CGI, listed on both the NYSE and TSX under the GIB ticker, has secured a significant contract with the NATO Communications and Information Agency to deliver the HERMES project, working alongside long-time cybersecurity specialist secunet Security Networks. The core idea behind HERMES is deceptively simple but strategically powerful: enable NATO executives and selected user groups to communicate securely while mobile, without compromising on classification levels or operational integrity. Instead of being tied to fixed, static communication environments, NATO’s command structure gains the ability to access a fully protected digital workspace from virtually anywhere, at any time, using specially hardened equipment. It’s one of those shifts that sounds incremental on paper, but in practice changes how leadership can operate under pressure.
At a technical and operational level, the solution blends CGI’s managed services and operational expertise with secunet’s Secure Inter-Network Architecture, or SINA, a technology already well regarded in high-assurance government and defense environments. The result is an integrated hardware-software stack that supports the exchange of classified information across locations while maintaining consistent command and control. What stands out here is not just the security posture—expected at this level—but the emphasis on usability and scalability. NATO leaders are meant to experience the same confidentiality and reliability they would expect in a fixed headquarters environment, even when working on the move, which, frankly, is no longer optional in today’s security landscape.
From NATO’s perspective, HERMES represents a clear modernization of internal communications. Ludwig Decamps, General Manager at NCIA, framed it as a new dimension of efficient, mobile communication aligned with the demands of a modern and flexible command structure. That phrasing matters: this isn’t just about better tools, but about adapting how command authority functions in a world where crises don’t wait for people to be in the right building. CGI echoes this framing, with Jens Elstermeier, Head of Business Development for Defense & Intelligence at CGI Germany, highlighting the need for absolute reliability in a multinational, security-critical environment, and pointing to interoperability and rapid mobile deployment as key design goals. There’s a quiet confidence in that message, built on the fact that CGI and NATO already have an established working relationship.
Operationally, the project goes beyond deployment and into sustained service delivery. NCIA and CGI are jointly implementing a results-driven, user-oriented package that includes the establishment of a dedicated HERMES Service Operation Centre. This HSOC brings together continuous monitoring, a built-in Security Operations Center, 24/7 on-call support, global on-site assistance, and structured user training. CGI takes responsibility for the end-to-end secure VPN operations, while secunet supplies the specialized hardware and encryption components that anchor the security model. Importantly, the architecture is designed to grow—additional user groups and security domains can be integrated without rethinking the entire system, which hints at longer-term strategic value rather than a one-off capability.
For secunet, the project reinforces the relevance of its SINA technology in modern defense contexts. Marcel Taubert, Vice-President for Defence & Space, summed it up bluntly: the ability to work with highly classified content while mobile is a clear strategic advantage. That’s hard to argue with. Taken together, the HERMES project signals more than a contract win for CGI; it reflects a broader shift in how NATO is re-engineering its internal communications to stay agile, secure, and operationally effective in an environment where speed, mobility, and trust are increasingly inseparable.