C4 Marine Brig. Gen. Kevin J. Nally - KMI Media Group

The Voice of Military Communications and Computing
C4 Marine
Brig. Gen.
Kevin J. Nally
C4 Director
Marine Corps
Deputy CIO, DoN
www.MIT-kmi.com
C4
February 2011
Volume 15, Issue 1
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Military inforMation technology
february 2011
VoluMe 15 • issue 1
features coVer / Q&a
6
11
25
31
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New Platform for Battle Command
Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below, a battle
command system that has won widespread praise for its
contributions to U.S. operations in Southwest Asia, is in the
process on undergoing major system redesigns.
By Peter Buxbaum
Ruggedization Acceleration
The military’s demand for mobile IT technology is spurring
rapid development of ruggedized computing equipment
capable of providing the most up-to-date capabilities while
also withstanding harsh conditions.
By Adam Baddeley
Encryption at the Edge
In response to the basic dilemma of tactical IA and
encryption—speed and access versus increased exposure
and risk—major military communications companies are
developing a host of new products.
By Adam Baddeley
Virtualizing the Future
Military Information Technology recently posed the following
question to some of the leading companies in the field of
network systems: What benefits and potential drawbacks do
you see in the current military drive toward server, desktop
and other forms of virtualization?
21
Brigadier General
Kevin J. Nally
C4 Director, Marine Corps
Deputy CIO, Department of the Navy
DepartMents
2
4
17
18
35
Editor’s Perspective
People/Program Notes
JTRS Update
Data Bytes
Calendar, Directory
inDustry interView
36
James D. Brock
Principal
Deloitte Consulting LLP

Military inforMation
technology
VoluMe 15, issue 1 february 2011
The Voice of Military Communications
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Are you worthy of the network, and is the network worthy
of you?
While such fundamental questions may not be exactly what the
military has in mind, it’s clear that the concept of “networthiness” is
becoming a important one for Department of Defense IT.
DoD officials have been working on standards to define and
enforce networthiness, which according to one recent definition
reflects “the operational assessment of systems, applications or
devices to determine security, interoperability, supportability,
sustainability, usability and compliance with federal, DoD and
[combatant command, service and agency] regulations.”
It’s an idea the Army has pursued for some time, with the Army Network Enterprise Technology
Command issuing certificates of networthiness for specific products before they are allowed to be
connected to Army networks. The program was developed in a proactive way “to preclude drive-by
fieldings of systems, serve as a safety-net prior to anything connecting to the Army LandWarNet,
prevent products from causing damage or interoperability issues, and mitigate the risks posed
to the Army LandWarNet due to supply chain risk management issues,” according to a NETCOM
description.
Although the above definitions identify a number of different aspects to networthiness, many
people have tended to focus just on the security aspects of the concept. That’s why organizations
such as the Air Force Network Integration Center (AFNIC), which is leading that service’s efforts
in this area, are emphasizing the holistic character of networthiness.
“We frequently see systems ready for fielding that may pass the security piece, but then they get
connected and aren’t interoperable with other systems, or they’re a bandwidth hog and multiple
sites experience degraded performance,” Nancy Klein, AFNIC’s networthiness lead, has said.
Klein led the Joint Networthiness High Performance Team, comprising representatives from
the Defense Information Systems Agency and the services, which developed the assessment
criteria.
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Having met key cost, schedule and performance entry criteria, the
Navy’s Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES)
program has received milestone B approval.
Navy officials described CANES as being at the forefront of
recent acquisition reform changes directed by the under secretary of
defense for acquisition, technology and logistics (USD AT&L). A recent
series of “better buying power” memorandums directed acquisition
organizations to pursue initiatives in the areas of target affordability
and control cost growth; creating incentives for productivity and
innovation in industry; promoting real competition; improving
tradecraft in services acquisition; and reducing non-productive
processes and bureaucracy.
“CANES meets the spirit and intent of what the Department of
Defense wants acquisition programs to be doing to obtain greater efficiency
and productivity in defense spending,” explained Navy Captain
D.J. LeGoff, program manager for the Tactical Networks Program Office.
“In alignment with USD AT&L’s acquisition roadmap, the program
foundation is built upon cost containment, open architecture and
competition throughout the program’s life cycle.”
The approval was based on the program’s ability to meet key
defense acquisition efficiency criteria such as maximizing competition,
streamlining the acquisition process, targeting affordability and
controlling cost growth.
CANES represents the consolidation and enhancement of five shipboard
legacy network programs. It will provide the common computing
environment infrastructure for C4I applications that currently require
system specific infrastructure to operate legacy systems.
people
Major General Susan S.
Lawrence has been nominated
for appointment to the
grade of lieutenant general
and assignment as chief information
officer/G-6, Office of
the Secretary of the Army.
Lawrence most recently served as
4 | MIT 15.1
Navy’s CANES Seeks Better Buying Power
commanding general, U.S.
Army Network Enterprise
Technology Command, Fort
Huachuca, Ariz.
Air Force Colonel Linda R.
Medler, deputy chief information
officer of the Joint Staff, has
been nominated to the grade of
brigadier general.
Air Force Brigadier General
John R. Ranck Jr., who has
been serving as deputy director,
strategic effects, U.S. Air Forces-
Iraq, has been appointed
director, warfighter systems inte-
Milestone B is the initiation point for acquisition programs and
official entry into the engineering and manufacturing development
phase of a program’s life cycle. The purpose of this phase is to develop
a system, complete full system integration, develop an affordable and
executable manufacturing process, and demonstrate system integration,
interoperability, safety and utility.
The milestone B decision, which also included milestone C entrance
criteria, allows for the production of four limited fielding units.
These units are intended for operational and training use, and will
not be installed until completion of an operational assessment and a
successful milestone C decision. At this point the program will enter the
production and deployment phase.
The Navy’s Program Executive Office for Command, Control,
Communications, Computers and Intelligence oversees the CANES
program and is managing competitive system development contracts
with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.
Consolidation through CANES will eliminate many legacy, standalone
networks while providing an adaptable and responsive information
technology platform to rapidly meet changing warfighter
needs. This strategy strengthens the network’s infrastructure, improves
security, reduces the existing hardware footprint and decreases total
ownership costs. In addition to providing greater capability, CANES
will allow fleet end-users to benefit from reduced operations and
sustainment workloads as a result of common equipment, training
and logistics.
CANES will be deployed to more than 190 ships, submarines and
maritime operations centers by 2021.
gration, Office of Information
Dominance and chief information
officer, Office of the
Secretary of the Air Force.
General Dynamics Advanced
Information Systems named
John Jolly, a 25-year veteran of
the Department of Defense and
the defense industry, as the vice
president and general manager
of its Cyber Division.
Global Crossing has appointed
Bill O’Neill to the position of
vice president, federal sales, in
the company’s federal sector
business unit. O’Neill is a
former vice president of Qwest
Government Services.
Alex Heidt
Harris has named Alex Heidt
vice president of Air Force
programs for its IT services
business.
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6 | MIT 15.1
army, marInes joIntly develoP uPgraded system for
Command and Control and sItuatIonal awareness.
By Peter BuxBaum
mIt CorresPondent
BuxBaumP@kmImedIagrouP.Com
www.MIT-kmi.com

