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FORT HUACHUCA — The gym in Barnes Field House on Tuesday afternoon was a clutter of wooden boxes scattered around the floor as workers and company representatives scurried putting up displays for the silver anniversary of a high-tech exhibition.
In one area, Jason Chasse, of first-time vendor Ciena, was working on a fiber optic communication device.
In another area was Michael Slayton, of Agilent Technology, who was putting some finishing touches on a piece of test equipment. Agilent Technology is a spin-off of Hewlett Packard and is a separate organization. The company — either as HP or Agilent — has displayed its wares at the show for 25 years.
At 8 a.m., the formal opening ceremony of the show will take place at the field house. The show is sponsored by the Southern Arizona Chapter of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association.
 Mark Levy Herald/Review 10-02-07 Jason Chasse, director for the Department of Business for Ciena, assembles the booth display computer during Tuesday's AFCEA set-up in Barnes Field House on Fort Huachuca. Ciena is an optical and data networking service. |
Exhibits in the field house and tents put up outside the permanent facility are expected to showcase the equipment of nearly 200 vendors displaying command, control, communications, computers and intelligence systems technology.
Chasse spent some of his Army time at the post in the early 1990s. He left the service after 11 years.
His return to the fort was an eye-opener when he compared when he taught individuals becoming electronic warfare signal intelligence soldiers, as well as being on the podium at the Noncommissioned Officers Academy. “We build optical communications solutions,” said Chasse, the company’s director of Department of Defense business.
The Linthicum, Md., company, which Chasse said is expanding, uses lasers that drive lights over fiber-optic networks, which breaks a spectrum into many spectrums able to move more information.
Most of the company’s work supports the Defense Information Systems Agency. Chasse noted that having the Army Network Enterprise Technology Command, the Intelligence Center and other high-tech units on the fort, whose personnel will be able to attend the show, means there will be a good opportunity to show what Ciena can do.
The company was formed in 1992. Last year, Ciena had sales of nearly $600 million and has 1,700 employees worldwide, Chasse said.
Slayton said that even though Agilent Technology was formed as a spin-off from Hewlett Packard in 1999, it has about 20,000 employees worldwide. Last year it did more than $6 billion in business. “We are the biggest (electronic) test and measuring company in the world,” he said.
The main headquarters is in California, with Slayton, an application engineer, working out of Phoenix.
Saying the fort is a real good customer, especially the Joint Interoperability Test Command and Electronic Proving Ground, he said showing up at the exhibition allows “us to see our customers where they work,” which means strengthening connections with those customers.
herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615.
or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
