Ben A. Calloni, Ph.D., P.E. Chair, Real-time & Embedded Systems Forum The Open Group

Dr. Calloni is a lead software and avionics researcher for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company in Fort Worth. He is a member of the Technology Development and Integration, Mission Systems Avionic and Software Group (TD&I-MSAS) within Advanced Development Programs(ADP). ADP, formerly known as "the Skunk Works", is responsible for synergy of all research at Aero Company's three sites, Fort Worth, TX, Marietta, GA and Palmdale, CA. He is a research program manager for several research and development contracts totaling $15 Million with the Air Force Research Labs and DARPA.

Dr. Calloni manages research teams bridging all three sites which are investigating the use of Commercial Technologies to affordably upgrade legacy and aging avionic systems such as the F-16, F-22, F-117, and C-130. Of particular interest is their current work, partnered with commercial off the shelf suppliers and the National Security Agency to provide a Multi Level Security infrastructure not only for Department of Defense weapon systems but for Homeland Security as well. Dr. Calloni is a member of the LM Proven Path Initiative team which is driving toward commonality of avionics and software architectures for all weapon systems and he manages the Common Platform Infrastructure Internal R&D project for that effort.

Dr. Calloni serves as the LM Corporate representative to the Object Management Group (OMG), is currently serving on the OMG Board of Directors, and co-chairs the Real Time Embedded and Specialized Systems (RTESS) Task Force responsible for developing international standards for RT-CORBA, UML, and MDA. He is a member of the Customer Council of The Open Group and is its representative on The Open Group board of directors. He is active in the Real-time & Embedded Systems Forum, working with the security sub-committee to develop Protection Profiles for Multilevel Secure Operating Systems.

Dr. Calloni also represents Lockheed Martin at the several Department of Defense interoperability groups. Dr. Calloni chairs committees for Fault Tolerance, Security, and safety critical software systems in several of these organizations. Dr. Calloni is licensed by the State of Texas as a Professional Engineer in software engineering. He was the first software engineer nationally in Lockheed Martin Corporation to achieve software engineering licensing.

Prior to joining Lockheed Martin, Dr. Calloni served as a USAF Fighter Pilot in the F-4 Phantom with 2000 hours. He served tours in Europe, South East Asia, and as a top gun instructor. He has a Ph.D. and M.S in Computer Science(Texas Tech University), an M.A. in Theology(Wayland Baptist University) and a B.S. in Industrial Engineering (Purdue University).

Presentation

MIL-SPEC vs. COTS Standards: A Necessary Harmony to Advance Homeland Security

Military Specification (MIL-SPEC) has a successfully long but sometimes notorious history in acquisition which led to the creation of high cost items, such as toilet seats and hammers, which precipitated "political embarrassment" for the Department of Defense and the US Government in general. These glitches aside, MIL-SPEC notional ideas offer a pattern for reliability and ruggedness that may be useful in the commercial world particularly with respect to safety and security. The DoD customer base perceives that COTS Standards-based products are a way to reduce cost of ownership and better synergize with commercial technology advancements. On the other hand, "commercial best practice" and "maximization of the bottom line" policies often lead to system development efforts in the commercial realm which only focus on getting a product working in time to meet market demand without factoring in reliability and other measures of robustness. All too often, the extra effort required to provide longer term benefits, particularly in the area of safety and security are sacrificed as affecting “the bottom line” too significantly. In the aftermath of 9/11 it is imperative that a collaborative effort between DoD, Gov't, and Business be leveraged. Such effort would borrow the best from DoD in the area of safety and security while maintaining the cost / benefit ratio of commercial enterprise technology that would result in the development of safe and secure, standards-based, commercial software that will enhance the national computer infrastructure.

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