Ampex Announces Navy Contract and Milestone

Ampex Data Systems Corp. (Ampex), a Delta Information Systems company, announces the award of a firm fixed price contract in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division (NAWCWD) located in Ridgecrest, CA (China Lake).

The contract provides NAWCWD rate production of Ampex’s low-cost TuffCORD ruggedized NAS device, part of the Ampex TuffServ product line. It will be used to store test data generated onboard aircraft during flight test operations.

Ampex built the US Navy’s first, dedicated, flight test instrumentation storage device in 1950. Today, the company is known for manufacturing a fast ruggedized network file servers and supports various US Air Force and US Navy programs. Most notably, it provides the network file servers and boot computers that are the digital backbone of the US Navy’s E-2 C/D Hawkeye fleet.

The new contract with the Navy represents another major milestone for Ampex and the defense industry. This is firm’s first production run of a network-based recording device for Department of Defense (DoD) flight test instrumentation.

Most onboard flight test recording devices are still DAS systems only capable of recording and playback. Ampex uses NAS systems (servers) for flight test recording with its Ampex Common Compute Environment (ACCE) software. ACCE helps customers take advantage of the network file server capabilities inherent in Ampex NAS devices. With it, customers can use a NAS to execute software-defined recording (software replicates what hardware used to), index stored data for easier access and post-mission analysis, and integrate third-party software on the device. The company will complete work at its Silicon Valley HQs in Hayward, CA.

“We’re proud to offer the industry Ampex’s winning combination of NAS systems and ACCE software,” stated Jim Orahood, corporate VP and GM, Ampex. “The combination will save customers time and money in flight test recording applications and mission system operations.“