Frazer-Nash Consultancy has been appointed as testing and conformance partner for the next generation tactical communication information system, Morpheus.
Morpheus, which runs tactical intelligence management and communications for the Army and Information Systems and Services (ISS), is the replacement for the Bowman land digitisation product. Currently in development with a transition partner, Morpheus is unique in being the first defence authority-owned open architecture.
Morpheus will deliver improved situational awareness from soldiers to headquarters, increased bandwidth, and a more resilient network, allowing soldiers to get the information they need, when they need it. Its open architecture enables interoperability by design, supporting vendor-independent open procurement - leading to faster capability development and reducing through life costs.
Chris McDonald, who is leading the project for Frazer-Nash, said:
"Open systems architecture is becoming a key user requirement for defence across all platforms and systems. Open approaches reduce through life cost of ownership and enable faster, more agile evolution of capability to meet future needs.
"We are undertaking an assessment of Morpheus' logical and physical architectures, to ensure the authority's openness criteria are being met. We are also assessing the logical architecture conformance to confirm that the architecture can be built independently.
"We have already helped identify areas for improvement in the architectures: this has enabled issues to be fixed earlier, avoiding expensive reworking later in the project."
Notes:
- Morpheus is a £3.2 billion defence programme delivering the next generation of Tactical Communication and Information Systems (TacCIS) to forces operating in a Land Environment, inclusive of the Royal Navy in the littoral environment and elements of the Royal Air Force. The programme is delivered by the Battlefield Tactical Communications and Information Systems (BATCIS) Delivery Team in conjunction with Army HQ and Information Systems and Services. Morpheus will give access to fully integrated operational information technology that simplifies the user experience, allowing units to focus on the mission. Visit https://www.gov.uk/guidance/morpheus-project-next-generation-tactical-communication-information-systems-for-defence for further details.
- Frazer-Nash was appointed following a rigorous competitive selection process. It offers:
- expertise and experience in open assurance and open architecture
- an independent, impartial, vendor-agnostic approach
- technical credibility
- skills in stakeholder engagement and influence
- Open systems architecture is also a key part of the government's ICT strategy: the goal is for open, delaminated, vendor-agnostic, authority-owned architectures.
