How do you meet one of the biggest IT challenges ever for the Ministry of Defence?

In 2000, the MOD began plans to replace outdated and diverse IT systems with a single information infrastructure. This is the story of the Defence Information Infrastructure (DII).

At the outset, there was a huge number of IT systems developed over the years to meet the changing needs of the MOD. Some were bespoke but outdated. Many required regular upgrading and maintenance. Other systems simply weren’t able to exchange information accurately, efficiently or quickly enough to meet the demands of the Defence Sector as it moved into the

21st century. The plans for this mammoth undertaking – designed to enable better communication, promote more efficient ways of working and provide greater value for money – would ultimately become the Defence Information Infrastructure, known in short as DII.

A single, unified platform connecting...

300,000

...Defence users in 2,000 locations across the globe.

The scale of the challenge was enormous: 300,000 users, 150,000 terminals, 2,000 MOD locations fixed around the world with deployed and maritime platforms, and more than 500 applications designed to exacting security standards.

Thanks to DII, ATLAS has already helped the MOD to make savings of almost...

£1bn

...out of an anticipated £1.6 billion of benefits during the lifetime of the programme.

By enabling users across Defence to share information for the first time, DII increases efficiency, and operational and military effectiveness. It also increases interoperability with other areas of UK Secure Government and between the MOD and its partners.

DII is a secure, fully managed and supported infrastructure service, providing user support 24/7, 365 days a year all over the world.

Four world class consortium partners, HP as prime contractor, Fujitsu, Cassidian and CGI, joined forces to integrate a multitude of IT systems onto a single Defence Information Infrastructure – DII. In addition to the necessary hardware and software, the DII programme is providing the supporting

infrastructure which includes a network of data centres, individual site designs and migration from legacy systems. As a solution, DII ensures end-to-end operational service, using state-of-the-art service management tools and a Single Point of Contact for all IT problems. 

Delivery with flexibility: an incremental approach.

ATLAS – a consortium of world leading IT companies – was awarded the ten-year contract for the DII programme in March 2005. Initially covering a rollout of nearly 70,000 User Access Devices (UADs) and 200,000 users (both Restricted and Secret levels) at 680 locations, it has been amended to extend DII into new environments and domains.  This incremental approach reduces the risks of the programme and gives the MOD flexibility in defining its future requirements.