Press Releases
Critical Software revalidates NATO certification
14 May 2012
Critical Software, SA has successfully revalidated its NATO AQAP 2110 and 2210 certifications, following standards defined by the NATO Standardisation Agency (NSA). The AQAP norms assign higher quality to the entire software management and development, a key factor to ensure high security levels in military organisation missions, such as armament systems, communication systems, mission planning systems and command and control systems.
AQAP norms complement ISO 9001 and introduce an additional set of requirements which allow certified companies to become service or solution suppliers for NATO projects. These additional requirements increase the rigour and requirement levels in aspects in which the ISO is less demanding. AQAP requires, for instance, the absolute need for an external entity to the certified company to independently verify and validate the entire work developed and also the need to validate testing tools.
Critical Software’s Quality Management System is certified by the world’s most demanding norms, such as CMMI’s level 5, EN 9100, TickIT and ISO 9001. Besides the certification regulations, Critical Software’s teams are certified with PMP®, Six Sigma, Certified SCRUM Master and ISTQB. Critical was the first Portuguese company to be awarded CMMI’s level 5 (the highest). CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) the organisational model adopted for the best product development and maintenance practices, is awarded by Carnegie Mellon University SEI’s (Software Engineering Institute) and attests to the maturity and optimisation in the enhancement of an organisation’s processes. Among more than 600 European companies rated, only 17 are ranked within the highest level.
Critical Software has a successful record in the development of innovative and reliable technologies for the support of mission- and business critical systems for renowned clients, such as the Portuguese and the UK Armed Forces, among others, as well as AgustaWestland, EADS and Thales Alenia Space, the American, European, Chinese and Japanese space agencies, Vodafone, Portucel-Soporcel Group, EDP, AES Tiete, BCI, BPI, BES, mCel, TDM, BAE Systems, to name just a few
