Auburn University and Intelligent Software Solutions partner to address nation’s intelligence and data analysis needs

AUBURN UNIVERSITY – Auburn University and Intelligent Software Solutions, ISS, on Friday announced a formal partnership in which the two entities will work together to provide data analysis services to students as well as government and military customers.

As part of the ISS Partner Program, Auburn students and faculty at the university will work closely with ISS’ WebTAS data analysis and visualization software toolkit. Expertise developed through this program will allow Auburn to deliver a unique curriculum with real-world impact to aid in solving tough homeland and national security challenges.

ISS recently installed the system into Auburn’s Open Source Intelligence Lab. Both organizations will work together to pursue potential business opportunities in the government, public safety and intelligence sectors. The partnership will be co-managed by Auburn University’s Office of the Vice President for Research and ISS’ Strategic Initiatives Division.

“This is a very exciting opportunity to bring together Auburn’s world-class cyber lab with the battle-tested ISS software and personnel,” said Lt. Gen. Ron Burgess, senior counsel for national security programs, cyber programs and military affairs at Auburn University. “We can all work together to address our nation’s insatiable thirst for intelligence and data analysis solutions.”

“It is always good when the world of business and academia can work together, as each side brings to the table unique talents and resources,” said Kent Bimson, chief scientist and head of ISS’ Small Business and University Technology Transition Partnership Program. “In this case, we are developing something of a ‘dream team’ of academic researchers and field-proven tools and personnel. It significantly enhances the potential capabilities of each side, and the winners in the end are the students who leave Auburn with deeper knowledge of data analysis, and of course our public safety and military agencies charged with protecting U.S. citizens.”

The analysis of Open Source Intelligence – data collected from publicly available databases – will be a critical focus of the initiative.

“To analyze open source intelligence effectively will require the continuous insertion of innovative technology to turn ever-increasing amounts of information into actionable intelligence,” Bimson said. “This ‘dream team’ partnership provides our small business and university participants with an ideal opportunity to test their evolving technologies in the context of training analysts for real world operations, while it simultaneously provides Auburn students and faculty an opportunity to participate in cutting-edge research and development with industry and other universities.”

WebTAS provides integration, visualization, analysis and production of actionable information across disparate data sources, user communities and missions. Designed with the user in mind, WebTAS provides a customizable user experience that delivers integrated search, visualization, analysis and collaboration capabilities.

The end-to-end experience allows users to discover, comprehend and communicate complex relationships between large data sets. Utilizing this information, WebTAS’ robust analytics automate discovery of trends, behaviors and relationships, to include monitoring data sources for unfolding situations of interest and making predictions in time to make a difference.

For more information about Intelligent Software Solutions, go to the website at

Contact: Leslie Parsons, Office of the Vice President for Research, (334) 844-6147 (, or Mike Clardy, Office of Communications and Marketing, (334) 844-9999 (