The Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium (NCOIC) increased its ranks to 79 companies and organizations with the introduction of seven new members on Sept. 6. The new members include:

• Anteon Corp., an integration company which provides mission, operational and information technology enterprise support to the U.S. government;
• Association for Enterprise Integration, a professional organization that promotes the ethical and legal exchange of information and ideas between government and industry;
• Cubic Defense Systems Inc., a provider of instrumented training systems for military forces, avionics, data links, aerospace systems and product logistic support;
• DCN, a France-based prime contractor for fully integrated warships;
• Systems Integration and Development Inc., a systems integrator serving both commercial and government clients;
• Lynuxworks, a provider of embedded systems; and
• The Center for Satellite and Hybrid Communications Networks, one of 17 commercial space centers sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which is focused on the development of hybrid networks that link satellite and wireless systems with cellular, cable, Internet and telephone networks.

NCOIC, formally introduced in September 2004, was formed to develop open standards that can be used by companies developing products and applications that will facilitate network-centric communications — thus allowing groups including different branches of the military, first-responders, air traffic controllers, and other government and possibly commercial interests to have access to the same data at the same time to allow for more efficient communications during military engagements and crisis events. Among the initial companies involved in the NCOIC are BAE Systems, Boeing, EADS, Cisco Systems, Ericsson, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft and Raytheon.