Kristen Smith
Oracle has launched a new defense ecosystem designed to help startups secure government contracts, Defense One reported Tuesday.
The company introduced the Oracle Defense Ecosystem at its recent defense technology summit, highlighting the global initiative’s goal to strengthen U.S. and allied national security and help accelerate the disruptive potential of emerging defense technology by creating new opportunities for defense innovators to access the latest cloud and artificial intelligence technologies from startups.
Barriers to Defense Market Entry
According to Oracle, complex procurement processes, strict qualification standards and the relationship networks required to gain admission into the defense industrial base hinder national security teams from procuring technologies from early-stage businesses.
The company will provide ecosystem members, which currently include Arqit, Blackshark.ai, Entanglement and Fenix Group, with easy access to various capabilities from Oracle and its partners. Such capabilities include Oracle Sales Support, Palantir for Builders, Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Acceleration and Secure Cloud Computing Architecture Compliance.
According to Kim Lynch, Oracle’s executive vice president for government defense and intelligence and a two-time Wash100 awardee, new technology companies are finding it difficult to support the government due to a lack of infrastructure, classified facilities and contract teams.
“As we’re seeing with the new administration, the barriers to entry are decreasing significantly, but there still is an upfront investment that a lot of companies need to make to be able to successfully do business with the government,” Lynch explained.
Shubhi Mishra, founder and CEO of Raft and a fellow Wash100 Award recipient, previously told Defense One that changing the dynamics of the defense industrial base presents an opportunity for startups and non-traditional companies developing defense technologies.
