Mercury Systems, Inc. announced that Chief Technology Officer William Conley, Ph.D., and Senior Director and General Manager Ken Hermanny have been appointed by The Open Group to the newly established Sensor Open System Architecture™ (SOSA) Consortium Advisory Board, with Conley also serving as chair.
As a pioneer in developing many of the defense industry’s current and emerging open standards, Mercury has always been committed to participating in initiatives like the SOSA Consortium that help build up the open standards ecosystem. This commitment directly supports the Department of Defense’s (DOD’s) goal to speed the development of new defense systems or modernization of existing ones, ultimately providing the armed services with a tactical advantage over highly capable adversaries.
“Open standards initiatives are at the heart of military and defense operations across the DOD,” said Conley. “Both Ken and I are strong advocates of the government’s vision for a modular open systems approach for defense systems. We look forward to advising and supporting the Consortium’s efforts to foster modular design solutions that will help the DOD quickly and affordably integrate the most advanced technologies to serve those who serve us.”
The Advisory Board will provide a means for the SOSA Consortium to strategically interact with market expertise beyond its membership to promote and expand SOSA adoption. This will include engaging key business and technical leaders outside of the Consortium to participate and share information as well as advise the SOSA Steering Committee on market issues, needs, requirements and direction and expand market awareness and opportunities in adjacent markets. The Board comprises advisors from government, industry and academia selected for their ability to provide relevant subject matter expertise as well as independent strategic thinking for advancing the SOSA ecosystem, not as representatives of their respective organizations.
Dr. Ilya Lipkin, Air Force Steering Committee Chair for the SOSA Consortium, noted, “We welcome Bill and Ken to our new Advisory Board. The role of the Board will be to help the Consortium anticipate and address strategic issues as we work to refine the technical quality and promote adoption of the SOSA technical standard. The formation of a SOSA Advisory Board marks a new phase in the evolution of the Consortium and speaks to the considerable impact SOSA has had on the DoD and commercial sensor system markets.”