Raytheon BBN helps lay groundwork for White House US Ignite science initiative

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The White House has launched US Ignite, a national innovation ecosystem for developing and deploying public sector applications and services on ultra-fast, software-defined networks. This initiative leverages important contributions from researchers across the nation, including Raytheon BBN Technologies, who have participated in the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Global Environment for Networking Innovation (GENI).

Raytheon BBN Technologies operates the GENI Program Office (GPO), which provides system engineering and project management expertise to guide GENI planning and prototyping. GPO systems engineers help design the system, identify technical risks, manage system requirements, oversee and support GENI community working groups, and monitor and coordinate prototyping subcontracts. The GPO also leads periodic GENI engineering conferences to promote collaboration in the developer community, and it performs project management, contracting, technical liaison and meeting coordination in close coordination with the National Science Foundation. The next GENI conference, GEC14, will be held July 9 to 11, 2012, in Boston, Mass.

"US Ignite is a bold initiative to assure U.S. leadership in developing novel, transformative applications for healthcare, education and training, public safety, energy and advanced manufacturing," said Chip Elliott, GENI principal investigator and project director for Raytheon BBN Technologies. "As a virtual laboratory for networking experimentation where the brightest minds collaborate, GENI provides transformative research and accelerates the potential for groundbreaking innovations."

The US Ignite launch featured the President's Science Advisor and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Dr. John Holdren; NSF Director, Dr. Subra Suresh; and other prominent representatives of government, industry and academia.

NSF announced that it will serve as the lead government agency for US Ignite, expand the footprint of GENI and encourage the development of novel, next-generation applications and services that take advantage of these advanced networks and have potential for significant societal impact.

For more information, please visit: us-ignite.org and GENI at www.geni.net

About Raytheon

Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN), with 2011 sales of $25 billion and 71,000 employees worldwide, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 90 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as a broad range of mission support services. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Mass. For more about Raytheon, visit us at www.raytheon.com and follow us on Twitter at @raytheon.

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SOURCE Raytheon Company