Digital Battlespace
CST wins COTS research contract
Critical Software Technologies (CST) has won a bid from the Centre for Defence Enterprise (CDE) to research COTS software for military systems.
With a contract having been awarded towards the end of 2011, project details are set to be finalised in the upcoming weeks, Brian Luff, chairman of the company told Shephard on 12 January.
‘The project, to be undertaken jointly with BAE Systems and the University of Southampton's school of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), will investigate how formal methods can be used to create models of the off-the-shelf components,’ a CST statement read.
‘This is to address potential integration issues before they arise in actual implementation,’ which Luff likened to ‘applied R&D’.
CST is the prime on the project and Luff described BAE as ‘guinea pigs’ by venturing into research projects of this sort. Defence sources added that the British Royal Navy Astute submarine programme of record could be included in the research. CST is currently working with BAE Systems on the programme, it is understood.
The CDE serves as the gateway between industry and the MoD, and this bid success comes after a series of failed proposals from CST with the CDE, the company admitted: ‘We’ll try with the CDE again and again; we’re really please to have got this one,’ Luff urged.
‘We’re hoping to demonstrate a new capacity,’ he continued while describing company hopes that although the project is not particularly large and does not have a lot of funding, it will increase the credibility of the company in this field and demonstrate an innovation.
The company also provides software for safety systems that are mission critical, and which are written to ‘much more stringent standards’.
On 17 December, the company which is headquarted in Portugal, opened a new US subsidiary. It also stated that future ventures for the UK company include a software answer for the collection, dissemination, protection and storage of ‘big data’, as well as commercial projects into renewable technology including offshore wind farms.
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