BT is backing long-range radio after spending 18 months analysing the various communications options available to meet the needs of the smart metering initiative. Unlike mobile, it can provide truly nationwide coverage and dependable reception indoors. The fact it operates on dedicated licensed spectrum is also important as it is ideal in ensuring the security of supply and protection of consumer data while meeting the needs of the Energy Industry.

The Government will soon publish a prospectus that will provide details about the project and the possible commercial opportunities. The partners will review this document and will then formally launch their proposal in September. Their aim will be to offer a universal, dedicated, secure and resilient nationwide communications network to underpin the Government's plans for smart meters and subsequent smart grid applications.

Olivia Garfield, BT Group Strategy Director, said: "Smart meters will use telecommunications to deliver important environmental benefits and so BT is determined to be at the heart of the project. It is vital that any solution is designed for ubiquitous coverage of homes and is thoroughly secure and resilient. We believe that long range radio is the only technology to offer nationwide coverage and we will release more detail in a series of events in September."

"A communications network designed to meet the unique needs of all of Britain's utilities - electricity, gas and water - must be able to deliver universal connectivity and long-term resilience. And the only way to achieve this is through a dedicated network based on long-range radio. The collaboration of three of Britain's leading communications and security organisations provides further weight to this argument and provides the most effective way of delivering the government's target of rolling out smart meters to all homes in the shortest time possible," added John Cronin, Managing Director for Arqiva Wireless Access.

"The smart meter initiative will represent a significant addition to our critical national infrastructure and, as such, security and privacy must be key considerations in its design. We are working with the group to develop safeguards to ensure protection of the data, processes, communications networks and operational sites from risk and to demonstrate how the new infrastructure can be secured effectively,"said Martin Sutherland, Managing Director, Detica.

This partnership between three of the UK's leading communications network and IT services providers brings together an leading combination of design and operational experience in the delivery of national, large-scale, communications and IT infrastructure projects to meet the smart meter challenge.

Unveiling its position paper, "Unblocking the transport network: Joining the dots for smarter and safer travel', at The Great Transport Debate in London today, Detica's senior transport specialist, Grant Klein said: "Many parts of the UK's road and rail networks are now so close to capacity that even a minor incident can quickly tip them into chaos with knock-on delays for thousands of travellers.  With the prospect of unpredictable journey times, travellers have little choice but to allow for the worst-case congestion scenario if they want to be sure of arriving on time."

Faced with this situation, transport operators are searching for new ways of unblocking and better utilising their networks.  Key to this is giving travellers relevant and timely information to enable them to make better travel choices " when to travel, on what mode, on what route and with whom.  "People now expect a "seamless' experience across information sources and the different media they encounter throughout the day," says Klein. "However, the information they currently receive from travel organisations does not live up to these growing expectations."

The problem is compounded by a fragmented UK transport industry where deregulation has created numerous service operators, each with their own systems to manage and objectives to achieve.  Even within transport modes there are operational silos where the department best placed to collect information on how a service is operating is not the one who provides that information to travellers.

Since major infrastructure investment is not an option, and transport spending is generally being squeezed, equal doses of innovation and pragmatism will be needed to join up the industry.  A key challenge will be to agree on the specific roles and responsibilities of the industry players involved along the information chain.  Klein comments: "One could argue that an infrastructure operator should focus on data collection, while information service providers should take care of data enhancement and presentation.  Where we need greater clarity is in the middle of the chain, namely collating and interpreting data. The current spaghetti of connections and conflicting information results in confused and inconsistent messages being communicated to the travelling public".

The solution, according to Klein, is to combine regulation, to ensure a high-quality common pool of data, with liberalisation to encourage its exploitation by private sector information wholesalers and retailers.  "The speed and inventiveness shown by mobile phone software developers to "mash up' public transport data with online mapping and property databases to create new information services has shown the way", comments Klein. "If we can get to the situation where there is a revenue stream attached to the data being supplied by transport operators, competition in the marketplace will create pressure to maintain quality and consistency " and to innovate and keep pace with consumers' demands."

Joining up journey planning and service running information will help travellers make better and more informed choices and so help unblock congested transport networks. But there are other benefits to be gained.  Over and above their primary duty to provide a service to travelling customers, all players involved in the transport industry need to protect their services from accidental or deliberate disruption.  Klein says: "By joining up the data, infrastructure operators can mitigate against incidents caused by weather, accident or criminal intent.  Service operators can ensure those misusing or abusing the system or fraudulently obtaining tickets are deterred or caught.  And information service providers can monitor and investigate activities that could lead to transport services being compromised or disrupted."

Klein concludes: "If we don't address this fragmentation issue then passengers will continue to distrust transport information and make poor travel decisions.  But if data can be joined up properly, travellers will come to trust its accuracy and completeness, and this will unlock a change in traveller behaviour and attitudes to different transport modes. Travel choices will be more informed and the networks will be more balanced. And the travelling environment will become safer and more resilient."

Copies of Detica's position paper, "Unblocking the transport network: Joining the dots for smarter and safer travel', can be downloaded here

Within the software application solutions framework category, Detica bid for four Lots and was successful in each. These are bespoke applications, CRM/case management, information management, web design and content management. This opens the door for the firm to deliver solutions to the public sector over the next two years. The win builds on success last year where Detica secured a similar position on the ICT consultancy and delivery services framework agreement.

Theo Hildyard, Framework Manager at Detica comments: The software application solutions category is essential to delivering the efficiencies and savings required by the public sector now and in the future. We look forward to bringing our 30-year expertise of working with Government to develop innovative and mission-critical solutions.

The win follows a highly competitive bid process that began in May 2009.

Steve Daniels, Head of Cyber Security and Information Assurance at Detica explains: With new technology and operations comes new risks. Like the Internet, the smart grid could be hacked, and confidential customer data might be lost or new vulnerabilities to crime may be created, unless adequate safeguards are put in place. Energy smart metering is perhaps the biggest change to the critical national infrastructure in more than a decade, and the energy market already has many stakeholders across Government, regulatory bodies, utilities companies, generators and other third parties. Engaging them all is vital and we believe that a single sponsoring group needs to exist to coordinate the scheme.

Daniels continues: Security is everybodys problem in the smart metering landscape. Whilst each member of the ecosystem has a critical role to play, coordinated governance, strategy and solution design will also be needed to ensure that weaknesses are not introduced in the hand-offs between these groups, or by the technologies involved.

Click here for the latest Detica whitepaper entitled Securing smart meters: getting it right first time

Detica CView™ will help the UK’s ISPs and creative industries to understand the level of digital piracy in the context of new commercial services and piracy measures. It has the potential to measure file-sharing across all UK ISP networks, paving the way for ISPs, the creative industry and the government to better collaborate, understand and respond to the digital piracy challenge as outlined in the Digital Britain report.