A battle command system that has
won widespread praise for its contributions
to U.S. operations in Southwest
Asia is in the process on undergoing
major system redesigns. Known as Force
XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below
(FBCB2), the system has helped minimize
battlefield confusion and fratricide
by providing tactical units with blue force
tracking.
FBCB2 identifies friendly forces via
satellite communications, without the
necessity of line-of-sight contact, in
Afghanistan’s mountainous terrain. It
also provides short-text messaging and
replaces radio-based systems that have
curtailed ranges in mountainous or other
rough terrain.
Warfighters say that FBCB2 has dramatically
improved situational awareness.
Commanders have more efficient
and effective command and control of
their units, and they are able to adapt
more quickly than the enemy. FBCB2
also informs “engage/don’t engage”
decisions.
The redesigns FBCB2 is undergoing
are taking place in two stages with
two major purposes. An FBCB2 Joint
Capabilities Release (JCR), which rewrites FBCB2 software and
adds new capabilities, will be deployed this year, and will eventually
evolve into the Joint Battle
Command-Platform (JBC-P). The
word “joint” in both these titles
is key, as the emerging system
will allow the Army and Marine
Corps to converge on the same
battle command platform. JBC-P
will also include hardware replacements
and refreshes.
Besides accomplishing the
important goal of Army-Marine
Corps interoperability in the command
and control and situational
awareness realms, JBC-P will also
improve on the current system
by capitalizing on new technologies.
JBC-P will meet joint command
and control and situational
awareness requirements and will
include new dismounted and dismountable
hardware solutions.
Both JCR and JBC-P support an
Kevin Anastas
open development architecture
that enables new applications to be
added quickly and easily.
“The purpose of FBCB2 is to
Alan Stocks
know where I am and where my buddies are on the battlefield,”
said Lieutenant Colonel Mark Daniels, program manager for
A U.S. soldier assigned to 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division finds his location
on a Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below communication system in Mosul, Iraq, Aug. 15, 2010. [Photo courtesy of U.S. Army
by Staff Sgt. Edward Reagan]
battle command at the Army Program Executive Office Command
Control Communications Tactical. “What we are doing
with JCR is to do it better by adding some additional functionality
to the current product.”
“The original FBCB2 software code has been rewritten into
JCR,” said Kevin Anastas, manager of business development at
the Defense Systems Division of Northrop Grumman Information
Systems, the FBCB2 prime contractor. “The joint issue is
key, as it will bring the Army and the Marine Corps on the same
platform. Testing on the software was recently completed, and it
is being readied for fielding.”
The Marine Corps views JCR as an interim solution until
JBC-P is ready to be deployed, according to Alan Stocks, product
manager for situational awareness at Marine Corps Systems
Command. “We are looking at JBC-P as our dismounted command
and control and situational awareness solution for the
quick mobile Marine.”
equal Partners
JRC and FBCB2 are both Army-led programs in which the
Marine Corps participates as an equal partner. The two services
work together on integrated product teams and negotiate
requirements for the programs that suit both of them.
“The Army and the Marine Corps require essentially the same
functionality,” said Daniels, “and that functionality will appear in
a single software package in JCR and JCB-P. The Marine Corps
architecture is somewhat different so we need to interface with
that as well as with Army systems.”
The interface and interoperability between the two systems
was accomplished with the development of a software tool kit by
www.MIT-kmi.com MIT 15.1 | 7

A key part of the JBC-P will be a new user interface designed to enhance communications
efficiency.
Northrop Grumman Information Systems. “The tool kit enables
the addition of applications to JCR and connects to a core infrastructure
that allows the exchange of situational awareness and
command and control messages,” said Jeannie Hilger, the company’s
director of battle command systems.
JCR will enhance FBCB2 capabilities with the availability of
Type One secret encryption, initial command and control and
8 | MIT 15.1
situational awareness interoperability between the Army and
Marines, and the incorporation of initial capabilities of a geospatial
intelligence tool set called the Commercial Joint Mapping
Tool Kit (CJMTK). JCR will also support the display of imagery
formats that were not supported in FBCB2, as well as terrain and
topology images derived from light detection and ranging and
digital color camera data provided by the Buckeye program.
Type One secret encryption will be accomplished with the
deployment of the KGV-72 programmable encryption device
from Harris Corp., noted Anastas. “Another big JCR event coming
up will be the fielding of the new high-capacity blue force
tracking transceiver. This will provide a dramatic improvement
to improve refresh rates on location position information.”
JBC-P will provide a number of capabilities over and above
JCR. “A terrestrial and medium bandwidth satellite communications
hybrid solution should provide essential command
and control and full situational awareness convergence of the
Army and Marine Corps systems,” said Stocks. “It will also provide
collaboration functions in the form of chat and the ability
to share imagery.”
Another new function expected for JBC-P will be a route planning
capability, according to Daniels.
Also enhancing communications efficiency will be a new
user interface that will be part of JBC-P. “Users will be able to
easily choose functions on a touch screen,” said Daniels. “It will
take one thumb movement and two clicks to send a spot report,
instead of the six of seven steps it takes now.”
The user interface has been tested quarterly by user juries,
according to Daniels. “We sit groups of users in front of computers
and get their feedback through detailed questionnaires,”
he said. “The user interface is being developed as government
off-the-shelf software through the Army’s Software Engineering
Directorate. We are able to take user feedback and turn the product
around more quickly because we have a shorter feedback loop
than if we were contracting with an industry partner.”
JBC-P handheld devices will be capable of running the Tactical
Ground Reporting (TIGR) system, which will benefit commanders
and planners. “Users will be able to provide detailed
information on terrains and geographies,” explained Daniels,
“and commanders will be able to access that information with a
click on a point on a map. Users will be able to process information
in a much more efficient manner and the decision-making
process will also be made easier.”
Handheld devices contemplated to be fielded with JBC-P
will provide smart phone-like capabilities to warfighters, noted
Daniels. These devices are expected to be deployed in the 2013 to
2014 timeframe.
advanCe develoPments
Some companies are already developing JBC-P compliant
devices even in advance of any formal contracting activity in
this area.
Lockheed Martin has developed the Tactical Digital Assistant
(TDA) and the TacFleet 8. “The TDA is a tactical handheld device
for dismounted soldiers,” explained Rita Flaherty, a business
development manager at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.
“It combines the best features of personal digital assistants
with smart phone technologies in a compact, ruggedized design
www.MIT-kmi.com

