Dear Reader:

Welcome to the second issue of Challenge, a supplement to Boeing Frontiers designed for the engineering and technical work force of Boeing.

The positive feedback from our inaugural issue in December indicates that we are on the right path in bringing you more information about the many exciting projects we're working on across the enterprise and about the people who are working on them.

In this issue, for instance, we feature a cover story on the company's network-centric operations initiatives and the challenges Integrated Defense Systems and others are tackling to make Boeing the world leader in this highly technical field.

We also outline Commercial Airplanes' key technology challenges in the design and development of the new, super-efficient 7E7, as well as in the successful implementation of our Connexion by Boeing service.

On the topic of efficiency, another story describes some interesting work Boeing is doing in the area of fuel cell technology. And in a much farther look into the future, we present a fascinating study being done on personal air transportation systems.

There are several more stories-on technical affiliations, mentoring and more-that we believe you will find interesting, including one on the kind of risks Boeing innovators must be willing to take if we are to continue to open new frontiers in aerospace.

As always, we hope you will learn something new from these stories that you can apply to your own projects and initiatives, and we will appreciate your feedback and suggestions for our next supplement.

Meanwhile, please read and enjoy-and continue the great work!

-Jim Jamieson
Boeing Chief Technology Officer