Detica CView™ applies high volume, advanced analytics to anonymous ISP traffic data, and aggregates this information into a measure of the total volume of unauthorised file sharing. The Detica CView™ tool meets stringent consumer security design principles to protect privacy and is powered by a fully automated, closed system which does not identify individuals or store their data.

Andy Frost, Director of Media at Detica says: “The Digital Britain report set out some bold targets to reduce illegal file sharing on ISP networks, but until now measuring the extent of the problem has been based on conflicting consumer surveys and speculation. We hope the launch of Detica CView™ will pave the way for stronger collaboration between ISPs and the media industry, by enabling all parties to more accurately measure the success of shared initiatives, reduce digital piracy and provide an unparalleled level of accuracy.”

Jon James, Executive Director of Broadband at Virgin Media comments: "Understanding how consumer behaviour is changing will be an important requirement of Virgin Media's upcoming music offering and, should they become law, the Government's legislative proposals will also require measurement of the level of copyright infringement on ISPs’ networks. Detica's CView™ technology potentially offers a non-intrusive solution which enhances our understanding of aggregate customer behaviour without identifying or storing individual customers' data."

Addressing the annual RSA security conference today, in a presentation entitled ‘The end of data mining?  Surviving the digital tsunami’, David Porter, one of Detica’s senior security experts, explains: “Although criminals have been quick to exploit the benefits of the digital revolution, so too have those responsible for their disruption.  Both governments and large corporations use powerful data mining tools to help detect fraud and other serious crime.”

Porter continues: “However, there is now real concern that the explosion in data volume, complexity and speed is outstripping our ability to make sense of it.  This growing digital tsunami means that conventional approaches to data mining developed over the past few decades are hitting a ceiling.   The answer is to embrace ‘next generation’ data mining methods such as social network analysis and also re-appraise the role that human intelligence, imagination and experience play in detecting security breaches.  By substituting brute-force data interrogation with a smarter, more collaborative human-machine approach we can get to grips with today’s fast-moving security threats more quickly.”

The conference is being organised by RSA, the Security Division of EMC, with the support of the security industry.  Originally launched in 1991 as a forum for cryptographers to share the latest knowledge on Internet security, the RSA Conference is today helping to drive the information security agenda worldwide with annual industry events in the U.S., Europe and Japan, creating opportunities to tackle the most important IT security issues through first-hand interactions with experts in the field.

David Porter is speaking at the event at the Hilton London Metropole as part of the ‘Business of Security’ conference track.  Further details about the conference are available at: http://rsaconference.com/2009/europe/index.htm

About Detica
Detica specialises in collecting, managing and exploiting information to reveal actionable intelligence.   It uses this capability to help government and commercial clients reveal intelligence, maintain security and strengthen resilience in today’s complex operating environment.   It also uses its skills to assist clients with other information-intensive problems such as achieving regulatory compliance and understanding customer behaviour.

By combining technological innovation with in-depth industry knowledge, Detica has developed a range of world-class solutions centred on its expertise in intelligence, security and resilience.   This is backed up with over thirty years’ experience of developing solutions to some of the most complex security problems.   Detica’s business and technical consultants offer a range of core services from strategy formulation through people and process change to the development, delivery and support of software and hardware technology.   Detica’s understanding of today’s information-intensive challenges has also led it to develop a range of specialist services and products based on its unique intellectual property.

Detica delivers projects of significant scale across government and commercial markets in the UK, US and continental Europe.   Its principal clients are government agencies responsible for intelligence, security and resilience.   It also assists civil government and commercial organisations with a critical national infrastructure remit.   Detica’s UK government clients include: Home Office, Ministry of Defence, Borders Agency, HM Revenue & Customs, Metropolitan Police and Department for Transport.   Its US government clients include: Department for Homeland Security, Department of Defense, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service.   Detica’s commercial clients include: HSBC, Nationwide, RBS Insurance, Lloyds of London, Financial Services Authority, Turquoise, Thomson Reuters, BT, Vodafone, Cable & Wireless and 3.   Detica has offices in London, Gatwick, Guildford, Gloucester, Washington DC and Columbia.   For further information, please visit www.detica.com.

Detica and Detica Limited product names are registered trademarks or trademarks of Detica Limited in the UK and in other countries.   Other brand and product names are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies.   Detica Limited is registered in England under number 1337451 and has its registered office at Surrey Research Park, Guildford, England, GU2 7YP.

Premier Rann’s visit closely followed Gordon Brown’s high-profile tour of Detica in July 2009, after he announced the launch of the UK’s first Cyber Security Strategy. Like the UK Prime Minister, Premier Rann and his colleagues received an update on current cyber security threats and a demonstration of the company’s cutting-edge cyber security solutions in NerveCentre™, Detica’s state-of-the-art demonstration facility. The VIP visit comes nearly a year on from when Detica joined BAE Systems as a key part of the Group’s growing focus on global security, especially in the US, Australia and UK. Detica has taken a leading place at the forefront of BAE Systems’ cyber security efforts.

Martin Sutherland, Managing Director of Detica, said: “We are hugely honoured to host Premier Rann and to have the opportunity to discuss the challenges associated with cyber space and demonstrate the innovative technological solutions that Detica has pioneered to make cyber space a safer place. As a BAE Systems company, we are growing our capabilities to meet this challenge and we are delighted to see our thought leadership on this subject is becoming increasingly visible on the international political stage. By its very nature, cyber security is a global issue and requires significant international engagement, cooperation and commitment from world leaders to combat the critical risks we all face.”

Premier Rann said: ‘It was extremely interesting to tour Detica and hear the company’s thoughts on the emergent challenges in cyber security. While the Internet can bring significant benefits to the global community, it can also facilitate significant threats such as serious and organised crime. Cyber security is becoming an increasingly international issue that we must address in a balanced way to deliver effective services to citizens and customers while protecting them from harm.”

As part of the demonstration of its cyber security solutions, Premier Rann received a briefing on cyber security and the emerging challenges. He was also shown the impressive capabilities of Detica’s market leading solutions, with a demonstration of Detica NetReveal®, groundbreaking crime-busting software that uses social network analysis to fight fraud and serious crime across the insurance, financial services and government sectors. This was showcased alongside Detica StreamShield®, which uses ultra-high performance technology to provide integrated, Internet-based protection for email, web and other Internet applications in order to make the Internet a safer place for everyone.

Premier Rann’s visit to Detica in the UK was arranged by BAE Systems Australia, which has its headquarters in the Premier’s state of South Australia.

The UK Government recently announced its intention to fit every home and small- to medium-sized enterprise (SME) in the UK with smart utility meters for gas and electricity by 2020.  Ian Watts, Head of Energy and Utilities at Detica, feels lessons should be learned from the experience with smart meters so far.  There are already around 40 million smart meters in use worldwide and, even at this early stage, we have seen a number of security breaches.  These have included insecure meters, hacking of customer details, denial of service attacks and suspected infiltration by foreign intelligence services.

