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Latest Headlines - 01/24/2012
 
01/23/2012

Sentar Analyst Assists Facebook
Analyst Brian Tanner and UAB computer forensics director Gary Warner assist Facebook with Koobface virus.  More here

01/12/2012

Sentar Wins Phase I STTR
Sentar, Auburn and LSEI proposes development of Polymorphic Malware Detection Unit.  More

08/12/2011
Changing the IA Culture in DoD Acquisition Sentar's Deborah Williams writes about the relationship between IA pro's, users, and leadership in understanding information assurance's role in acquisition
Full Story

Sentar's New CRP Facility

01/03/2011
Sentar's Deployable Cyber
Defense System 
 (DCDS) is a DoD Compliant
 Mobile Solution -
More Here

Sentar presents at 2011 Mentor Protégé
Conference
- "Sentar's 14 Year Overnight Success Story"
March 3, 2011 - Read it


   


The Latest Developments at Sentar

Sentar Analyst Brian Tanner and UAB's Gary Warner Assist Facebook in Koobface fight

Sentar, Auburn, and LSE Propose Polymorphic Malware Detection Unit

"Information Assurance and Acquisition" by Sentar's Deborah Williams

Sentar's S. Kevin Counselman and Jason Seay Awarded MSFC Software of the Year
   Award honors

Sentar Shows at 3rd Annual Cyber Summit

Sentar President Briefs at 2011 Mentor Protégé Conference

Sentar CEO Briefs Defense Aquisition University

Sentar Developing VND - Visual Net Defender Providing Graphical Context for CND

Sentar Completes Missile Defense Agency Phase I for veriScan®

Sentar's Deployable Cyber Defense System (DCDS) is a DOD Compliant Cyber Solution

Sentar Wins MDA Phase I for Software Code Risk Assessment Technology Development

Sentar Wins MDA Phase II to Develop Technologies for Code Penetration Testing

Sentar Tapped for Marshall IT Services with Dynetics Team   

Huntsville Company on Executive Mission

Sentar Expands in CRP Facility, Expects Growth to Continue

Sentar Named One of Two STARS-IO Primes  

Sentar on Team for National Cyber Range

Sentar Moves to Research Park Facility 
 

Sentar News Archives - 2008 and prior

 


Current Sentar News

 

Sentar analyst Brian Tanner and UAB Director of Computer Forensics Research Gary Warner assist Facebook in fighting Koobface virus

January 24, 2012

Facebook's continued fight against Koobface
 

Facebook recognizes UAB computer forensics alumnus and current  Sentar analyst Brian Tanner and UAB Forensics Research director Gary Warner for their assistance with Koobface, malware responsible for fake antivirus, pay-per-click and traffic referral schemes.  More here.

Starting with a link to an infected users computer, progressing to a page prompting to install an updated Flash player and concluding with fake antivirus software or hijacked web pages,  Gary's blog "Cybercrime & Doing Time" expounds on how Koobface works and Brian's role in analyzing the virus.  Full article here.


Sentar, Auburn University, and Licht Strahl Engineering propose Polymorphic Malware Detection Unit

January 12, 2012

The Sentar Team, consisting of Sentar, Inc., working with Auburn University and Licht Strahl Engineering, Inc. (LSEI), proposes the development of a Polymorphic Malware Detection Unit that will perform automated detection of dynamically evolving malware as well as zero-day attacks.  The Unit will be designed to integrate with existing systems as well as into future systems.  Sentar will use predictive Data Modeling techniques for automated detection of polymorphic malware in Windows and Linux executables. 


"Information Assurance and Acquistion" by Sentar's Deborah Williams along with Tim Denman and Vijaykumar Rachamadugu.  An article in this summer's IAnewsletter

August 12, 2011

Information Assurance and Acquisition

"If our troops are to be effective in combat, they must have information superiority and absolute trust in the integrity of the systems and networks that move and manage that information. Information assurance plays a crucial role in this mission as it enables and protects information as well as the systems and networks in which it resides."

