User:MatthewDalhousie/sandbox/Systematic (company)

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Systematic is a multinational software company based in Aarhus, Denmark. It specialises in software systems that support decision-makers facing complex environments. Primarily, these have been command and control (C2) systems for commanders in armed forces, including Military Message Handling Systems through to HQ level C2.

By 2023, the company was reported to be the world’s leading provider of battlefield management systems. As an open sourced system, it enables interoperability between force elements, and between allied forces. Other than the forces of its home nation, Denmark, it has been adopted by the Australian Army, British Army, New Zealand Defence Force, United States Army and many European based NATO forces, such as the Slovenian Armed Forces, Swedish Armed Forces and the Bundeswehr.

Systematic’s civilian applications extend to patient management, library data management and management of energy generation and delivery.

History
In the Northern summer of 1985, Michael Holm met with fellow software engineer Allan Schytt, and discussed his idea of a system to track the movement of warships on the Baltic Sea for Danish Fleet Command. Both men quit their jobs at the state-owned technology company, Datacentralen, and incorporated a new company in Aarhus, to purse the idea. The company was briefly known as Informatik and Oplysing, or Infop ApS, before settling on Systematic Software Engineering.

1980s-1990s: Message format innovation
With the Royal Danish Navy as their first customer, they delivered the tracking software, then began development of a new Variable Message Format communications platform, for use between NATO partners. Known as IRIS, the system had users in four countries by 1993, and in 21 countries by 1999. By 2021, IRIS was described as “the de facto communication standard between command and control systems and other digital platforms in more than 50 armed forces around the world.”

2000s: Battle management development
IRIS became the company’s foundation software, allowing more complex systems to develop, while introducing the company to military customers across the Western alliance. By 2011 Systematic had developed its first battle management software platform; SitaWare. Originally designed to provide situational awareness to commanders in the land domain, SitaWare generates a common operational picture that can be shared between operators in battle, and, importantly, with partner forces. The first military force to use SitaWare was Denmark. It’s understood that the first land force to adopt SitaWare, outside of Denmark, was the Slovenian Army.

2010s: Expansion and combat deployment
During the War in Afghanistan, several ISAF partners deployed SitaWare as their command and control system, notably Swedish Armed Forces. Their army began training with SitaWare Headquarters and SitaWare WebCOP from 2010, then formed part of Regional Command North in Mazar-e Sharif, with 500 soldiers. It's force tracking capabilities were said to prevent fratricide, and the company's leadership believes, in this capacity at least, the technology had saved lives.

Yet it was 2014 Russian invasion of Crimea that most significantly affected uptake of the SitaWare suite, particularly amongst US commanders. It’s ability to support communications and information sharing with European allies, meant it was preferred over its American counterpart, Raytheon. By 2017, Mission Command Center of Excellence has selected SitaWare Headquarters for its command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence (C4I) system.

2020s: Diversification and transition
At points in its growth trajectory, Holm would state the company’s core business is software products, rather than services, that support decision-makers in complex situations, and not only in combat.

With that flexibility, Systematic positioned itself a supplier of software systems for defence, but also the healthcare sector on a global scale. The very first iterations of its Healthcare solution, Columna Flow, was used for Electronic Health Record management in the small central region of Denmark in 2011-13. However, it gained national prominence when the company volunteered to deploy the system, at no cost to the state, to manage and track infection and testing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Systematic has generated new management platform for Danish Police, for its intelligence services as well as libraries and educational institutions.

While the company has been moving towards a broader product offering, its military customer base has strengthened. By 2023, there were 45 nations using the SitaWare platform at some level of command. The company's 2022 annual report states they have a million warfighters using one of their software solutions.

Software platforms
Systematic has described itself as offering solutions for "defence, healthcare and digital transformation" As of 2023, its core products are as follows.

IRIS Suite
The IRIS Suite is a commercial off-the-shelf message text format military communications technology, that integrates with NATO systems and standards This can aid with the simplification of orders, reports, and messaging. IRIS Forms and IRIS WebForms are compliant with the full message catalogue from NATO ADatP-3/APP11 as well as USMTF, OTH-T GOLD, and ASMTF.

SitaWare Suite
SitaWare Suite is off the shelf software that provides C2 capabilities for static and deployed command. The Suite envelops SitaWare Headquarters, SitaWare Frontline, and SitaWare Edge; and so providing C2 for the warfighter, whether at the command-post, in an armoured vehicle or facing combat lines on foot. Sitaware brings commanders four capabilities. First to track friendly forces, and adversaries, in real time. Second to enable cooperation between individual units, making combined arms operations more effective. Third, it reduces blue-on-blue incidents. Fourth, the presentation of information, and the speed of sharing that information with other parts of the command chain, simplifies the decision making process. The Suite is used by many NATO partners, including its newer members. In 2023, the Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) announced plans to use the entire SitaWare suite the Finnish Army.

