Shares in Australia’s archTIS Limited rocketed this week as investors celebrated the cybersecurity company's breakthrough into two of the world's largest defence markets with M365 contracts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and the potential for massive expansion.

The Canberra-based firm, which specialises in secure cloud collaboration software, announced it has successfully penetrated both the US Department of Defense and UK defence markets with its flagship NC Protect solution, marking a pivotal moment in the company's global expansion strategy.

The most significant development came with archTIS securing its first contract from a prime US Department of Defense contractor, valued at A$38,500 for 1,000 initial user licenses over six months. While modest in initial value, the contract represents the crucial first step in what could become a transformational revenue opportunity.

Following months of rigorous validation and security testing, NC Protect successfully passed major evaluation milestones for deployment within the Pentagon's Microsoft DOD365 cloud environments. The solution emerged as the only integrated platform capable of delivering the robust, scalable, and secure attribute-based access control necessary to safeguard sensitive communications across the DoD.

The game-changing aspect lies in the expected expansion. Company executives anticipate the next phase will involve onboarding 150,000 users as part of the first stage in a multi-phase rollout across the warfighter network, with potential for even broader coverage across the entire US DoD structure.

"This would expand the global NC Protect user base 6-fold and would serve as a key driver of growth in FY26," the company stated, highlighting the transformational potential of the Pentagon relationship.

UK Defence Win Validates Global Strategy

Complementing the US breakthrough, archTIS simultaneously announced a three-year contract with the UK division of a major multinational aerospace and defence corporation, valued at A$261,870 for 400 initial user licenses.

The UK contract was secured to ensure compliance with the UK Ministry of Defence Joint Service Publication 440 (JSP 440), which mandates fine-grained access controls for export-controlled and sensitive defence data. NC Protect was selected for its ability to enforce sophisticated, attribute-based access control within Microsoft 365 environments.

NC Protect will be deployed as a key component in the UK corporation's enterprise-wide migration from Microsoft SharePoint Server (on-premises) to Microsoft 365 cloud services.

Crucially, the initial UK implementation is expected to serve as the global reference model for securing data collaboration across a subsequent workforce of more than 100,000 employees, suggesting significant future expansion potential.

Leadership Optimism

archTIS Managing Director and CEO Daniel Lai highlighted the US DoD Agency win: "This initial award marks a pivotal milestone in our strategy to penetrate and service the U.S. defence market - the largest in the world. It is a key achievement that evidences our capability in this competitive sector, which is characterised by extensive compliance requirements and strict security standards.

“By establishing a foothold in this market, we are actively positioning ourselves to capitalise on future opportunities in government and defence. We believe this market will contribute significantly to our overall growth objectives.

Global COO and US President Kurt A. Mueffelmann added: "We take great pride in supporting the U.S. Department of Defense in achieving secure collaboration in Microsoft's D0O365 cloud environments. The continued evaluation of NC Protect as the solution for this critical DoD initiative is a testament to our innovative technology, as well as our dedication to safeguarding data in the most challenging defence environments. This milestone marks a significant step forward in arch T/S' mission to deliver trusted solutions for global defence and intelligence communities."

Future Growth Prospects

The dual contract wins position archTIS at the forefront of a rapidly growing market for secure cloud collaboration solutions. With governments worldwide seeking to modernise their cybersecurity infrastructure while maintaining strict data protection standards, the company's specialised attribute-based access control technology addresses a critical need.

Both contracts contain expansion mechanisms that could see user numbers grow dramatically from the current combined 1,400 initial licenses to potentially hundreds of thousands of users across both nations' defence establishments.