EADS Defence & Security to operate the nationwide TETRA radio network with the Qatar Ministry of Interior for several years.

-A contract worth 12 million
-A major reference for network operation services
-A key win for Evercor services for secure networks

27 May 2008 – EADS Defence & Security has been commissioned by the Qatar Ministry of Interior to operate its secured nationwide TETRA radio network for several years.

This contract worth 12m will be delivered by EADS Secure Networks (SN) which is an integrated line of business of EADS Defence & Security (DS). It epitomizes the very strong long term partnership between the Qatar Ministry of Interior and EADS Secure Networks. The teams from the former will notably benefit from a steady and high-value transfer of competences from the experts of the latter.

Both partners will set up a dedicated TETRA competence centre which will include a training centre as well as a test bed for applications and services. In addition, a showroom will demonstrate all capabilities of the system. This will be the first TETRA centre of excellence in the Middle East.
This operations contract is the natural follow up of the contract awarded by the Ministry of Interior in 2006 to Atlas Telecom which is a partner of EADS Secure Networks. This former contract covered the deployment and implementation of the TETRA network which is almost completed.
The new contract covers the full range of services managed by the Network Operation Centre offer, inside the Evercor family of solutions. Evercor is an expert approach providing services for mission critical networks.

The Network Operation Centre is the core of operation and services activities, acting as the single point of Operating and Maintenance for the network. A set of tools have been integrated to support processes and Network Operation capabilities. Given the large number of functions involved, EADS has taken a “best of breed” approach to select providers for each component, with adoption of open interfaces standards, to decrease significantly integration effort.

The Network Operation Centre provides a full suite of complementary components for operational and business support system including an Element Management System, a Network Management System, a Trouble Ticketing System and a Configuration Management Database.
On top of this, Service Management allows monitoring of measured values and evaluation vis–vis the Service Level Agreements committed to the customer, producing reports and dashboards, highlighting service and user impact analysis.

A Web Portal provides access to those applications and processes in a unified way via a standard web browser.

“We have a strong partner with whom we wanted to go one step further. Under the guidance of Sheikh Abdulla Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Minister of State for Internal Affairs, we will build together the first TETRA centre of excellence in the Middle East. Our team will benefit from the knowledge and expertise of EADS Secure Networks experts and we will have the opportunity to further enlighten EADS Secure Networks in the particular operational requirements of Public Safety and Security Services generally and in the Middle East in particular. Besides, both sides benefited throughout the negotiations from the advice and expertise of Boartes TETRA Consultants.” said Brigadier Ali Al-Henzab, Head of Communications and Operations Department of the Qatar Ministry of Interior.

“We feel very honoured by the trust of the Qatar authorities in our expertise and dedication. This contract is further proof that our strategy to develop in the services business is going in the right direction” said Jean-Marc Nasr, President of EADS Secure Networks.
EADS Secure Networks is an integrated line of business of EADS Defence & Security (DS). DS is a systems solutions provider for armed forces and civil security worldwide. Its portfolio ranges from sensors and secure networks through missiles to aircraft and UAVs as well as global security, service and support solutions. In 2007, DS – with around 22,000 employees – achieved revenues of 5.5 billion. EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2007, EADS generated revenues of 39.1 billion and employs a workforce of about 116,000.

Contact:
Erwan HEBRETel.: +33 6 78 20 77 85
erwan.hebre@eads.com

Jennifer Xiaofang ZHOUTel: +86 (10) 646 112 66 903
xiaofang.zhou@eads-china.com