DARPA taps Lockheed to give apps a boost

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is turning to Lockheed Martin Corp. for help improving the performance of its applications.

Under an 18-month contract potentially worth $10.6 million, Lockheed will focus on apps that decay because of changing network conditions, such as those found on the battlefield. The program aims to increase by 60 percent the availability of apps to warfighters, company officials said.

"Military computer applications communicate with each other based on design assumptions about network conditions, use patterns, support structures and other conditions," said Patrick Lardieri, a Lockheed Martin program manager. "When the network infrastructure falls beyond design parameters, applications become unstable, causing their performance and reliability to decrease below acceptable levels. This jeopardizes the warfighters' safety and mission."

Under DARPA's Synthesizing Adaptive Protocols by Selective Enumeration program, Lockheed will work on stabilizing the performance of collaborative apps that run on unreliable networks. The Synapse program will also help converge Internet applications, such as voice over IP and videoconferencing, the company added.