Editorial
A Critical glance
The release of our financial results for 2007 demonstrates that we are growing at an extremely fast pace. These figures show Critical's strength and are a direct consequence of the relations' building up we have reached with the most demanding customers. Since we are always so conscious of the customer's real requirements we end up fully understanding the domains in which we operate, providing adequate bespoken solutions, on-time, on-budget and on-quality.
Critical has been working with one of the world's leading helicopter manufacturers on a number of long term support contracts to improve efficiency and reliable service provision in the context of support to customer's operations. With a group of Critical's solution architects and software engineers working on site, we are very proud of the relationship and trust that has been established between Critical and AgustaWestland. This arose from many years of investment in the aerospace domain and our dedicated drive to create positive business relationships with key players in the field. Hence, we are taking advantage of applying technologies that we master in the space market to other markets.
This edition of our newsletter also brings the usual glimpses of some of the other showcase projects on which we were and are engaged. Let me highlight SISone4ALL. This upgrade of the Schengen Information System allowed the enlargement of Schengen Space to take place as scheduled, during the Portuguese presidency of the EU. Developed in close collaboration with the technical staff of the Portuguese Ministry of Internal Affairs, it is a clear recognition of our capacity to excel on delivering innovative and reliable solutions for the Homeland Security market.
To emphasize just a couple more interesting projects we are working on, I'd like to stress Critical's involvement in developing a solution for the leading mobile communications provider in Mozambique Critical is also taking active part on the development and implementation of a prototype to be used in Africa to help better predict, monitor, mitigate, and respond to fires.
See you soon
Rui Biscaia, Critical Software's Marcom Manager
News articles:
Critical develops HUMS Ground Station Software for AgustaWestland
Critical Software is currently
developing a revolutionary Health & Usage Monitoring System (HUMS)
Ground Station software application for AgustaWestland, one of the
world's leading helicopter manufacturers. Scheduled for release in the
first half of 2008 this innovative system, built from the ground up,
will deliver an autonomous web based HUMS download, processing and
analysis system capable of interacting with virtually any maintenance
management system in use by operators today. The system will allow the operators, for example, to detect abnormal airframe and component vibration, manoeuvres and stress; monitor flying hours and airframe and component cycles and failures; generate feedback; support a flight operations and quality assurance program; and monitor fleet-wide trends. It will also provide instant access to powerful HUMS functions, including: Engine Health & Usage, Transmission Health & Usage, Structural Health & Usage and Failure Analysis.
Critical Software and AgustaWestland share a common goal of fostering innovation. By providing users with an enhanced level of scalability, the new system will accelerate the pace at which HUMS processing outputs are made available and give a far better user experience, whilst also delivering improved HUMS processing capabilities. This will result in better data quality, faster operational turnaround times, more accurate data trending and reporting and enhanced flight safety.
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... and supports the development of the new Fleet Planning Tool
Critical Software's team has been closely involved in the development of an
all-new Fleet Planning Tool for AgustaWestland. Initially destined for
use with the UK's Royal Navy and Royal Air Force Merlin helicopters,
the new Fleet Planning application can be used by any operator for any
type of aircraft or vehicle, and is set to become the industry standard
for global fleet aircraft planning.
According to Mike May, Head of AgustaWestland's Logistic Support Systems, "Critical Software's dedicated team has been a key resource in the design, development and testing phases of the project, resulting in a product that has met or exceeded all of AgustaWestland's expectations".
The Fleet Planning Tool uses a combination of data sources to produce an up-to-the-minute picture of fleet availability and disposition. The application features a predictive capability, based on interactive planning and historical information and it also provides a "what-if" simulation facility, allowing users to run different scenarios driven by selectable operational and maintenance parameters.
By accessing the comprehensive built-in reporting suite, supplemented by self-generated customised reports to meet special needs, operators will have instant access to their overall fleet availability picture. They can then use this information to greatly reduce operating costs by making the optimum use of each aircraft by exploiting the full capacity of maintenance facilities, thereby minimising aircraft out-of-service time.
