Ball Aerospace Launches Opticks Open Source Software
December 10 2007 - 12:27PM
PR Newswire (US)
DAYTON, Ohio, Dec. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ball Aerospace
& Technologies Corp. has launched Opticks, the company's first
open source software project designed to enable detailed analysis
of remote sensing data. With the release of Opticks, Ball Aerospace
anticipates gaining access to new fields that can benefit from the
processing and exploitation of remote sensing data. Opticks is used
by scientists and analysts within the Department of Defense
Intelligence Community to analyze remote sensing data and produce
actionable intelligence. Opticks supports Imagery, Motion Imagery,
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), and multi-spectral and
hyper-spectral remote sensing data. Ball Aerospace expects Opticks
to increase the demand for remote sensing data and broaden the
features available in existing remote sensing software. "Ball
Aerospace's Opticks demonstrates how government-sponsored code
originally developed by a contractor can be maximized by releasing
it as open source," said John M. Weathersby, executive director of
the Open-Source Software Institute. "This creative business
development effort is consistent with the forward-thinking strategy
outlined in the Department of Defense's Open Technology Development
roadmap." Ball Aerospace's launch of Opticks establishes an open
source community for support and collaborative development. Over
100 users have already registered at the Opticks Web site. Opticks
also enables software developers to easily extend the product's
capabilities or tailor Opticks to support new types of remote
sensing data. To become a part of the open source community,
download the Ball Aerospace Opticks software at:
http://www.ballforge.net/. Ball Aerospace has provided support in
exploitation of remote sensing data for the National Air and Space
Intelligence Center (NASIC), located at Wright-Patterson Air Force
Base, Ohio, for more than 23 years. This has resulted in Ball's
proven expertise in developing algorithms and software tools used
to process and analyze the data. The NASIC intelligence products
that result from Ball's capabilities directly support on-going
military operations, national decision makers and other members of
the intelligence community. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.
supports critical missions of important national agencies such as
the Department of Defense, NASA, NOAA and other U.S. government and
commercial entities. The company develops and manufactures
spacecraft, advanced instruments and sensors, components, data
exploitation systems and RF solutions for strategic, tactical and
scientific applications. Over the past 50 years, Ball Aerospace has
been responsible for numerous technological and scientific 'firsts'
and acts as a technology innovator for the aerospace market. Ball
Corporation (NYSE:BLL) is a supplier of high-quality metal and
plastic packaging products for beverage, food and household
customers, and of aerospace and other technologies and services,
primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and its
subsidiaries employ more than 15,500 people worldwide and reported
2006 sales of $6.6 billion. Forward-Looking Statements This release
contains "forward-looking" statements concerning future events and
financial performance. Words such as "expects," "anticipates,"
"estimates" and similar expressions are intended to identify
forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to risks
and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ
materially from those expressed or implied. The company undertakes
no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise. Key risks and uncertainties are summarized in filings
with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Exhibit 99.2
in our Form 10-K, which are available at our Web site and at
http://www.sec.gov/. Factors that might affect our packaging
segments include fluctuation in product demand and preferences;
availability and cost of raw materials, including recent
significant increases in resin, steel, aluminum and energy costs,
and the ability to pass such increases on to customers; competitive
packaging availability, pricing and substitution; changes in
climate and weather; crop yields; competitive activity; failure to
achieve anticipated productivity improvements or production cost
reductions, including our beverage can end project; mandatory
deposit or other restrictive packaging laws; changes in major
customer or supplier contracts or loss of a major customer or
supplier; and changes in foreign exchange rates, tax rates and
activities of foreign subsidiaries. Factors that might affect our
aerospace segment include: funding, authorization, availability and
returns of government and commercial contracts; and delays,
extensions and technical uncertainties affecting segment contracts.
Factors that might affect the company as a whole include those
listed plus: accounting changes; successful or unsuccessful
acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures; integration of
recently acquired businesses; regulatory action or laws including
tax, environmental and workplace safety; governmental
investigations; technological developments and innovations;
goodwill impairment; antitrust, patent and other litigation;
strikes; labor cost changes; rates of return projected and earned
on assets of the company's defined benefit retirement plans;
pension changes; reduced cash flow; interest rates affecting our
debt; and changes to unaudited results due to statutory audits or
other effects. DATASOURCE: Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.
CONTACT: Roz Brown of Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.,
+1-303-533-6059, Web site: http://www.ballaerospace.com/
http://www.ballforge.net/
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