The UK Ministry of Defence has awarded its UKP28m Trawlerman secure office systems development contract to a consortium led by Thorn EMI Plc subsidiary Software Sciences Ltd. Trawlerman is a secure database and office automation system for Ministry of Defence headquarters staff, and development is scheduled to span three years, involving 200 man-years of effort from a 90-strong technical team. Software Sciences has prime contractor responsibility with Honeywell Bull Ltd as its consortium partner, contributing its SCOMP Plus secure system. Main subcontractors are ICL, which will provide the database facility on Series 39 mainframes, and Hunting Group Plc’s Lynwood Scientific providing Tempested Unix workstations – the unannounced product line that drew Hunting to Lynwood earlier this year. Hardware for the distributed system will also be supplied by DEC, Hewlett-Packard Co and Sun Microsystems. Other consortium members are Dataguild Ltd, MSS, Logisys, Automate, and EFD, – providing human factors skills.
