Alexandria, VA—In early 2011, C4i was contacted by the Iowa Air National Guard’s 132nd Fighter Wing based in Des Moines, Iowa to begin discussions regarding the replacement of their aging communications system, which was no longer supportable. Several vendors had already presented equipment but could not meet the customer requirements. Thus, the SwitchplusIP™ product line was demonstrated to their users and it was determined that C4i could provide the complete feature set required to meet the mission requirements. The ANG wanted a system with redundant networking, programmability, end-to-end VoIP, expandability, P25 operation, MIL radio integration, and many more features.
In late September 2011, although the project was competitively bid among several other vendors, C4i was selected as the system of choice and awarded the project. System capabilities, features, reliability and company stability were all weighed along with evaluations of price and support. The C4i solution was the most capable and complete offering, as well as the most cost effective solution to justify their decision.
The 132nd Fighter Wing’s primary mission is to provide combat aircraft and trained personnel to the nation and the State of Iowa. As part of the United States Air Force’s Air Reserve Component, the 132nd Fighter Wing’s operational mission is to deploy worldwide and execute directed tactical fighter sorties to destroy enemy forces, supplies, equipment, communications systems and installations with conventional weapons.
C4i’s project management team completed the development, integration, installation and training in early December 2011. The installation consisted of a 5-position SwitchplusIP system. C4i’s system is designed for high availability with duplicate networks and servers. It utilizes C4i’s latest SwitchplusIP software release and is capable of expansion to add remote VoIP clients and consoles, as well as integrated telephony and conferencing, crash alarm activation, PA interfaces, and a variety of speaker or remote monitoring devices. More consoles and radios can be added at any time with minimal configuration effort. Duplicate servers in SwitchplusIP ensure that no single failure can bring the whole system down.
In the last several months, C4i has implemented several new projects for Air Force and airport customers ranging in size from fixed site National Air Defense applications to fixed and mobile ATC tower solutions and deployable/tactical communications systems.
About C4i, Inc.
Based in Reston, Virginia, USA, Melbourne, Australia, and Singapore the company has over 20 years of experience enhancing the reach and scope of communications networks in the areas of defense, homeland security, public