularly in hostile terrains.

      To improve video communications for warfare, the military is working closely with companies that specialize in visualization techniques. One of them, Silicon Graphics Inc., is taking its visualization technologies used widely in automobile manufacturing and in movie making back to the DOD, for which it originally developed the technology.

      “In the last five years, the government has turned this whole paradigm around for use,” said John Burwell, senior director of Government Industry at SGI, in Silver Spring, Md.

      Battle planning in a hostile environment relies heavily on three- dimensional modeling that allows a view of the battlefield from multiple angles. Products from Lockheed Martin Corp. and Harris Corp. convert satellite images and aerial photographs into databases to produce 3-D fly-throughs or walk-throughs of the terrain, which can be transmitted to the front line or to fighter pilots in real time.

      The main objective is to improve information sharing and reduce the time it takes to track and hone in on a target of attack.

      In the future, 3-D visualization technologies used for warfare planning could be transferred back to the commercial sector to improve videoconferencing for business, according to Burwell. “Videoconferencing is an area where collaborative visualization developments can really revolutionize the [telecommunications networking] industry because it lets you make eye contact,” Burwell said. “Instead of just streaming two-dimensional video, why not project it back into 3-D? You could be at your terminal, and you could rotate the image … and change the eye point, re-creating the conference remotely.”

      At NASAs Ames Research Center, in Sunnyvale, Calif., one of the missions is to facilitate technology transfer to and from the government. IT products involving data compression, networking and multimedia are among the technologies being “spun in” most often now to the public sector from private enterprises, said Carolina Blake, chief of the Office of Technology Transfer and Commercialization at the center.

      “I have moved to embrace the private sector more and more,” Blake said. “Traditionally, since World War II, it was the university and federal labs working together. What I see as the answer [to technology questions] in the next 10 to 20 years is a combination of industry, federal labs and university working together.”

      The military and the private sector face considerable obstacles to wireless data and video networking. Like commercial telecommunications service providers and enterprise network managers, the Pentagon today faces many challenges of bringing data and video to the points where it is needed most.

      The last-mile bottleneck in the commercial sector is translated into the “last tactical mile” in the military. More efficient bandwidth allocation techniques on the battlefield could eventually be adopted for more efficient bandwidth allocation in businesses.

      Similarly, the commercial sector has not been able to overcome consumer concerns about privacy and security. That may be helped by the militarys eagerness to advance wireless data and video because in warfare, privacy is essential. “What I would think the military would require most for wireless data and wireless video to be transmitted in hostile environments is privacy,” Anteons Manchise said. “Once thats done for the military, I would think that the private sector would say they want it, too.”

      Caron Carlson
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×