Sentar's Deborah Williams along with Tim Denman and Vijaykumar Rachamadugu write about the relationship between IA pro's, users, and leadership in understanding and enhancing the information assurance role in acquisition.  Read the full article on page 10 of this summer's IAnewsletter


Sentar's S. Kevin Counselman and Jason Seay Awarded MSFC Software of the Year Honors

July 27, 2011

NASA and Marshall Space Flight Center recognize the achievements of Marshall's civil service and contractor employees at the 2011 annual awards ceremony last week in Huntsville.  Sentar employees S. Kevin Counselman and Jason Seay receive Software of the Year awards.
Robert Lightfoot on the right, and Bryan O'Conner, Agency Chief Safety and Mission Assurance Officer pictured with S. Kevin Counselman (left photo) and Jason Seay (right photo) being presented the Marshall Space Flight Center Software of the Year award. 

Larger photos here and here
 

Sentar Shows at 3rd Annual Cyber Conference in Huntsville

June 9, 2011

Stop by and see Sentar's table/booth and enjoy the presentation at this years 3rd Annual Cyber Security Summit hosted at the Jackson Center in Huntsville.

Sentar, a Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) provides solutions, technology and services supporting network centric systems.  We supply Technology, Software and Information Assurance solutions that empower our customers to optimize network centric systems.   Sentar offers comprehensive information assurance and commercial software development services, military and aerospace contracting, advanced research and development and consulting services supporting process improvement, and business process engineering.  Sentar’s innovative research and development emphasizes technologies that protect computing resources from cyber attacks.


Sentar President Bridget Abashian Briefs at 2011 Mentor Protégé Conference

March 3, 2011

Virginia Beach, VA - Sentar President Bridget Abashian, in Virginia Beach this week to present "Sentar's 14 Year Overnight Success Story", discusses Sentar's transition from a software development and services company to a focus on cyber defense strategies and mission assurance.  Presentation includes Sentar's "overnight" success factors, positioning for National Cyber-Security Science and Strategy Participation, and how Mentor Protégé helps bridge the gap between SBIR success and opportunities for commercialization and insertion into programs and commands.   View the presentation (1.6MB .pdf)


Sentar CEO Peter Kiss Briefs at Defense Aquisition University

February 23, 2011

Sentar CEO Peter Kiss discusses "Cyber Challenges and Acquisition - One Corporate View", a presentation on customer challenges, thoughts on cyberspace and security, a contractors view of acquisition in cyber, and one concept for future acquisition.   Sentar's misson & focus, game changing innovation, difficulties facing small businesses and ideas for needed changes.  View the presentation  (1.1MB .pdf)


Sentar Developing VND - Visual Net Defender Providing Graphical Context for
   CND

January 9, 2011

Huntsville - Although current intrusion detection systems (IDS) do a good job of collecting large quantities of security event data, they are inadequate when it comes to presenting this data in a useful way. Data representing thousands of events are presented in a line-by-line textual format. For any individual event, the presentation is clear, but reaching an understanding of the context and interrelationships among these events is a daunting task, requiring greater time and effort than is available in a rapidly developing security situation.

To address this problem, Sentar is developing a new kind of visualization system.  this system will provide a unified view, presenting relevant information clearly, providing access to details on demand, while eliminating useless noise. Sentar’s approach utilizes a three-dimensional dynamic environment to represent information visually through familiar, recognizable objects. The security situation will be contextualized, allowing for high flexibility and rich intuitive interaction. This will enable security analysts to be more effective, to visually correlate network events in ways that go beyond rule- and query-based correlations, and to seamlessly integrate macro- and micro-level knowledge in an efficient and effective manner.  We call this technology Visual Net Defender (VND).  More to come.


Sentar recently completed a Missile Defense Agency (MDA) SBIR Phase I contract to develop technologies for assessing the risk of integrating software code. 

