Defense Technology International - May 2008 - (Page 47)

major technology challenges does it face now? I don’t expect a change of that magnitude in the near future, although we have to keep up with new generations of LCD displays that materialize all the time. Customer requirements are evolving in terms of reduced power consumption, improvements to rugged design and costs that need to go down as budgets are under pressure. We’re also looking at designing operator-friendly human-machine interfaces, to ensure that an operator has the big picture and the ability to zoom in on areas of interest. We’re not overly concerned about competition from commercial-off-theshelf systems, although these can be attractive to customers from a cost perspective. In defense and security applications, a certain degree of speciﬁcation and rugged design is required. How are Barco’s defense and security operations organized now that it has expanded to include design, engineering and production facilities in Europe, India and the U.S.? We spent most of 2007, and will continue during 2008, to make sure the various entities become one organization. We will remove duplications and make certain everything we do is done at the best possible location. Part of our software development and some hardware production take place in India, for example. Marketing and sales are under one umbrella. We’re able to access the largest defense and security market in the world, the U.S., through our incountry entity Barco Federal Systems in Duluth, Ga., outside Atlanta. Led by Mike Forde, this is a special security agreement company, which ensures that the safeguarding and proper handling of classiﬁed and sensitive informa- CARL PEETERS Age: 51 President, Barco Security & Monitoring Div. Kortrijk, Belgium Birthplace: Mortsel, Belgium Education: Degree in applied economics from Antwerp University; graduate degree in business administration from Ghent University. Background: Joined Barco in 1987; marketing manager and division manager in the former Graphics Div. until 1996; was responsible for mergers and acquisitions for Barco Group. Appointed chief ﬁnancial ofﬁcer of BarcoNet when the division was spun off as a public company in 2000. Rejoined Barco after delisting of BarcoNet in 2002; serves on the executive committee. Lives in Antwerp with his wife and four children. Think of image quality that needs to be guaranteed in extreme environmental conditions. Temperature, humidity, vibration, shock, electromagnetic compatibility and security are all issues we take into account. Another aspect of this is that defense and security customers expect long-term product and service support, which is often not possible with commercial solutions. Absolute reliability is vital in our market, as many security and defense command and control centers require 24/7 uptime and have no tolerance for system malfunctions. AviationWeek.com/dti tion is maintained in accordance with U.S. federal regulations. We have about 120 people working there in sales and marketing, as well as R&D, engineering and production, without duplicating activities elsewhere in the division. In Toulouse, France, we’re mainly doing rugged workstations and consoles. What are the division’s spearheads toward the future? Internationally we are present in a number of key markets. In Europe, we are the market leader in our ﬁeld. Southeast Asia remains an important market for us, but as we expand in Asia we have to recognize and stay within the bounds of the export restrictions we face. We are determined to continue our presence in the U.S. and expand this to ensure we can supply the right products and solutions, and remain as close as possible to the developing requirements of our U.S. customers. I do not exclude the possibility of an acquisition, although for the moment we have nothing in our sights. An important development is teaming with DRS Technologies Inc.’s C3 Systems of Gaithersburg, Md., with which Barco Federal Systems will develop advanced visualization systems for the combat information centers, bridges and brieﬁng rooms of the U.S. Navy’s next-generation DDG-1000 surface combatant program. Barco, under a subcontract worth $28 million, will develop and supply large (40- and 65in.), network-enabled, ﬂat-screen displays for collaborative decision-making and command-team situational awareness. These will be part of the Common Display System (CDS). This program is in addition to the ongoing Q-70 generation of U.S. Navy AN/UYQ-70 operator consoles, for which we supplied more than 6,000 rugged displays and associated graphics and video controllers. This demonstrates the quality and reliability of our solutions and our ability to provide longterm support to customers. A key element of the idea behind CDS is to provide an auditorium-like capability in command centers via large-screen displays used by all staff. The remote displays for the DDG-1000 program will be one building block for our new concept of networked visualization solutions to equip combat information centers, bridges, machinery control rooms and staff brieﬁng rooms on naval ships. At key naval shows this year we are demonstrating a mix of operator consoles, remote large-screen displays, and processing and software tools to manage everything that can be thrown up on the screens. This also includes our latest tool, known as the Control Room Management Suite. This allows operators to quickly and easily conﬁgure a variety of sources of information or video from one station and port that image to any other, which extends collaborative viewing to beyond the combat information center. ■ 47 MAY 2008 DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL http://AviationWeek.com/dti

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Defense Technology International - May 2008 Contents Around the World Science Watch Tech Watch Learn and Live Think Again Vive la Difference En Route Out of the Box Package Deal On Watch Inside Job Programs Update The Net Back to the Future Busy Signal Mighty Mites Hull of an Idea Tough Enough Cutting Edge First Person In Review Insight

Defense Technology International - May 2008

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