DAYTON, Ohio, Dec. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has launched Opticks, the company's first open source software project designed to enable detailed analysis of remote sensing data. With the release of Opticks, Ball Aerospace anticipates gaining access to new fields that can benefit from the processing and exploitation of remote sensing data.

Opticks is used by scientists and analysts within the Department of Defense Intelligence Community to analyze remote sensing data and produce actionable intelligence. Opticks supports Imagery, Motion Imagery, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), and multi-spectral and hyper-spectral remote sensing data. Ball Aerospace expects Opticks to increase the demand for remote sensing data and broaden the features available in existing remote sensing software.

"Ball Aerospace's Opticks demonstrates how government-sponsored code originally developed by a contractor can be maximized by releasing it as open source," said John M. Weathersby, executive director of the Open-Source Software Institute. "This creative business development effort is consistent with the forward-thinking strategy outlined in the Department of Defense's Open Technology Development roadmap."

Ball Aerospace's launch of Opticks establishes an open source community for support and collaborative development. Over 100 users have already registered at the Opticks Web site. Opticks also enables software developers to easily extend the product's capabilities or tailor Opticks to support new types of remote sensing data. To become a part of the open source community, download the Ball Aerospace Opticks software at: http://www.ballforge.net/.

Ball Aerospace has provided support in exploitation of remote sensing data for the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC), located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, for more than 23 years. This has resulted in Ball's proven expertise in developing algorithms and software tools used to process and analyze the data. The NASIC intelligence products that result from Ball's capabilities directly support on-going military operations, national decision makers and other members of the intelligence community.

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. supports critical missions of important national agencies such as the Department of Defense, NASA, NOAA and other U.S. government and commercial entities. The company develops and manufactures spacecraft, advanced instruments and sensors, components, data exploitation systems and RF solutions for strategic, tactical and scientific applications. Over the past 50 years, Ball Aerospace has been responsible for numerous technological and scientific 'firsts' and acts as a technology innovator for the aerospace market.

Ball Corporation is a supplier of high-quality metal and plastic packaging products for beverage, food and household customers, and of aerospace and other technologies and services, primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ more than 15,500 people worldwide and reported 2006 sales of $6.6 billion.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains "forward-looking" statements concerning future events and financial performance. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "estimates" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Key risks and uncertainties are summarized in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Exhibit 99.2 in our Form 10-K, which are available at our Web site and at http://www.sec.gov/. Factors that might affect our packaging segments include fluctuation in product demand and preferences; availability and cost of raw materials, including recent significant increases in resin, steel, aluminum and energy costs, and the ability to pass such increases on to customers; competitive packaging availability, pricing and substitution; changes in climate and weather; crop yields; competitive activity; failure to achieve anticipated productivity improvements or production cost reductions, including our beverage can end project; mandatory deposit or other restrictive packaging laws; changes in major customer or supplier contracts or loss of a major customer or supplier; and changes in foreign exchange rates, tax rates and activities of foreign subsidiaries. Factors that might affect our aerospace segment include: funding, authorization, availability and returns of government and commercial contracts; and delays, extensions and technical uncertainties affecting segment contracts. Factors that might affect the company as a whole include those listed plus: accounting changes; successful or unsuccessful acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures; integration of recently acquired businesses; regulatory action or laws including tax, environmental and workplace safety; governmental investigations; technological developments and innovations; goodwill impairment; antitrust, patent and other litigation; strikes; labor cost changes; rates of return projected and earned on assets of the company's defined benefit retirement plans; pension changes; reduced cash flow; interest rates affecting our debt; and changes to unaudited results due to statutory audits or other effects.

CONTACT: Roz Brown of Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.,
+1-303-533-6059, rbrown@ball.com

Web site: http://www.ballaerospace.com/
http://www.ballforge.net/