News
The Council of the European Union’s General Secretariat chooses Steria to secure its internal communications networks
March 2014 by Marc Jacob
Steria, a provider of IT-enabled business services, announced the signature of a framework contract with the Secretariat General of the Council of the European Union to modernise its PKI (Public Key Infrastructure), thus streamlining all the resources used to share information internally and between EU Member States. Worth an estimated €6 million, the contract is for a period of four years and renewable twice for an additional period of one year.
Under the terms of the contract, Steria is to standardise the existing PKI and make it more forward-compatible, as well as increasing its robustness and reliability. These developments will boost interoperability between the Council’s systems and those of Member States. This major transformation in security infrastructure will also include the simplification and automation of all related procedures.
Steria will be bringing to bear its knowhow in three key areas. The first relates to the consultancy phase, during which the PKI migration master plan will be defined. The second involves Steria implementing PKI resources and infrastructure components, in partnership with Open Trust for PKI software, Safenet for infrastructure components and Gemalto for the Smart Card. The third covers operational support and maintenance.
François Enaud, CEO of the Steria Group, had this to say: “This new contract offers further confirmation of Steria’s expertise in data exchange security for internal networks and mobility alike. It offers yet another example of EU institutions’ confidence in our services, following on from the success of SIS II and consolidating our position as the leaders in IT security in Europe.”
In December 2013, Steria signed a partnership agreement with Unisys to modernise the communications network of the Commission’s Directorate General for Taxation and Customs Union (DG Taxud).