Watts continues: The utilities network has been defined by the Government as a key part of the Critical National Infrastructure.  The impact of any large-scale power cut could not only put peoples lives at risk but be potentially paralysing for the economy.  Whilst there are many potential benefits of smart meters that justify their introduction, we must be aware it also brings new risks and should therefore design in security from the outset to guard against this.  Cyber security safeguards should be an integral part of the design both of the meters themselves and the network supporting it, in order to manage these new threats effectively.

In the paper Detica presented to DECC Smart Metering for Electricity and Gas the company outlines recommendations to ensure that smart meter security is handled properly.  It argues that the security approach should take a wider view of network risks and focus on proactive threat monitoring in order to identify new cyber security threats before they can compromise the smart meter infrastructure.  These mechanisms need to be sophisticated enough to detect threats from what at first may appear to be normal activity.

The paper also stresses the need to establish strong governance, such as the formulation of standards and policies, development of processes and technology, training of users and ongoing compliance audits.  In particular, Detica backs government proposals for a Central Communications Model to serve as a single nationwide body with overall responsibility for coordinating the smart meter infrastructure and enforcing standards, policies and processes.

Watts concludes: The potential risk to national cyber security from not adequately securing smart meters or not responding to public concerns whether they be founded or unfounded is too significant to ignore and merits urgent action from utilities companies.  But inaction, warns Watts, also presents these companies with an additional business risk.  The surge in customer information received will provide priceless insight into customer behaviour and offer the opportunity to create tailored energy tariffs to help smooth out peaks in energy demand and respond to new customer needs.  Utility companies that fail to exploit the opportunity hidden within that secured data will see themselves left behind as competitors and new market entrants quickly take the advantage.

For a full copy of Deticas response to DECC, please click here.

A new European Parliament Directive  will require mobile and fixed line CSPs to retain records of all telephone calls and internet data for up to two years. CSPs will need to provide law enforcement and government agencies with these records quickly and confidentially, sometimes in a matter of minutes.  CSPs will also need to preserve evidential integrity and comply with data protection legislation. As the Directive will soon become law across the EU, CSPs need to move swiftly to comply.

Simon McHattie, Director of the Interception & Compliance Business Unit at Detica, believes this presents a considerable challenge: “Although most CSPs already collect the required data records, they tend to be spread around different computer systems. Most CSPs will set up and maintain a separate database, which will need to have the capacity to store a considerable amount of data — tens or even hundreds of billions of records. This could become extremely expensive if they use conventional data warehousing technologies. Over and above the significant hardware and software costs, there will also be a sizeable recurring bill for office space, energy usage and staffing.”

Detica DataRetain™ offers an innovative solution to the data retention compliance challenge. By combining proven data compression software with low-cost, off-the-shelf, small footprint and energy-efficient hardware, Detica DataRetain™ enables CSPs to store and access billions of data records quickly and securely.  It also offers easy integration with existing industry and law enforcement technology operations. Workflow management features can be easily configured to adapt to a CSP’s business processes, forming a seamless interface between law enforcement agencies and CSP police liaison units.

McHattie says: “CSPs have a simple decision to make when it comes to data retention: re-use expensive, generic, over-specified data storage technology or choose a streamlined, low-cost compliance solution that integrates technology with workflow in order to achieve significant operational efficiencies.  It should be an easy decision to make.”

Detica DataRetain™ has been developed in close co-operation with several leading CSPs and government agencies in the UK. It is the latest in a range of world-class specialist products from the business and technology consultancy – such as the award-winning Detica NetReveal™  fraud detection solution – that are the fruits of over thirty years’ experience of developing solutions to some of the most complex security problems.

“Breaking into mobile phone voicemail boxes is incredibly easy once you know the password, but most people are simply not aware of the risks or even that it’s possible to dial into their mobile voicemail boxes remotely”, says David Porter, Head of Security and Risk at Detica.  “Although this is a simple crime to commit, it is also simple to counter with basic security measures. An incredible number of mobile phone users do not change their password from the default setting. They should do this and choose a voicemail password that is near-impossible to guess. This password should be changed regularly, especially if the voicemails are very confidential.”

Detica warns that voicemail hacking is just one part of a much wider security problem, associated with the rise of sophisticated, new generation mobile phones. ‘Smart’ phones offer a host of web applications, from email to mobile banking, meaning they store an enormous volume of sensitive data which brings additional security risks to owners and businesses. 

Detica believes that part of the solution is a more stringent use of basic security measures, such as protecting phone data with encryption and ‘hard-to-guess’ passwords, as well as setting phones to ‘wipe’ their memory should invalid passwords be typed repeatedly. However, it warns the effectiveness of these measures can only go so far and while manufacturers could do more to build security innovation into the design of mobile phones from the outset, the solution does not rest solely with technology.

Porter argues: “While ‘smart’ phones bring many positive benefits to the way we live and work, if the secrets that they hold about us fall into the wrong hands, it can put users at real risk of identity fraud and serious crime. Longer term, the answer to mobile security could lie with the ‘secure cloud’, where data is held safely in the network and handheld devices become just a way of accessing services.  But this prospect is far off and isn’t the entire solution. 

“With super-fast 4G mobile just around the corner and increasing volumes of our personal and private information held on the systems run by mobile network operators, social networking services and online stores, we have turned traditional ideas of security inside-out.  We now need a sophisticated debate about cyber security, which means asking just what information we are prepared to share when we are browsing and twittering.”

In light of the Government’s recent ‘Digital Britain’ and ‘Cyber Security Strategy’ reports, Detica calls for businesses to have a key role in this debate, given the increasing convergence in the way mobile technology and online services are used for personal, social, family and business purposes. 

Porter concludes: “We urgently need to decide what we want the future of mobile Britain to look like and balance the benefits and risks of mobile technology.”

This win is particularly significant as Detica has been given the rare appointment to work on all seven ‘lots’ contained within this framework agreement. Detica will offer consultancy and delivery services ranging from ICT strategies to software applications as well as technical and security architectures. The framework agreement provides a key route to supplying high quality services across all Government departments and the wider public sector.

“Being placed on the Buying Solutions’ ICT Consultancy and Delivery framework is a great achievement and opportunity for Detica,” says Theo Hildyard, Framework Manager at Detica. “This win provides us with the chance to work on a wealth of interesting and challenging projects.

“We are delighted to have Detica’s advisory and implementation skills and specialism in business and technology consultancy recognised in this way by the Government. It is testament to our versatile approach of addressing the individual needs of each client to build fully-tailored solutions. We look forward to delivering world-class services that will bring real value and efficiency to Government departments and ultimately benefit the wider public.”