January 12, 2011

HUNTSVILLE – Sentar recently completed a Missile Defense Agency (MDA) SBIR Phase I contract to develop technologies for assessing the risk of integrating software code.  Sentar enhanced the veriScan® software tool to analyze both binary or source code files.  Binary analysis provides a risk assessment that the target file contains malicious or suspicious code segments.  Source analysis, available for multiple programming languages, provides assessment of vulnerabilities and weaknesses.  For both file types, the results of multiple analysis tools are combined and a risk assessment is generated.  A built-in decision support system accepts the software, rejects the software, or recommends further evaluation.  The result is a higher degree of confidence in integrated software.


  Sentar's Deployable Cyber Defense System (DCDS) is a DOD Compliant Cyber
    Solution  -
Read more including the new DCDS Brochure

The Deployable Cyber Defense System (DCDS) is a mobile cyber defense solution that is DoD compliant and addresses both DISA STIG and 8500.2 security controls by incorporating various network boundary protection mechanisms.  Specifically, the DCDS contains a layer 7 commercial firewall, network-based intrusion detection systems (IDS), and commercial-grade routing/switching devices.  Additionally, the DCDS is equipped with the Active Response Manager (ARM) that supports operational management of the security event data from the DCDS security mechanisms.  The combination of these capabilities not only provides a rapidly deployable and hardened network boundary protection system, but also supports network survivability and resilience by implementing interactive and automated (policy-based) responses to cyber attacks on non-human timescales. 


Sentar Wins MDA Phase I Software Code Risk Assessment Technology
   Development

May 12, 2010

HUNTSVILLE – Sentar has been selected to perform a Missile Defense Agency (MDA) SBIR Phase I contract to develop technologies for assessing the risk of integrating software code.

Software from third parties is often used in mission critical systems. While known malicious code will be identified during normal test and evaluation processes, suspicious code is more difficult to accurately identify.  The veriScan® software tool provides a risk assessment of source code based on multiple malware analyses. The results of multiple analysis tools are combined and a risk assessment is generated.  The decision support system accepts the software, rejects the software, or recommends further evaluation.  The result is a higher degree of confidence in integrated software.


Sentar Wins MDA Phase II to Develop Technologies for Software Code
   Penetration Testing

August 12, 2010

HUNTSVILLE – Sentar has been awarded a Missile Defense Agency (MDA) SBIR Phase II contract to develop technologies for penetration testing of software code.

Software from third parties of often used in mission critical systems without the ability to verify its software system security.  Third-party software may contain unidentified vulnerabilities which may be undiscovered or which cannot be verified.  The Software Application Protection Process (SAPP) project is developing a software tool to categorize third-party software according to its functional characteristics and automatically select and apply methods of attack against the software.  The attacks effectively attempt to “penetrate” the software application by breaking it.  The result is an approach to vulnerability testing that does not rely on visual inspection or known vulnerabilities.  Undiscovered vulnerabilities are exposed during SAPP penetration testing.  The benefit is more secure integrated software systems for mission critical applications.


Sentar Supports NASA MSFC Information Technology
Services (MITS)

February 02, 2010

Sentar has joined to Dynetics MITS team providing IT and Web Services to MSFC.  Marshall Space Flight Center employees  approximately 7,000 NASA civil servants and contractors who perform various duties across the MSFC campus. The Center uses MSFC Information Technology Services (MITS) contract as the primary provider of information technology and communication services for the Center, the National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC) in Huntsville, Alabama, and the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans, Louisiana. Overall MITS team responsibilities include:

 
(a) operate and maintain existing equipment, software and services;

(b) gather, analyze, define, and document systems requirements; and

(c) plan, design, develop or acquire, integrate, test, and implement new systems or
     enhancements to existing systems for the following services:

  • IT Security Services

  • IT Planning, Policy, Architecture & Integration

  • Telecommunications Services

  • Applications and Web Services

  • Computing Services

  • Audio Visual Information Services

Sentar’s MITS support focuses on Applications and Web Services development.
 


Huntsville Company on Executive Mission

June 15, 2009

Download the video (.wmv 16MB)

WAAYTV - Channel 31 Global Story

Cyber security is something we're learning more and more about each day. It's becoming is so broad, and so critical, that it can be dangerous if not protected.
Now, one local company tapped by the Obama administration is working to keep you safe while surfing the web, Sentar, Inc.

