Anyone who has played Call of Duty knows how much fun military games can be. Despite your best efforts in the virtual world, PlayStation is not real life; but that doesnt mean the real world couldnt benefit from a joystick every once in a while. Williamsport tech shop Discovery Machine proves that the real military can benefit from a reset button and a few cheat codes too. And with these games, you may save more than just your avatars life.
No one understands this more than Discovery Machines newest president of Business Development James McAssey. A techie through and through, McAssey served in several executive positions for Oracle, the worlds largest enterprise software company. But it was his experience managing data and information systems for Lockheed Martin that made him the ideal candidate to lead Discovery Machine into new military markets, expanding the possibility of the virtual training tools they have created. By capturing the intelligence and decision-making strategies of subject matter experts, the Lycoming County-based firm has created artificial intelligence protocols that mirror the best and the brightest our military has to offer.
When we sit down with a team leader coming back from Afghanistan and he tells us how he makes decisions, we are able to automate that and put it in the game for training new team leaders, McAssey says. We have worked with the Navy where we map the expertise of what would be the logical actions of enemy submarines based on what helicopter pilots are doing. Basically, we are building intelligence into these simulations.
While with Oracle, McAssey worked on many retail and corporate products to gain perspective on the whole software industry. But without experience working with military clients, McAssey says he would be lost behind enemy lines.
It helps me walk, talk and speak their language, McAssey says
But while McAssey is glad to see his expertise utilized, what really drew him from the big, corporate outfits he was used to is the community connection and the ability to make a difference for Pennsylvania.
Here you have a great company with cutting edge intelligence technology headquartered in Williamsport, privately held, run by a couple from Williamsport, says McAssey. It just shows that there is high-tech talent all across America and Williamsport is no exception. I am really excited about the growth we are going to experience.
Source: James McAssey, Discovery Machine
Writer: John Steele