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Critical takes part in a 2.4 billion Euro program for R&D in Embedded Systems
Critical Software and ISA are amongst
the big industrial players in Europe, which together with the European
Commission, created the 1st R&D public-private partnership that
will manage a 2.4 billion Euro program for Research and Development in
Embedded Systems. Critical Software and ISA are the Portuguese
representatives of ARTEMISIA, the European Industry Association, which
led to the ARTEMIS Technology Initiative for research in Embedded
Systems. "Critical's participation in this initiative occurs naturally from our positioning in the Aeronautics, Space and Transportation markets, where Embedded Systems are critical to the safety and availability of aircraft, satellites, trains or cars. Thus, we will continue to invest in high integrity systems modelling, simulation, and verification and validation" says Diamantino Costa, Critical VP for Business Development and SMEs representative in ARTEMISIA's Steering Board.
With the ever-growing electronics and software technologies development it is expected that more and more devices will have Embedded Systems incorporated. It is estimated that a car has more than 60 Embedded Systems, from ABS to the air conditioning control, while a mobile phone has between 5 and 10. Embedded Systems make the devices more "intelligent", easy to use and at the same time help to save energy and reduce costs. This sector will experience an enormous growth in Europe, acting as a key enabler for innovation in major industries and creating knowledge-based high value-added products and more jobs.
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Critical's financial figures show a 60% increase in 2007's turnover
Critical's
financial reports for 2007 show a growth in turnover that exceeded 60%,
when compared to the previous period. With the about 14 million € in
sales, 70% of which were foreign market based, we went beyond our
business goals established for 2007. The Operating Cash Flow (EBITDA)
reached 2.4 million € in the same period, while results before
taxes increased by 65%, getting to 1.8 M €. "Our strategy is to strengthen our position in the most demanding markets, which typically best value good engineering solutions. We don't want to compete with the low cost software industry that is installed in emerging markets. Instead, we want to be a reference in the high added-value software engineering industry. This year, we took one more important step in the right direction and for that we are very pleased," commented Gonçalo Quadros, Critical's CEO.
Critical Software has been developing its solutions with the purpose of addressing two main business areas: the Safety Critical Systems intended to suit the markets which gave birth to the company (Aeronautics, Space, Defence and Homeland Security) and the Critical Enterprise Solutions aimed at markets such as Finance, Energy, Manufacturing and Telecommunications.
For 2008 Critical Software is optimistic in maintaining a good growth capacity. The company expects to reach a 19M € turnover, with similar levels of profitability, while keeping the foreign market as the main source of business.
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Portal voucher solution for the leading mobile communications provider in Mozambique
Critical Software is developing a
web-based platform for mCel, the leading mobile communications provider
in Mozambique, to enhance and automate the voucher sales process and
also to collect information which will be used for report generation.
These vouchers are sold by authorized mCel dealers with an amount of credit that is used by mCel customers to top up their mobile phones. The new portal voucher solution developed by Critical will deliver a high performance scalable web system, based on Java technologies, which will provide the necessary functionalities to automate the voucher sales process. In addition the solution will also allow higher monitoring, reduce process order time, decrease fraud risk, make the use of electronic vouchers possible and a build a report system.
With about 2 Million customers, mCel is mainly owned by TDM, the state owned fixed operator in Mozambique
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Critical Software supports Fire Prevention in Senegal
Fires
are a major cause of loss of life and impact important environmental
resources, thus there is a need to better manage this hazard through a
more efficient use of geo-spatial observations. Bearing this in mind,
the ESA Centre for Earth Observation (known as ESRIN) has been working
on the development and implementation of a prototype to be used in
Africa to help better predict, monitor, mitigate, and respond to fires.
Critical Software is participating in the pilot project - Multisource Data Integration service for Fire Risk Management. The model relies on Envisat and Meteosat data and both ESA and EUMETSAT data dissemination systems to deliver the data directly to user premises. Critical's support has been crucial to the project which will be deployed in the Centre de Suivi Ecologique (CSE) in Senegal.
