Cox connection to link defense group, base

A San Diego-area defense-industry consortium has chosen Cox Communications Inc. to provide high-speed data services to connect the consortium with a nearby military base.

The consortium, the San Diego Defense and Space Technology Consortium, includes companies that pursue business with the Defense Department. Cox is a member, as are Computer Sciences Corp., Predicate Logic Software Systems Inc. and G2 Software Systems.

The consortium works heavily with the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (Spawar) in Point Loma, Calif. Specifically, consortium members and Spawar collaborate on a U.S. Air Force satellite communications system, at consortium headquarters in nearby El Cajon, Calif.

The new data connection between the satellite project team and the Spawar Systems Center in Point Loma will enable workers at both locations to easily and quickly share information, according to Jeffrey Siconolfi, operations manager for Spawar's Automated Communications Management System. He said no classified data would travel over the connection. Rather, e-mail, financial data and administrative information will flow between the group at consortium headquarters and the Spawar Systems Center, he said.

To provide the high-speed telecommunication service, Cox will supply voice service over 180 telephone lines, a 10 megabits/sec Internet connection and what Cox officials call a "transparent" local-area network service that will put workers on the satellite project and workers at Spawar Systems Center onto a single network. Cox will provide the LAN service using fiber-optics technology that can manage data at "OC-48" speed, or 2.488 gigabits/sec.

Attila Tota, Cox's director for business services in San Diego, said the consortium would appreciate the high-speed services. "You look at each one of those guys and you know they're bandwidth hogs," he said.