A state-of-the-art environment for research, design, evaluation, prototyping, and integration of dual-use advanced networking and network-centric information technologies

There are a large number of major military modernization initiatives in place to employ a digitized, network-centric, information-dominant fighting force in the next century. The evolution of both military and commercial information systems from platform-centric to network-centric architectures necessitates the creation of cross-platform environments for development and deployment of network-centric applications using open and industry accepted standards seamlessly across a wide range of connectivity infrastructures. To respond to this need, we have designed and established a state-of-the-art environment and associated testbeds for research, design, development, prototyping, demonstration, integration, and deployment of economical and robust dual-use military and commercial system solutions in the areas of networking and network-centric information technologies. The technical infrastructure of this environment and its various laboratories and testbeds are based on open and industry accepted standards, utilizing commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software components, and are consistent with the Joint Technical Architecture (JTA) and Defense Information Infrastructure (DII) architecture. The enabling technologies and applications currently being researched and investigated in this environment include such domains as advanced networking, wireless connectivity, mobile and nomadic computing, real-time multimedia communications, information security, network-centric computing, Internet technologies and electronic commerce. We describe the underlying architecture, the embedded technologies, and the capabilities of this environment.