This project demonstrates the awareness that environmental issues like Fire prevention and mitigation have around the globe. Mistakes due to failures in coordination and lack of in field information are common and need to be dealt accordingly. Products like Critical's "Premfire" poses as a first-rate solution to this problem. Premfire is a unique multi-function command & control and decision support system specially designed for prevention and combat of forest fires.
For more information please visit:
http://www.premfire.net
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Critical Software's decisive role for Schengen Space enlargement
It
was Critical's solution, SISone4ALL, developed together with SEF
(Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras), that made it possible
for millions of Western European citizens to cross borders and spend
Christmas abroad without any restriction for the first time in history.
The ceremony of the abolition of internal border controls in the
enlarged Schengen Space took place last December 21st and 22nd.
Gonçalo Quadros, Critical's CEO, was there to give a warm
welcome to the newly arrived countries to the Schengen Space.
SISone4ALL works on top of the existent system, using more advanced
technologies and making it possible to integrate the new member states
(Lithuania, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland, Malta,
Slovakia, Hungary, and Slovenia). Joining the Schengen Information
System (SIS) guarantees access to the databases of all Schengen
members. This system enables Schengen members to operatively exchange
information about persona non grata or wanted people, stolen cars,
weapons and illegal imigrants.
All in all, SISone4ALL was the result of the vision of the entire
Portuguese Ministry of Internal Affairs staff that, in close
partnership with Critical, made it possible to keep the promise made to
the new member states, thus solving a political problem within the EU.
SISone4ALL has received appraisal from several governments and
politicians enhancing Critical Software's image abroad and in particular
in the western European countries. This will in turn leverage business
opportunities in the so called new European emerging markets, in which
Critical is already investing, namely with establishment of a new
office in Bucharest, Romania.
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Amongst the presidential entourage at the XVII Iberian American Summit
Last
November, in the scope of the XVII Iberian American Summit, the
President of the Portuguese Republic, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, and
an entourage of 30 entrepreneurs active in various types of business
visited Chile on invitation of Chilean counterpart, Michelle Bachelet.
Ana Guimarães, Critical Software's Chief Operations Officer, was
part of the entourage that aimed to establish a good commercial network
in South America, and Chile in particular.
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Critical sponsors CiberMouse competition at the RTSS2007
The
CiberMouse@RTSS2007 competition was the third in a sequence of similar
events, following CiberMouse@RTSS2006 in Rio de Janeiro and The MARS
Task in Miami in 2005. These events were organised as satellite events
of the IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium (RTSS) with the purpose of
giving (under)graduate students the chance to apply their
research/graduation work on a problem that has many similarities with a
true real-time embedded system and comparing their approaches by means
of a competition.
In 2007, the event took place in Tucson, Arizona, USA, and counted
with 6 teams coming from different universities. Luís Almeida,
from the University of Aveiro, explains the competition model: "The
challenge proposed to the students was to program a rescue robotic
agent in the scope of the Lisbon-Dakar Rally. The agent had to reach an
RF beacon, signalling a team lost after a sand storm, fetch the team and
return. In the way there were obstacles, both static and dynamic, and
both taller and shorter than the beacon. The agent sensors had specific
associated delays, such as real sensors, and thus adequate robot motion
control required proper reactive real-time programming".
The event was sponsored by Critical Software and supported by the
University of Aveiro, IEETA and ARTIST2 European Network of Excellence
on Embedded Systems Design.
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Joining the leading Mobile industry forum
Critical is one of the newest members
of OMA (Open Mobile Alliance) which aims to facilitate global user
adoption of mobile data services by specifying market driven mobile
service enablers. OMA was formed in June 2002 by nearly 200 companies
including the world's leading mobile operators, device and network
suppliers, information technology companies and content and service
providers. Rather than having different entities working independently,
OMA intends to consolidate into one organisation all specification
activities in the service enabler space.
