The Indra CES in León turns ten, consolidating its status as Spain´s leading center for development of security technology

The Indra Center of Excellence in Security has turned ten, consolidating its status as Spain's leading driver of innovation in security with a proven capacity to put cutting-edge solutions on the market and successfully deploy them all over the world to meet the needs of institutions and companies in every sector of the economy.

Its labs have produced systems that are now in operation in air traffic control towers at more than 130 airports around the globe. They have also contributed to the design and manufacture of advanced flight simulators to train pilots for aircraft like the H175 helicopter and the Eurofighter.

Meanwhile, the center has taken wildfire suppression one step farther with the development of Faedo, the most intelligent and effective early fire detection system on the market. It has also used its technological capabilities to improve control of the materials that enter and exit some of the main ports in Spain, developing radiation detection portals to automatically supervise the loading of trucks and containers. And in the field of customs control it has supplied mobile systems installed in vans to screen the contents of trucks and containers.

The CES in León has also revolutionized police and military instruction by designing systems for mission-based virtual training. Indra's Victrix simulator, named for the Roman legion that was established in León, is used at army, navy and air bases all over Spain.

At the same time, the center has led a considerable number of R&D projects in Spain and Europe, coordinating the work of some of the most prestigious and top-ranking companies, universities and knowledge centers on the continent.

These research efforts have culminated in the development of pioneering systems all over the world, such as iForenlibs, a portable solution for detecting nanograms (one thousand-millionth of a gram) of explosives. Indra has just started marketing this laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) laboratory that fits into a backpack.

The CES facilities and capabilities have gradually been reinforced over these last ten years and today the center boasts highly specialized areas for mechanical design, electronic design, software development and engineering support, enabling it to undertake complex end-to-end projects and assist the work of other Indra units.

Local talent focused on research

Behind all of these achievements is the work of a team of more than one hundred highly qualified professionals, most of them from universities in the Castile-León region. Their talent and capacity have enabled the center to grow from strength to strength, even though its creation in 2007 coincided with the start of the most severe economic recession in decades.

At the time, all new investments in Spain were put on hold, but Indra went ahead and opened a center of excellence in León, playing its own role in turning the city into the country's main hub for security technology.

As a base for addressing the challenge, the company found world-class local infrastructures, universities and research centers renowned for their excellence, as well as a regional government firmly committed to implementing a new model for growth based on knowledge and the development of information and communication technologies.

Taking its first steps in an environment of recession forced the CES to pay particular attention to the quality of its work processes to ensure that its solutions were able to compete successfully in international markets. As proof of this quality, the center has earned several prestigious certificates: CMMI Level5, the highest certification for software development, and PECAL 2110 and 2210, whose quality assurance requirements are specified by NATO and must be met by the suppliers of the different defense ministries in Europe.

After expanding its activities over the last decade, today the CES in León is in an enviable position for harnessing the opportunities of the new economic cycle. Indra remains committed to the goal of ensuring that CES products stay at the technological forefront, and to generating new lines of work that will not only create jobs but guarantee sustained growth and excellence.

About Indra

Indra is one of the world's top consulting and technology companies, the absolute leader in IT in Spain, and a technology partner for the key operations of its customers' businesses worldwide. It offers a comprehensive range of proprietary solutions and cutting-edge services with optimal technological capabilities, as well as a unique culture of reliability, flexibility and adaptability to the needs of its customers. Indra is a world leader in the development of end-to-end technology solutions in fields such as Defense and Security, Transport and Traffic, Energy and Industry, Telecommunications and Media, Financial Services, Electoral Processes, and Public Administrations and Healthcare. Through its Minsait unit, it addresses the challenges of digital transformation. In 2016 Indra posted a revenue of 2.709 billion euros, employed 34,000 professionals, and had a local presence in 46 countries and sales operations in more than 140 countries. Following its acquisition of Tecnocom, Indra's combined revenue amounted to more than 3.2 billion euros in 2016 with a team of nearly 40,000 professionals.