CAP Scientific
Encyclopedia
Sema Group
Sema Group plc was an Anglo-French IT services company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Schlumberger in 2001.-History:...
which was acquired by Schlumberger
Schlumberger
Schlumberger Limited is the world's largest oilfield services company. Schlumberger employs over 110,000 people of more than 140 nationalities working in approximately 80 countries...
in 2001 to become SchlumbergerSema, itself acquired by Atos Origin
Atos Origin
Atos S.A. is an international information technology corporation which operates in 42 countries worldwide, with over 78,500 employees...
in 2004. Sema Group's defence joint venture with British Aerospace
British Aerospace
British Aerospace plc was a UK aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was in the Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire...
; BAeSEMA
BAeSEMA
BAeSEMA was a naval technology joint venture between British Aerospace and the French Sema Group. The company was formed in 1991 and dissolved in November 1998 when BAe purchased SEMA's 50% share....
, incorporated most of CAP's former operations, becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of BAe (now BAE Systems
BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc is a British multinational defence, security and aerospace company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that has global interests, particularly in North America through its subsidiary BAE Systems Inc. BAE is among the world's largest military contractors; in 2009 it was the...
Insyte
BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies
BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies was formed on May 3, 2005, by bringing together BAE Systems' interests in C4ISR and the UK operations of AMS following the Eurosystems Transaction....
).
Formation of CAP Scientific
CAP Scientific was formed in 1979 by four colleagues who had previously worked in Scicon, a BPBP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
subsidiary. Seeking to start a specialist software company for defence applications in the United Kingdom, they approached CAP-CPP, a commercial software house, to back a start-up operation.
By 1985, CAP Scientific had established significant work in several areas. It had a strong naval business based on supporting the Admiralty Research Establishment
Admiralty Research Establishment
The Admiralty Research Establishment was formed on 1 April 1984 from various Admiralty establishments. It became part of the Defence Research Agency on 1 April 1991.-Constituent parts on formation:...
. This Maritime Technology business applied the technologies fostered in research contracts on major development programmes. CAP worked with Vosper Thornycroft Controls to develop machinery control and surveillance systems for the Royal Navy's new generation ships and submarines.
An associated Naval Command Systems business had built a strong Action Information Organisation design team, working with both surface and submarine fleets, and a Land Air Systems business also took research and development contracts and was prime contractor for the British Army's Brigade and Battlegroup Trainer (BBGT). The non-defence scientific sector was addressed by setting a Scientific Systems business with expertise in energy generation and conservation. In that year, CAP Scientific established the Centre for Operational Research and Defence Analysis (CORDA
CORDA (UK)
CORDA is small analysis and management consultancy company, owned by BAE Systems and based in Farnborough. It provides evidence-based decision support to BAE Systems, government departments, and other commercial organisations...
) as an independent unit to provide impartial assistance for investment appraisal.
At that time military computer systems were purpose-built by major contractors, and CAP Scientific's strategy was to form joint ventures with companies which had market access but could not afford the investment to move into the new technology of microprocessors and distributed systems.
The Falklands breakthrough, and DCG
In its early years, CAP Scientific took time to establish itself, but in 1982 there came a breakthrough. While the UK was mustering its naval taskforce for the Falklands WarFalklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
, it became clear that for some purposes the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
needed more computational power. An Urgent Operational Requirement was raised to provide improved fire control solutions for RN Sub-Harpoon. Working in frantic haste, CAP's engineers were able to add an experimental Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
PDP-8
PDP-8
The 12-bit PDP-8 was the first successful commercial minicomputer, produced by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1960s. DEC introduced it on 22 March 1965, and sold more than 50,000 systems, the most of any computer up to that date. It was the first widely sold computer in the DEC PDP series of...
installation into a Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
submarine before she sailed to the South Atlantic. This was one of the first examples of commercial off-the-shelf
Commercial off-the-shelf
In the United States, Commercially available Off-The-Shelf is a Federal Acquisition Regulation term defining a nondevelopmental item of supply that is both commercial and sold in substantial quantities in the commercial marketplace, and that can be procured or utilized under government contract...
equipment being employed for military use. The success of this experimental deployment led to the development of a standard RN submarine fit, DCG, which allowed extra processing power to be added to submarine command systems.
SMCS and Gresham-CAP
By its prompt response to the needs of the Falklands WarFalklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
, CAP Scientific demonstrated its ability to supply naval computer technology. With the decision to build the new Vanguard class submarine
Vanguard class submarine
The Vanguard class are the Royal Navy's current nuclear ballistic missile submarines , each armed with up to 16 Trident II Submarine-launched ballistic missiles...
to carry the Trident missile
Trident missile
The Trident missile is a submarine-launched ballistic missile equipped with multiple independently-targetable reentry vehicles . The Fleet Ballistic Missile is armed with nuclear warheads and is launched from nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines . Trident missiles are carried by fourteen...
system, the UK Ministry of Defence proceeded for the first time to run an open competition for the command system. In 1983, CAP Scientific teamed with Gresham-Lion, a British manufacturer of torpedo launch control equipment and now part of Ultra Electronics plc
Ultra Electronics
Ultra Electronics Holdings is a British company serving the defence, security, transport and energy industries. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...
