A group of aerospace companies, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Harris Corp., formed an alliance to help advance the transformation of FAA’s System Wide Information Management (SWIM) initiative. The alliance was introduced at the Air Traffic Control Association’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C. SWIM, under development by FAA, is a network-centric system that will let Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) systems talk to each other. FAA’s hope is that the technology will allow aviation systems and services interact in a seamless manner throughout the National Airspace System (NAS). The SWIM Alliance, led by Lockheed Martin, said it aims to help improve the efficiency of the NAS. It will test existing technologies to further NextGen concepts. The group says, by connecting disparate, proprietary systems, it will improve safety, reduce risk and enhance decision-making and operational efficiencies. The alliance’s focus is to build a net-centric national airspace based on a service-oriented architecture that will facilitate data sharing. "As SWIM will define the integration infrastructure tying NAS applications together, the SWIM Alliance is bringing together industry best practices to define information sharing and net-centric operations across aircraft, airline and FAA systems," said Kevin Brown, Boeing vice president and general manager of Advanced Air Traffic Management.