Quantum3D Announces Thermite Tactical Visual Computer Selected by U.S. Army

PRLog (Press Release) – Oct 08, 2007 – Quantum3D®, Inc., a leading provider of Commercial off-the-Shelf (COTS), open-architecture, realtime visual computing solutions, today at the Association of U.S. Army (AUSA) 2007 Annual Conference, announced that the Thermite® Tactical Visual Computer (TVC) was selected by the  U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research Development and Engineering Command to support the Army’s Future Force Warrior (FFW) Increment 2.

The FFW Advanced Technology Demonstration enables the U.S. Army to develop demonstrate, and test revolutionary warfighting capabilities for Soldiers and small teams aimed at reducing Soldier fighting load and power requirements while improving Soldier protection, lethality, and situational awareness.  The Thermite TVC equipped FFW systems are currently employed in field trials designed to assess the FFW system effectiveness and to provide feedback for FFW ongoing spiral development.  Thermite TVC equipped FFW systems have been employed in trials at the C2 On-The-Move exercise at Fort Dix earlier this year and will be widely tested in the Air Assault Expeditionary Force (AAEF) exercises at Fort Benning, GA, this Fall.              

Designed to support graphics, video and compute intensive, network centric C2 and C4ISR applications in extended environments, the Thermite TVC family includes models optimized for both man-wearable and vehicle-based applications.  For FFW, the Thermite TVC-2.0 man-wearable computer acts as the soldier system’s central communications and processing hub that provides the soldier with navigation, C4ISR, IP Radio-based communications, live video display and other mission critical information via the soldier’s head-mounted-display and 2-way audio subsystem—all of which are designed to provide both the soldier and unit with significantly enhanced situational awareness, collective engagement capabilities and overall improved mission effectiveness.

"One of the main reasons we built Thermite was to address the growing need for COTS, open-architecture, man-wearable deployed visual computing applications-- and FFW is one of the most important man-wearable systems in development today,” said Ross Q. Smith, Quantum3D Co-founder and President.  “All of us at Quantum3D are honored that U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research Development and Engineering Command selected Thermite as a key component of the FFW system and we look forward to continuing our efforts with the U.S. Army as part of the Army/Industry team developing and testing this mission critical capability for our troops.”  

About the Thermite TVC Family
The Thermite TVC is the first multi-role, small form-factor, COTS family of tactical computers specifically designed to enable PC-based, 2D/3D graphics and video-intensive, network-centric C4ISR, C2, Unmanned Vehicle Operator Control Unit, embedded-training, maintenance and mission-rehearsal applications to be deployed in both vehicle-based and man-wearable applications in harsh environments. The Thermite TVC family supports open-architecture PC operating systems and features advanced embedded computing, 2D/3D mobile graphics, video capture-and-display, and low-power consumption for long battery life. Thermite TVC supports extensive commercial and military I/O options including GPS, wireless network and tactical radio support—packaged in a lightweight, conduction-cooled, alloy enclosure for operation in Mil-Std-810F, Mil-Std-461E and Mil-Std-1275 extended environments. The Thermite TVC-2.0 family includes a range of models tailored to meet the specific needs of man-wearable and vehicle-based ground, naval and airborne applications. The combination of these unique capabilities allows system integrators employing Thermite to rapidly bring the power of PC-based workstation applications to forward operations, which is why the U.S. military, as well as allied governments and leading international companies have selected Thermite TVC-2.0 and its companion Farsight Tactical Handheld Displays for operational deployment in numerous extended environment military and civilian applications.

Future Force Warrior and Thermite TVC at AUSA 2007 Annual Meeting
Future Force Warrior systems will be on display at AUSA 2007 in the Army Material Command booth (#1524).  The Thermite TVC Family and other Quantum3D Embedded Visual Computing (EVC) and Embedded Training (ET) products will be on display in the Quantum3D booth (#1561) and select partner booths at AUSA 2007, October 8th – 10th in the Washington, D.C., Convention Center. For more information on Quantum3D EVC products or to schedule an appointment at AUSA 2007, please e-mail salesinfo@quantum3d.com.

Thermite TVC Pricing and Availability
International, single unit pricing for man-wearable Thermite TVC-2.0 models begins at well under $10,000 USD.  Thermite TVC-2.0 products are available for delivery with standard COTS item lead times.
   
About Quantum3D
Quantum3D develops and markets COTS realtime, open-architecture realtime visual and high performance computing solutions including advanced Image Generators, Embedded Training (ET) platforms, development software and synthetic environments for institutional and deployed Visual and Sensor Simulation and Training (VSST) markets and Embedded Visual Computing (EVC) systems and subsystems, DO-178B Level A development software and support services for the avionics, tactical and industrial visual and high performance computing markets. Quantum3D is a privately held company headquartered in San Jose, California, with development centers located in Arizona, Alabama and Florida and sales in Europe via Quantum3D, Ltd., located in Reading, UK. For more information, please visit www.quantum3d.com.

Quantum3D, the Quantum3D logo, Thermite and Farsight are registered trademarks of Quantum3D, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

The URL for this press release is located at www.quantum3d.com/press/2007/10-08-07_Thermite_selected_for_FFW.htm.