High Performance Technologies, Inc.
Company: High Performance Technologies, Inc., Reston, VA
Company Description: Founded in 1992, High Performance Technology, Inc., designs IT solutions that help our federal customers protect America’s safety and prosperity. Our experts use applied science, performance-based architecture, and systems engineering to help our customers achieve the results they need. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, HPTi has over 240 employees in sites across the country.
Nomination Category: Information Technology Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Technical Professional of the Year
Nomination Title: Tom Simmavath, Team Lead
Tell the story about what this nominee achieved since January 1 2010 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:
In urban warfare, it’s not unusual for enemy combatants to position themselves or other strategic targets next to schools, hospitals, and other nonmilitary facilities, using urban infrastructure and civilian noncombatants as de facto shields. To counter this trend, U.S. troops need a solution that allows them to target and destroy the enemy without unnecessarily endangering civilian noncombatants. The U.S. military relies on accurate artillery systems to deliver fire power where it is needed. To guarantee accuracy, artillery systems require top-notch technology on state-of-the-art systems that endure ever-changing system requirements.
Many of those technologically advanced systems originate in The Armament
Research and Development Center (ARDEC)—the internationally acknowledged hub
for the advancement of armaments technology and engineering innovation.
Personnel at ARDEC execute and manage integrated lifecycle engineering
processes required for the research, development, production, field support,
and demilitarization of munitions, weapons, fire control, and associated items.
All of these actions are vital to the safety and success of American troops.
Supporting ARDEC in that mission is Tom Simmavath who provides tool
development, systems assurance, and quality processes.
Tool Development: Tom Simmavath and the Weapons and Software Engineering Center
(WSEC) develop the tools needed to field effective fire control systems for
many of America’s artillery systems. Tom and WSEC have developed the capability
for specification, development, acquisition, and testing of digital fire
control systems, architectures, systems, and software—ensuring the control
systems are compatible with weapon platforms and networks in a battlefield
environment. Tom makes sure systems communicate and interact accurately for
mission success.
Systems Assurance: The Army relies on Army Gold Disk software to audit the
information systems at ARDEC and make changes to systems based on its findings.
Tom installed and configured the software on the information systems and acts
as a hardware and software consultant for the purchase of new systems. His
technical expertise has led the client to directly approach him to solve their
problems in areas such as image processing for automated munitions testing. His
expansive knowledge of Army regulations has also led to new work for his
company in the area of information assurance and certification.
Quality Practices: Tom leads a team of server administrators to ensure the
Department of Defense (DoD) information systems are compliant with the Army and
DoD regulations. The project is required to maintain CMMI Maturity Level 5 (the
top level of software development process maturity) on their project.
Therefore, the team creates and provides measures and artifacts in accordance
with CMMI and organizational standard operating procedure. Tom also led a team
of developers to create new applications for WSEC.
Tom dedicates himself to making sure applications always meet the client’s
needs. By building his team’s skills and using his own technical proficiency,
Tom was able to solve the client’s problems in an efficient way, generating
news business for his company, serving his client, and ultimately putting
better technology in the hands of America’s warfighters.
List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:
INCOSE Board Members
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=4&sqi=2&ved=0CCcQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.incose.org%2Fliberty%2Fofficers.asp&ei=zhejTfiNNsTf0QG1-Lhf&usg=AFQjCNGEWktwkvLg9F3CqXQRIk_LE05SGQ&sig2=RDPcO9uxWPYsAOw3otAX0Q
CMMI Rating
http://www.army.mil/-news/2010/07/28/42963-ardec-software-engineering-center-first-in-government-to-receive-highest-cmmi-rating/
More on ARDEC
http://www.pica.army.mil/PicatinnyPublic/organizations/ardec/index.asp
Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the nominee:
Tom Simmavath joined High Performance Technologies, Inc. in 2005 straight from
college. He has quickly risen to become an expert in his field and a team
leader. He has had many successes in serving clients at ARDEC. He was named
HPTi’s Employee of the Year for 2010. He is the Communications Chair for the
Liberty Chapter of INCOSE (International Council on Systems Engineering). He
even organized a van pool among his coworkers at Picatinny Arsenal and
successfully lobbied HPTi to help subsidize the van pool. In addition, Tom’s
name can always be found among community service initiatives like Relay for
Life, which benefits the American Cancer Society.