that can withstand harsh operational environments. The intuitive
user interface supports shares full motion video and sensor
imagery for more than 24 hours on a single battery charge.”
The TacFleet 8 is a ruggedized tablet computer for use
in tactical vehicles that allows tactical situational awareness
exchanges for brigade and below forces on the move. “Currently,
sensors use joystick-like controllers mounted inside vehicles,”
said Flaherty. “The TacFleet 8 demonstrates remote operation
with a multi-function display, combining several devices
into one. The tablet can be used when docked in the vehicle or
dismounted.”
The TDA and TacFleet 8 meet JBC-P and FBCB2 requirements,
according to Flaherty. “Both devices use an open system
software architecture that is fully compatible with current
FBCB2 software,” she said. “They support secure, on-the-move
communication and information sharing with vehicles and
other platforms.”
Beyond the development of devices, Lockheed Martin has
anticipated a future role in JBC-P through the inauguration of
its Joint Battle Command-Platform Demonstration Center in
Orlando, Fla.
“Lockheed Martin funded the design and construction of the
demonstration center to showcase our vision and capability to
distribute advanced situational awareness across multiple battlefield
applications,” said Flaherty. The center “immerses visitors
in an audiovisual battlefield simulation, showcasing a command
Patent Pending
and control vision for the challenges of asymmetric warfare.
Utilizing an open architecture hardware approach, the center
showcases seamless distribution of situational awareness and
command and control data to a variety of joint users.”
In addition to hosting demonstrations for government
agencies, the facility serves as an integration center. “It allows
government and industry to refine innovative design approaches
for the Lockheed Martin tactical situational awareness solution
to meet the needs of an expanding concept of operations,” said
Flaherty.
General Dynamics has introduced two devices, both developed
as internal research and development products, that are
compatible with FBCB2 and JBC-P. “The MDA Atlas is a hardware
solution that runs the FBCB2 software and is the equivalent of
the current FBCB2 JB5 radio,” said Scotty Miller, vice president
for strategic planning and business development at General
Dynamics C4 Systems. “We also recently launched the GD300
handheld mobile device that runs on the Android platform. It is
a handheld form factor similar to a rugged tactical cell phone
and supports running tactical maps and geopositioning. It also
has a connection port that allows it to interface to any radio the
military fields today.”
The handheld GD300 is also capable of running TIGR, which
was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency in 2006 and first fielded to the Army in 2007. Both
devices are compatible with the software architecture for FBCB2
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and JBC-P, Miller said. They are open, scalable and non-proprietary,
and interface to an array of existing or future tactical radios,
such as the Joint Tactical Radio System small form factor radio.
General Dynamics responded to a 2010 broad agency
announcement from the Army’s Communications-Electronics
Research, Development, and Engineering Center (CRDEC) for
an advanced handheld JCB-P device. “We are still awaiting the
results of that competition,” said Miller.
Miller envisions a future role for General Dynamics on JBC-P.
“We are currently working with the Army’s Software Development
Center on software development work for JBC-P and on
transitioning TIGR to that program,” he said.
The big hardware innovation that will come with JBC-P,
from Stocks’ perspective, will be the availability of a dismounted
solution. “Currently FBCB2 has mounted and dismountable
terminals,” meaning that they are capable of being removed
from the platform, he explained. “The dismounted solution is
basically a handheld device. This will provide capabilities to
Marines and potentially special operations
forces who are not tied to
a mobile platform like a Humvee,
JLTV, helicopter or jet.”
The Army’s hardware refresh,
which will come as part of JBC-P
beginning in 2013 and 2014, will
also include advanced computers
with more processing power, memory
and storage, noted Daniels. “We
are also looking at a tablet form factor
that will be able to be removed
from one vehicle and placed in
another,” he added.
An upcoming requirements
document will define JBC-P hardware
developments for 2015 and
thereafter.
The advanced JBC-P devices will
add a myriad of capabilities to the warfighter, according to Hilger.
“Additional bandwidth will allow more streaming of video,”
she said. “Position refresh rates will be almost real time. It will
enable FBCB2 to evolve into a complete battle command system
with status reporting, planning and logistics all included.”
oPen arChIteCture
At the system level, JCR has re-architected FBCB2 into a
“battle command product line,” according to Hilger. “The architecture
we developed includes a software development tool kit,
which allows for the easy addition of new applications, including
third-party applications.”
General Dynamics is working on a number of applications
that could be incorporated into JCR and/or JBC-P. Thanks to
the new open architecture, Anastas said, it is possible that capabilities
originally contemplated for JBC-P could be accelerated
and incorporated into JCR. These include chat and whiteboard
functionalities, as well as a sensor portal that would collect and
display data from a variety of different sensors on a single laptop
or tablet, thus eliminating the multiplicity of devices that
prevail today.
10 | MIT 15.1
General Dynamics has introduced two devices that are compatible with FBCB2
and JBC-P, including the GD300 handheld mobile unit. [Photo courtesy of General
Dynamics]
“What the Army wants,” said Anastas, “is the quick and
inexpensive deployment of tactical applications in response to
developments in the field. The new JCR architecture supports
that goal.”
The re-architecting of FBCB2 is also in keeping with the
Army’s new push toward a common operating environment
(COE), according to both Anastas and Hilger.
The COE “is an approved set of computing technologies and
standards that enable secure and interoperable applications to
be developed and deployed rapidly across computing environments,”
according to a November 2010 Army CIO document.
“Each computing environment has a minimum standard configuration
that also supports the Army’s ability to produce and
deploy high-quality applications quickly while reducing the
complexities of configuration, support and training associated
with the computing environment.”
The COE standardizes end-user environments and software
development tool kits and establishes a streamlined end-to-end
enterprise software process.
“We believe that is a good way
to evolve,” said Hilger. “The Army
can take applications beneficial to
tactical fighting and add them to
the architecture. The common operating
environment also facilitates
the sharing of applications across
different platforms.”
FBCB2 version 6.5, which is currently
in the field, will receive the
software enhancements of JCR this
year. Fiscal years 2013 and 2014
will see the beginning of the JBC-P
rollout. That process should be
completed for the Marines in 2016,
according to Stocks.
“There are a lot training implications
to the transition,” said Stocks.
“We also have to deal with legacy hardware. We need to plan
for the replacement of the mounted and dismountable terminals
as the current hardware life cycle expires. The handheld
dismounted device also needs to be rolled out in phases. You
can’t just buy 200,000 handhelds on Friday and deliver them
on Monday.”
The convergence of the Army and the Marine Corps on a
joint command and control/situational awareness platform is
also seen as continuing to help cut the chances of fratricide. “We
expect this development to provide more timely and accurate
situational awareness,” said Stocks. “This is also part of bringing
the digital Marine Air-Ground Task Force down to the level of the
Marine Corps rifle squad.”
Daniels emphasized the new capabilities JBC-P will bring.
“The increased capabilities will provide a gigantic leap forward”
for warfighters, he said. O
Contact Editor Harrison Donnelly at harrisond@kmimediagroup.com.
For more information related to this subject, search our archives at
www.MIT-kmi.com.
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Ruggedization
the PaCe of develoPment of hardened
It equIPment Is surgIng In terms of
Both added CaPaCIty and enhanCed
duraBIlIty.
By adam Baddeley, mIt CorresPondent
Baddeleya@kmImedIagrouP.Com
Acceleration
From the tactical edge in Southwest Asia to a CONUS storage facil-
ity, the military’s demand for mobile IT technology continues to grow
even as many major platform programs are being reconsidered or scaled
back. That need is spurring rapid development of ruggedized computing
equipment capable of providing the most up-to-date capabilities while also
withstanding harsh conditions, constant movement and electromagnetic
interference.
www.MIT-kmi.com MIT 15.1 | 11

