GeoEye expands to meet military needs

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HERNDON, Va., June 13 (UPI) -- GeoEye Inc. is expanding its office in Florida to serve growing demand by the U.S. military for its geospatial information and analytical services.

The office is part of the company's virtual analytics center of excellence for unclassified imagery and open source data to predict areas where threats are more likely to emerge across the world.

"GeoEye Analytics has become a critical part of our business," said Matt O'Connell, GeoEye's chief executive officer and president. "Last year, our analytics team brought GeoEye two of its top 10 customers. We've seen a steady increase in the demand for geospatial analytical support to intelligence agencies and combatant commands who manage global threats.

"We think this demand is defined in the defense budget guidance that reflects a growing need for our solutions. Building and deepening analytic expertise has also been noted as a top priority by our intelligence customers."

GeoEye's center is in Tampa, the headquarters for the U.S. Special Operations and Central Command, among others.

"We combine Earth imagery, geospatial expertise and enabling technology to help intelligence analysts, military planners and law enforcement personnel who need a deep understanding of our changing world to protect lives and make confident resource allocation decisions," said Alex Dunmire, senior program manager of the Tampa office.

"Our predictive analytics capability has clearly made a difference for our clients and we're looking forward to new opportunities to contribute to our nation's public safety and national security requirements."