Peter Kiss, CEO and founder of Huntsville based Sentar started this company 19 years ago with just three employees. Now he has 40. They provide the government and the military with technology and software solutions. Just recently, Sentar was was just one of a few companies tapped by the Obama administration for input on cyber security.

Peter Kiss: "This is shaping the policy of the administration for cyber security.  This is where they're going." Cyber security is one of President Barack Obama's top priorities and Kiss and his employees say with us living in such a network centric society-it's crucial to have a system in place to protect vital information that is in the cyber world...which they call the new wild west.

Deborah Williams, the program manager for Sentar has been working with presidential level committees on the national cyber security policy. Deborah Williams: "Cyber security is going to dominate many years to come and we're in the position to make Huntsville be a part of that." Williams will be in Washington, D.C., Wednesday for more Presidential level committee meetings.

Reporter: Haley Baker

Posted at: http://www.waaytv.com/Global/story.asp?s=10537814


Sentar Expands in CRP Facility, Expects Growth to Continue

June 5, 2009 

Huntsville Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Highlights

Sentar, which supplies technology solutions, software solutions, and information assurance solutions for both commercial and government clients, recently cut the ribbon on its new facility in Cummings Research Park.

The new facility provides more than 10,500 square feet of research and development factilities, multiple conference rooms, a state-of-the-art computer network defense lab and offices with room for expansion.  Sentar currently employs 40 people and expects to add 10 more jobs by the end of the year.

Sentar's latest business venture is cyber security.  Its work in this field rely helped the company win a contract from Sparta Inc. to support development of the National Cyber Range for the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (Darpa).

Read the full article on AL.com:
"Sentar Opens CRP Facility, Expects Growth to Continue"


Sentar Named One of Two STARS-IO Primes

  May 9, 2009 

  Huntsville Times Article

  Huntsville-based Sentar has been named one of the two prime contractors for the STARS-
  IO contract, which has a potential value of $24 million. Sentar will provide security-related
  analysis, test, evaluation and assessment support and program support for Department of
  Defense programs across information assurance, information operations and computer
  network defense activities.

  The Sentar team for the STARS-IO contract includes Booz Allen Hamilton, DAI, Miltec and
  Northrop Grumman.


Sentar on Team for National Cyber Range

  February 10, 2009 

  Huntsville Times Article

  Huntsville-based Sentar Inc. has been awarded a contract from Sparta Inc. to support
  development of the National Cyber Range for the Defense Advanced Research Projects
  Agency (DARPA).

  The cyber range program is part of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, a
  major government-wide effort to increase the nation's defenses against electronic attack.

  "This allows us to participate in a high-visibility program on a national level," said Peter
   Kiss, Sentar's founder and CEO. "We're on a great team with industry and academia,
   which increases our exposure especially in the whole cyber security world. It really is a
   big deal for us."

   The company has about 40 employees, and at least 10 more people are expected to be
   hired this year.

   DARPA has been assigned to create the National Cyber Range, a test bed consisting of
   computers and computer systems on which cyber scenarios may be evaluated to assess
   the security of information and automated control systems.

   Sparta will lead a team of commercial, defense and academic organizations to provide
   ways to protect U.S. cyber resources through in-depth analysis, test and evaluation within
   the National Cyber Range.

   Article in Huntsville Times here.


Sentar Moves to Research Park Facility

   January 1, 2009  

HUNTSVILLE - Sentar's new location at 315 Wynn Drive in Research Park provides over   10,500 square feet of research and development facilities.  Multiple conference rooms, a state-of-the-art computer network defense lab and offices with room to grow round out the spacious new features of Sentar's
   completely renovated facility.  Sentar's open house and ribbon cutting ceremony held on
   February 6th featured Huntsville mayor Tommy Battle as guest speaker and was attended
   by other prominent officials and guests.  

   Go here for Sentar directions and a map.  Larger building photo here.


