Qbase works on Air Force vehicle data

The local data expert company collects info on the service's 90,000 vehicles.

Dayton Daily News (Friday, August 24, 2007)

by Thomas Gnau
Staff Writer

BEAVERCREEK — In the effort to make itself indispensable to government customers, local data expert Qbase is hitting its stride.

Earlier this month, the company was identified with Kettering Medical Center Network and University of Dayton Research Institute as part of a $2 million federal project to develop tools to gauge battlefield stress.

Now, Qbase — which employs people in Beavercreek and Springfield — is pointing as well to its selection by the U.S. Air Force to aggregate data on a fleet of 90,000 vehicles around the world.

The Air Force Vehicle and Equipment Management Office manages the fleet from Langley, Va. Late last year, Qbase was asked to help synthesize data from more than 250 sources globally.

"Qbase helped us develop the business rules needed to automate this data integration," Randy Livermore, the Air Force civilian manager heading the project, said in a statement.

Integral to the project was a Qbase software tool first developed for internal use, dubbed "Data Discovery." The tool quickly organizes massive amounts of data into clearly readable fields.

David Judson Jr., the Qbase executive in charge of government and health care customers, said that when Air Force personnel asked if Qbase could run their data "right now," the company's answer was: "Sure."

"This makes the piles of data look trivial," Franz Weckesser, Qbase vice president of research and development, said Thursday.

Evan Scott, Qbase spokesman, said Data Discovery has applications well beyond the Air Force to other military branches and government agencies. Potential customers within publishing are being courted as well, he said.

Next up: Weckesser said his team is developing a tool that can make sense of sensor data — information from radar, lasers, airborne images and more.

"We're developing more tools," Weckesser said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390
or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com

Qbase expansion
New cities
Qbase is putting full-time sales representatives in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Boston.

Local presence
Beavercreek: Current Qbase space is about 7,500 square feet at The Acropolis. The company is scheduled to move in November to a new home on New Germany-Trebein Road of 15,000 square feet, with an option for an additional 8,000 square feet.

Springfield: Current space is about 3,000 square feet. The firm is scheduled to move in March 2008 to Nextedge Applied Research and Technology Park, to an office with 15,000 square feet.

Financials: Qbase saw $1.4 million in sales in 2006. It projects $8 million in 2007.

Employees: 90, with 100 by the end of the year.