The win follows a ten-month bidding process that  started in September 2008. Detica’s success with the Buying Solutions ICT Consultancy and Delivery framework agreement builds on its previous appointment on the Buying Solutions framework agreement for Mobile Data Solutions that the company announced in February this year.

“There is a clear and present threat from those who threaten the safety of the public, the security of the state or who seek to commit serious and organised crime,” says Sutherland.  “This has resulted in a raft of new security measures which seek to protect us whilst attempting to do so in a proportionate manner.  The government’s recent release of its Cyber Security Strategy, launched last week during a visit by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown to Detica’s London office, highlights how cyberspace makes border protection even more challenging in the 21st century.  “Because cyberspace is essentially borderless,” says Sutherland, “the traditional concept of a physical border or boundary becomes increasingly difficult to define, control and protect.  The conventions of ‘national’ or ‘homeland’ security are fast eroding. 

This is a situation, according to Sutherland, that serious organised criminals are only too eager to exploit.  “As habitual ‘early adopters’ of new technology, they are quick to exploit the digital revolution for their own purposes.  What we now term ‘the new front line’ — the collision between the physical world and cyberspace — has created a new threat environment where ‘borderless’ terrorists and criminals, acting in a more agile and unpredictable manner, can threaten national security, corporate safety and individual well-being on a scale and with a reach that was simply not possible in the past.”

This increased complexity, combined with the economic imperative to “achieve more with less” means scarce resources must be targeted at the most significant threats — which themselves are very difficult to identify — and all in a proportionate manner.  Sutherland comments: “This is the classic ‘needle in the haystack’ problem, except we do not know what we are looking for until we find it — we effectively hunt for needles as they are being prepared for the haystack.  Fortunately there are now highly innovative and proven methods for achieving this task which have very strong potential for re-use across the security industry.”

The answer, according to Sutherland lies in digital footprints.  “As we go about our daily lives we leave behind digital footprints — but so too do terrorists and criminals when they plan and execute their crimes.  By looking for unusual patterns of behaviour in data and investigating them more fully we can find the criminals and thus turn their digital footprints against them.”  Central to Detica’s proposed solution is an approach called ‘network risk targeting’.  This means targeting, at a high level, the key entities involved in a criminal network rather than traditional risk-based targeting which works at a lower level of detail and takes no account of the network context.  According to Sutherland: “The beauty of network risk targeting is that investigators can quickly identify the source of the problem and tackle it there.  Rather than expending effort in tackling the peripheral, we can go straight to the heart of the network of activity.  This enables agencies to target scarce investigative resource more effectively and thus do more with less.”

Having applied these techniques in physical and physical/virtual threat environments, the next big challenge, according to Sutherland, is applying them in the purely virtual environment of cyberspace.  “In the virtual environment we are thinking of threats like cyber attacks, online identity theft and digital piracy.  But while technology, policy and intent are now emerging, no single agent is able to act in isolation.  In this scenario we need a response that is joined-up across government, the private sector and individuals.  The launch of the UK Cyber Security Strategy last week endorses the fact that we now need to turn our attention urgently to the virtual threat scenario.”

In his presentation today, Sutherland also addresses the issue of balancing security against privacy concerns. “Security in the modern world is a careful balance between liberty and proportionality.  Where investigations are directed in a more focussed way, using network risk targeting, it means that members of the public will not be investigated unnecessarily.  By identifying identify potential targets based on anomalies and hypotheses rather than starting with the individual, it helps balance security and privacy concerns.  It is our belief that re-using innovative approaches like this across the industry will help reduce the risk to the UK from international terrorism and organised crime and enable us all to go about our lives freely and with confidence.”

Further conference details can be found at: http://www.govnet.co.uk/security.

RSA will be using Detica NetReveal®  for the detection of claims fraud across its personal and commercial motor insurance and home insurance business in the UK. The groundbreaking technology may also be extended to cast an even wider net across the insurance group's liability and commercial property lines of business.

John Beadle, UK Counter Fraud Manager at RSA, comments: "We chose Detica NetReveal®  following an extensive review of potential providers plus the successful completion of a 'live' trial that resulted in substantially improved fraud detection rates."
 
Andy Cobb, Director of Business Development for Detica NetReveal®, comments: "We are delighted that RSA, one of the world's leading insurance groups, has chosen our solution.  Using the latest version of Detica NetReveal®  we will not only accelerate offline investigations but also take fraud prevention a step further by performing live screening of new claims against pre-scored criminal networks.  We are delighted to continue to offer our commercial clients the fruits of over thirty years of developing solutions to some of the most complex security problems."

With Monday’s bad weather preventing a fifth of the nation’s workforce from getting into work, at a total estimated loss of £1.2 billion¹, Detica believes the time has come to sweep away inflexible office boundaries that make businesses so vulnerable to disruptive events such as this week’s snow. By investing in mobile technology, Detica argues that the UK economy will reap the benefits of improved flexibility, productivity, staff safety and morale. Flexible and mobile working also offers the potential to reduce accommodation costs in the economic downturn as well as lessen the impact on the environment.

Mike Brown, Head of Mobile Data Solutions at Detica, says: "When significant disruptions like heavy snow occur, it is far more efficient for employees to work remotely, by tapping into a mobile office infrastructure, rather than dragging out their snow boots and braving an arduous commute into the office. Organisations have to realise that the economy and the world are changing, and the traditional concept of the office needs to make way for a more flexible, virtual way of working that will keep businesses responsive, competitive and agile. This week’s cold snap took many by surprise, but with climate change, a world recession and a wealth of other global threats, the one thing we can forecast this year is more unpredictable events."

In December 2008, Detica was awarded a position on a framework agreement by OGCbuying.solutions, an executive agency of the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) in HM Treasury, to provide mobile working solutions for the public sector. Detica’s mobile solution provides a single, secure access point for use by mobile workers to remotely access applications, databases and information whenever and wherever it is needed, and also allows flexible users to work anywhere as though in the office, without being tied to specific locations. The secure solution will run on a wide range of devices from PDAs through to laptops, vehicle-based terminals and bespoke mobile devices on any communications network.

Brown added: "Mobile technology has the power to transform working practices and we are both proud and excited to be working with the OGCbuying.solutions to help deliver the next generation of mobile public service solutions. The mobile solutions award further extends our relationship with OGCbuying.solutions as a provider of ICT and multi-disciplinary consultancy services".

¹ Source: Federation of Small Businesses.

Andy Frost, Director of Media at Detica, says: “While we commend BERR’s focus on upholding copyright, we believe the practicalities of enforcement alone will prove too costly and time-consuming for the ISPs to administer.  The best solution will be one that meets the needs of the broader community of artists, consumers and labels — and the ISPs that bind them — and not one that fixates on the labels and the hardcore criminal minority that threatens them”.