SitaWare Headquarters
SitaWare Headquarters is a full suite platform that connects all echelons, from the national command centre to the individual soldier. It provides joint staffs and task force commanders with a current picture of large-scale operations using high performance web technologies. It aggregates large volumes of data at speed, both from military and civilian data feeds to generate a common operational picture for land, maritime, air and joint operations. The software supports staff in planning and executing operations with tools for C2, for operational planning while providing situational awareness. In 2020, the British Army 3rd Division - took SitaWare Headquarters into service, for sit awareness and command and control for the battalion level and above. Its ability to create interoperability with allies was a key reason the system was chosen by the Lithuanian Armed Forces and the Australian Defence Force.

SitaWare Frontline
For decision-makers at the platform level, such as a command vehicle, SitaWare Frontline makes it possible to make plans and send orders  — directly from the electronic map. This may include sketches and text. Together, they can be shared via tactical radio networks – both IP and non-IP. The 2021 release included a new mapping system, comprehensive force tracking, and geospatial tools to generate a clearer common operating picture. Features include a Guard Zone function to assist force protection with the designation of out of-bounds areas, a declutter tool, cursor on-target capability and the ability to simultaneously display two video feeds that are generated from external sensors and subsystems.

Frontline can now include a Fire support module, to be known as Thor in the Danish forces. This will enable fire mission data from a forward observer to be passed to the gun crew via a joint fires cell, then transferred into a fire-control system, for ballistic calculations. The forward observer will then activate the mission. Bundeswehr has introduced SitaWare Frontline to their Very High Readiness Joint Task Force. The Australian Defence Force announced that they had down selected SitaWare Headquarters and SitaWare Frontline, to be deployed in the Army's Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle and Hawkei and Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon s.

SitaWare Edge
SitaWare Edge supports the individual dismounted soldiers preparing for close-combat. The software is device responsive and will automatically adjust to fit the screen of any Android device. It provides the same 3D mapping that is available in HQ, with a simplified planning feature that uses a 2D map. The chat function is integrated.

SitaWare Insight
Launched in 2022, SitaWare Insight provides commanders and intelligence handlers with decision support for their planning and operations. It meets the need for Intelligence Requirements Management through data collection, planning, and analysis capabilities. It leverages artificial intelligence to manage and exploit big data, and provide commanders with critical insights into the battlespace. The system can call up data relevant to decision-makers in battlefield environments, from open source documents and video of enemy defence assets. In 2023 it was announced that the platform will use the feed of defence intelligence from Janes Information Services.

SitaWare Maritime
Released in 2019, SitaWare Maritime was initially developed for the Royal Danish Navy, but was soon adopted by the German Navy. It is designed to support national headquarters, surface commanders, individual ships, boarding teams, RHIBs, and mobile coastal units. The system builds on the capabilities of Sitaware HQ, brining in modules to support maritime operations. Its key capability is the provision of the Recognised Maritime Picture (RMP) ingesting an array of information sources for the sea domain, such as AIS, OTH-Gold, and Link 16.

Columna Flow and Columna Clinical Information System
This software supports hospital administrators with patient management, resource allocation and logistics processes. This can include practical matters such as requesting medical devices and their automatic provisioning. Extensive search functionality enables health care providers to find a device or resource. The overall effect is to optimise hospital workflows across disciplines and departments. Currently used in Denmark and parts of Britain's National Health Service and University Medical Center Utrecht.

Cicero
This library management software can serve as the system of systems to local libraries. Since 2018, the platform has been used to automate many tasks in the Danish Joint Library System, that provides overall management to the systems of 2,428 library facilities as they, in turn, manage 62 million library items.

Company organisation
Allan Schytt sold his share in the company to the company's co-founder, Michael Holm, in 1992. Holm brought in new equity partners, Alex Holm Jensen and Erik Bank Lauridsen but maintained a controlling stake through his private holding company, Systematic ApS, said to be valued at DKK 600 million, making him the majority stakeholder, chairman of the board, and CEO.

However, in October 2023, after 38 years of leading the company, Holm announced his plan to retire as CEO. Nicolaj Bramsen, was appointed to the role, having served as the Group Senior Vice President for People & Culture, with Holm remaining as chairman of the board.

Staff numbers have grown steadily at Systematic. When the company turned 25 in 2010, there were 500 staff. By 2021, this number had more than doubled, to 1,100. Likewise its global footprint has expanded. Its two most recent openings in Bucharest (a development centre, having purchased a local tech company, Consensia) and Canberra (for its Asia-Pacific operations) bringing its presence to 13 sites, as follows:


 * Aarhus, Denmark, the global headquarters.
 * Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
 * Bucharest, Romania,
 * Centreville, VA, United States
 * Copenhagen, Denmark, a centre for developers.
 * Farnborough, United Kingdom
 * Köln, Germany
 * Paris, France
 * Singapore
 * Stockholm, Swede
 * Tampere, Finland
 * Wellington, New Zealand

While remaining in private hands, the company makes its annual reports public, and was known to have a turnover of DKK 965 million in 2021. By late 2023, the company was reported to be on track to record an annual turnover of DKK 1.4 billion.

Regarding the future ownership of the group, Holm said in 2023, "we are not going to sell. The most realistic thing is that we establish a fund that will own Systematic in the future."