Iowa company to open computer data center in Tucson

2 HOURS AGO  •  BY DAVID WICHNER ARIZONA DAILY STAR

June 12, 2012

An Iowa company plans to build and operate a 40,000- square-foot data center on Tucson’s south side.

Involta LLC, a data-center management company based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, recently bought an industrial building at 4400 S. Santa Rita Ave. from Aurora Optical Inc. for $2.025 million, according to documents filed with the Pima County Recorder’s Office.

The $15 million facility is scheduled to be operational in December, according to a press release issued today by Involta.

The high-security “colocation” data center will house critical computer systems and related components for healthcare organizations, businesses, government and educational institutions nationwide, with environmental systems and controls, redundant back-up power and specialized fire suppression.

UNMANNED, REMOTE-CONTROLLED CRAFT IS LOCAL

NW Fire gets EMILY for fast-water rescues

June 8, 2012

7 HOURS AGO  •  DAVID WICHNER ARIZONA DAILY STAR

The next time someone is trapped in a rain-swollen wash on the northwest side, EMILY might come roaring to the rescue.

EMILY – which stands for EMergency Integrated Lifesaving LanYard – is an unmanned, remote-controlled watercraft developed by Sahuarita-based Hydronalix Inc. as a way to help first responders like lifeguards and water-rescue teams reach people in distress.

On Thursday, Hydronalix presented an EMILY unit to the Northwest Fire District for swift-water rescues.

The craft was one of seven units funded by a $60,000 federal grant through the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense.

The other EMILYs delivered under the grant include one delivered earlier to the Green Valley Fire District, two each with lifeguard departments in Los Angeles and San Diego, and one at Depoe Bay, Ore.

University of Arizona College of Engineering

ARIZONAengineer_online

UA Researchers Awarded $3.6M to Design Metaphorical Cybersecurity Map

By Pete Brown – June 7, 2012, 12:35 pm

University of Arizona engineering and computer science researchers have won a $3.6 million cybersecurity research contract from the Office of Naval Research to develop dynamic maps that visualize suspicious activity on computer networks.

The project is rooted in the fact that monitoring a network for suspicious activity is a daunting task — the amount of data that has to be monitored is enormous, and it is a cacophony of malicious and normal traffic originating from disparate sources.

The human brain is not wired to detect patterns or anomalies in thousands of lines of text-based network activity reports. However, the visual cortex is the brain’s largest subsystem, which makes humans extremely adept at making sense out of complex data presented in familiar visual forms.

Tucson tech: Precision that measures up

4D’s AccuFiz to keep streetcar vibes at bay for astronomy group

3 HOURS AGO  •  DAVID WICHNER ARIZONA DAILY STAR

May 29, 2012

Life is full of small distractions we get used to, like trains rumbling by.

But small things can mean a lot, especially when you’re trying to make optical components to microscopic tolerances.

And so it was that the National Optical Astronomy Observatory began worrying last year about what will happen when Tucson’s modern streetcars start rumbling by the agency’s home on the University of Arizona campus by late 2013.

NOAO, which is run by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, operates telescopes on Kitt Peak and elsewhere as the national research and development center for ground-based nighttime astronomy.

Raytheon Press Release

Raytheon Awarded $13.8 Million for Standard Missile-6 All-up Rounds

TUCSON, Ariz., May 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — The U.S. Navy awarded Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) a $313.8 million contract for low-rate initial production of Standard Missile-6 all-up rounds.

SM-6 leverages the legacy Standard Missile airframe and propulsion elements, while incorporating the advanced signal processing and guidance control capabilities of Raytheon’s Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile.

Work will be performed in Tucson, Ariz.; Camden, Ark.; Andover, Mass.; Huntsville, Ala.; Dallas, Texas; Hanahan, S.C.; Anniston, Ala.; San Jose, Calif.; and Middletown, Ohio, and is expected to completed by March 2015.

About Raytheon

May 16, 2012

BUSINESS

6 startups get state innovation grants

by Robert Anglen – May. 15, 2012 04:30 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

Six Arizona startup companies that promise to develop everything from new cancer therapies to radio communications used by first responders will share a $1.5 million state award.

The Arizona Commerce Authority announced on Tuesday the winners of the spring 2012 Arizona Innovation Challenge, in which more than 300 companies competed for prizes of up to $250,000.

The awards cap a four-month judging process by a panel of experts that evaluated proposals and personal pitches from company representatives and selected winners based partly on the technology’s potential and the company’s ability to generate jobs.

It marks the second round of winners for the challenge, which began in 2011 with an award to eight companies and sparked such an overwhelming response that two rounds of awards are planned this year.

Raytheon Press Release

Raytheon Completes First Flight Test of Improved SM-3

Demonstrates Phased Adaptive Approach phase two capability

PACIFIC MISSILE RANGE FACILITY, KAUAI, Hawaii, May 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) completed the first successful flight test of the Standard Missile-3 Block IB, which is the cornerstone of phase two of the administration’s Phased Adaptive Approach (PAA). This is the 20th successful intercept for Raytheon’s SM-3 program. 

“This next-generation variant of the SM-3 is critical to the ballistic missile defense of the U.S. and our allies, because it can defeat the more sophisticated threats emerging around the world today,” said Dr. Taylor Lawrence, Raytheon Missile Systems president.

During the test, the target was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on the island of Kauai. As the target rose above the horizon, the USS Lake Erie’s SPY-1 radar acquired and began tracking the target. After target launch, the ship’s crew fired a SM-3 Block IB. During flight, the missile’s kinetic warhead acquired the target with its two-color infrared seeker and tracked it through intercept.

Raytheon Press Release

Raytheon Fires Excalibur from G6 Self-propelled Howitzer

Excalibur will give G6 users precision artillery capability

TUCSON, Ariz., May 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has fired four Excalibur 155mm precision-guided artillery projectiles from the Denel-manufactured G6 self-propelled howitzer as part of a field trial demonstration.

Multiple rounds of the combat-proven Excalibur successfully fired from the G6 155mm wheeled howitzer out to a range of 38 kilometers (23.6 statute miles), with all rounds landing within 5 meters (16.4 feet) of the target.

“These trials demonstrated Excalibur can give a true precision capability to G6 howitzers that can enhance the warfighter’s defensive posture,” said Kevin Matthies, Excalibur program director for Raytheon Missile Systems. “Excalibur improves tactical war fighting capability by providing precision that is essential to close-combat operations.”

Tucson tech: Firm’s sun-powered fridge draws on NASA research

David Wichner Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Tuesday, May 8, 2012 12:00 am

NASA space research has helped drive some of the most important and just plain cool technological innovations of our time, from computers and satellite imaging to freeze-dried food and so-called memory foam.

Thanks to the efforts of a Tucson entrepreneur and former NASA engineer, you can add another one to the list: battery-free, solar-powered refrigeration.

David Bergeron spent several years as a NASA contractor in Houston as the head of the space agency’s Advanced Technology Refrigeration Project, working on high-efficiency refrigeration units that could be used in future space missions.

NASA filed for a patent on the battery-free technology in 1999 with Bergeron as co-inventor, and he founded a company to commercialize that and related technologies.