Software and complex systems in the Val d'Oise

 50% of the companies involved in the competitiveness cluster are SMEs and three of the industrial groups in the cluster are located in the Val d'Oise (Sagem, Dassault and Thalès). There are some 2 300 private researchers in the département working in these fields. The public laboratories in the Val d'Oise are also involved: ETIS1, ECIME2, SUPMECA3, SATIE4) This sector is particularly strategic for the Val d'Oise, since it is at the crossroads of several fields of excellence in the département, including the automotive and aeronautics industries.
Several collaborative projects in the System@tic Paris Région cluster are based in the Val d'Oise including:

• Ter@ops with the ETIS laboratory (UCP/CNRS/ENSEA) as partner;
  
  
• URC with the University of Cergy-Pontoise as partner;
  
  
• PFC (Plate-formes de confiance) avec SAGEM Défense Sécurité, dans le cadre du marché applicatif sécurité & défense.

The PFC project is complemented by the SIC and MOBISIC projects for security measures for critical infrastructure and crisis management for general-public events.

OPEN SOURCE: PARTNERS IN THE VAL D'OISE 

 As to freeware, the Open source project is part of the System@tic Paris Région cluster. 80 SMEs have been involved with the project since its inception, along with graduate schools and publishers, including as Unilog, IBM, Cap Gemini, and others. The potential for growth for freeware is over 40% per year. In France, the market is forecast at 3 billion euros in 2010. Open source is enabling the Île-de-France region and its 400 specialist companies to become a real Open Source Valley, «Europe's economic, scientific and
academic hub for freeware». The higher education institutions in the Val d'Oise (ESSEC, EISTI, ITIN) and several SME-SMIs working in the software sector in the Val d'Oise were founding partners for the project.

1 ETIS: Signal and Image Processing Laboratory
2 ECIME: Instrumentation and Electronic Modelling Laboratory at the Ensea
3 SUPMECA: Paris Higher Institute of Mechanics
4 SATIE: Information and Energy Technology Systems and Applications Laboratory

CHALLENGES FOR SAGEM DÉFENSE SÉCURITÉ IN THE SYSTEM@TIC PARIS RÉGION CLUSTER 

PFC: protecting diplomatic secrets and privacy
The PFC project (Trust platform) was born out of the difficulty in providing office IT which can both process information with a high level of security and interact as widely as possible with the outside world.

A typical example is that of an ambassador wishing to use a single computer to log on to Google and send confidential diplomatic telegrams. The aim of PFC is thus to combine reliability in terms of security with use of computer terminals and servers. In order to do this, the operating system (Windows, Linux, etc.) is « encapsulated » by a controlled operating system which will act as a trusted enclosure guaranteeing data protection and access to networks. This project relates to many applications, including private ones such as the confidentiality required for medical files.

SIC (Critical Infrastructure Security) for all
SIC is a project aiming to create Secure « Critical » Infrastructures such as those which ensure the operation of public transport (airports, railway stations, etc.), health infrastructures and networks guaranteeing the sustainability of living essentials such as water, health, electricity and telecommunications. The SIC is based on the development of systems and sensors which enable crises to be managed correctly in all locations where there may be large numbers of people. A group of researchers with Sagem

in Cergy-Pontoise has already tested applications such as
videosurveillance and access control using biometrics.
MOBI SIC, closely related to the SIC project, aims to define the « ideal command post » which would have been required to manage « 9/11 » or which should be operational when a crowded stadium collapses in the middle of a match or when a factory explodes. Who needs to communicate, and how? Who should be involved? MOBI SIC aims to create a mobile, modular system which can be deployed rapidly to make one-off events safe or intervene in local crises. MOBI SIC researchers are working to fine-tune solutions like these in their laboratories in order to identify the best possible crisis management for unforeseen circumstances.


«THE AREA OF SYSTEMS AND FREE SOFTWARE IS PARTICULARLY STRATEGIC FOR THE VAL D'OISE AS IT IS AT THE CROSSROADS OF SEVERAL FIELDS OF EXCELLENCE IN THE DÉPARTEMENT, INCLUDING INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES RELATING TO SECURITY (BIOMETRICS, ETC.), THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY AND AERONAUTICS SUB-CONTRACTING. »