Cogent-led Consortium wins NATO Military Messaging System Contract
Newport, South Wales, 3 February 2004 – Cogent Defence and Security Networks, the UK operating arm of EADS Defence and Communications Systems, has recently been awarded the NATO Messaging System (NMS) contract to supply an integrated electronic messaging system, which provides secure and reliable formal messaging to meet military standards. Prime contractor Cogent led a team including IBM, Safelayer and Nexor for the NMS programme, which is set to run for 18 months with optional extensions of up to four more years for the implementation of Phase II of the project.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Cogent-led team will provide a truly scalable electronic messaging solution for the NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency (NC3A). The system will be built on rule-based routing software designed for the military environment, providing complete trust, accountability and non-repudiation with guaranteed delivery to the point of action. Furthermore, the communications solution features a market-leading, fully functional enterprise management platform, enabling NATO to expand this to supervise and manage the complete NATO enterprise domain.
As it is a COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) solution, the application will evolve over time, aligned to customer needs. The messaging system will be available for procurement by the NATO nations. If selected, this system will reduce the need of the nation for complex gateway technology and further software development, and thereby establishing complete system interoperability.
'We are confident that this solution will provide the reliability and functionality needed to meet NATO’s exacting requirements and are delighted to be involved in this exciting project,' commented Len Tyler, CEO at Cogent. 'This success demonstrates EADS’ ability to transfer skills and technologies developed for national programmes to support NATO infrastructure projects.'
The COTS software is comprised of a combination of IBM’s Lotus Notes Information Collaboration software, Nexor’s X.400 and X.500 specialist products, and Safelayer’s PKI solution – consolidated with specific military functionality developed by the Cogent team.
About Cogent
Cogent Defence and Security Networks Limited is the UK unit of EADS Defence and Communications Systems and the Systems House for EADS in UK.
www.cogent-dsn.com
About EADS Defence and Communications Systems
EADS Defence and Communications Systems (DCS) is part of the Defence and Security Systems division of EADS. DCS has been created in order to respond better to the new evolution of the defence markets, which are more focused on global solutions and integrated systems. For this purpose, DCS regroups several defence activities with the telecommunications activities of EADS. Its field of competence encompasses manned and unmanned systems such as tactical and strategic unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); manned mission aircraft; Command, Control, Communication and Information systems (C3I); Air and Naval Defence; Public Safety, including Homeland Security; and Communication and Information Network. DCS as the EADS Systems House implements advanced defence concepts, simulation and experimentation tools like NETCOS.
www.eads.net
About EADS
EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. EADS has the fastest growing and biggest order book in the industry. With revenues of €29.9 billion generated in 2002 and a worldwide workforce of more than 100,000, EADS is the second largest aerospace and defence company in the world. The EADS Group includes Airbus (the market leader in commercial aircraft), Eurocopter (the world's largest helicopter supplier) and the joint venture MBDA (a world leader in missiles). EADS is the major partner in the Eurofighter consortium, the prime contractor for the Ariane launcher, develops the A400M military transport aircraft (as well as military mission derivatives of Airbus platforms) and is the largest industrial partner for the European satellite navigation system Galileo.
www.eads.net
For further information, please info [at] nexor [dot] com (subject: Nexor%20Press%20Release) (contact Wendy Draper).
