QinetiQ and The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] today opened The Portal, a new decision-support capability at QinetiQ’s Cody Technology Park site in Farnborough, UK.
The state-of-the-art center will enable customers to explore and understand implications of proposed network-enabled systems in a real time, dynamic environment using the latest in modeling, simulation, analysis and experimentation.
Concept warfighting customers can test logistical requirements across a wide range of existing and future operational settings and against a variety of threats. Experiment designers can create an optimal environment hosting multiple concurrent activities to compare the effectiveness and survivability of competing systems, test future scenarios and assess potential solutions before they are delivered to the front line. Coalition warfighting interoperability issues also can be addressed by operators participating with live assets and in virtual simulations.
„We are delighted to be partnering with Boeing on this exciting new venture,“ said Graham Love, QinetiQ’s Chief Executive. „The Portal will allow customers to explore many alternative scenarios in a fully immersive and interactive environment, and to see the effects of introducing new technologies to support current systems and platforms in order to optimize design concepts and performance.“
„Together, Boeing and QinetiQ offer customers the ability to draw from the capabilities of each company,“ said George Muellner, president of Boeing Advanced Systems. „The Portal will enable us to support our customer’s decision-making processes by helping them to explore their options, evaluate alternative solutions, minimize risk, and reduce cost and development time.“
The Portal’s capabilities support the British Ministry of Defence (MOD) Industrial Strategy and Defence Technology Strategy, which recommend UK suppliers invest in the tools and technologies to enable future military hardware and software solutions to be assessed in a variety of operational environments.
Boeing and QinetiQ will link their respective networked demonstration and experimentation capabilities from any location and can use the network to develop solutions in the United States, the UK and Australia.
QinetiQ’s Unified Experimental Services Testbed features networked nodes across the UK in multiple domains including land, missile defense, air and sea. Boeing’s Laboratory Network links more than 700 Boeing labs including the Systems Analysis Laboratory in Brisbane, Australia as well as U.S. government labs and industry partners.
The 6,000-square-foot facility features multiple labs, viewing areas, syndicate rooms and a state-of-the-art presentation and audio-visual suite that can link to an additional 14,000-square-foot office space and up to 50,000 square feet of additional area for large vehicles or mobile facilities such as a tented headquarters.
The Portal supports all major simulation software systems and uses the latest Dual- and Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® central processing unit technology. Significant secure storage also is available along with a scalable bandwidth link up to 32 Mbps in size that can securely connect The Portal to other QinetiQ, Boeing, industry and MOD facilities in the UK and around the globe. Connection to the Joint Multi National Interoperability Assurance Network for MOD-sponsored programs also is possible.
The Portal is a jointly-owned asset of Boeing Defence UK Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company, and QinetiQ. For further information on The Portal, please contact QinetiQ customer inquiries at +44 (0) 8700 100942 or CustomerContact@QinetiQ.com.
QinetiQ (pronounced ki net ik as in ‚kinetic energy‘) is a leading international defence and security technology company that was formed in July 2001 from the UK Government’s Defence Evaluation & Research Agency (DERA). QinetiQ has approximately 13,500 employees, who deliver technology-based services and exploit QinetiQ’s strengths in technology research by selling systems solutions, products, managed services and licences to government and commercial customers in a spectrum of defence, security and other commercial markets. In February 2006, QinetiQ Group plc was listed on the London Stock Exchange (main market) and joined the FTSE250 in June 2006. In the year to 31 March 2007, QinetiQ delivered a 17.4 per cent rise in underlying operating profit before tax to £106.0m on turnover which rose by 9.3 per cent to £1,149.5m.
A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is one of the world’s largest space and defense businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a $32.4 billion business with 72,000 employees worldwide.