Detica insists that stronger collaboration between Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and the entertainment industry is the only way to make it easier for consumers to download music and films legally whilst also providing ‘fair trade’ for artists. 

Frost continues: “The spirit of the BERR consultation document appears to be overly focused on protecting the interests of record labels who own the copyright material and are being threatened by an explosion in unlicensed P2P file sharing.  Of course, labels have a legitimate interest in seeing the authorities resolve this issue, but the reality is that the digital marketplace is very complex.  Any solution will need to encapsulate the needs of other stakeholders too, especially artists and consumers who are not necessarily able to demonstrate such a united front to the Government”.

Detica argues that collaboration can be achieved by the industry adopting a voluntary framework in which ISPs deploy advanced technology to identify where and when copyrighted files are being downloaded. 

Frost adds: “We can now deploy proven, scaleable intelligence technology within an ISP’s network to enable them to deliver exciting new business models such as a ‘per track’ download fee or an ‘all in’ monthly subscription service.  Ultimately, this approach could see the spectre of illegal downloading disappear altogether since users will be charged automatically — and fairly — for any files they download or share”.

As well as bypassing the significant costs and potential ineffectiveness of an enforcement-focused regime, Detica’s proposed solution will enable any profit generated by user downloads to be shared proportionately between ISPs, labels and artists. 

Frost comments: “Our collaborative business approach acknowledges all the players impacted by digital downloading and strives to provide a degree of fairness for all.  Our experience from the security industry tells us that in these situations voluntary compliance is just as important as enforced compliance — you only use a big stick for the minority of hardened cases.”

Whilst the ISPs will need to absorb the set-up costs of the technology, Detica believes this will likely be less than the costs of administering an enforcement-focused solution.  Frost concludes: “With our solution everybody wins, not least the ISPs who will be able to recoup the technology costs by charging customer subscriptions and sharing new customer insight, for a fee, with the content owners”.

Mr Bagnal will speak at the IA08 Conference on 'A Risk Management Approach to Securing Cyberspace', where he will present new methodologies to manage the growing risks and threats to national and international cybersecurity.

Commenting on the theme for his speech at IA08, Mr Bagnal says: "The growth of cyberspace and the explosion of data volumes, created by present-day Internet and global telecommunications networks, have created a highly complex environment. This presents a significant security challenge for governments because criminals — from minor offenders to international terrorists — can now threaten individual well-being and national security in ways simply not possible in the past. Cyberspace today gives criminals the capability to conduct illegal activities on a vast scale and in a very dynamic way. Our cybersecurity defences are, in many cases, no longer adequate in today's environment, making us potentially vulnerable to sophisticated attacks."

Prior to his appointment by Detica, Mr Bagnal was the Deputy Assistant to President George W. Bush for Homeland Security, where he chaired the Homeland Security Council Deputies Committee and co-chaired the Counterterrorism Security Group. Along with the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, Mr Bagnal led the Homeland Security Council staff. Mr Bagnal has also previously held US Government posts including Special Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Senior Director for Response Policy; Chief of Staff of the Homeland Security Council, Special Assistant to the Commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the United States Northern Command, and Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Domestic Counterterrorism.

"Winning the war on terrorism will require the skilful application of resources and capabilities from all facets of our global society," Bagnal stated as he joined Detica. "I'm excited to join a multi-national professional services business that focuses on turning complex information into relevant and actionable intelligence."

Mr Bagnal's presentation, 'A Risk Management Approach to Securing Cyberspace', will take place at 11.15am on Wednesday 18 June at the IA08 Conference. The IA08 Conference is being held on Tuesday 17 and Wednesday 18 June 2008 at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel, London. IA08 will be facilitated this year by the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme presenter, Edward Stourton. For more information, visit http://www.iaevent.org.uk.

The TfL website, redesigned by Detica and TfL's New Media team, was one of 8,000 entries from more than 60 countries considered by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 550-member body of leading Web experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries and creative celebrities. Detica and TfL are nominated in the Government category for both The Webby Award and The People's Voice award.

"The Webby Awards honours the outstanding work that is setting the standards for the Internet," said David-Michel Davies, executive director of The Webby Awards. "The Transport for London website selection is a testament to the skill, ingenuity and vision of its creators."

The Webby Award nomination follows hot on the heels of a special commendation for the Detica and TfL team in the recent Design Week Awards, in which the innovative design of the TfL website came second only to Apple's iPhone.

Rhys Davies, Head of Creative Services at Detica, commented: "It's a real honour for Detica to be nominated for such a highly respected industry award. We are incredibly proud of our work with TfL, which I believe complements and builds on our thirty-year heritage as innovative thinkers and designers of solutions to complex, information-intensive problems."

Detica specialists in user-centred design worked alongside TfL's New Media team to completely re-design their web services channel. The team's challenge was to reorganise and improve the website, with a specific focus on helping users find information and services as easily as possible. As a result they have transformed the original government website into a compelling and engaging consumer-focused portal capable of adopting the latest developments in digital technology.

Caroline Little, Head of New Media at Transport for London said: "With 10 million journeys a day across the TfL network, we've listened to our passengers and made it easier for them to get essential information from the site. All the information passengers need to know about the Tube, bus, Docklands Light Railway and river services, walking and cycling, is now at their finger tips."

Under the new UK voluntary Banking Code, banks and building societies should provide more support to consumers heading into debt problems, including actively identifying and contacting those customers who may be at risk. Detica believes that a significant number of UK retail banks are not currently equipped to identify these customers under the new Code's requirements.

Maggie Scott, Executive Manager from Detica's Financial Services unit, says: "Due to a stream of recent regulatory requirements, banks actually have a great deal of data in place to build an accurate profile of their borrowers. Historically, however, banks have only used this data to assess their customers' financial circumstances when applying for credit. The challenge now is for them to apply this intelligence to identify financial stress and to act on the information to get in touch with customers to discuss ways to support them. If banks can't do this, then consumers won't benefit from the aims of the new Code and we risk debt spiralling further."

Detica urges banks to focus on making more connections between the networks of evidence they already hold in order to proactively identify those customers who are falling into debt. Credit cards, for example, are often the first to show signs of stress. If a customer increases their cash withdrawals and, at the same time, reduces their monthly repayment to a minimum, these two combined behaviours are a strong indicator that the customer is struggling to meet their financial commitments. Another example is when cash withdrawals from a customer's credit card account coincide with deposits being made into a current account to keep it within the overdraft limit to pay bills or other loan repayments.

Scott concludes, "The commitments made within the new Banking Code should compel banks to look again at their responsible lending policies and how to translate them into action. The benefits are twofold - customers receive the support they need before it's too late and banks can reduce the level of debt that turns bad. By taking a more consultative approach with the customer and generating and exploiting insight from data they already hold, banks can play an important role in warding off the spread of the US consumer debt problem in the UK."

