5 this year unlike the rest of the countryRemains that the fullscale experiment will startIt is notably expected to directly help some SMEsIt is the despair of the Evanescence commented badly on an intervieweeThe most often attached to hospitals they lack visibilityThe European banking compartment is granted almost 125 billion already released in their favourFor the startup the approach is differentIssuers must also make a significant haircutWhile Citigroup still enjoys a Tier1 by 11Economic, standard, modular... "It would hear a VRP of computing. And yet, one that uses these terms is one of the managers of the American Lockheed Martin, best known for its fighter aircraft, ships of war or its missiles for its software. On the margins of the Euronaval show dedicated maritime arms held late October, he explains to a handful of journalists how his group works with "open architecture", computers and software distributed in large numbers, instead of "proprietary" technologies, costly because developed customized for each new project. The information industry.
The wave is not that America. Of Denis Ranque to Thales to Jean-Marie Poimboeuf for DCN from Luc Vigneron in Giat (the manufacturer of the heavy tank Leclerc), not a French "khaki" pattern that truffle public interventions of the same magic words that extensively uses Sam Palmisano, their counterpart of IBM. "Standards", "systems integration", "global services", not to mention the very worn "solution"...
At Big Blue, this language is already old. The tertiarisation of the activity which today affects the arms manufacturers, and which tends to increase the role of hardware manufacturer as supplier of complete systems and services, came to the fore in the major computer manufacturers there is more than a decade. Since the number one world of computers, then at the precipice, bet its future on services and software. He won, and resulted in all of its competitors. The reasoning Simple and visionary: materials prices will fall, the computer becomes a "convenience". We must therefore rise in the value-added chain, help the customer formalize his need and respond. Left to go look elsewhere proven technologies.
Defence, professional industry by definition and very complex, the parameters are obviously not transposable to 100. But two reasons drive the parallelism: the weight of the information technologies in the added value of the weapons systems and the stagnation of defence budgets (US apart), which grows to use up what has been proven in the civilian world.
For the "general manager" of Lockheed Martin, the figures speak for themselves: by reusing "bricks" computer already proven for frigates, the combat system of the AFAS of the range of vessels ordered by the Pentagon cost $ 5 million. The Bill, said, would have exceeded 100 million if engineers were left of zero. Better: as a publisher of software, the US group has built an ecosystem of partners (SMEs, universities,...) which he has entrusted the implementation of parts of its software.
Today, the purpose of the tenors of the defence is therefore position itself as the Chief Integrator capable of responding to the needs of the armed forces. At the latter to think in terms of capacity (that is what I want to be able to: striking an enemy in depth or be capable of transporting both of men and equipment across the planet), industry to propose the architecture of systems capable to respond, at the best price. Without to have never built a single, Thales has thus managed to impose major suppliers of the future British aircraft carrier!
And, as a weapons program is intended to last for decades, the setting of maintenance in time became a key variable of the contractual relationship. Here again, the parallel is clear between "global" service contracts which dream the defence industry and those practicing computer outsourcing professionals. Since that it undertook to proceed in this way with DCN, its main contractor, the Navy welcomes upwelling of availability of its ships, even if much remains to be done. The current work on the renovation of the aviation maintenance, Directorate General for armaments (DGA) closely examines the example of the basis of Cognac, where EADS invoice management of the fleet of training at the time of provision. The Army finally cannot rest, which has undertaken a broad reflection on the maintenance of its equipment.
In all cases, the defence industry must turn and think more in terms of services, assembler of technologies. Attention however. As the computer history has shown, the transformation of the service provider Builder is a path paved with obstacles. SE place in super master Integrator, it is a priori less industrial investment, and therefore more predictable margins. By contrast, is the risk of cutting its roots. And control of global contracts to the package requires a steering very late. "you have interest in knowing what you do when you fly programs of several billion dollars", summed up recently Paul Nisbet, analyst with the firm of independent research JSA Research, cited by Reuters.
But the trend is and involved the remodeling of the armaments sector. As in computer science, this race to the value added on a background of stagnant budgets leads to consolidation. Hence, for example, the battle fierce but unsuccessful EADS to take control of Thales. Hence also a reconstruction of the industrial sector should not make life easier to subcontractors of second, sandwiched between large suppliers and small specialists.
