Airbus-Proximus Consortium Receives Long-Term Support & Maintenance Contract for Astrid Network

Astrid, the Belgian national operator of the radio communications, paging and dispatching networks designed for the emergency and security services, has confirmed its trust in the established Airbus-Proximus consortium by granting the renewal of the support and maintenance contract agreements. The network, which is equally called Astrid, serves users from all public safety and security services (police, fire, health and ambulance services), and several utility and transport companies in Belgium.

This contract confirms two decades of a trustworthy business relationship between Astrid and the consortium, and its renewal will allow Astrid, the operator, to benefit from the assets and experience attained over this period of time. The contract includes the continuity of support for major components in the Astrid environment including the end-to-end Tetra radio communication network, the integrated ICT platforms, and the Computer Aided Dispatching (CAD) applications. The scope of the contract includes operational support as well as preventive, corrective, and evolving maintenance services. In addition to these services, the hardware repair chain and software evolutions are also foreseen.

The agreement has taken effect as of July 2019, and is built around four pillars:

• Mission Critical service continuity to Astrid and to its end users
• Cost and pricing optimisation
• Service reinforcement
• Long-term commitment concerning the evolution and the support of the Astrid systems.

A specific focus on optimised operational processes (ITIL), and a review of organisation has also been agreed upon. Overall, the scope of this contract covers support for more than 25 different technologies.

“The signature of this contract is a positive momentum to reinforce the basis of the cooperation between Astrid and the Consortium. This agreement is also key to guaranteeing the perennity and evolution of Astrid’s services” says Christophe Gregoire, Chief Technical and Operations Officer at Astrid. “The renewal of the support contract is also an important milestone to protect the important investments for the renewal, as well as the upgrade and modernisation of these systems perfomed by Astrid over the last years” Gregoire adds.

Since 1998, the public company Astrid has been developing, managing, and maintaining the national radio communications network, paging network and a series of control rooms in Belgium. Astrid is an initiative of the Belgian federal authorities.