Industry Interview: Disti

MT2 2011 Volume: 16 Issue: 8 (December)

Joseph Swinski has served the simulation and training industry for 25 years. Beginning with his work on image generators for General Electric, he continued his career by joining UCF’s Institute for Simulation and Training, which presented the opportunity to start a business that would provide training to the industry. In 1994, he co-founded Disti and is currently serving as President and CEO.

Q: Can you describe Disti’s history and evolution?

A: Disti’s history and evolution began with the vision of Bill Andrews, Darren Humphrey and I, to provide training to simulation professionals around the world. We were establishing DIS [Distributed Interactive Simulation] training classes at the Institute of Simulation and Training at the University of Central Florida, when we realized that the industry could benefit from a more indepth technical training course on how to use DIS protocol. Armed with this vision we launched Distributed Simulation Technology, now called The Disti Corporation. Today we are a leading provider of graphical interface technology used to empower the latest in human machine interfaces for operator and maintenance training.

Q: What are some of your key products in the DoD training and simulation industry?

A: Disti’s flagship product, GL Studio, is a suite of powerful tools that enables its users to build and integrate high fidelity and feature-rich 2-D and 3-D interfaces into their software applications, enhancing the levels of realism and sophistication. In the past 11 years, GL Studio has become the gold standard for interface development in the simulation and training industry. We have recently announced Replic8, which allows courseware developers and graphic artists to create compelling 3-D interactive maintenance and task training content without any coding.

Q: What are some of the new training/ simulation technologies Disti is developing?

A: Replic8, our latest innovative development tool, will be unveiled at I/ITSEC 2011. This new tool allows users with no programming experience to take virtual content created in 3D Studio Max and effortlessly produce dynamic 3-D interactive training content. Replic8 introduces a new concept for the design process that we refer to as “design by doing.” Users configure and design each training application by interacting with models and objects within the editor, mirroring the steps performed in the procedures.

Q: How are you positioned for the future within the military?

A: As DoD and other global defense ministries are forced to cut costs, our technology is poised to provide optimum capabilities at dramatic cost savings over traditional approaches. We’ve redefined how maintenance personnel learn and military organizations across the globe have begun to base their training requirements on our technology.

Q: What is Disti’s connection with the defense community?

A: Eighty percent of our customer base falls within the boundaries of the defense community; our technology is used by every branch within the U.S. military, is implemented by nearly all tier one defense contractors, and is integrated across several major ministries of defense. A few years ago, Disti was every primary contractor’s best-kept secret. Today, when primary contractors are vying for work they know that our name and technology carry a lot of weight with the DoD. They know that training devices built with our interface tools, technology, or services will be the best in class.

Q: What is an example of your success in the military, and what are some of your goals—specific to the training/simulation industry—over the next year?

A; Our most recent work with Boeing to build two Integrated Virtual Environment Maintenance Trainers of the F/A-18E Super Hornet for the Royal Australian Air Force was considered, by all accounts, a major success. The delivery of this 3-D fully interactive virtual maintenance trainer was ahead of schedule and within budget limitations. We’re continually advancing our technology to produce interface content that will broaden accessibility on mobile platforms, increase automation of content conversion from static 3-D models to interactive 3-D learning materials, and simplify the user experience.

Q: How do customers benefit from Disti’s varied resources and expertise?

A: Disti offers capabilities to enhance training through the use of virtual surrogates, saving time, money and essential resources. Instead of training on the actual equipment or hardware versions of the real equipment, students perform maintenance and operation tasks with virtual surrogates. Our technology makes it technically and financially viable to produce trainers directly from OEM CAD data. The perceived quality of a training device lies in how the warfighter interfaces with that device. We solve that problem by providing our customers with a virtual interface [cockpit, dashboard, maintenance device, etc.] that will seamlessly plug into their solution.

Q: How do you measure success?

A: Disti’s success is measured by our customer’s satisfaction, which is realized when we provide them with the ability to reduce training costs while simultaneously increasing training fidelity and throughput. Our recent success with the Oshkosh Corporation is the perfect example; we helped reduce their time to train, increased training capabilities, and gave them the ability to expand their offering. In the end, the ultimate measure for success derives from the preparedness of the modern warfighter; providing them with the virtual interactive training devices they need without compromising any capability or essential fidelity. ♦

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