White Paper

1 Executive Summary Mercury Systems has over 30 years of experience designing, developing and manufacturing high performance hardware and embedded software solutions for defense applications. Over time, Mercury has developed and deployed multicomputer architectures and real-time parallel process- ing software to meet the challenging requirements presented by the defense electronics industry and their customers. We understand that as a part of the defense industrial base, as a provider of best of class high-performance processing solutions, we are counted on to provide the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD and the Intelligence Community (IC) with technologies that can help ensure program protection that will ultimately lead to mission success. As the defense industrial base has evolved, it has come to resemble a barbell, with large, capable primes that serve as a valuable national re- source and provide unsurpassed platform integration capabilities at one end. At the other end, there are a myriad of small suppliers with modest capabilities who nonetheless provide innovative technologies within their specialized area. Bucking the trend, Mercury has emerged as a mid-tier provider of subsystem and technology solutions across the sensor processing chain, supporting the defense community. We have been develop- ing and manufacturing secure processing solutions since 2010, in order to meet the growing needs of our customers in this domain. Why does this matter? We believe there is a gap within the defense community for reliable providers of secure, scalable and affordable subsystems that can support critical programs. Both the DoD and prime contractors, with the advent of the Better Buying Power initiatives, most recently Better Buying Power 3.0 (BBP), are seeking suppliers of key pre-integrated subsystems that can serve as building blocks within criti- cal systems and systems-of-systems. By helping address this gap, we believe we can help the DoD and the primes draw down risk, accelerate development schedules and ultimately increase affordability. As we develop pre-integrated subsystems we are also very mindful of the fact that we need to build secure processing solutions that can be "built-in" to your secure architecture, not "bolted on". The built-in versus bolted on element is a fundamental core value critical to making sure our customers can integrate and customize our secure building blocks, avoid a rewrite of their applications and ensure they can affordably build a secure architecture. Our built-in solutions are becoming the new threshold for security compliance as bolted on solutions prove both inefficient and less effective. In support of this trend, Mercury is the first to offer security solutions which allow our customers to affordably secure the entire processing stack as the evolutionary next step to today's secure adjunct processors. We are constantly driving toward building secure solutions that can be built into our customers' solutions and affordably and effectively support their applications and ultimate program success. All while working against a backdrop where defense procurement reform and cost challenges are front and center. BBP's move to procure mature, commercially-available technologies and foster greater adoption of Modular Open System Architectures (MOSAs) create even greater stress on the need for secure, scalable, customizable processing solutions. We are fashioning our technology investments, our product lines and our business around the ability to alleviate this stress in the acquisition system. We believe we can help our customers meet the requirements of BBP 3.0 while enhancing affordability and improving risk posture as they seek to build secure processing solutions for programs of national and global importance.. The DoD and primes both want to develop and procure solutions afford- ably with minimal technical and schedule risks. Mercury represents a rare example of a supplier that can reliably provide scalable solutions that allow the program owner to affordably build secure solutions. Pre-Integrated, Customizable, Secure Building Blocks This white paper: • Defines the three key areas noted above and why they are potential difference makers for the DoD and primes • Outlines Mercury's unique position within the defense industrial base as a mid-tier provider of customizable secure processing solutions • Describes how Mercury fills a gap in defense electronics supply chain that urgently needs addressing • Details our scalable secure processing technologies that allow customers to build their own personalized security approaches

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