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by Maxwell Orme Johnson
Systematic Software Engineering is renowned as
a supplier of complex and mission critical information
technology (IT) solutions for domestic and international
customers who demand high quality, reliability,
security and user friendliness. It is Denmark’s
largest privately-owned software and systems company.
It is also one of the six private sector Danish
companies that teamed together during the summer
of 2001in a cooperative venture to support Denmark’s
continued participation in the development and production
of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. Following
the announcement that the Pentagon had awarded the
JSF contract to Lockheed Martin, in Aug. 2002, Systematic
became an official Industrial Partner in the JSF
program. Headquartered in Aarhus in Jutland, Systematic
has offices in Fairfax, Virginia to look after its
U.S. government interests in Washington, DC and
in London to handle its business in the UK.
Its principal business areas are critical and complex
IT systems within the defense and health care sectors.
Founded in 1985 by Michael Holm, an entrepreneur
known as a visionary in his field, Systematic reached
CMM (Capability Maturity Model) Level 3 in March
2002 after five years of concentrated and dedicated
efforts. It is now working on reaching Level 4,
the only Danish software company to do so, and one
of only a few European companies with this sterling
rating of its software design and production capability.
It supplies products to more than 28 countries worldwide.
Turnover (sales revenue) during fiscal year 2001-2002
was DKK 186 million (just over $25 million). It
has no bank debt; its operations are entirely self-financing.
Systematic has 288 employees on staff, of which
210 are software engineers, 61 percent of whom have
a master’s or doctorate in software engineering.
The secrets to Systematic’s success are both
simple and somewhat contrarian. Its primary ambition
is to create a production process that will enable
its customers to rely on Systematic to consistently
deliver on time, on budget and with the highest
quality product. It approaches this with a total
focus on the needs of the customer, by working closely
with present and potential customers to design unique
software solutions that meet exactly what the customer
wants. Systematic employs no sales force. Instead,
its software engineers are charged to work with
their customers on a daily basis and to make it
their mission to design and deliver systems that
surpass their customers’ expectations for reliability,
security, user-friendliness, and effectiveness.
Perhaps its most successful product is the software
system IRIS, which is world class in military messaging,
integrated throughout NATO forces. It is an automated
system used for handling military, formatted messages
that enables message-based interoperability. IRIS
has been procured by more than 28 countries, including
Australia, NATO AWACS, the Royal Navy, and, under
license, the Theater Battle Management Core System
(TBMCS) manufactured by Lockheed Martin for a number
of foreign customers. According to Alex Holm Jensen,
the General Manager of Systematic, if the U.S. Government
were to relax its current restrictions on the use
of program systems based on foreign codes, IRIS
would likely be procured by the Pentagon.
Another very successful project is the software
suite being developed for the NATO Air Command and
Control System as a subcontractor to ThalesRaytheon,
USA. ThalesRaytheon and Systematic are in a joint
effort designing, developing and testing critical
mission planning software and the common software
infrastructure.
In the health care sector, Systematic has designed
and produced a very successful software suite for
the management of patient records, called the Electronic
Patient Record. In a more futuristic program, Systematic
has been working closely with Aarhus University
on a program known as "Virtual Reality Heart,"
designed for cardiac surgeons planning infant cardiac
surgery.
Alex Holm Jensen sums up Systematic by stating
"We are proud to be a member of a world-class
JSF Team, and we believe Systematic will make a
significant contribution in the design of the avionics
system." U.S. Ambassador Stuart Bernstein recognized
Systematic as a "first-rate company,"
stating that "the U.S. is very fortunate to
have such a fine software systems designer as part
of the JSF Team."
Visit Systematic online at:
www.systematic.dk
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