Department of Defense Taps TranTech to Build $9M
State-of-the-Art Visual Information Management System (VIMS)
May 23, 2003

Contact TranTech: 703.671.9873
info@trantech-inc.com

Solution to provide Rich Media Digital Asset Management capabilities at lower costs

The American Forces Information Service (AFIS), an element within the Office of the Secretary of Defense, has awarded a multi-year contract to TranTech worth nearly $9 million to design, integrate, and field the Visual Information Management System (VIMS). AFIS selected TranTech's solution from among competitive offers submitted under the Defense Information Systems Agency's Encore contracts. TranTech's design for VIMS uses innovative technologies to ingest (capture), edit, index, store, search, retrieve, distribute, and manage rich media digital assets, which include still images, video, audio, graphics, and eventually textual documents. AFIS expects VIMS to store approximately 20 terabytes of visual information at the outset, and quickly grow to handle more than 100 terabytes.

During an initial 210-day deployment, TranTech will field the full VIMS solution to AFIS, the Defense Visual Information Center (DVIC), the Joint Combat Camera Center (JCCC), and the Joint Visual Information Services Distribution Activity (JVISDA). VIMS will establish a standardized digital asset repository with an e-commerce payment system and digital rights management through XrML for AFIS and the other related activities included in this contract. Through the AFIS contract, the standard VIMS solution will be available to all DoD and Federal Government agencies. Within DoD, there are approximately 700 activities that process and manage multimedia assets. TranTech has produced a catalogue containing descriptions and prices for workstations, servers, and storage systems for small, medium, and large-capacity VIMS solutions to meet these needs. The catalogue and other components are available from AFIS or TranTech.

TranTech's Senior Vice President for Business Development, Mr. George Kolesar says: "VIMS is a great example of how TranTech helps the government solve the problems associated with the explosion in digital material. For a relatively small initial investment, VIMS will increase functionality for thousands of users, making them more productive, and reducing the actual costs of handling these visual assets."

TranTech's solution has the following features:

Ø	VIMS provides a fast and effective mechanism for retrieving the full range of visual assets through a web-based e-commerce portal that integrates with nationally recognized products in the digital video marketplace.
Ø	With VIMS, those who create visual assets (pictures, videos, etc.) can quickly ingest the assets in real time, on time, and distribute them immediately to local users as well as all of DoD and the general public. Visual assets can be made available in hours, rather than days.
Ø	VIMS makes it easier to handle surge volumes of new content, such as is the case in times of military conflict.
Ø	Using electronic capture and storage, VIMS greatly extends the life of visual assets.
Ø	VIMS makes it easier for organizations to comply with relevant DoD standards and archival directives.
Ø	Automating the payment process through VIMS eliminates other manual processing, thereby reducing costs and increasing productivity.

VIMS implements a new standard called SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) which provides a comprehensive suite of e-learning capabilities that enable interoperability, accessibility and reusability of digital rich media assets. Through SCORM, VIMS provides enhanced services to the military and civilian educational activities. VIMS also provides rich media capabilities that support a number of military components such as the UAV programs and Weapons of Mass Destruction Inspections. The VIMS solution, which will be available commercially through TranTech, has received considerable attention from the entertainment industry for its potential impact on the licensing of multimedia assets and its potential to affect digital rights management and the associated doctrine of "fair use". Anywhere rich, complex, or voluminous media exists, VIMS is the solution.

About TranTech

TranTech, Inc., was founded in December 1989 in Alexandria, Virginia as a woman-owned Information Technology Solutions and Services provider. TranTech's core services include Business Support Services; Information Engineering, Architecture and Management; Software and Systems Engineering; IT Services and Support; and Voice and Data Networking. Using these services as a foundation, we have created solutions in Digital Asset Management; Oracle Systems and Applications; and Utility (On Demand) Computing.

TranTech's Digital Asset Management solution MediaSolv™ offers integrated Digital Video Evidence Ingestion and Case Management tools that allow multiple sources of video evidence to be digitized, stored, searched, retrieved and viewed all critical video information in a single system.  MediaSolv integrates evidence from multiple sources including: digital audio (911 calls), in-car video, video interview rooms, digital images (mug shots, finger prints, and forensics), documents, layered voice analysis, language translation, full text search and workflow.

We provide outstanding expertise, technical solutions and mission-critical support to a Federal Government client-base that includes numerous DoD and Civilian agencies, as well as state and local governments and commercial clients. TranTech is rated SEI CMM Level 2 and has a facility clearance. For more information on TranTech, see our Company History.

 

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