Sentar News Archives 2008 and Prior

Sentar's SCAND wins MDA Phase II

Sentar Develops Information Assurance Risk Assessment for Military Systems

Sentar Wins SBIR Phase II for Active Resource Manager

AccrediScan enables easy auditing of DIACAP STIG compliance

Sentar Wins Information Assurance Run-time Auditing (IARA) Phase I STTR

Sentar Wins Digital Microscope (DM) Phase I

Sentar Awarded COMBO Phase I

Sentar Wins ARM Phase I for Self Managing Networks

Sentar Web Site Has a New Look

Sentar Wins Multi Gaming Fusion Phase I SBIR with Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)

Sentar Delivers InTime Work

Sentar Wins PAWS Phase II

Sentar Awarded Position on CSC-AMCOM Express Team

Sentar formally becomes an employee owned company in 2004

An interview with Sentar's CEO


  Sentar's SCAND wins MDA Phase II

    December 11, 2008
   
   
HUNTSVILLE - Sentar's SCAND has been awarded a Missile Defense Agency (MDA) SBIR
    Phase II transition contract to develop technologies for detecting malicious programming
    in software code.

    The problem being addressed is the inability to quickly assess new and existing software
    binary and source code for the existence of malicious code segments. Reuse and
    integration of software components has become routine, promoting rapid deployment
    and cost-effectiveness in Ballistic Missile Defense Systems (BMDS) software
    development. The "scand" MDA SBIR Phase II Transition project will be developing a
    distributed software framework for selecting, executing, and managing analysis tools.
    Collections of software malcode analysis tools will be directed from a central workstation
    and report their results back. Suspicious and malicious code segments will be identified
    for mitigation.

    The new software framework is based on prior MDA SBIR projects and is related to the
    Sentar accrediScan(TM) product. These tools manage the automated scanning of
    systems for security configurations settings and Defense Information Security Agency
    (DISA) Security Information Technology Guideline (STIG) compliance, respectively. The
    scand Transition project began in mid-January and concludes within one year.


Sentar Develops Information Assurance Risk Assessment for Military Systems

   May 19, 2008

   HUNTSVILLE - With the publication of the Information Assurance Risk Assessment for
   Military Systems, Sentar provides a step-by-step methodology that allows IA Analysts' to
   make operational determinations of the IA Risk stemming from known vulnerabilities.
   Specifically geared toward Department of Defense IA issues, the IARA facilitates rigorous,
   operationally focused, defendable and repeatable IA risk assessments.

   Read all about Sentar's IARA development here


Sentar Wins SBIR Phase II for Active Resource Manager (ARM)

   September 1, 2007

   HUNTSVILLE - As computer network systems used by military, government, and business
   organizations become more vital to the organizational mission, they also grow larger,
   faster, more complex, more heterogeneous, and more difficult to protect.  Nowhere is the
   nation’s reliance on network systems more critical than in network-centric warfare
   (NCW).  Successful conduct of NCW requires information sharing across a span of
   information domains and networks.  Among the many challenges to successful NCW is the
   requirement for the networks to be robust and secure.  Necessary to securing these
   networks is the provision of a technology for active network management. 

   Active Resource Manager (ARM), now in Phase II development will provide intelligent
   monitoring and control for military network systems, enabling network security personnel
   to respond rapidly and effectively to cyber threats.

   More about Active Resource Manager here


AccrediScan enables easy auditing of DIACAP STIG compliance

   July 2007

   HUNTSVILLE - SMDC Show - VBCC -  Sentar's AccrediScan is toolkit targeted to the
   Information Assurance professional for enabling easier auditing of DISA STIG compliance.
   It automatically executes and records the results of over 400 automatable Security
   Readiness Review scripts from DISA – reducing a tedious, manual, time-consuming
   activity down to a matter of minutes with a single click of a button.   More info here


