Espoo, Finland - Nokia has selected Black Tie Networx (BTNX) to present its Roadside Bomb Visualization Detection project at the final round of the Global Economy Venture Challenge 2010 in London next week.  “We are very pleased to have been selected to present”, comments John Ellingson, CEO of BTNX, “our team is developing an application that can have a tremendous impact in areas of conflict that are desperately trying to protect their children and allow trade and distribution to once again flourish.”  Last week, BTNX received a 1.9MM Euro grant from the Netherlands to build this Extreme Performance Computing solution.

Over the past year, BTNX’s Advanced Visualization OPS team has been developing an application that will use 2D data collected by Unmanned Aerial Aircraft to locate roadside bombs, mines and unexploded ordinance on a 3D visualization map in near real-time.  Detecting Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) from the air greatly increases the kilometers of ground that can be analyzed and gives NATO, Red Cross and civilian convoys’ advance notice of a possible areas of concern and increased route flexibility.  “It is our intention that using this application will eventually make IEDs obsolete”, proclaims Mr. Ellingson, “however, we will be able to use our platform to continuously evolve as the enemy evolves.  We are looking forward to working with partners like Nokia to continue to develop the mobile devices and 3D applications that will be used by bomb disposal teams to remove these threats.

"Nokia created its QT cross-platform application and user interface framework for just this purpose," said Kai Oistamo, Executive Vice President Nokia, “if we can be a part of a solution that makes this type of impact in the Developing World, I believe we have met the goals of the Growth Economy Venture Challenge.  It is an investment that changes the world.”

If BTNX is successful winning the Challenge, Nokia will invest $1MM in the project and provide additional expertise to assist in the development of the technology.   Through its network of application developers and recent advances in 3D visualization and the GPS experience of NavTeq, Nokia can rapidly accelerate the solution’s path to market.

About Nokia
At Nokia, we are committed to connecting people. We combine advanced technology with personalized services that enable people to stay close to what matters to them. Every day, more than 1.2 billion people connect to one another with a Nokia device - from mobile phones to advanced smartphones and high-performance mobile computers. Today, Nokia is integrating its devices with innovative services through Ovi (www.ovi.com), including music, maps, apps, email and more. Nokia's NAVTEQ is a leader in comprehensive digital mapping and navigation services, while Nokia Siemens Networks provides equipment, services and solutions for communications networks globally

About BTNX

Black Tie Networx ( www.btnetworx.com ) was formed in 2009 by former technology executives from Deloitte, IBM  Oracle and Linux Networx to deliver High Performance Computing solutions to the market.  Through its extensive HPC Eco-System, BTNX works with software application companies, researchers and scientists to provide turnkey, optimized HPC software and hardware packages to their SME markets.  No one else has the application expertise and deep capability to deliver more speed with fewer processors to your Bio-Sciences, CAE, Chemical Engineering, DCC, Economics. EDA, Geosciences, Mechanical Design, Defense, Academic Research, Climate, and Technical Management customers.  We are Innovative.  Powerful.   Open.

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