Farnham, UK, 01/07/2008 -- Lockheed Martin UK has agreed to join forces with Essential Viewing Systems Ltd. to develop the next generation of video streaming technology.

Video streaming today requires large amounts of bandwidth, making it difficult to transmit in high-quality over existing communications media. Now engineers from Lockheed Martin UK and Essential Viewing Systems are working together to develop new techniques in ultra-low bandwidth streaming, allowing for near-real time video to be transmitted without a significant loss of quality.

Marshall Keith, managing director at Lockheed Martin UK - Integrated Systems & Solutions said: We have already begun work in this fascinating area. Through this collaboration we will extend our capabilities and develop new ways of transmitting video across existing networks. The next generation of video streaming capability will have huge implications for many of our customers who need to share important information quickly and accurately.

Demonstrations of a prototype capability have already been carried out in the Lockheed Martin Swift Laboratory in Farnborough, UK, where it forms a natural extension to Lockheed Martin UK's existing imagery exploitation capabilities.

Les Gaw, chief operating officer at Essential Viewing Systems said, This agreement allows us to accelerate the development of our core video technology while leveraging the systems integration skills and expertise of Lockheed Martin UK to bring innovative solutions to market.

The UK armed forces, civil defence and transport agencies have already expressed an interest in integrating this revolutionary technology with their existing communication systems, and the technology could have numerous applications across different sectors.

Lockheed Martin UK, a unit of Lockheed Martin Corporation, is a leader in systems integration working on major programmes spanning the aerospace, defence and civil sectors. Lockheed Martin works with more than 100 business partners and employs over 1700 people at more than a dozen sites across the UK.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin employs about 140,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.