Users in the field need high levels of ruggedization to protect
the devices they rely on from everyday wear and tear, to allow it
to continue to operate in dense electronic environments without
either affecting or being affected by nearby systems, and to do so
in such a way that the device remains lightweight and with low
demands for power and batteries.
The challenge is a tough one, but one that industry is meeting.
A recent review of several manufacturers of ruggedized equipment,
many of whom were exhibiting at the giant AUSA exhibition in
Washington, D.C., last October, showed that the pace of development
is surging in terms of both added capacity and enhanced
durability.
general dynamICs C4s
One key program in rugged computing is the Army-led Common
Hardware Systems (CHS) program, which is designed to provide
and qualify the hardware and software sourced from multiple
providers that the Department of Defense needs for its computing
requirements across the full gamut of battlefield computing, buttressed
by a responsive worldwide repair, maintenance and logistics
support.
The current iteration of the program, known as CHS-3, is led by
General Dynamics C4 Systems. Reflecting the urgent demand for
rugged computing, the company recently received a cap extension
of $187 million, designed to bridge the gap between this contract
and CHS-4, the competitive contract for which is due to be awarded
in the next few months.
Providing as it does a significant portion of DoD computing
requirements, CHS provides a weathervane for trends in C4I. A
major thrust of the program at the moment is to provide the rugged
computing necessary to keep pace with headquarters as they
rapidly migrate from deployable static facilities to embrace battle
command on the move (BCOTM). This has tasked the CHS program
with providing new solutions that can operate not from desks
but from combat vehicles. A key requirement for that is the need to
switch to induction cooled devices rather than the air cooled solutions
used in traditional tactical operations centers.
One new product on CHS, brought in via a recent engineering
change proposal and delivered this quarter, is the Multi-domain
ATLAS. This device, which allows users to run multiple security
domains on the same device, is baseline on the Warfighter Information
Network-Tactical (WIN-T) Increment 2 program.
“It allows us to use General Dynamics C4 Systems’ Trusted
Virtual Environment so that we can have SIPRNet and NIPRNet or
even colorless [unclassified] data running on the same machine,
switching back and forth and transferring data that is vetted by inbuilt
software guard policies. We are bringing in a systems approach
at a box level, using the General Dynamics C4 Systems Information
Assurance division’s software,” said Scott Butler, who heads tactical
computing solutions for General Dynamics C4 Systems.
The Multi-domain ATLAS is in essence two computers—an
Atom-based solution and a second located on the device’s docking
station, which houses a Core 2 Duo processor. This allows
one application to run on the tablet with a second running on the
docking computer.
Butler cited two further new products designed to meet similar
BCOTM requirements. The first is a conduction cooled Cisco 5940
embedded router, designated V2 5940 under CHS. It is also a WIN-T
12 | MIT 15.1
baseline product and can be bolted anywhere in a vehicle, even
under seats. The second is the Distributed Computing Element,
which essentially comprises a high-end Core 2 Duo, 8Gb of RAM,
four Ethernet ports and solid state drive (SSD) in a small “brick”
that is conduction cooled and installed by bolting it onto available
space.
CHS originally had strict delineations in terms of ruggedization.
Butler explained that due to customer requirements, these
have lost their rigidity as users demanded custom ruggedization,
tailored to their requirements.
Looking to the future, Butler concluded, “What we are doing
is keeping up with COTS to reduce size, weight, power and cost,
with cost being key. We are continually driving costs down as DoD
budgets are shrinking.”
In addition to its prime contractor role on CHS, General
Dynamics remains a key developer of rugged computing equipment.
The GD300 represents General Dynamics Itronix’s next generation
rugged wearable computer, designed to take commercial
device technology further onto the battlefield.
The GD300 takes key advantages of cell phone technology, such
as low power consumption and versatile “apps,” while overcoming
their inherent fragility by integrating them in a rugged enclosure,
noted Jason Jacob, product manager for the device at General
Dynamics Itronix. “There is nothing else to date that is fully rugged
and weighs half a pound and designed from the ground up for each
ground soldier.
“There is a big initiative within the Army to leverage the latest
commercial technologies on the battlefield,” Jacob said, adding
that the 75th Ranger Regiment is in the process of acquiring
the device.
The GD300 has no radiating RF, but is simply a rugged GPS
computer, hardened to the same MIL-STD-810G environmental
standards as other devices and compliant with MIL-STD-461F. It
has the capabilities of a cell phone without being a phone, and can
run the Android operating system. “We did that because we wanted
to leverage the application development that happens in the consumer
world,” he said.
“The GD300 was built from the ground up, not just to be a
ground platform but also to be modular. This is the computing
platform only. A separate radio interface kit acts as a docking station
that you connect to a tactical radio, and is rugged from point to
point. You can have over 50 pins in the connector and create almost
any solution that docks to this unit and is rugged,” he explained.
“The value to the military is that networks can change frequently,
but all you do with the GD300 is unplug it and change as
radios change,” Jacob continued. “If for a particular mission they
are using JTRS radios but for another they want to use a different
radio, all you have to do is modify the radio interface kit.”
Developing a new, separable radio interface kit for the GD300
takes roughly two to six months depending on complexity of the
requirement, rather than the 12 months needed to adapt a conventionally
configured computing device, he added.
drs teChnologIes
To date, DRS Technologies has delivered more than 90,000 JV-5
computers under its current contract to provide computing and
display systems to support Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and
Below (FBCB2) and Blue Force Tracking (BFT) program require-
www.MIT-kmi.com

ments. If earlier DRS computing solutions for FBCB2 are included,
the total rises to over 150,000 rugged computers. The current JV-5
contract is in year four with options to continue to 2012.
“It is still the JV-5 same computer
we started delivering in year one of
our current contract—a 1.66Ghz
Core 2 Duo processor and a 160Gb
rotating hard drive or 128Gb solid
state drive,” said Bill Guyan, vice
president, programs and strategy
at DRS. “There is also space inside
the processor unit for expansion to
include, for example, a SAASM GPS,
something that has already been
qualified. This integration of the
Bill Guyan
SAASM GPA, which is testing with
the Marines from a usability stand-
bguyan@drs-ts.com
point, offers them the opportunity
to remove external hardware such as the DAGRs. We can distribute
the GPS signal from our box to other systems, so vehicles that
today have two to three GPS devices could go down to just one.
That is significant.”
Demand continues, as does a desire to adapt requirements to
emerging warfighter needs.
Guyan expects that there will be a competition at the end of
2011 for next generation vehicle systems that will be the first
vehicle procurement targeting the Joint Battle Command-Platform
(JBC-P).
While FBCB2 clearly garners considerable interest, other programs
have seen further DRS rugged computers reach the frontlines.
Guyan cites the example of the Joint Platform Tablet (JPT).
“In the two years since we received an order from PM Movement
Tracking System (MTS) for about 25,000 JPTs, various customers
have adopted the JPT for tactical operations, and it is now on 14
different programs of record for mounted and dismounted use,”
Gayan said. “The JPT uses exactly the same processor and hard
drive as the JV-5, resulting in minimal integration or interoperability
risk to the program office and enabling the eventual migration
of PM MTS into the FBCB2 program office. Today you have
common hardware in both the MTS and FBCB2, as these programs
are slated to merge next year with the MTS program moving from
PEO EIS to PEO C3T. I believe it positions us very well to help the
Army achieve its version of JBC-P and Unified Battle Command.”
Guyan explained that upgrades to the technology of both
devices as well as the underlying common architecture are both
under constant review, “Future potential product upgrades include
a next-generation processor featuring faster graphics processing,
larger hard drive and more I/O,” he said. “We haven’t had direction
yet from the customer as to the way they want to go. Part of the
challenge in fielding as many systems as we have is that we have
to constantly be prepared to refresh technology to keep the fleet
current.”
One area of change in ruggedization requirements is the move
from rotating to solid state hard drives. For example, all 25,000 JPTs
are delivered with 128GB SSD, although to date, only a very small
proportion of the JV-5s are being bought with a solid state drive.
Guyan believes the rugged market may eventually go over to SSDs
entirely, based on price as the benefits in terms of ruggedization
and other design advantages are already proven.
The Joint Platform Tablet Military Rugged Tablet from DRS Technologies is now on 14 programs of
record. [Photo courtesy of DRS Technologies]
“There is a point in time when everything will be solid state,”
Guyan said. “There won’t be a directive, but whenever the technology
price point meets the sweet spot, our customers will jump
on board. There are some new technologies that we are aware of
launching soon and we want to be early adopters. We always want to
offer best value capabilities—the latest, greatest technology available
at an affordable price point.”
elBIt systems of amerICa
The Tacter 31 rugged computing
family from Elbit Systems of
America is designed to provide all
the functionality of a laptop but in
an entirely sealed unit, sufficient
to deal with the toughest battlefield
environments, including being
able to continue operating while
submerged.
“The Tacter 31 family has been
Jim English around for a while [in the U.S. military]
and what we wanted to do is
jim.english@elbitsystems-us.com
to maintain as much backwards
compatibility as possible,” said
Jim English, vice president of C4I solutions for Elbit Systems of
America.
The Tacter 31M, an integral part of the CHS-3 program, consists
of a common computing module and the option of a 6.4 inch
or 10.4 inch display. Users opt between a keyboard or touch screen
to operate the device. In addition to the full range of normal ports
for the Tacter 31M, Elbit has added a Multi Media In Out port that
combines LAN, USB and just about anything else in an additional
multi-purpose port. “Not everyone carries an adapter with them,
and so I wanted them to have everything. It is also completely
sealed,” English explained.
The Tacter 31M houses a SAASM GPS and also has slots for
TacLink or IDM modems. Additional options have been provided
according to customer requirements. These have included the
addition of an L-band transceiver in order to interface with FBCB2.
www.MIT-kmi.com MIT 15.1 | 13

