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31 Jul 13. Navy rolls out virtualization plan. The U.S. Navy is mandating the simulation of hardware, or virtualization, for its existing IT infrastructure by 2018, according to a memorandum issued this week by the service’s chief information officer. The July 29 memo from CIO Terry Halvorsen states that the Navy must virtualize all of its current servers and server-based systems and applications by the end of fiscal 2017 (September 2018). Navy and Marine Corps deputy CIOs were instructed to submit a service virtualization plan no later than the end of November, according to Halvorsen’s memo. The goal of the virtualization initiative is to reduce the Navy’s IT costs at a time when service operation and maintenance budgets are being slashed while also increasing the flexibility of the service’s IT infrastructure. The shift to virtual machines would, for example, allow the Navy to run multiple operating systems and applications on a single server. Future Navy network components will be developed to operate in virtual environments, wrote Halvorsen, who assumed his current post in November 2010. “Virtualization is one of multiple efficiency efforts that the [Navy] must pursue to achieve cost reductions,” Halvorsen stressed, adding that the plan “does not preclude any other path to greater efficiencies and savings.” Halvorsen said the Navy would take a “graduated approach to virtualization” that will allow for parallel efforts in areas like “system/application rationalization,” standardization and data center consolidation. (Source: Defense Systems)
05 Aug 13. Lockheed Martin will offer a universal, highly adaptable and affordable mission equipment package (MEP) to meet requirements for the Joint Multi-Role/Future Vertical Lift (JMR/FVL) rotary wing program, with potential applications for other customers and platforms. The Lockheed Martin MEP will integrate proven solutions from three of the Corporation’s business areas and more than 30 years of experience integrating mission equipment components and subsystems into a wide variety of U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and international rotary- and fixed-wing programs. The product will be an affordable, dependable solution for multiple customers due to its open architecture and future airborne capability environment (FACE™) software design. (Source: Yahoo!/PRNewswire)
05 Aug 13. Electronic warfare (EW) experts at the ITT Exelis Electronic Systems division in Van Nuys, Calif., are helping U.S. Navy researchers develop an add-on advanced EW system to protect surface warships from a newly discovered, yet undisclosed, immediate threat to Navy fleet operations. Officials of the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington announced their intention last month to award contracts cumulatively worth as much as $65m to ITT Exelis to help Navy shipboard electronics researchers build and install an embarkable prototype EW system on several Navy surface ships. NRL scientists are developing the prototype embarkable EW systems in response to an urgent operational need statement (UONS) from the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, based on a newly discovered threat, Navy officials say. Although the threat is not described in detail, shipboard electronic warfare systems typically are designed to detect and jam enemy radar threats-particularly the electronics in radar-guided anti-ship missiles. Shipboard EW also can jam radar and other RF systems on manned aircraft and ships. (Source: Open Source Information Report)
06 Aug 13. Following the tragic attack on the USS Cole, the US Navy identified the need to improve bulkhead seals – a critical safety device for all types of vessels. New designs were sought through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Midé Marine (Medford, Massachusetts), a Smart Materials engineering company responded t