Supply Chain North Exchange

SyntheSys Systems Engineer Ltd

SyntheSys was formed in December 1987 by Dr John Hartas as a part-time enterprise developing business software. In June 1991, still a one-man band, the company began full-time trading following the award of a UK government innovation grant to develop a novel software copy protection system. Immediately on departure from his full-time job with SD-Scicon he was offered a contract by them to continue his work in tactical military communications, in which he has developed some expertise. 

John's work in tactical communications expanded and, within a year, he had secured contracts with other companies and with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) itself - SyntheSys has held contracts directly to the MOD continuously ever since. The company's work continued to expand, and it developed expertise in cryptographic systems, command and control systems, and unmanned vehicles, as well as increasing its expertise in tactical communications systems. 

By the early 2000s, SyntheSys had started to develop knowledge and expertise concerned with interoperability of tactical communications systems. This has been a continual issue because the governing US and NATO standard can be inconsistent, incomplete, and sometimes incorrect. Then, as each nation developed its own systems based on flawed specification that were, to them, written in a foreign language, the flaws evolved into system incompatibilities. Although there were techniques for interoperability management and interoperability assurance, these techniques did not follow established interoperability. So, SyntheSys developed its own proprietary technique and tool for interoperability management and testing (which we called SPIRIT), based on an IBM suite of systems engineering software tools called Rational.

SyntheSys had been looking to diversify away from defence in recognition of the ever-increasing pressure on public spending. The development of SPIRIT turned out to be a turning point in this regard because, after developing SPIRIT, IBM recognised that we had some of the foremost expertise in the country in its Rational toolset and they approached us offering support if we became an IBM partner and built on that expertise. We embraced this opportunity, and we continue to derive a very significant revenue from sales of IBM software and related services today.

During the 2000s we also developed expertise in testing the interoperability of tactical communications systems and this culminated in the award of a £6m contact over a period of 5 years for the UK Multi-Link Testing Facility (MLTF) service. This is a ground-based system that connects the test rigs of UK and NATO military platforms (E-3D aircraft, Sentinel, Type 45 destroyer, etc.) in a secure Wide Area Network. The MLTF generates a simulated scenario and interfaces with the platform test rigs so that they think that the are operating in the simulated scenario. Events in the scenario, or operator actions, stimulate the transmission of tactical communications responses that enable the wider MLTF system to validate those responses. We were successful in keeping the contract when it was re-competed in 2016 when our competition included three out of the top 5 biggest defence companies in the world. This contract is still ongoing, though the competition for its follow-on has just been initiated.

We conduct our defence work all around the world, particularly our training. We have had a strong presence in Sweden where we have been supporting the provision of tactical data links on their ASC890 airborne surveillance and control aircraft. We have recently won our biggest ever training contract with a value in excess of £900k to provide a comprehensive package of training to the UAE.

Telephone
01947 821 464

Email
john_hartas@synthesys.co.uk

Website
www.synthesys.co.uk

Address
101A The Axis Building
Maingate, Kingsway North
Gateshead
Tyne and Wear
Ne11 0NQ