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NATO Science & Technology Organization

Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation

IT Capabilities

The CMRE’s Information Technology Branch supports the Centre’s scientific research programmes by designing, testing, operating and maintaining state-of-the-art unclassified and classified communication and information systems used by CMRE’s scientists and engineers. Activities include the provision of systems and services to enable data collection, sharing and collaboration with external partners and customers. IT Department staff implement artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms for deployment on embedded platforms and in hosting facilities, and, deliver innovation by leading the development of unique software minimal viable products and operational prototype tools—predominantly in the maritime domain.

CMRE Information Technology

Supporting CMRE research and Fielding NATO Prototype Tools

The CMRE’s Information Technology (IT) Branch supports the Centre’s scientific research programmes by designing, testing, operating and maintaining state-of-the-art unclassified and classified communication and information systems (CIS) used by CMRE’s scientists and engineers.  Activities include the provision of systems and services to enable data collection, sharing and collaboration with external partners and customers.  IT Department staff implement artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms for deployment on embedded platforms and in hosting facilities, and, deliver innovation by leading the development of unique software minimal viable products (MVPs) and operational prototype tools—predominantly in the maritime domain.

The IT Branch staff of system architects, engineers and technicians:

  • Operate, maintain and enhance the CMRE scientific networks in support of the Centre’s programme of work, in particular the Scientific Network (SciNet) Infrastructure—CMRE’s working network for researchers and engineers
  • Develop and operate state-of-the-art software systems and services, support software development and data management activities within the Centre’s programme of work, and lead customer-funded innovation projects.

High Performance Computing

The Centre’s computing facilities have been significantly upgraded in recent years, reflecting a significant effort towards future readiness and resilience.  The activation of a High Performance Computing (HPC) capability, dedicated to environmental modelling, underscores the commitment of CMRE to advancing research and innovation.  Operational since May 2023, the CMRE HPC capability was designed in collaboration with Dell and resembles the architecture of a node of the Italian CINECA Galileo 100 engineered by Dell in 2021.

Datacenter

The CMRE has a state-of-the-art hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) datacentre that accommodates cloud-based services and applications, and centralized HCI management provides a unified interface for managing both on-site and cloud resources.  Overall, the Centre’s HCI datacentre enhances resilience, scalability, and performance and reduces operational complexity.

Data Catalogue

The CMRE Data Catalogue is operational on the NATO Software Factory (NSF) cloud and on a public cloud environment, and is fully accessible by NATO staffs and national users external to CMRE.  The CMRE Data Catalogue contains well over 1000 datasets from CMRE’s recent scientific Programmes of Work.

Alliance Data Mesh

Based on experience gained from the development of the Data Catalogue, the deployable Data Mesh platform—developed and operationally tested by CMRE IT Branch staff in collaboration with Allied Command Transformation (ACT)—is available as a pilot capability to support the requirements capture for the Alliance Data Sharing Ecosystem (ADSE) for defence and security.  It is expected that the Data Mesh infrastructure and services will continue to be developed and used during an increasing number of NATO exercises, operations and missions.

Software Product Development

CMRE staff follows a modern approach for all software development and maintenance of operational prototype tools, using Agile and development, security, and operations (DevSecOps) methodologies.

Generative AI

CMRE IT Branch staff are developing a tool exploiting generative AI technology to support CMRE research in a secure way and fully aligned with NATO security policies.  The intent is to make the tool available for internal use by CMRE staff during 2026.