The FSA, in its latest commentary responding to recent events at Société Générale, has suggested banks integrate and aggregate the output of their existing controls so a true, trader-level, view of risk can be monitored across the entire business lifecycle. This echoes advice issued last week by Detica. As Simon Elkington, Executive Manager from Detica’s Investment Banking unit, comments: “We completely agree with the FSA — only by breaking down operational control silos will banks be in a position to truly manage potentially catastrophic operational risks and failures”.

Extending the idea that Banks need to adopt a radical new approach to managing their risk, Elkington argues that financial institutions could learn something from the gaming industry. “Casinos don’t trust anyone — staff or customers — and a strong surveillance and control culture is espoused”, he says. “While we would never expect a bank to operate like a casino, there are nonetheless some very important principles at play here”.

In order to compete effectively, banks need to be agile and innovative and therefore depend on the honesty of both their employees and customers. But, at the same time, they must ensure that an appropriate level of monitoring is maintained. Elkington comments: “Advanced information intelligence technologies can now be deployed to monitor suspicious trading activity and effectively play the role of the ‘pit boss’”. So effective is this technology, Elkington argues, that it can uncover networks of suspicious or non-compliant behaviour without disrupting the culture of trust that exists between the bank, its staff and its customers.

Longer-term this approach to tackling risk could yield a silver lining. “It’s quite possible”, says Elkington, “to adapt the methods used to track down networks of fraud and abuse to make money — for instance, by identifying previously unknown operational inefficiencies”.

For more information on the networked approach to operational control recommended by Detica download the 'Preventing operational losses: are tighter controls really the answer?' whitepaper now from the publications area of our website.

Credit abuse networks are a growing problem for the retail banking sector and a source of increasing concern given the ongoing credit crunch. Variously known as Ù"first party lending fraudÙ", Ù"sleeper fraudÙ" and Ù"bust-out fraudÙ", credit abuse involves organised fraudsters making false statements on application forms in order to gain credit which they have no intention of paying back. As Andy Cobb, Director of Business Development at Detica, comments: Ù"There is also a growing trend in credit applicants being manipulated by organised fraudsters even though they may not have made any material falsehoods. This high risk activity currently falls between the Ù"organised first party fraudÙ' and Ù"bad debtÙ' definitions being debated by the banking industry. We believe a better approach is to let the data drive the definitions, not the other way round Ù"” someone intends to take money from the bank and they need to be stoppedÙ".

Detica NetReveal®5 is the latest extension to the successful Detica NetReveal® portfolio Ù"” a suite of solutions that utilises social network analysis to fight fraud and serious crime across the insurance, financial services and government sectors. The crime-busting capabilities of Detica NetReveal® grabbed the headlines last summer when the UKÙ's Insurance Fraud Bureau announced that the softwareÙ's sophisticated analytics had enabled it to expose insurance fraud networks leading to 74 arrests in the Bureau's first year. Since then HSBC and RBS Insurance have added Detica NetReveal® to their counter-fraud armouries.

Detica NetReveal®5 takes fraud prevention one step further, enabling high-speed checks of credit applicantsÙ' details against pre-scored criminal networks during the live application process. Until today, banks lacked this pre-emptive analytical capability to identify fraudsters and credit abusers and prevent them from becoming customers. Furthermore, as well as working in the Ù"front officeÙ" with new customer applications, Detica NetReveal®5 also functions in the Ù"back officeÙ" where existing customers are scored as they request additional credit facilities.

Cobb continues: Ù"Detica NetReveal®5 will give banks the most detailed view ever of the individuals to whom they are considering lending. Not only it is a breakthrough in preventing credit abuse, but its ability to explain transparently why a customer, application or linked-in network might be suspicious is unique in the field. We are delighted to be able to offer financial institutions the means of significantly improving the way they manage credit risk in these increasingly turbulent economic times.Ù"

In a white paper published today, Detica argues that the traditional tightening up of the existing control framework is not the answer. As Simon Elkington, Executive Manager from Detica’s Investment Banking unit, comments: “Not only does this impose an ever-increasing burden of cost and complexity on the bank but, more worryingly, it generates a false sense of security”.

Instead, Elkington argues, banks should adopt a networked operational risk model that moves beyond traditional silo-based approaches to risk management. “Once separate business, technical and physical controls are linked together then fraudsters and abusers are confronted by a tight web of interconnected defences, each one reinforcing and being reinforced by its neighbours”.

With a networked control model in place, Elkington goes on to argue that banks can take a more proactive approach to identifying operational failures by deploying advanced information intelligence systems that identify anomalous patterns and behaviours at a much earlier stage than is currently the norm.

Elkington concludes that the circumstances that have led to recent operational losses are typical of any number of banking institutions and are likely to happen again. “Banks who believed, post-SOX and Basel II, that regulatory compliance, internal controls and surveillance could be put on the back burner must think again”, he warns.

Turquoise, the multi-lateral trading facility (MTF) established by nine leading European investment banks today announced that it is partnering with Progress Software and Detica to deliver a real-time Market Surveillance System. The combination of the Progress® Apama® Complex Event Processing (CEP) Platform and Detica’s market surveillance and trading expertise will deliver a real-time and post-trade market surveillance system that will capture breaches of trading rules, root out market irregularities and develop enhanced trading execution analytics.

Commenting on today’s announcement, Eli Lederman, Chief Executive of Turquoise said: “Market surveillance is a vital requirement for any stock exchange. By choosing the Apama platform and deploying Detica’s expertise, we also gain a very flexible system. This will allow us to add value to the market data we collect and offer further client services such as detailed analysis of transactions and a better understanding of price improvement and performance.”

Dr John Bates, Founder and General Manager of the Apama division of Progress Software, adds: “The selection of the Apama platform by Turquoise further affirms Apama’s market leadership in delivering mission critical CEP-powered business applications. The real-time detection of complex patterns in market activity will discourage any potential abusers, maintain an orderly market, and promote liquidity.”

“Our brief is very clear: to design, build and deploy a robust, flexible market surveillance platform within very tight timelines, to Turquoise’s satisfaction”, says Simon Asplen-Taylor, Head of Market and Regulatory Services at Detica. “Our team has the right mix of advanced technology skills and deep business domain knowledge to make this happen. We are proud to be part of an exciting venture that will ensure a fair and orderly market and justify the trust that Turquoise has invested in the Detica-Progress Apama partnership”.

Approximately 80 per cent of e-mails, equivalent to 6.5 billion emails a day, are spam. These unwanted emails are not only generated by professional spammers, but also by “botnets”, where the PCs of unsuspecting customers are secretly infected with rogue software to form a network that generates vast quantities of unwanted spam. These infected machines can be used in turn to attack other PCs and websites.

