Canberra company awarded $2.2 million to develop innovative cyber solutions for Defence

Joint media release

• Assistant Minister for Finance, Charities and Electoral Matters, Senator the Hon Zed Seselja

The Liberal-National Government has congratulated a Canberra company after it was awarded a contract to improve on the Australian Army’s cyber capabilities.

The innovative cyber technologies and solutions, Penten Services Pty Ltd, could help the Army meet current and emerging challenges.

The Minister for Defence Industry, the Hon Melissa Price MP, announced today the Canberra-headquartered business had secured two Defence Innovation Hub contracts with a combined value of $2.2 million. 

Penten will develop technology that seeks to enhance the Australian Army’s capacity to send communications over unsecured networks.

Funding has also been provided to help it develop a cyber-management capability and enhance security countermeasures. This technology seeks to help the Australian Army monitor network traffic and mitigate attacks on its network.

“Innovation is critical to build and sustain the Australian Defence Force’s capability edge,” Minister Price said.

“Australia benefits from an industrial base of many agile small to medium enterprises like Penten.

“The Government is committed to investing in Australian jobs and small and medium enterprises to develop our defence industry.”

Penten was formed four years ago and has grown from a team of four to more than 50 employees. Based in Canberra, the Penten team are building world-leading technologies that protect Australia’s most classified information from sophisticated cyber adversaries.

Senator for the ACT, Zed Seselja, said the announcement today is a significant investment in a local defence industry company, supporting the Canberra local economy.

“These contracts will not only allow Penten to support local jobs and skills in Canberra, but will ensure members of the Canberra defence industry community continue to be engaged in developing cutting-edge technologies for Australia’s Defence Force,” Senator Seselja said.

“I congratulate Penten on the work they have done so far in their contribution to our nation’s security, and strongly support the opportunities the Defence Innovation Hub affords to Canberran businesses to contribute to our nation’s Defence.”

The contracts awarded to Penten were selected as part of Army Innovation Day 2018, which called for innovative solutions for the next generation Army.

The Special Notice for Army Innovation Day 2019 is now open and can be accessed on the Defence Innovation Portal, visit https://www.innovationhub.defence.gov.au/call-for-submissions/. 

For information about the Defence Innovation Hub, please visit www.business.gov.au/cdic.