IQ-Core® Software among handful of technologies successfully tested and acquired through NIE
PacStar®, a leading developer and supplier of advanced communications solutions for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), today announced that its IQ-Core® Software has become one of the first technologies successfully tested and acquired through the U.S. Army Network Integration Evaluation (NIE) program – enabling PacStar to more rapidly place IQ-Core Software capabilities in the hands of warfighters and support mission success.
NIE is a series of semi-annual, Soldier-led evaluations designed to further integrate and rapidly advance the Army’s tactical network. NIE 13.1, the fourth evaluation in the series, played an instrumental role in the recent $6.2 million IDIQ contract PacStar secured to support the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical Increment 1 (WIN-T). WIN-T is the military’s largest mobile network communications program that delivers a full range of data, voice and video communications to the warfighter at the quick-halt, and the PacStar contract significantly expands the use of IQ-Core Software by mobile network communications units across the U.S. Army.
“I was able to quickly identify and resolve data/voice issues [using] PacStar’s IQ-Core software suite, which is an integrated NETOPS capability down to the Company level. By using this software the Soldier does not have to use Command Line Interface (CLI) but simply manage everything from the IQ-Core software dashboard,” said Sergeant Martin G. Actor, 2/1AD (Army Evaluation Task Force), Fort Bliss. “This system was extremely easy and fast to setup. It only took [the operator] 20 minutes to fully set up by himself.”
PacStar IQ-Core Software delivers intuitive communications management by replacing time-intensive, complex and error-prone manual set-up and management processes for battlefield tactical communications systems with configuration wizards that automate both complex and routine tasks. Participation in the NIE Soldier-led evaluation process and the successful testing and acquisition of IQ-Core Software delivered several key benefits to PacStar, and the U.S. Army:
• Ability to prove technology in “battlefield” environments – Through Soldier-led evaluations that closely mirror true battlefield scenarios, NIE plays a crucial role in ensuring technologies will perform in real-world situations. NIE provided proof of IQ-Core Software’s value (intuitive for soldiers, easy to set up, provides on-the-ground single-view of the deployed network systems) for the WIN-T Program office with a level of fidelity that provided the WIN-T program office with the confidence that IQ-Core Software delivers – not just in a lab environment but in-theater.
• Ability to demonstrate IQ-Core Software to all key decision makers – For all but the largest government contractors and IT providers, the costs and resources required to “stand up” technology in a real-world environment are a significant deterrent. Because many decision makers are involved in evaluating and deciding upon which technologies to standardize on, it is hard to get everyone in a room to move decisions forward. NIE was a key part of building a coalition supportive of adopting PacStar’s technology because it provided the required testing – both lab and field – so that decision makers had an independent method of evaluating the technology.
• Ability to demonstrate reduced training requirements – NIE enabled PacStar to demonstrate how comms specialists in the field could learn IQ-Core Software “over the shoulder”, thus reducing training requirements and the costs and personnel burdens associated with more extensive tactical comms training. In the NIE exercise, PacStar demonstrated how training specialists being rotated out of duty could easily train incoming specialists in just a few hours –validating that IQ-Core Software is easy to learn, easy to use and results in better, more effective system operation.
“It can take several years and millions of dollars for a technology provider to find, and then line up, every decision maker involved in a program-level procurement, especially in a program as immense as WIN-T,” said Bob Dunn, chief executive officer, PacStar. “This is time and money that most small businesses cannot realistically invest. NIE has been a critical accelerator for PacStar to prove our technology, and the evaluation was so successful NIE took the rare step of committing its own funding for the purchase of IQ-Core Software for the WIN-T program – furthering our ability to support the warfighter mission.”