Sentar Wins Information Assurance Run-time Auditing (IARA) Phase I STTR

   June 13, 2006

   HUNTSVILLE - The U.S. Air Force has awarded a $99,889 contract to Sentar Inc.,
  
Huntsville, for Information Assurance Run-time Auditing (IARA).  The contract was
   awarded by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) through the Air Force Office of
   Scientific Research (AFOSR).  Sentar, teamed with Dr. Rose Gamble at the
University of
   Tulsa, developed this
concept as a framework to promote the specification of software
   system monitoring, audit, analysis and threat mitigation capabilities in large scale
   software intensive systems. This effort will provide the OSD with an innovative platform to
   enable the rapid development of capabilities to monitor untrusted, executing software
   components within a trusted system and capabilities to capture and analyze monitored
   behaviors. Though such practices are gaining momentum at a host level, approaches that
   can scale to enterprise and system of systems are currently unaddressed. Thus, the IARA
   effort proposes to fill this gap by proving the efficacy of scaling run-time monitoring and
   analysis technologies as well as providing a foundation to design, configure, and deploy
   those capabilities. IARA will be particularly beneficial for dynamic and evolving
   infrastructures such as Future Combat Systems, FORCEnet, Joint Battlespace Infosphere,
   or the burgeoning Global Information Grid. Broad based benefits of the proposed
   capability transcend government needs, supplying commercial organizations a solution
   and tools who seek to verify the operations of untrusted components to be incorporated
   or updated in their enterprise systems. This protection is applicable to a number of large,
   international corporations that depend on access to a growing number of networked
   systems and data stores in order to remain competitive.  IARA provides protection of
   critical enterprise corporate assets at all levels of the corporation at all sites worldwide.


Sentar Wins Digital Microscope (DM) Phase I

   March 2, 2006

   HUNTSVILLE - The U.S. Air Force has awarded a $99,879 contract to Sentar Inc.,
   Huntsville, for Digital Microscope.  The contract was awarded by the Air Force Research
   Laboratory, Rome, N.Y.  Sentar, teamed with SYColeman and Reifer Consultants,
   developed a concept to address the critical issues of software defects and vulnerabilities
   in Code, be it C, C__, Java, or Visual Basic., called the Digital Microscope (DM) under a
   Phase I SBIR with
U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command.  The DM simulates a
   native running environment in which a binary code can be encapsulated, analyzed, and
   tested for malefactor influence, as well as poor coding practices.  The design of the DM
   will allow, for example, the testing of code through injection of timing mismatches,
   embedded codes, and buffer overflow attempts into the binary, all in a quarantined
   environment.  It will also promote plug-and-play extensibility through the use of a multi-
   agent infrastructure for future enhancements such as security wrapper insertions, proof
   generation, and attack modeling and simulation.  The resulting technology will   
   substantially contribute to software vulnerability discovery and remediation by providing a
   comprehensive tool for validation of code safety prior to deployment.


Sentar Awarded COMBO Phase I

   March 2, 2006

   HUNTSVILLE - Sentar, teamed with SYColeman, wins a Phase I SBIR with U.S. Army
   Space and Missile Defense Command. In response to the need for integrated cyber and
   physical security, the Sentar team is developing an enterprise security management
   console called COMBO.  COMBO will include development of a Common Event Ontology
   for cross-domain knowledge representation and definition of a generic interface for
   information exchange between Sentar’s Work-Centered Interface for Computer Network
   Defense (WCI-CND) and physical security systems, such as SYColeman’s intelligent
   surveillance solution, Praetorian.  Data streams obtained from video, proximity, motion,
   and biometric devices will be correlated with cyber-attack information to pinpoint and
   document the locations and personal identities associated with attacks and other
   suspicious activities.  By bringing together Sentar’s advanced technologies for computer
   network defense with SYColeman’s intelligent surveillance solutions, COMBO provides a
   full range of integrated capabilities for security situation awareness. 

   A technology capable of supporting security across both physical and computer domains
   will have broad applicability throughout government and industry, and it is particularly
   appropriate to the distributed architecture of military systems critical to the nation’s
   infrastructure that are susceptible to global attack and in need of such a capability.  For
   example, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems used to manage
   electrical power grids, water treatment and distribution, oil refineries, and pipelines are
   increasingly vulnerable.  As all facets of industry and government come to rely on
   secured information systems, they share a common problem.  Protecting their information
   assets becomes mission-critical, and the threats are pervasive.  Thus the applicability of
   this technology extends to all organizations with a stake in information systems.


