By Geoff Fein
As part of the Aegis modernization effort on the USS Bunker Hill (CG-52), Lockheed Martin [LMT] is incorporating CA’s [CA] Spectrum Network Fault Manager to monitor the health of the network infrastructure, according to CA.
CA helps verify the performance and availability of computing networks with automated service, fault and configuration management. Patented root cause and impact analysis technology helps rapidly pinpoint degraded or failed network components, calculates impact and offers actions to resolve incidents, according to a company release.
The New York-based company competed for the contract to supply Spectrum to Lockheed Martin, Roy Borden, vice president federal systems integration, told Defense Daily in a recent interview.
CA supplies thousands of customers globally with its network fault manager system, Borden said.
“By having an open architecture approach and leveraging COTS (commercial-off-the-shelf) solutions…the Navy is the beneficiary of all of our customers globally, and all of the new requirements and needs,” he added. “They are getting the roll up of all those in each of these releases as the [Aegis Weapon System] platform exists for multiple years out.”
The Navy had unique requirements for a network fault manager, Borden said. Some of those were low impact on communications links, easily packaged, deployed, and maintained. There is also some administration and operational support that is required, Borden added.
“Those specific requirements, light weight, easily deployed, low footprint…those are requirements specifically built to address needs within the DoD community,” he said.
“By using this approach, the Navy can more easily stay on technology’s leading edge with up-to-date solutions. Because CA SPECTRUM NFM is readily available and upgraded regularly, warfighters can more easily implement technology refreshes and capability upgrades to the weapon system,” the company said in a release.
CA spends about $600 million on research and development annually, Borden noted.
“That R&D is capturing the requirements and needs of all of our customers globally and incorporating it into the next release.”
And while the Navy can take advantage of the upgrades CA provides to its global customers, in turn, the service joins that customer base, Borden added.
“Their needs are now being incorporated into the future releases of this product, so it works in both ways and we see that as being a huge benefit to us being a COTS vendor,” he said. “We are getting very unique requirements from them, they are being incorporated into our next release cycles that will then benefit our customers.”
Borden added CA has other major procurements underway right now within the Defense Department. “We are actively pursuing those with some of the major [defense] contractors.”
Additionally, the company has rolled out a technology based on COTS solutions that is currently in use on submarines.