From left, Mike Beaumeir, vice president of Suffolk Construction Company, Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Fichter of Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southeast; SSC Atlantic Technical Director Christopher Miller; SPAWARSYSCOM Deputy Commander Rod Smith; SPAWARSYSCOM Commander Rear Adm. Michael Bachmann; SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Bruce Urbon; North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey; and Peter Wertimer of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce Military Policy Council turn the earth to make way for SSC Atlantic’s new Consolidated Engineering Facility.(Photo by Joe Bullinger)
The leaders of Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Command, SPAWAR Systems Center Atlantic, local elected officials and military representatives gathered May 10 to break ground on a new, 20,220-square-foot Consolidated Engineering Laboratory.
Rear Adm. Michael Bachmann, commander of SPAWAR Systems Command; Rod Smith, deputy commander of SPAWAR Systems Command; SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Bruce Urbon; SSC Atlantic Technical Director Christopher Miller and community leaders took shovels in hand as they broke ground for the new building during a brief ceremony held on the Southside of Naval Weapons Station, Charleston.
More than 100 people gathered for the groundbreaking at the site just north of SSC Atlantic’s existing main engineering center. Construction on the $9.49 million facility begins this fall and construction is expected to be complete by the summer of 2011.
The facility will be a hub for SSC Atlantic employees working with Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), server virtualization, cloud computing models, cyber security and defense, virtual storage, systems engineering and integration, and other state-of-the-art innovations that drive today’s information technology environment. The new facility will serve as a catalyst for the transformation of new, cutting-edge information sharing technologies that SSC Atlantic delivers to warfighters, giving them information superiority and saving lives.
“This engineering lab will provide yet another opportunity for SSC Atlantic to lead the way for change, innovation and deliver capability to our warfighters,” said Bachmann. “For Team SPAWAR, this lab represents another key element that will support the innovation we need to make best use of cyberspace for our forces,’ the admiral added.