Quick function keys allow the stealth mode to be instigated, allowing
users to rapidly change the status of the device.
These options illustrate the devices’ inherent modularity, English
said. “This is modular device, in the sense that when we design
the computers, if you want to change something, we don’t have to
redesign the whole thing. To us the shell, keyboard, side panel and
displays are all modules we can change out.”
A more recent addition is the Tacter 31D tablet, which has dual
core processors.
Numerically, the most significant
product Elbit offers in the
United States is the handheld RPDA,
which is now in its fifth generation
since its beginnings in 2002. The
RPDA has since been used in variety
of roles, controlling unattended
ground sensors via Zigbee transceivers,
for example, while on the JTRS
GMR program, the RPDA replaced
a much larger control device. Other
versions have PCMCIA slots, SAASM
GPS and are Iridium capable.
“The concept behind this is that
is we want something where users
can change the mission without
buying an all-new unit, and as tech-
nology changes fast we wanted to
invest in some of the high dollar
items once and not have to reinvest
in them with each generation of the RPDA,” English said.
Users have a common display, with tailored back modules that
are forward and backwards compatible with every generation of
the RPDA’s display. “Because it is modular with four screws, we
allow the user take to the back off and put whatever back they
want on it,” English said. “PM Battle Command has three major
programs that use the same RPDA: the pocket sized forward
entry device, Centaur and the lightweight technical fire direction
system. PM BC has been buying those since 2002, and every
time they get a new front, they can take the whole back and plug
it on, so they have been using some of the same things we might
have sold originally in 2002 even though we have a brand new fifth
generation front.”
PanasonIC
Panasonic Solutions Company
has focused for more than two
decades on ensuring that its Toughbook
mobile computers will operate
successfully and reliably in a
range of harsh environments, while
maintaining technology links with
the commercial sector to leverage
development in ways that complement
warfighter requirements.
Fed de Gastyne, a federal
business development manager
with Panasonic Solutions
Company, outlined the recent
14 | MIT 15.1
The Toughbook U1 from Panasonic has equipped units in Iraq and Afghanistan.
[Photo courtesy of Panasonic Solutions Company]
Fed de Gastyne
fed.degastyne@us.panasonic.com
additions to the product line. In terms of small factor computing,
the Toughbook U1 Ultra has equipped units in Iraq and
Afghanistan. The Intel Atom powered Toughbook U1 Ultra is a
handheld, fully rugged, ultra-mobile personal computer with
a 5-inch screen that runs full operating systems, including
Windows 7.
De Gastyne describes it as the toughest Toughbook computer
that Panasonic has built to date, with improvements that also
extend to better performance in high sunlight. “Panasonic uses
circular polarization, which is a
process similar to polarized sunglasses.
This has helped to focus
and make the screen more readable.
We also have the ability to
change the NIT rating on our
devices for low light conditions
or to increase the NIT rating to
increase visibility in high sunshine
environments.”
The larger Toughbook H1
Field has a 10-inch screen and
a built-in CAC Card reader, for
the DoD Common Access Card
reader. Both devices use 64GB
SSDs, which add an additional
tier of ruggedness to the prod-
ucts. Both the Toughbook U1 and
Toughbook H1 Field are complemented
by more conventional products
such as the Toughbook 19, a fully rugged, convertible laptop
that has seen a lot of use in mission planning. “It also converts to
a fully rugged tablet and uses multi-touch technology so it can be
used not only with a stylus, but also with a gloved finger, which is
a warfighter requirement,” de Gastyne said.
The Toughbook 31 laptop, equipped with either the Intel i3
or i5 core processor, follows the earlier Toughbook 29 and
Toughbook 30 devices. It was designed to serve as a larger clamshell
type device, but is very rugged and is often mounted in military
vehicles.
Another example is the Toughbook Arbitrator 360, an in-car
digital video system that supports up to six cameras operating
simultaneously. This could be fitted to a police vehicle for number
plate recognition or military implementations.
“We are working with a number of U.S. military customers
who are considering using the Arbitrator 360 for force protection
by putting it up on a pedestal. This would provide them with a 360
degree view around a Stryker brigade or in a military police or
security vehicle,” de Gastyne said.
Panasonic tests all its Toughbook computers using the MIL-
STD-810G test suite. “The standard is invaluable,” de Gastyne
said, while cautioning that testing can be interpreted many
ways that affects the actual level of ruggedization and protection
it offers.
“We test all our devices, not only to MIL-STD-810G, but also
for the highest levels of ingress protection, to protect against the
damaging effects of sand, dust or liquids that warfighters often
find ruin their computers,” he said. “We typically use only one
computer to complete the full range of tests. We take this testing
very seriously.”
www.MIT-kmi.com

