• The Spanish Ministry of Defence and Thales have signed a framework of agreement for the supply of a Formal Messaging solution.
• The Thales solution is based on Thales XOmail, an efficient and fully secure communication system, in order to provide a secure information exchange service.
• XOmail is already used at the strategic level as Military Message Handling System in several NATO organizations and countries.
Madrid, 12 January 2021 - The Spanish Ministry of Defence and Thales have signed a framework agreement for a Formal Messaging project for an amount of more than four million euros. The contract includes the software licences as well as the installation, configuration and adaptation to the system’s Spanish environment.
The Thales XOmail product is a proven solution developed in close cooperation with the Armed Forces of several NATO nations and widely used in different countries and operation theatres. It ensures a full interoperability with NATO and other allies. Moreover, this solution is easily deployable from the launch to the implementation of the different pilot scenarios from 2020 to 2022, when the system implementation will be completed.
The developments of the new and current version of Thales XOmail Enterprise will make it the formal messaging system of the Ministry of Defence and will be integrated into the new I3D (Integral Defence Information Infrastructure) platform. Thales España has considerable experience in Military Messaging in Spain. The first contract between Thales and the Spanish Ministry of Defence for implementing the Thales XOmail as a formal messaging application for SIMENFAS (Armed Forces Messaging System) has been signed in 2005.
Adapting Thales XOmail during this past decade to the needs of the Spanish Armed Forces has involved major knowledge transfer between Thales Norway and Thales in Spain, which will continue to take place thanks to this new contract. Thales España engineers have adjusted the system to the specific needs of the Armed Forces, including important improvements to ensure its compatibility with the security requirements of the National Cryptology Centre (CCN) as well as its interoperability with the current systems of the different units.
An iterative process has been followed in awarding the contract, in which Thales presented the new Thales XOmail Enterprise product as cutting-edge software to cover the needs of the new military messaging in the Spanish Armed Forces. Once the potential products from different companies were selected, the Thales XOmail Enterprise product was chosen for carrying out the tests on the product that were requested in the solicitation document by the CESTIC (Centre for Information and Communications Systems and Technologies) of the Ministry of Defence to complete the bidding process. Thales XOmail Enterprise is designed for an environment of virtual platforms with their interfaces as well as “Messaging-as-a-Service” for data centres.
XOmail is an efficient and fully secure communication system, in order to provide a secure information exchange service for all defence branches. The goal is to satisfy the need for a secure information exchange service that can be used on all levels in the armed forces; from the headquarters at the strategic level and all the way down to dismounted soldiers or vehicles at the battlefield level. The system has been developed and adapted to the needs of the Armed Forces for more than 20 years.