Sentar Wins ARM Phase 1 for Self Managing Networks

   March 20, 2006

   HUNTSVILLE - In response to the need for self-managing networks with the ability to plan
   and carry out transitions from actual to desired state of the network within a complex,
   fluid environment, Sentar, teamed with SYColeman, developed a concept for the Active
   Resource Manager (ARM) under a Phase I SBIR with
U.S. Army Space and Missile
   Defense Command. The proposed Active Resource Manager (ARM) will monitor and
   integrate data from an extensible set of network management resources, cyber-defense
   sensors, and executable policies.  An Event Synthesis Agent will use fast graph
   comparison algorithms for consolidation and classification of network events.  The
   consolidated events will be used by ARM Reasoning Agents for generation of Response
   Specifications.  These Response Specifications will be used by the SNMP Interface Agent
   to define the executable commands for altering the network state. Agent marshalling will
   provide an evolvable problem solving process by means of intelligent selection of ARM
   Reasoning Agents, whose capabilities may be nominally redundant but whose relative
   strengths and weakness may vary. 


Sentar Web Site Has a New Look

   Thursday, July 27, 2005

   HUNTSVILLE - Sentar revamps its corporate web site in an effort to provide the latest
   information on solutions, projects, research and technology.  This site is compatible with
   Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Netscape.  Send us some feedback and let us know
   how you like it.


Sentar Wins Multi Gaming Fusion Phase I

  
June 29, 2005

   HUNTSVILLE - Sentar wins a Phase I SBIR with AFRL for Multi Gaming Fusion.The
   proposed objective of this SBIR Phase I is to design and prototype a extensible, reusable,
   and verifiable gaming environment, which provides an advanced command and control
   (C2) simulation and experimentation platform. This system will be capable of
   incorporating numerous and variable game engines that interact dynamically to realize
   any C2 scenario introduced. Specifying a goal-driven, high-level architecture that
   embodies reconfigurable compositions of components ensures the extensibility and
   evolvability of the implemented platform. This promotes plug-and-play incorporation of
   new techniques and technologies to elucidate advanced C2 functions without system
   reprogramming. It will provide multiple modes of operation and interaction for C2 function
   experimentation. Thus, it can accommodate batch processing where a predefined
   scenario or campaign is introduced by a single user. In addition, a single user or team of
   users can be directly interacted with the environment to elucidate the outcome of an
   experimental C2 scenario.


Sentar Delivers InTime Work

   Friday, July 1, 2005

   HUNTSVILLE - Sentar, in conjunction with InTime, Inc (www.gointime.com), has released
   the Version 2 InTime Crop Management Web Application.  The enhancements will allow
   farmers to create prescriptions for multiple fields with multiple rates in one request, and a
   new automated installation process has been added to simplify the downloading of
   requested prescriptions and scout maps.

   Sentar provided software development and test services in support of InTime's GIS- 
   based precision agriculture systems. Sentar’s client, InTime, Inc. provides crop
   management services that target a reduction of input/chemical costs through the
   provision of prescription maps that enable the spatially variable application of agricultural
   chemicals to a farmer's field during the growing season. 


Sentar wins PAWS Phase II

   Tuesday, March 22, 2005

   HUNTSVILLE - Sentar, teamed with SYColeman and Reifer Consultants, developed a
   concept for the Protection Analysis Work Stations (PAWS) under a Phase I SBIR project.
   The PAWS concept supports off-line analysis of computer network defense (CND) systems
   for the purpose of recommending improvements to their implementation. The PAWS
   analyzes a CND system in order to improve its ability to protect both the network system
   and its critical applications from malicious or accidental damage. The purpose of PAWS is
   to complement situation awareness system by providing that off-line analysis and
   recommending improvements to it. The opportunity is to begin implementation of PAWS,
   alongside the situational awareness (WCI-CND), to yield a proactive network defense
   system to guard against sophisticated cyber attacks.

