To better focus its efforts on public safety and security, Raytheon [RTN] yesterday said that its Network Centric Systems (NCS) division has created a new business line that combines the division’s existing security solutions and civil communications businesses that are currently spread across multiple groups.

The new Security and Transportation Systems business has two major public safety focus areas, security solutions and interoperable communications networks and equipment for emergency responders.

The STS line will be led by a vice president, Michael Prout, who has been with Raytheon for over 20 years. The business will also include NCS’s air traffic management business, which the company said helps control more than 60 percent of the world’s airspace.

Now all the people who have been focused on these areas but as part of different product lines within NCS are “all together as one,” William Iannacci, director, Civil Communications Solutions for Raytheon NCS, told Defense Daily.

Security solutions are focused around critical infrastructure protection, including airports, ports and border security, through the company’s ClearView family of security management system platform. The company began development of ClearView in 2008 as an open architecture-based system that could work with various existing and future sensors and other inputs for civil security applications, Mark Desmarais, program manager for ClearView, also told Defense Daily.

ClearView, which was launched as a commercial product last fall, also includes built-in workflows and rules that can be changed by the operator and features capabilities such as a tracking capability that can continuously monitor a subject from one sensor to another.

Another capability of ClearView is its built-in virtual world modeling and simulation that can incorporate different sensors and scenarios.

In the area of interoperable communications that better enable first responders to communicate with each other during an emergency. Raytheon offers various products in this space but in the past few years has begun to address a customer’s needs for a total solution, Iannacci said.

That means using Raytheon equipment and also equipment from other companies to meet a customer’s needs, Iannacci said. The company will continue to sell product but “we are really trying to follow a model of bringing a total solution to the customer and bringing partnerships together in the industry as well.”

The new business line will also help improve cross-selling opportunities to government and commercial customers, Raytheon said. For example, Iannacci said that Raytheon has a lot of capabilities in the defense arena for establishing communications networks where no infrastructure exists. These same capabilities, pared down to meet civil applications, can be brought to bear in disaster situations where there is no fixed communications infrastructure yet emergency communications need to be created at hoc, he said.