The world's largest defence contractor and the US government's No.1 information technology provider, Lockheed Martin, together with Wipro Technologies, a division of Wipro Limited, has opened its network centric operations centre in Gurgaon.

Known as Ambar Jyoti, this lab will develop, demonstrate and experiment with emerging network-enabled capabilities and applications and a model simulation experimental laboratory in India.

The centre is designed to leverage Wipro's embedded, telecom and enterprise expertise in creating data centric solutions for the future. Lockheed Martin and Wipro Technologies will utilise cutting-edge technologies and real environment emulation to develop net-enabled capabilities and solutions to employ against current, real-world problems.

Ambar Jyoti will provide an opportunity for indigenous development and experimentation to identify future capabilities and requirements in network-centric operations for potential civil and military application.

After inaugurating the facility, Rao Inderjit Singh, minister of state for defence production, said that that he expected this facility to yield excellent results because it has brought together two leading giants like Lockheed Martin, world leader in defence production and Wipro, a giant in the IT industry, whose excellence is recognised globally.

"We are honoured and pleased to be able to provide this capability in India," said Rick Kirkland, president, South Asia, LMGI. "Through this lab, together we will explore the 'art of the possible' and prepare for network-centric operations of the future."

"This experimentation and demonstration centre is the first of its kind in India and we are proud to be a part of this initiative. We are certain that as a result of this project, the Indian market gets easier access to such advanced network centric based architectures and concepts," said Dr A L Rao, chief operating officer, Wipro Technologies.

In the coming months, Lockheed Martin will network Ambar Jyoti with other such similar centres across the globe so that an increased number of more complex, real-time, real-world demonstrations can take place in this Indian facility.