Dozens of military and local industry representatives turned out for an open house Thursday as Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) formally opened its Joint System-of-Systems Collaborative Environmental Laboratory (JSCEL) in north Suffolk’s Bridgeway Industrial Park.

The laboratory will enhance SAIC’s ability to serve its Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) customers and contribute to the readiness of the Joint Forces in both the near term and future by developing and assessing operational and technology solutions to warfighting challenges.

SAIC will employ 80 people at its Suffolk facility, a number officials expect to increase by about 15 percent in the coming years. The company employs about 170 people in the Hampton Roads area and 4,500 in the state.

&uot;This is an exciting new development for our employees in the Hampton Roads area and for our company,&uot; said George Singley, president of SAIC’s Transformation, Test Training and Logistics Group. &uot;The JSCEL provides capabilities for experimenting with new concepts and technologies using distributed simulation and connectivity to the major centers of defense transformation. It will focus early on the most pressing problems facing U.S. forces in the global war on terror.&uot;

The JSCEL will allow SAIC’s customers to see firsthand transformation capabilities such as live-virtual constructive simulation integration, system-of-systems concepts, rapid prototyping and connectivity to other distributed transformational efforts.

&uot;Connected to military installations worldwide, the JSCEL provides a geographically-centric and logically distributed environment of integrated hardware and software development capable of concurrent and continuous program support,&uot; said Beverly Kitoaka, general manager of SAIC’s Training and Simulations Business Unit. &uot;By facilitating concept and concept based requirements development, the JSCEL will play a significant role in the transformation of the Armed Forces.

The 20,000 square-foot facility features a sensitive compartmentalized information facility to handle classified documents in addition to a 1,900 square-foot laboratory, which will serve as a principle network portal for U.S. Armed Forces to conduct concept experimentation, testing and training.

andy.Prutsok@suffolknewsherald.com