ICterra Aims to Expand its Presence in Turkey Thanks to its Expertise in Global Markets

Defence Turkey: First of all, could you please inform us about the history of ICterra, its products and capabilities focused on defence and security?

ICterra was established as a software R&D team within Siemens Turkey (then known as Simko A.Ş.) in Ankara, back in 1991. Over the past 20+ years, our team has developed deep know-how in different areas encompassing the ICT sector and completed numerous projects successfully, locally and globally. In 2000, ICterra became one of the global R&D centers of Siemens. In 2007, our R&D team was commercialized as Siemens Enterprise Communications (Siemens EC A.Ş.). In March 2013, Siemens EC became a 100% local firm as a result of a MBO – known as ICterra, which implies “the world of information and communication technologies.” Today, with our 100 employees, based in our 1400 m2 office space located in METU Technology Park, we continue to provide services for the defence and telecommunication sectors.

 ICterra is an ICT services and consulting firm. We have deep competence in information and communication technologies, which we continuously strive to improve by creating an open and transparent work environment, by encouraging and investing in innovative ideas and by closely following trends and what’s being demanded in our respective sectors.  

Primarily, we offer software research and development services to the defence sector. With our expertise in multi-national projects, PMP certified project managers, ISTQB certified test engineers, and experts on Java, .NET and embedded programming technologies, we are capable of building all kinds of high-end software solutions and products. Our teams are competent in handling large-scale projects and are equipped with agile project management experience.

Quality assurance is also one of our main service areas. Today, software test is seen as a complex engineering form -- test is not only seen as an integral part of software projects, but also as a project on its own. At ICterra, we follow TMMI (Test Maturity Model Integrated) guidelines and a KPI-driven approach to ensure service excellence. Test automation is another important aspect of quality assurance. Its purpose is not only to increase quality but also to decrease costs. Our test team is capable of carrying out test automation projects using tools such as IBM Rational Functional Tester, SmartBear Test Complete, HP Quick Test Professional, and Selenium IDE etc. ICterra is a one-stop software test center that can address all aspects of quality assurance, while meeting global standards.

Over the past 23-years in the ICT sector, we have been implementing security concepts in our R&D projects primarily around secure VoIP communications.  Furthermore, we developed know-how around IT security processes such as ISO 27001 and risk assessment. 

Under the umbrella of IT security, one of our primary areas of expertise is cyber security. The number of companies who depend on the Internet to provide their services is increasing rapidly. Ensuring the competitiveness of these companies depends mostly on the reliability of their services. The security vulnerabilities found in ICT systems, can cause service failures and reveal trade secrets resulting in significant financial loss for companies. According to McAfee’s report, The Economic Impact of Cybercrime and Cyber Espionage (June, 2013), the total cost of cyber-attacks incurred by countries and companies was in the range of $300 billion and $1 trillion (0.4%-1.4% of global GDP) in 2013.

Likewise, in Turkey, ICT technologies are increasingly used by SMEs and large-scale enterprises.  As these enterprises work towards increasing service quality and speed, they open themselves and their users up to cyber-attacks. According to Arbor Networks’ research, in Q2 2014, cyber-attacks decreased by 68% globally, whereas in the same period cyber-attacks increased by 6% in Turkey.

Currently, our experts on IT security are developing a set of cyber security products, which will be able to prevent and categorize attacks. Our goal is to release our product suite to the market in 2015.

Defence Turkey: What are the programs that you are carrying out with Turkish Defence industry companies and Turkish authorities?

Our relationship with the Turkish defence industry dates back to mid 90’s. We have been heavily involved in the Turkish Armed Forces Integrated Communication System (TAFICS) project. In the context of this project, we have developed various administrative applications for MUBILDESKOM such as personnel, training, inventory and logistics management applications.

Our activities in the defence sector have gained momentum in the second half of 2013. We started to increase awareness around our services and competencies in the sector. Initial feedback we received from the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries and other big players in the defence sector have significantly motivated us to expand the scope of our activities. We have placed our applications for the Facility Security Clearance Certificate, both for National Secret and NATO Secret security classifications. Furthermore, we have initiated the process of certifying our capabilities and corporate processes -- besides the ISO 9001:2008 certificate, which we have already received, we have applied for the ISO 27001, ISO 14001 and CMMI Level 3 certificates. 

In the meantime, we have started to work with leading companies in the defence sector. Since, June 2013 we have been active in the NATO AIRC2IS project as a subcontractor of ATOS, providing quality assurance services. We are looking into increasing our contribution to the project in system administration and development. Also, we work in collaboration with SDT on satellite programs, developing and executing test strategies. 

Recently, we have signed a contract with Aselsan to develop a test simulator, which is a good starting point for our business relationship – and we are in the process of discussing other potential projects we can get involved in. We firmly believe that our competencies in communication technologies, software R&D and test will create grounds for further cooperation.

ICterra’s goal is to partner with the big players in the defence sector in Turkey and abroad, improve our capabilities and support their projects by providing quality services – and create value together.

Defence Turkey: It is known that ICterra has a sound success in export. Could you please inform us about your export activities?

ICterra’s strategy is to continuously explore different markets and evaluate their unlocked potential in order to stay on top of trends, create opportunities for growth and to stay competitive. 

Today, we provide software R&D services for next generation VoIP communication systems to Unify Germany (former Siemens Enterprise Communications). We are actively involved in the whole lifecycle of the product development process including key roles such as project and product management. Moreover, ICterra owns the second largest communication test lab within Unify, where we carry out complex quality assurance activities.

Currently, we have excellent business ties with global companies, mainly in Germany, and we are competing against Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and even against India, in the ICT sector. In a recent bidding of Unify, we won a bid against the world’s largest IT company TCS. We will continue to actively look for opportunities in the global market.

Our export strategy is not only to provide R&D services, but also software products powered by ICterra, globally. We are currently working on the development of innovative products in next generation corporate communications and cyber security, which will be launched in 2015.

For the past two years, ICterra has been ranked amongst the leaders (8th in 2013) in the “Software Export” category according to the Top 500 IT Companies Research, Turkey conducted by İnterpro Medya. Our goal is to become a leader in software export in the upcoming years.

Defence Turkey: What is your approach to Cyber Warfare and Security? Could you please inform us about your studies in this field?

The key to success at cyber warfare is not different than conventional warfare: “you have to know your enemy.” Unfortunately, as opposed to conventional warfare, at cyber warfare, your enemy can “literally” move in the speed of light and traces are hard to follow.

ICterra’s approach to solve this problem is not to rely on IP addresses to identify attackers but to consider their behavior and tokens instead.  The security products we are currently developing are built on recognition mechanisms, which can differentiate and pinpoint different cyberspace actors reliably even when attack resources and machines get hidden behind different networks.

Once we reach excellence in this approach we will overcome the disadvantage of fighting with shadows, which will be a breakthrough in cyber defence techniques.

Defence Turkey: Would you like to add a message for our readers? 

The demand for R&D services in Turkey and abroad is increasing gradually.  Seeing this potential, we would like to become an active player in the industry by developing long-term partnerships and providing quality services.

Also, I would like to thank you for your interest in ICterra. I think Defence Turkey is a valuable resource for players in the sector -- highlighting trends, upcoming projects and plans.