With the opening of its new office and laboratory in Box Hill North, Melbourne-based technology company Iatia Ltd (ASX:IAT) will focus on developing its new range of software applications to include defence programs.

The Hon. Fran Bailey MP, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence, will officially open the new Iatia Ltd facilities on Thursday 2 October.

Ms Bailey said Australian companies, like Iatia, were providing valuable assistance to the research and development effort needed to keep Australia's defence systems at the cutting-edge of world's best practice.

Brain Powell, the CEO of Iatia Ltd, says the new office will provide Iatia with a secure environment in which to work and to develop its new technologies.

"We are branching out from the field of life sciences and microscopy to include a significant range of defence applications where there is considerable government and defence industry interest," Mr Powell said today.

"We are also expanding in the area of forensics, and have already sold our product into the US Government. The third significant area will be continued developments in confocal microscopy, which is a strong growth area in microscopy," Mr Powell said. He added that its Asian OEM deal with Bio-Rad was a precursor for wider sales in this area.

Iatia Ltd is commercialising a technology platform called Quantitative Phase Imaging. This allows significant opportunities in the advancement of imaging technologies across a broad field.

Since incorporation in 1999, Iatia has built strong foundations for future growth and is poised to capitalise on leading-edge platform technologies with a wide range of applications in scientific research, medicine, industry and defence.