, to form a special purpose company, Gresham-CAP Ltd, to bid for the system. Up to that point all RN ships and submarines had command systems built by Ferranti
Ferranti
Ferranti or Ferranti International plc was a UK electrical engineering and equipment firm that operated for over a century from 1885 until it went bankrupt in 1993. Known primarily for defence electronics, the Company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but ceased trading in 1993.The...
using custom-built electronics. Gresham-CAP offered a novel distributed processing system based on commercial off-the-shelf components and utilising a modular software architecture largely written in the Ada programming language. The Gresham-CAP consortium won the bid, and their solution, known as Submarine Command System (SMCS
SMCS
SMCS, the Submarine Command System, was first created for the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom's Vanguard class submarines as a tactical information system and a torpedo weapon control system...
) became the basis for subsequent products from the company.
The choice of Intel 80386
Intel 80386
The Intel 80386, also known as the i386, or just 386, was a 32-bit microprocessor introduced by Intel in 1985. The first versions had 275,000 transistors and were used as the central processing unit of many workstations and high-end personal computers of the time...
processors and MultiBus
Multibus
Multibus is a computer bus standard used in industrial systems. It was developed by Intel Corporation and was adopted as the IEEE 796 bus.The Multibus specification was important because it was a robust, well-thought out industry standard with a relatively large form factor so complex devices could...
, when many competing chips were available and the PC had only recently reached the market, showed foresight as the basic architecture remains in service today on RN submarines. (The choice of an array of INMOS Transputer
INMOS transputer
The transputer was a pioneering microprocessor architecture of the 1980s, featuring integrated memory and serial communication links, intended for parallel computing. It was designed and produced by Inmos, a British semiconductor company based in Bristol....
chips to process sonar tracking data was less successful - whilst they did the job, the lack of long term support / future product line meant they have been phased out once general purpose processors were able to fulfill the role.)
The impact of this still-young company displacing one of the great names of British electronics in the Royal Navy shocked the industry and can be seen as one of the first open competitions in modern British defence procurement and followed a long post-war period of 'preferred contractor' polices.
The founders of CAP Scientific sold their complete shareholding to CAP-CPP, which subsequently listed on the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
as CAP Group plc. In June 1986, the Group acquired YARD (Yarrow-Admiralty Research Department) Ltd, a marine engineering consultancy, formerly part of Yarrow Shipbuilders
Yarrow Shipbuilders
Yarrow Limited , often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde...
, based in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
.
DNA (SSCS) and Merger
The Falklands WarFalklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
prompted a further competition in British naval equipment supply when an analysis of the loss of showed that improvements were necessary in surface ship combat systems. A contract for the command system for the navy's new Type 23 frigate
Type 23 frigate
The Type 23 frigate is a class of frigate built for the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. All the ships were first named after British Dukes, thus the class is also known as the Duke class. The first Type 23 was commissioned in 1989, and the sixteenth, was launched in May 2000 and commissioned in...
s was cancelled and put out to competition, and after a long campaign was awarded to the CAP and Gresham consortium, teamed with Racal
Racal
Racal Electronics plc was once the third-largest British electronics firm. Listed on the London Stock Exchange and once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, Racal was a diversified company, offering products including: as voice and data recorders; point of sale terminals; laboratory instruments;...
Electronics. The consortium developed the architecture of SMCS
SMCS
SMCS, the Submarine Command System, was first created for the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom's Vanguard class submarines as a tactical information system and a torpedo weapon control system...
to create a derivative distributed system known internally as Surface-Ship Command System (SSCS). By now Gresham-Lion was under Dowty
Dowty Group
Dowty Group was a leading British manufacturer of aircraft equipment. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by TI Group in 1992.-History:...
ownership and CAP Group had merged with the French company SEMA-METRA SA to form Sema Group plc
Sema Group
Sema Group plc was an Anglo-French IT services company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Schlumberger in 2001.-History:...
.
The Type 23 command system proved to be a step too far for Sema Scientific, as it was now called. The enormous fixed-price contract overran, causing problems for both Sema and Dowty
Dowty Group
Dowty Group was a leading British manufacturer of aircraft equipment. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by TI Group in 1992.-History:...
. Dowty was taken over by TI Group
TI Group
TI Group plc was a holding company for specialised engineering companies. It was based in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. It was registered as Tube Investments in 1919, combining the seamless steel tube businesses of Tubes Ltd, New Credenda Tube , Simplex and Accles & Pollock. In 1928 Reynolds Tube joined...
, who sold their interests in Dowty-Sema back to Sema Group for £1. Sema Group invited British Aerospace
British Aerospace
British Aerospace plc was a UK aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was in the Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire...
in as a co-investor in the business, and the activities which once formed CAP Scientific, Gresham-CAP and YARD, together with some BAe interests were merged in 1991 into a new entity, BAeSEMA
BAeSEMA
BAeSEMA was a naval technology joint venture between British Aerospace and the French Sema Group. The company was formed in 1991 and dissolved in November 1998 when BAe purchased SEMA's 50% share....
. Ultimately, BAe purchased Sema Group's interest in BAeSEMA. Ironically, with the BAe/Marconi Electronic Systems
Marconi Electronic Systems
Marconi Electronic Systems , or GEC-Marconi as it was until 1998, was the defence arm of The General Electric Company . It was demerged from GEC and acquired by British Aerospace on November 30, 1999 to form BAE Systems...
merger to form BAE Systems
BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc is a British multinational defence, security and aerospace company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that has global interests, particularly in North America through its subsidiary BAE Systems Inc. BAE is among the world's largest military contractors; in 2009 it was the...
in 1999, the CAP Scientific business found itself under the same parent as its erstwhile competitor Ferranti.