NATO expansion lures IT firms to Poland
Among Poland's most pressing defense needs before joining NATO is an overhaul of its obsolete defense communications infrastructure. Firms both domestic and foreign are scambling for a piece of the action.
Poland's Ministry of Defense this year plans to call several tenders worth a total $391 million to replace the country's outdated radio, radar and telecommunications infrastructure, said Andrzej Adamczyk, spokesperson for Deputy Defense Minister Romuald Szeremietiew. The country must make these systems compatible with NATO before joining.
The clock is ticking. Poland, Central Europe's largest and most geographically strategic country, joins the North Atlantic alliance on April 1, 1999.
The ministry's plan envisions four key areas in which the country's defense communications systems must be integrated with those of NATO: the air-space command control system; the automated radar systems that scan the skies; the friend-foe identification system; and digitized radio-communication systems.
The work, which the government will probably shell out in a number of tenders, represents the largest IT project awarded in Poland so far. Two of the most coveted projects to date have been the zl. 638 million ($182 million) that the social security administration is spending to set up the new pension system and the zl. 300 million ($87 million) the Polish post office is expected to lay out to computerize its nationwide network.
Gdynia-based systems integrator Prokom won the ZUS job and could potentially also nab the Poczta Polska project. But the company will have to beat out serious competition from contenders such as IBM, ATM, Siemens, Optimus and Thomson for a slice of the defense work. "Considering the amount of money the ministry intends to spend, such potential bids would be highly ranked on our priority list," said Renata Sikora-Kuklewicz, marketing manager at Siemens Information and Communication Products.
While Adamczyk refused to spell out how many tenders the ministry intends to call, he confirmed that the first priority is anything that has to do with communications. He also said that the tenders would represent the first time the military had tapped outside companies for the work.
The Polish government has traditionally locked computer and telecom companies out of such projects, as the military fed the work to its own independent institutes, said Krzysztof Stasiowski, sales executive at Siemens Information and Communication Products.
Bidders are expected to have experience working with NATO. Siemens said the stipulation may work to its advantage, as the company has worked with NATO clients since the 1980s. EIFEL, a Siemens command-control information system, has been used by the German air force, as well as in France, Great Britain and the Netherlands in three computer centers and 250 organizational units. "Polish companies are not experienced at developing and implementing information systems coordinated with NATO standards," Sikora-Kuklewicz said.
But don't count the domestic players out completely. Polish companies such as Optimus are trying to team up with foreign partners who have greater experience in the defense field. In 1998 Optimus and command and control systems developer Lockheed Martin set up the Optimus Lockheed Martin Information Technology Group.
"We signed a transfer technology agreement which means (the joint venture) can use our partner's experience, (and) due to that experience we are interested in the military market," said Janusz Luks, deputy president of the company.
Poland's Ministry of Defense this year plans to call several tenders worth a total $391 million to replace the country's outdated radio, radar and telecommunications infrastructure, said Andrzej Adamczyk, spokesperson for Deputy Defense Minister Romuald Szeremietiew. The country must make these systems compatible with NATO before joining.
The clock is ticking. Poland, Central Europe's largest and most geographically strategic country, joins the North Atlantic alliance on April 1, 1999.
The ministry's plan envisions four key areas in which the country's defense communications systems must be integrated with those of NATO: the air-space command control system; the automated radar systems that scan the skies; the friend-foe identification system; and digitized radio-communication systems.
The work, which the government will probably shell out in a number of tenders, represents the largest IT project awarded in Poland so far. Two of the most coveted projects to date have been the zl. 638 million ($182 million) that the social security administration is spending to set up the new pension system and the zl. 300 million ($87 million) the Polish post office is expected to lay out to computerize its nationwide network.
Gdynia-based systems integrator Prokom won the ZUS job and could potentially also nab the Poczta Polska project. But the company will have to beat out serious competition from contenders such as IBM, ATM, Siemens, Optimus and Thomson for a slice of the defense work. "Considering the amount of money the ministry intends to spend, such potential bids would be highly ranked on our priority list," said Renata Sikora-Kuklewicz, marketing manager at Siemens Information and Communication Products.
While Adamczyk refused to spell out how many tenders the ministry intends to call, he confirmed that the first priority is anything that has to do with communications. He also said that the tenders would represent the first time the military had tapped outside companies for the work.
The Polish government has traditionally locked computer and telecom companies out of such projects, as the military fed the work to its own independent institutes, said Krzysztof Stasiowski, sales executive at Siemens Information and Communication Products.
Bidders are expected to have experience working with NATO. Siemens said the stipulation may work to its advantage, as the company has worked with NATO clients since the 1980s. EIFEL, a Siemens command-control information system, has been used by the German air force, as well as in France, Great Britain and the Netherlands in three computer centers and 250 organizational units. "Polish companies are not experienced at developing and implementing information systems coordinated with NATO standards," Sikora-Kuklewicz said.
But don't count the domestic players out completely. Polish companies such as Optimus are trying to team up with foreign partners who have greater experience in the defense field. In 1998 Optimus and command and control systems developer Lockheed Martin set up the Optimus Lockheed Martin Information Technology Group.
"We signed a transfer technology agreement which means (the joint venture) can use our partner's experience, (and) due to that experience we are interested in the military market," said Janusz Luks, deputy president of the company.