"Being a member of OMA is one of Critical's first steps
towards the (re)building of a sustainable presence in the of
mobile telecommunications' industry" says Paulo Freitas, Critical's Business Development Manager, who adds,
"As a part of a broader strategy for the Telecom & Media Market,
our presence in OMA will give access to all the existing know-how and
innovations. In the near future we hope to be developing, using and
testing cutting-edge technologies such as Presence&Location,
Security and Mobile Payments and PIM (Personal Instant Messaging) as
well as building up our ISVV/Software Testing expertise for this
market."
We invite you to visit:
www.openmobilealliance.org
Critical Software's spin-off company establishes new office in the US
Critical Links has relocated
its global headquarters to the US and expanded its executive team with
the additions of Abdul Kasim, vice president of global marketing and
business development and Robert Muhaw, vice president of global sales
and operations. The new office is located in Fairfield, New Jersey.
Critical Links, founded in 2006 in Portugal as a spin-off from Critical
Software, is the developer of edgeBOX, an office-in-a-box appliance
that provides a complete voice, data and IT solution in a single device
for SMBs (Small to Medium Businesses) and enterprise branch offices.
Critical Links
695 Route 46 West, Fairfield, NJ 07004
Tel.: 201 491 8325
Support, Hotline: 888 433 4326
www.critical-links.com
Business opportunities in the Fusion Research Project
Together
with the Portuguese institute IPFN (Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão
Nuclear) and other Portuguese companies, Critical participated in the
ITER Business Forum in Nice. This Forum intended to establish a network
between companies, disseminate information through conferences and
workshops, pinpoint technological challenges and encourage exchange of
knowledge.
ITER is a joint international research and development project that
aims to demonstrate the scientific and technical feasibility of fusion
power, the energy source of the sun and the stars. Ultimately this
research will demonstrate that this energy source can be used to
produce electricity in a safe and environmentally benign way, with
abundant fuel resources, to meet the needs of a growing world
population.
"IBF was a extremely valuable opportunity to take the pulse of ITER
perspectives for business, foresee and plan ahead activities and
establish promising partnerships." says Critical's Business Development Manager, Nuno Cunha.
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The flags that came from Space
As part of the celebrations of
its first anniversary, various activities took place recently at the
University of Coimbra Science Museum. The highlight of these activities
was the presentation of the project "Find your sky" in which two flags
(one American and one Portuguese) that had been on board of the
Atlantis Space Shuttle were delivered to the museum. The award of the
two flags expresses the commitment of NASA to strengthen its ties with
Portugal, which is investing heavily on educational programmes to try
to stir up young people's interest in science.
Critical Software is proudly sponsoring this joint initiative
encompassed in the International Year of Astronomy 2009, between the
University of Coimbra and the University of Lisbon Science Museums. The
"Find your sky" project is aimed at primary schools and intends to
motivate students to examine the sky and find new constellations. The
drawings made by students in the scope of this project will be used by
Critical as its Christmas Cards for 2008.
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Critical Software performs security audits on Information Systems
Critical's workers have been given Information Security Management
System Auditor/Lead Auditor certification by the BSI (British Standards
Institute). This is only the first step for Critical Software to
achieve a certification by the Portuguese institutional organisation
GNS (Gabinete Nacional de Segurança) to start performing
security audits on Information Systems.
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Critical Software is an international company that provides solutions, services and technologies for mission and business critical information systems. The company was founded in 1998, is headquartered in Coimbra and has offices in Lisbon and Oporto (Portugal), San Jose (US) and subsidiaries in Southampton (UK) and Bucharest (Romania). Critical Software supports customers across several markets including Aerospace, Defence, Manufacturing, Telecom & Media, Government & Finance and Energy. Customers include Siemens, NASA, Soporcel, ESA, Vodafone, Eumetsat, EADS, Astrium, ChevronTexaco, Deutsch Telekom, AgustaWestland, among many others renowned in Europe and the US. The company operates a quality system certified to CMMI® Level3, ISO 9001:2000 Tick-IT, ISO 15504, AQAP 2120 and EN9100.» Back to the top «