taCtronICs
For Tactronics, which specializes
in providing rugged computing
solutions and digital backbone
systems for special forces, the first
step in the production of rugged
computers is to source a computing
system on module (SOM) from
a vendor using industrial grade
components, specially created for
Tactronics’ requirements, notably
temperature and vibration.
Bob Ciappa
But that is only the start, as Bob
Ciappa, technical support manager bciappa@tactronics.com
at Tactronics, explained. “The SOM
is just a processor and a couple of chips and some memory,” he
said. “We then design the peripheral interfaces such as serial SATA
for the hard drives and the Ethernet stack on our carrier board
along with the protected and EMI compliant power supply. We also
design it with the proper compatible materials. One of the toughest
things to do when working with wide temperature ranges is
that the electronic components and enclosure expand and contract
with temperature fluctuations, so you have to select materials and
components that have the same thermal coefficient for expansion
and contraction.”
Tactronics machines its enclosures using billet aluminum.
The inside is milled out and what remains is a one piece enclosure
with a single cover. This approach ensures that there are as few
ingress points as possible for dirt and water, which also significantly
aids in radiated and conducted EMI performance. The aluminium
is then treated with a chemical film coating, which doesn’t
affect the conductive properties but stops the corrosion in severe
environments.
“You are left with one continuous surface,” Ciappa said. “For
the interfaces to the outside such as access doors and connectors,
we find the right material that is both EMI safe and environmentally
safe. Usually those two things don’t happen at once. We use
conductive rubberized gasketing on all surfaces, and we have to
make sure that where the surfaces meet they are unpainted so that
there is a good seal both mechanically and for EMI. It sounds like
common sense, but it isn’t always done by others.”
Ciappa noted that the company has precise torque specs for
screws so as not to warp the surfaces. “We also have our own
testing facilities, including a full EMI chamber that will test
everything down to MIL-STD-461G, and environmental chambers
for shock, vibration, high temperature, low temperature, salt fog
and direct immersion. Before the unit leaves our facility we know
it is very rugged and will perform in the harshest environments,”
he said.
While every product is tested to the same exacting standards,
each generation brings improvements to other areas of performance.
“All our next generation equipment uses less power, which
reduces heat, the optical qualities of the displays improve and computers
are more powerful. Our current generation is half the size,
half the weight and uses less power than the former generation and
that is really important for vehicles. Every cubic inch of space is
critical given the highly burdened vehicle space claims. That’s why
size, weight and power savings are important,” Ciappa said.
seCure CommunICatIon systems
Secure Communication Systems
launched a number of new products
at AUSA conference, including the
latest version of the EDM Tablet
PC for the Army’s Air Warrior program,
where it is used as an electronic
flight bag and runs a range
of applications that includes blue
force tracking and moving map
applications.
Michael Boice
“These are now deployed, and
the new version will be replacing
mboice@securecomm.com the old EDM. The new device uses
a new 1.6 GHz Atom processor, and
has more memory, better EMI performance and a lower price. We
are delivering 900 this quarter,” said Michael Boice, vice president
sales and marketing,
To date, Secure Communication Systems has delivered more
than 5,000 EDMs. Other features of the new EDM include a daylight
readable transflective 6.4 inch LCD screen with LED backlight and
an internal 64 Gb SSD.
Improvements to ruggedization continue at the company, Boice
said. “We have improved a lot of items. Our new touch-screen technology,
for example, uses a new micromesh touch screen, improving
the EMI performance of the screen with a glass front so that
it is now immersion proof as well. That’s a big improvement and
something the earlier version didn’t have.”
BarCo
Barco’s Display Processing Module
(DPM)-3 is the company’s latest
rugged computer offering. “The
DPM-1 was Barco’s first step into
rugged computer business, and
was developed in France and Belgium,”
said Douglas Jarus, systems
applications engineer at Barco. “Its
successor, the DPM-2, was developed
in Duluth, Ga., for a Future
Douglas Jarus Combat Systems program, and
the new DPM-3 is a joint develop-
douglas.jarus@barcofederal.com ment between Barco in France,
Belgium and the United States,
harvesting the experiences of this multi-site approach. We have
decreased the size of the DPM-2 by half, maintaining the same
capabilities, yet adding extra expansion. The DPM-3 was designed
to survive in almost any environment, including immediately adjacent
to a 155mm cannon, so the shock levels were off the chart.”
In addition to reductions in size, weight and power, other
innovations facilitate maintenance in the field. The CMOS battery
in the DPM-2 was located such that replacement required
disassembly and reassembly. For the DPM-3, a removable drive
door provides almost immediate access to the necessary parts
when needed.
Barco’s second new product is linked to the DPM-3 and its
TX display technology. The SV126 is a combination of DPM and
www.MIT-kmi.com MIT 15.1 | 15

TX-type display technologies incorporated into one mechanical
package. “We have taken all the electronics and put them in the
rear of the unit. We have a thermal barrier in there, with glass
up front. This enables us to keep the glass at a constant operating
temperature and still maintain the performance of the DPM-3. We
have decreased the size, enabling us to fit it behind a 10 inch display,
in contrast to the DPM-2, which required a 17 inch display,”
Jarus explained.
vt mIltoPe
At AUSA, VT Miltope launched
eight new products, ranging from
clamshell laptops, convertible laptops,
handhelds, mounted computers
to small form factor and
handheld devices for dismounted
users.
“Our family of rugged computers
meets the requirements for Pat Morrison
environmental and EMI required
for the military in the field. Rugged
military grade computers by VT Miltope are built tough in
and out,” said Pat Morrison, director central region business
development.
VT Miltope also provides a range of fiber networking products,
Morrison stated. “We provide 100 percent environmental stress
screening on our products to make sure that they are solid and reliable
in the field. They are developed and tested to meet or exceed
military standards.”
New VT Miltope products are about to enter production as part
of the Army’s Maintenance Support Device (MSD) contract. MSD
laptops are used in variety of roles, providing portable maintenance
and diagnostics systems via ruggedized laptops under a contract
awarded in 2004. “Currently under that program, we have some
30,000 units fielded. With the next generation products, they will
be going into production later this year,” Morrison said.
ruggedCom
RuggedCom was established in Canada in 2001 with a focus on
electric substation automation, for which it aimed to create a reliable
and rugged communications backbone. But it has since found
a strong military market.
“It was the U.S. Navy that discovered us and saw what a good fit
our product portfolio was with what they were doing, modernizing
some of their ships,” said Roger Moore, CTO and vice president of
engineering at RuggedCom.
Meeting military standards required a few modifications,
but now the company’s products are being deployed in several
projects.
The M2100 modular managed Ethernet switch with gigabit
uplinks and the M2200 modular managed gigabit Ethernet backbone
switch have now been in use as part of the Navy DDG 51 class
modernization project for several years.
RuggedCom’s MX5000, the company’s newest multiservice
product, is a scalable, hot-swappable, high port density routing
and switching platform designed to operate in the most demanding
environments. “It’s not just an Ethernet switch,” Moore noted.
16 | MIT 15.1
VT Miltope offers a wide range of rugged products. [Photo courtesy of VT Miltope]
The Rugged Operational Computer is one product from Tactronics, which specializes in rugged
computing for special forces. [Photo courtesy of Tactronics]
“You name the interface and we can put it in this box; it provides
tremendous operational flexibility to the Navy and will be deployed
on the LSD Class mid-life update project this year, beginning with
LSD 47.”
While the Navy is RuggedCom’s biggest military customer, the
company is also developing products for use in other defense contexts,
particularly mission-critical private networks.
RuggedMAX is a high-performance, long-range secure family
of products that is fully compliant with the WiMAX 802.16e wave
2 (MIMO) mobile broadband wireless standard and designed to
extend IP networks over large distances to fixed and mobile users.
Moreover, the M969, a MIL-STD hardened, fully managed Ethernet
switch, has generated much interest throughout the military. It is
IP66/67 rated for protection against strong jets of water (IP66) or
immersion in water (IP67) and is being used for deployments in the
air and on the ground. O
Contact Editor Harrison Donnelly at harrisond@kmimediagroup.com.
For more information related to this subject, search our archives at
www.MIT-kmi.com.
www.MIT-kmi.com