The StreamShield system is currently processing more than 600 million emails a day for BT, generating detailed intelligence on the location and size of spam-related problems originating from the BT network. This allows BT to focus on contacting customers and helping them to rid their PCs of spam infections, thereby preventing possible identity fraud and virus infection. Shivanandan continues: “Spam is a global menace, causing annoyance, disruption and potential financial loss to Internet users. BT now has an innovative, cutting-edge solution that allows us to tackle this issue proactively and create a hostile environment for professional spammers”.

Tom Black, Chief Executive, Detica, adds: “StreamShield developed this spam-attacking solution, officially named Content Forensics, with large Internet Service Providers such as BT in mind. We are delighted to receive this award from BT as acknowledgement of our unique approach to tackling the scourge of spam”.

As part of an investigation by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the Detica team reconstructed emails and other documents and analysed metadata in files to produce evidence for the courts that helped lead to the convictions of the man who masterminded the British arm of the conspiracy, and three of his cohorts.

The case has been described by the MHRA as the largest of its kind ever heard by a British criminal court.

The multi-million pound scam involved selling counterfeit tablets of Viagra, Cialis (both for erectile dysfunction) and Propecia (for treating baldness), containing only 90% of the normal active ingredient, to unsuspecting customers – many buying on-line – for up to £20 each, having often been acquired by the vendors for as little as 50 US cents. Tens of thousands of the fake tablets, manufactured in illicit factories in China, Pakistan and Asia, were bought in the UK, America, the Bahamas and Mexico, involving scores of businesses, both real and fake.

Andy Clark, head of Detica Forensics, said: “Our digital forensics linked the man at the centre of the investigations with companies and individuals implicated in the conspiracy. By piecing together fragments of emails and other documents, our experts mapped a web of contacts and uncovered evidence including a distribution agreement, a financial transaction and company incorporation details of the company at the centre of the scam.

“By reconstructing documents and analysing hidden metadata in files, we identified evidence such as document authors and key dates of editing and modification. This evidence substantiated other intelligence gathered in the case and helped secure the convictions that were announced this week.”

David Porter, head of security and risk at Detica, added: “This is an excellent example of the power of digital forensics investigations. It’s not often that we can talk publicly about the activities of Detica Forensics because the issues we deal with are so sensitive. Cases are often resolved even before they reach court because the digital evidence is so incriminating.”

Andy Clark continued: “This case demonstrates how digital forensics is becoming an integral part of many criminal investigations. As digital footprints become bigger, multi-dimensional and ubiquitous, and criminal activities become increasingly intertwined and networked, it is not a trivial matter for digital forensics investigators to keep pace with fraudsters and illegal transactions.”

The addition of multi-disciplinary consultancy services to the Catalist framework has coincided with a report from the National Audit Office revealing that central government spent in excess of £1.8 billion on consultancy in 2005-06. This has been carried forward into the Transforming Procurement initiative that calls for greater centralisation of buying and reuse of experiences, and lessons learned, between projects.

A number of factors were taken into consideration during the evaluation and selection process, including Detica's experience in delivering transformational projects requiring significant organisational and process change. Another key consideration was Detica’s track record in providing high quality, impartial and professional advice to support clients needing to identify, de-risk, procure and implement solutions.

Commenting on this, Neil Medley, Director of UK Government at Detica, said:"We are delighted to win this vote of confidence in our capability and capacity to provide the deep client-side advice government needs to deliver true transformation - both in terms of the procurement process and the organisational impact of new projects. Detica's history of repeatable delivery and continuity in major programmes makes the company an immediate choice for many of our customers."

Because the vast majority of data in the workplace is now generated and stored electronically, many companies now consider their data as critical to the ongoing success of their business. However, it is Detica’s belief that many companies are still not ready for a serious ‘digital incident’ such as the loss, theft or corruption of data, often by insiders working in collusion with criminal gangs. In scrambling to cope with this new breed of high-tech disruption, companies may inadvertently do more harm than good. This ranges from contaminating the evidence and wasting valuable resources to making hasty decisions that disrupt company operations and degrade customer service.

To respond to the continuing evolution of the high-tech threat, Detica Group plc has launched a new digital forensics division, Detica Forensics, to enhance its Information Intelligence services for commercial and government organisations. Detica Forensics builds on the recent acquisition of Inforenz Limited, a company that has developed an enviable reputation through its work for commerce, law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies.

“Data reaches into every aspect of an organisation, from brand and reputation, to regulation and compliance. Organisations need to be proactive in protecting their critical data resources and dealing efficiently with a digital incident should one occur,” explains Andy Clark, Head of Detica Forensics. “In the modern economy, digital forensics is a critical tool in protecting organisations from the considerable array of digital risks they face. The investigative capabilities of Detica Forensics significantly enhance Detica’s Information Intelligence services and, in particular, complements the fraud detection solution. Clients will be able to enhance their existing preventative and detective countermeasures with a forensic investigation capability that follows the complete evidential chain from keyboard to courtroom.”

Detica Forensics investigates unusual, unauthorised and illegal computer activity to help to combat fraud and reveal hidden information for commercial, regulatory and law enforcement agencies. Services include preliminary and full investigations, Digital Incident Readiness Reviews, cryptography consultancy, specialist data recovery, forensics training and access to accredited expert witnesses.

Clark concludes: “Detica Forensics will appeal to any organisation that understands the value of its data and information assets. Security can never be totally guaranteed and it is therefore essential to have ways to investigate information leakage, to monitor data traffic and to uncover concealed data. Financial, legal and telecommunications companies will be especially interested in our services, but we also expect considerable interest from the rapidly growing number of organisations needing to secure high value intellectual property.”

For more information, see

The initial contract duration is six months with a value for Detica Inc of approximately $500,000. Thereafter, the contract provides the client with options to extend annually for up to a further four years at a similar rate of spend. The work is being undertaken exclusively by the Group’s US team which now numbers 17 and continues to grow steadily.

Tom Black, Detica Group’s CEO said, “We are delighted to have won this project which adds to the increasing momentum of our US business and strengthens significantly our relationship with a major US Government client. This is a high-value consulting engagement which emphasises the underlying quality of people and client relationships that Detica Inc is developing.”

Yet, the public is hardly ignorant about the implications of counterfeit goods – 90% made the link between piracy and organised crime with 45% saying it had a great deal to do with funding organised crime. Just 2% said it had no link at all.

A recent report from the National Crime Intelligence Service (NCIS) confirms the negative impact of piracy on British society. Its UK Threat Assessment confirms that not only do the profits of selling pirated goods go towards funding other criminal activities, but that the impact on the UK economy is severe, in terms of cost to businesses and job losses. Furthermore, the Organised Crime Force in Northern Ireland reported in 2004 that 80% of organised crime in the province was carried out by paramilitary gangs.