   Phase II PAWS efforts will demonstrate the feasibility and utility of an agent-based
   approach to collecting and analyzing information from a multitude of sources to provide
   new information and knowledge to security analysts in the support of updating and
   enhancing security plans and guidelines. The use of PAWS will enable CND systems to
   evolve with and respond to changes as well as with the threats changes. The technology
   is applicable to military systems as well as mission critical commercial systems such as
   those found in utilities and financial markets.


Sentar Awarded Position on CSC-AMCOM Express Team

   Thursday, August 12, 2004

   HUNTSVILLE - Sentar wins position on the CSC AMCOM Express Team in the Business 
   Management Support and Process Improvement Support areas. In the area of Business
   Management Support, Sentar will provide analyses, facilitation, expert advice and
   assessment relating to business management initiatives such as business management
   initiatives and recommendations for execution.For Process Improvement Support, Sentar
   will provide analyses, facilitation, expert advice and assessment relating to process
   improvements such as reengineering recommendation, objectives, and strategies,
   issues/initative, and assess impacts.


Sentar Becomes an Employee Owned Company

   November 17, 2004

   HUNTSVILLE -
Sentar formally became an employee owned company in 2004 with the
   establishment of the Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP).  This plan provides
   shares of stock to employees on a regular basis, allowing them to enjoy the benefits of
   ownership in the company.

 


  An Interview with Sentar's CEO


Business News

   December 13, 2001

    By Marian Accardi
    Times Business Writer

   Sentar CEO keeps software business running layoff-free
   
    Despite setbacks, Peter Kiss doesn't quit, focuses on company's growth
   

Peter Kiss believes that the bumps on the road of life just make you stronger.
 
In 1994, the same year his software development company, Sentar Inc., lost a contract with a customer that made up about half of its business, Kiss bought out his partners and rebuilt the company as a custom software developer.

Late last year, a stop-work order came through on a subcontract that 10 employees were working on, and several other projects were coming to an end.
 
"We had 30 employees and paying work for five," he said, grimacing at the memory.

Kiss didn't lay off any employees, but used corporate resources to keep employees paid. "We went out and got new work," he said. "The result is a better diversified customer base and a quick return to operating levels close to those where we started."

Kiss, Sentar's soft-spoken founder and chief executive officer, just isn't a quitter.

"I don't like giving up, I'm much more of a long-term doer," said Kiss, whose business card lists his title as "Visionary."

These days, his focus is on how to double sales and the number of employees in the next two years.

"Last year, almost all our government contracts were with a single customer," Kiss said. "Now we've got six different customers from the government side. We're much stronger coming out" of setbacks. "That's been the case every time."

In 1982, Kiss was helping a friend put together a business and marketing plan for a company he was starting. "I was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug," he said. Within eight years, Kiss was starting Sentar with a partner, at first doing systems engineering and analysis.

He was finally nudged into action by the death of Paul Wake, the founder of a small Huntsville firm, Wake Research, which had worked on a project for Kiss while Kiss was working at BDM International. Wake's widow was selling off furniture and equipment.

"A contract was already in place, everything was in place," said Kiss. He bought the company and its assets and changed the name to Sentar.

He even moved into the company's office on Bob Wallace Avenue.

Kiss had long wanted to start his own business. As he worked his way up in management over the years with large companies, he questioned business decisions.

He continued to climb in management, and "business decisions still didn't make sense. It was a challenge to see if I could do it better, if I could build an environment that is for employees instead of management and shareholders."



  In 1994, he lost a major customer and it turned
  out to be one of Kiss' toughest years in business.

  "We had grown to about 30 people 6 and we went
   back to almost nothing," said Kiss. "I went for
   about six months with very sporadic paychecks."

   Kiss started rebuilding the company, and moved
   into developing custom software.
 
   On the commercial side, Sentar has recently
   developed a business-to-business online ordering
   system and a telecommunication equipment
   ordering system. For government customers, the
   company has provided ground support software
   for a missile launch, and battle management,
   command and control software.

   "Sentar is pure software," Kiss said. "What we're
   competing on is excellence in software. We're
   building an environment for top-notch software
   people to flourish."

 

 



 

 
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