Waveform for a Coalition
taCtICal networkIng CaPaBIlIty wIll allow InternatIonal
Partners to exChange seCure wIdeBand voICe, data and vIdeo.
Editor’s Note: This is another in a regular series of updates on the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), as provided by the
program’s Joint Program Executive Office (JPEO).
The JPEO JTRS has announced the approval of the operational
requirements document (ORD) underpinning the Coalition Wideband
Networking Waveform (COALWNW) specification. The ORD represents
the consolidated and prioritized operational requirements of the
nations participating in the COALWNW international agreement and
is intended to support potential future development of a common,
interoperable waveform. This milestone is an important step toward
achieving enhanced interoperability and communication between the
United States and coalition partners.
Enhanced interoperability among coalition partners is an essential
requirement on the modern battlefield, with multinational coalitions
becoming the norm for conducting military operations in hot spots
around the world. The COALWNW tactical networking capability
will allow coalition partners to exchange secure wideband voice,
data and video between national software defined radios in the land,
air and maritime domains. These capabilities will significantly
contribute to improved coordination, shared situational awareness,
reduced chance of fratricide, and secure provisioning of effects across
multinational boundaries.
In June 2009, nine nations (Australia, Finland, France, Germany,
Italy, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States) agreed to
jointly develop a wideband networking waveform to enable tactical
interoperability among coalition forces. This waveform is known as
the COALWNW (pronounced Coal-Win).
The COALWNW capability will be designed, developed and tested
using a three-phased approach: waveform specification, waveform
development and interoperability testing. During the first phase,
the participating nations have developed a single set of operational
requirements that will underpin the COALWNW specification. To
evaluate and baseline these requirements, the nations performed
a comprehensive requirements definition process that included an
analysis of current waveform developments.
When waveform development begins in the second phase, COAL-
WNW will be delivered incrementally with increased functionality
incorporated in later increments. In this manner, developmental risk
can be effectively managed and early deployment of initial capability
can be achieved. The first increment will focus on delivering interoperability
within the ground environment, inclusive of many maritime
and air support assets.
A working group comprising members from the nine COALWNW
nations is studying alternatives to determine the best acquisition
strategy for the initial increment. The member nations expect that
other nations will join the COALWNW effort for development of the
first increment.
A key enabler to the COALWNW capability is the introduction of
software defined radio programs within the partner nations. In a software
defined radio, the software defines the communication characteristics
of the radio and software waveforms may be reused and ported
onto different radio hardware (similar to computer applications). Once
developed, the intent is to port COALWNW onto various national software
defined radio hardware hosts, thus ensuring coalition interoperability
through a diverse range of platforms. O
www.MIT-kmi.com MIT 15.1 | 17

Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
Army Project 25 Land Mobile Radios Authorized to Operate
Harris Corp. has received authorization to operate (ATO)
accreditation from the Department of Defense for 12 Project
25 Land Mobile Radio (LMR) systems used by the U.S. Army
throughout North America. An ATO is formal recognition by
the designated accrediting authority regarding the acceptable
level of risk associated with operating a system for DoD. After
implementing all designated IA controls, all Harris Army P25
LMR systems received ATO accreditation for processing, storing
Trusted Network
Environment
Approved for Cross-
Domain Security
The Unified Cross Domain Management
Office (UCDMO) has approved the latest
version of General Dynamics C4 Systems’
Trusted Network Environment (TNE) suite
of cross-domain, information-sharing software
tools for use by U.S. government organizations.
The upgraded version, TNE 10,
is now available for customers including
the Department of Defense and intelligence
communities, as well as international users.
Among the upgrades, TNE 10 delivers the
familiar Microsoft Office suite of software tools
for more user-friendly and intuitive operation,
as well as transitioning users from the
Solaris 8 to the Solaris 10 operating system.
TNE is currently the only product approved by
UCDMO that enables users to see e-mail and
files at various security levels within a single
application. The product’s security capabilities
meet or exceed strict federal government
standards for processing the most sensitive
classified information. By using data-labeling
technology to separate classified and unclassified
data, users see only what their individual
security profiles allow, without awareness of
or visibility into other data files, applications
or users on the enterprise. Based on the user’s
profile, TNE 10 accesses, creates, combines and
exchanges various levels of classified information,
including e-mail, without having to
physically move from one secure networked
computer system to another.
18 | MIT 15.1
A new release of the VX Series
(VX900, VX1200 and VX1800)
from Network Equipment
Technologies, running software
release 4.7.4, has been added to
the Defense Information Systems
Agency (DISA) Approved Products
List. This updated certification
adds native support for multilevel
precedence and preemption
and transmitting mission-critical communications information.
The Harris P25IP system combines the benefits of an
IP-based network with industry recognized P25 standards. The
result is a single cost-effective IP-based network that is reliable,
scalable and secure while providing communications interoperability.
Harris also delivers established IA methodology that
leverages enterprise security with a programmatic view of overall
mission assurance.
Multi-Service Voice Switch Offers
Multilevel Preemption
The SwiftLink Tactical Transportable Tropo
(3T) system from TeleCommunication Systems
(TCS), which recently received an industry award
as an innovative satellite technology product, is a
small and lightweight troposcatter solution with
the most robust tropo technology available on
the market. The result of teaming with Comtech
Systems, this solution enhances the TCS product
portfolio by adding beyond line of sight capability
to its Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT)
flyaway family. TCS SwiftLink 3T ensures that
users have access to long-haul, high-bandwidth,
low-latency tactical communications. It uses a
C-band feed to deliver troposcatter communications
utilizing common modular VSAT platforms
with multiple upgradeable frequency options.
(MLPP) to the VX product line,
greatly improving its efficiency
in DISA’s core satellite facilities.
Users are no longer required
to use Leased Line Emulation
Mode, freeing many primary rate
interfaces (PRI) at constrained
downlink facilities. In addition to
MLPP, this release of VX software
supports standards-based V.150.1
secure call relay over an IP infrastructure.
The VX Series retains
its proprietary, error-tolerant
method of secure call relay,
dubbed SCIP framing, and
supports both T-1 and E-1
interfaces, using both Channel
Associated Signaling and PRI
signaling. The APL certification
is for T-1 ISDN only.
Troposcatter System Offers Robust
Communications Technology
The solution is available with either TCS’s 1.2M
or 2.0 SNAP VSAT antennas and is compatible
with the frequency bands and operating diversity
prevalent today.
Through the use of the Comtech Systems
CS6716A operationally proven tropo modem, the
TCS SwiftLink 3T system utilizes dynamic bandwidth
allocation to minimize operator set-up,
resulting in less training, troubleshooting and
configuration. Path analysis software tools with
integrated planning maps ensure mission-critical
communication links are established without the
burden of complex configuration, giving today’s
warfighters a reliable, end-to-end high bandwidth
solution. Importantly, it offers backwards
interoperability with legacy tropo systems.
www.MIT-kmi.com

