Army Tests Open Computer Standards.

Recent tests of the Army's new suite of open computer standards demonstrated it will allow more advanced capabilities to fit on military platforms, according to officials.

CMOSS, or C5ISR/Electronic Warfare Modular Open Suite of Standards, was developed by the service alongside industry partners to free up space and power on its platforms, said Benjamin Peddicord, chief of the intel technology and architecture branch of the Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Center. Engineers employed the technology this summer in a prototype chassis at the Network Modernization Experiment, a C5ISR field-based demonstration hosted at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey.

The system incorporated communications, positioning, navigation and timing, and a mission command application, Peddicord said. During the experiment, the team was able to exchange information such as location data with other units using the prototype system.

"Maybe the most important lesson we learned is that the standards work," he said at a press briefing in July.

Another experiment involved different vendors attempting to integrate their software into the Army's prototype. Within days, Army engineers were able to integrate several softwares from different companies and then carry out a test mission, he said.

The experiments highlighted an increase in flexibility for soldiers if the standards are widely adopted, said Christopher Jais, product manager of PNT modernization at the program executive office for intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors.

"We've really been able to show that, for...