INDUSTRY

Lockheed Martin cut the ribbon yesterday on its Knowledge Creation Laboratory, which will centralize knowledge discovery, analysis and information access and sharing from across the corporation to aid government customers in the global war on terror. The 1,248-square-foot lab will be a valuable resource to missions that span the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the intelligence community, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense. The lab will be a center for the design, development, integration, test and demonstration of knowledge creation and management services and solutions -- including the combination of information technology and tradecraft, information extraction, collection, storage and visualization. "This lab establishes Lockheed Martin as a premier provider and integrator of Knowledge Management capabilities," said Stan Sloane, Lockheed Martin Executive Vice President for the Integrated Systems & Solutions business area. "Our customers demand a fundamentally new level of information integration and responsiveness. We are pleased to have a venue that will help influence IT trends, challenge and reshape research and development efforts and reduce risk to help meet customer needs." By infusing raw intelligence data with purpose and meaning, the lab will specialize in identifying knowledge from across the organization that will aid in solving specific government problems related to the war on terror and homeland security. Central to the lab will be a catalog of capabilities that will support the creation of products with reusable components and allow customers to conduct in-depth comparisons of interoperable and integrated solutions. Future connectivity via the company's Global Vision Network to other Lockheed Martin labs, including the Center for Innovation in Suffolk, Va., will enable distributed collaboration, assessment and experimentation. The Knowledge Creation Lab is configured to provide flexibility and agility in addressing a wide variety of scenarios and engagements. The facility is located in the Dulles Executive Plaza II adjacent to the Dulles Toll Road in Herndon, Va. To implement the Knowledge Creation Lab, Lockheed Martin collaborated with industry partners, including EMC, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Cisco, Sun, Microsoft, BEA and BrightPlanet.