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Julie DeMeester gives a presentation on JBI to a large MITRE audience.

Ushering in a new generation of command and control (C2)

The importance of what we're doing is very exciting - JBI will get the right information to the right people at the right time, a key premise in achieving information superiority.

The Joint Battlespace Infosphere (JBI) is a concept for managing combat information. It combines data from many different sources and systems (new and legacy), brokers the information flow between previously incompatible systems, and builds an aggregated picture from these inputs to provide an unsurpassed view of the battlespace. This information can be accessed as easily as a web page—on whatever hardware a user happens to have.

The enthusiasm at MITRE for the JBI project is contagious. Julie DeMeester is a strong advocate of JBI. "One of the most exciting things about JBI is that it allows for quicker innovation," she explains. "It is a nontraditional way for the Air Force and the Department of Defense to do business. It introduces a different business model, that allows us to bring cutting-edge technology directly to the warfighter much quicker.

"JBI takes us to the next level," she adds. "Instead of focusing primarily on the integration of systems, we take it one step higher and focus on information exchange. Doing so allows us to move away from the traditional service stovepipes and one-to-one interfaces and allows information to flow directly to the warfighter."

This is not to say that working on JBI is not without its challenges. Collaboration with the Joint community and commercial industry can be rewarding, while at the same time extremely challenging.

"The JBI project is good example of why I enjoy working here," says DeMeester. "MITRE offers many unique opportunities and each project experience broadens your horizons. Working on JBI has given me the opportunity to work with many innovative technologies and a diverse group of contributors. Plus, the satisfaction you feel when you successfully coordinate all the different elements is immensely rewarding.

—by Kay M. Upham