Introducing SCA
The Service du Commissariat des Armées is a joint service responsible for providing support to the armed forces. Following the launch of the Ministry of the Armed Forces' Family Plan, the SCA commissioned the Économat des Armées to identify a single supplier for leisure Internet.
The background
In 2018, Wifirst won the tender led by the Economat des Armées to provide WiFi in all accommodation areas of defense bases in mainland France (137,000 beds). This contract is part of a strong commitment to improving living conditions for military personnel, which is why WiFi is now free for all.
The challenge met
Deploying WiFi on all defense bases is undoubtedly one of the most ambitious and complex industrial challenges to be met. Several factors make this an exceptionally large-scale project:
- the isolated nature of certain military sites, sometimes located in rural areas or with little network infrastructure coverage
- the considerable size of accommodation buildings, particularly in the largest regiments
- the stringent security requirements imposed by "defense" standards
- or the large-scale logistics involved in deploying a uniform system across the whole country.
A concrete example: the Mourmelon military camp
The Mourmelon military camp is the largest of the French Army's two main training parks. A cornerstone of operational readiness, it hosts a large number of units in rotation throughout the year for intensive training and maneuvers. As part of the ILOSCA project, the deployment of the WiFi network at the Mourmelon camp represented a major technical and logistical undertaking, commensurate with the size and complexity of the site.
- 25 projects spread over 8 communes 160 km apart
- 10,660 beds in 174 buildings
- 850 WiFi hotspots and 180 switches installed
- 65 km of optical fiber laid by Wifirst to interconnect the buildings
- +2 Gbps of available bandwidth