“The public has to shake off this ‘laissez-faire’ attitude.” comments David Porter, Head of Security and Risk at Detica. “Despite them making the link between counterfeit goods and organised crime many still seem to think that buying a dodgy DVD or fake clothing is OK when clearly it’s not. It’s an established fact that counterfeiting operations frequently finance global terrorism, drug trafficking and other forms of criminality, and it’s about time that people looked at the bigger picture and realised that piracy is not a victimless crime.”

Porter concludes: “Most fake goods are shoddy in quality and end up being a total waste of money. But this is just the tip of the iceberg if we consider the potentially life-threatening consequences where the sale of counterfeit automotive parts and pharmaceutical goods is concerned.”

Detica commissioned MORI to survey a representative sample of the GB population of 1,003 adults on behalf of Detica. Interviews were conducted by telephone between the 14th and 16th October 2005.

The pressure was on Detica to complete on time to coincide with a multi-million pound advertising and marketing campaign which was launching on 8th October. A key reason for the punctual completion of the project was that Detica used rapid application development techniques based on Agile programming methods. This allowed development, design and testing to take place in parallel. As a result, the essential applications were produced at a faster rate without the bugs associated with more traditional, slower development methods such as ‘waterfall’.

Another contributing factor to the fast turnaround was the fact Detica had previously built a Service-Orientated Architecture (SOA) at esure. This made it much easier to add the Sheilas’ Wheels application to the existing system architecture at the Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS)-owned insurer.

Detica’s involvement was three-fold. Firstly, the consultancy configured the existing TIA call centre application to support Sheilas’ Wheels. The Insurance Application (TIA) is an Oracle-based technology used by esure’s contact centre staff to administer policies from First Alternative, HBOS and products sold on behalf of third parties trading under their own label, such as major supermarket brand Sainsbury’s.

Secondly, Detica built a BEA WebLogic-based ratings system which enables Sheilas’ Wheels to automatically calculate its insurance policies based on factors such as age, demographics and geographic location. This dynamic system allows the company to react quickly to market changes by allowing them to change rate sets overnight.

Finally, Detica managed esure’s web team’s efforts in getting the web site up and running. This involved cloning the original esure website and defining the look and feel of the new brand.

Mark Foulsham, IT Director at esure commented: “We set Detica a very tight timeline and the company responded very well indeed. The SOA infrastructure they built earlier this year has proved invaluable in getting Sheilas’ Wheels operational very quickly. Since it works in a modular fashion, it enables us to re-use existing technology within esure, saving the group both time and money. This combined with Detica’s rigorous testing processes and technical expertise enabled us to launch smoothly and to schedule.”

Matthew Samme, Senior Manager at Detica concluded: “A service-orientated architecture can be likened to a pre-fabricated house – you are able to alter and customise different elements of it without having to dig up the foundations. These foundations were put in place earlier this year at esure and made it much easier to extend the necessary applications to support Sheilas’ Wheels.”

The ten-year NRTS project will provide a telecommunications backbone for a range of new highway services, involving the provision of new systems that will link over 14,000 message signs, emergency phones, CCTV cameras and traffic monitoring systems to the Agency's network of traffic control centres.

Commenting on the project, Richard Bradshaw, Senior Transport Consultant at Detica, explains: "The step change to NRTS will bring the Agency up-to-date with consistent internet-based technologies, similar to those being implemented by the major national telecoms operators. As well as increasing the reliability and timeliness of information that is made available to the Agency, its partners and motorists, the Highways Agency will also be in a good position to deploy new services such as wireless communications, faster and more easily than ever before."

He continues, "NRTS will become the central nervous system for the Highways Agency. With more services and the faster transmission speeds that NRTS enables, the Agency will have the potential, with the appropriate use of analytics, to provide better information to motorists when planning their journeys and using the motorways."

During the initial phase for NRTS, Detica analysed the Agency's future communications requirements, capacity in the telecommunications market to supply these requirements and technology trends in the industry. As the project progressed, the consultancy also helped to manage the specification, procurement and tender evaluation process. The successful bidder is a consortium led by Fluor, an international engineering firm.

Detica is advising the Highways Agency on the NRTS project as part of the KHHD consortium, which comprises KPMG Corporate Finance, Hyder Consulting, Herbert Smith and Detica.

In the ‘Total Solutions’ category, Detica was one of ten to be selected from 25 applicants. The company has had a presence in the ‘Business Management’ category since 1994 and more recently has provided services in the ‘Document and Record Management’ element of the Consultancy catalogue. In partnership with Mott MacDonald and a core team including Resource Solutions Group, Lorien, Echelon, Gregory Harland, Atmaana, FDM and Dytecna, Detica will now provide the MOD with a comprehensive offering which encompasses business strategy or initial conceptual thinking, application design and development, information systems delivery, security, operational support and project and programme management.

The DCSA ICS Catalogue provides a route for MOD organisations and other governmental departments, such as HM Revenue and Customs, to enlist the services of specialist consultancies knowing that those services have been secured in competition, thereby shortening the procurement cycle significantly. It provides a common framework, utilising standard terms and conditions with a straightforward ordering procedure.

Through its prime contract, Detica will provide DCSA with access to its core staff of 570 consultants, the project and programme management expertise of Mott MacDonald, specialist subcontractors and flexible resources to meet the wide range of demands for information intelligence solutions.

Commenting on the award of the framework contract, Martin Sutherland, Director of Government at Detica said: “We’re delighted to have been awarded this important, enabling contract with the DCSA. Building on our ten year record as trusted advisors within the catalogue, this provides a great opportunity to add increased value by delivering throughout the project lifecycle".

Detica is helping the DTI to deliver the entire programme and has already helped to roll out the first phase of the project ahead of schedule. The consultancy’s continuing involvement has been to manage the second wave, implementing regional contact centres in London, the south east, east midlands and the east of England and integrating these with the centralised IT systems implemented in phase one. These include an interactive website, a case-handling system and knowledge base for advisers and national database of cases.

Consumer Direct has already dealt with over 400,000 calls since its launch in 2004 and has been receiving very positive consumer feedback, with 3 out of 4 callers saying they benefited from reduced worry or stress after calling and 84% saying they were very satisfied or satisfied as a direct result of advice given by the help line.

Mitchell Leimon, Director of Consumer Direct at the DTI, comments: “Consumer Direct is a key part of achieving the DTI’s vision for prosperity for all. Reaction to the help line has been really positive, which makes it all the more important to roll the project out nationwide as soon as possible. The sooner we can deliver the service, the sooner consumers in all parts of the country can benefit from it. Thanks in large part to Detica’s flexibility and hard work, we’re now due to achieve this ahead of schedule - for 2006 rather than 2007.“

Martin Sutherland, Head of Public Sector at Detica, comments: “We’ve learnt a lot of valuable lessons from the first stage of the project, which is one of the benefits of our phased approach. We’re looking forward to funnelling this new expertise into maintaining an optimal existing service as well as delivering Consumer Direct to the rest of the nation.”