Future SATCOM Acquisition
Contracts Announced
ARTEL, a provider of information technology and
managed telecom/network services, has announced receipt
of the first contract award to provide satellite services under
a new $5 billion General Services Administration (GSA)
and Defense Information Services Agency joint-contract
vehicle. The order, which is worth tens of millions of dollars,
was the first award of the Future COMSATCOM Services
Acquisition (FCSA) contract, under the GSA Schedule, to
provide transponded capacity and subscription
services. Subsequently SES World Skies
U.S. Government Solutions
announced FCSA awards,
also in the transponded
capacity and subscription
services categories.
Tellabs 7100 Nano Optical Transport
System (OTS) is an ideal solution for mission
critical packet optical applications. The
platform is scalable, versatile and reliable.
The Tellabs 7100 Nano shelf supports lineside
rates scaling from one 10 Gb/s optical
wavelength up to 88 DWDM channels of 40
Gb/s on a single fiber pair, while consuming
a small amount of space (5RU) and power.
Depending on the modules employed, it
can be an end terminal in a point-to-point
application, an OC-192 SONET/SDH ADM, or
an active multi-degree node in a dynamic
optical ROADM network. The Tellabs 7100
system client-side interfaces and internal
switching features support Ethernet,
SONET/SDH, and OTN transport and service
delivery. In multiple Ethernet and SONET/
SDH applications, it reduces capital expenses
Packet Optical Transport Offers Higher
Bandwidth and Lower Cost
by more than 60 percent and operational
expenses by up to 85 percent. The Tellabs
7100 system integrates multiple technologies
to enable efficient control and management
for manual or highly automated
operation. More than 4,500 Tellabs 7100
Security Solution Offers
IP-to-ID Mapping Technology
The latest version of the
Fidelis SPX network security
solution from Fidelis Security
Systems now has the ability to
associate any network activity to
a specific user identity in realtime
using dynamic IP address to
user identity (IP-to-ID) mapping
technology.
Working with A10 Networks
ID Series network identity
management appliances, Fidelis
XPS customers can now leverage
IP-to-ID technology to automatically
identify the activities of
individual users or directorybased
groups, enabling an organization
to visualize a user’s
network activities, implement
user or group-based security
policies, and link network secu-
rity events with particular users
for user-aware forensic analysis.
With Fidelis XPS’s integration
with A10 Networks’ ID Series
appliances, customers can now
extend the unparalleled visibility
they already have into protocols,
applications, content and threats
to the identity of the user on
the network, with the ability to
tie specific network events with
actual user identities. Working in
conjunction with A10 Networks’
ID Series products, Fidelis XPS
can consume dynamic IP-to-ID
information from multiple user
directories, operating systems
and networking devices using a
modular, agent-less approach,
and apply that information to all
network traffic in real-time.
systems are
deployed in optical networks around
the world, with measured availability
greater than 99.9999 percent. The Tellabs
7100 system is certified by the Joint
Interoperability Test Command.
www.MIT-kmi.com MIT 15.1 | 19

Communication Systems-West
HARNESSING THE POWER
OF THE NETWORK
Providing Real-Time Situational Awareness
Our network control software and wideband radios bring the power of the network to you, effectively
reducing your decision cycle. On the battlefi eld, a multitude of sensors stream video to operation centers
situated in diverse locations. By networking the data, you have access to the totality of the information
available for critical decision-making processes. When it comes to facilitating situational awareness,
count on L-3 to give you fast, comprehensive data delivery.
For more information, visit L-3com.com/csw.
L-3com.com

C4 Marine
Q&A
Managing IT as a Marine Corps Strategic Asset
Brigadier General
Kevin J. Nally
C4 Director
Marine Corps
Deputy CIO
Department of the Navy
Brigadier General Kevin Nally was commissioned a second
lieutenant in the Marine Corps in May 1981, after graduating
from Eastern Kentucky University with a Bachelor of Science
in agronomy and natural resources. After completing the Basic
School and Communications Officer Course, he was assigned
to the 1st Marine Amphibious Brigade, where he served as a
communications platoon commander for the Marine Service
Support Group-37 and later as a communications platoon
commander for the Brigade Service Support Group. During
this tour, Nally attended SCUBA School, Pearl Harbor, where
he served in an additional duty capacity as a search and
rescue diver.
In 1985, Nally was reassigned to Marine Corps Recruiting
Station, Los Angeles, Calif., where he served as an officer selection
officer. In 1988, he attended Command, Control, Systems
Course in Quantico, Va. After graduating in 1989, Nally was
assigned to the 2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marine Division where
he served as the communications platoon commander during
Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Following this, he was assigned
to Communications Company, Headquarters Battalion, 2nd
Marine Division as the executive officer.
Nally was assigned in 1992 operations officer, Recruit Training
Regiment, Marine Corps Recruit Depot/Eastern Recruiting
Region, Parris Island. In 1995, he was transferred to the 3rd
Marine Division, where he served as the S-6, then the S-3, and
finally as the executive officer for the 4th Marine Regiment. In
1996, he served as commanding officer, Communications Company,
Headquarters Battalion, 3rd Marine Division.
In 1998, Nally was assigned as the deputy director, J6, United
States Forces, Japan and completed a master’s in information
systems management. From 2000 to 2002, he was the commanding
officer of Support Battalion, MCRD/ERR, Parris Island.
From May 2002 to July 2003, Nally was director of the Marine
Corps martial arts program.
Nally is a 2004 graduate of the Industrial College of the
Armed Forces with a concentration in information strategy.
Following this assignment, he served from 2004 until 2006 as
the deputy cirector for C4, U.S. Central Command, where he
deployed twice in support of OIF/OEF. In 2006, he was transferred
to Camp LeJeune, N.C., where he served as the II MEF
AC/S G-6 and subsequently as the II MEF chief of staff. From
2007 until 2009, he served as the commanding officer, Marine
Corps Communications-Electronics School in 29 Palms, Calif.
He served as the AC/S, G-6, MCAGCC/MAGTF-TC from 2009
until 2010.
Nally was interviewed by MIT Editor Harrison Donnelly.
Q: What are your mission and responsibilities as C4 director
for the Marine Corps?
A: C4 creates the vision and policies necessary for fulfilling the
commandant’s vision and the Marine Corps’ mission. We do this
by implementing a strategy that informs force development and
investment priorities. I am specifically tasked to plan, direct and
coordinate all staff activities relating to C4 functions, and support
the commandant in his role as a member of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff. In addition, I serve as the DoN deputy CIO Marine Corps
and as the deputy commanding general for MARFORCYBER. In
these capacities, I am overall responsible for managing IT as a
Marine Corps strategic asset to ensure the Corps’ success on the
battlefield, in garrison, and in cyberspace.
Q: What do you see as the most important C4 issues facing the
Marines today?
www.MIT-kmi.com MIT 15.1 | 21

A: Supporting our Marines in Afghanistan and the work force
are my top priorities. We need to install, operate and maintain
IT but we also must have the intellectual capacity to ensure the
latest IT fits seamlessly into our enterprise. Regarding our
Marines in Afghanistan, it is paramount that we provide sufficient
bandwidth for commanders at all levels, from the generals down
to the NCOs, for them to accomplish their missions. Without sufficient
investment in all forms of transport infrastructure, we put
at risk our forward deployed Marines and their mission partners
who currently operate under severe bandwidth constraints. This
is especially true within the tactical environment, to include
afloat access, when reaching back to CONUS-based data/resources
is critical. We must field enough capacity to maximize planned
C2 systems and emerging secure mobile communications capabilities.
This requires significant investment in infrastructure,
and given the emergence and preeminence of cyberspace as a
principal war fighting domain, we must invest to ensure our
forward deployed forces are not limited in their success by
limited bandwidth.
To ensure C4 training is relevant, up to date and available
to all Marines [active duty, reserve and civilian] is the most
important training initiative. To accomplish this goal, C4 must
continue to support the formal learning centers and communications
training centers and merge C4 training as necessary. By
realigning key MOSs and establishing a training continuum, C4
will achieve this end state.
Q: What role are C4 systems playing in Marine Corps
operations in Afghanistan today?
A: C4 systems are greatly enhancing operational interoperability.
The Marine Corps’ growing use of the ISAF Coalition network is
increasing our ability to interoperate with our coalition partners.
Providing terrestrial and celestial communications networks
that are communicating with NATO, coalition, sister services and
our interagency partners is critical to our success. These coalition
networks have changed the way we fight.
Q: Can you give some examples of programs that are making a
difference on the battlefield?
A: While all our programs are designed to enhance battlefield C2,
several have increased our throughput and data accessibility to
lower tactical levels, allowing our smallest units to receive data
that was reserved for higher levels only a few years ago.
The Satellite Wide Area Network is a very small aperture
antenna terminal that has been fielded to our battalions and
squadrons. This has provided celestial connectivity that is tied
into a major subordinate command or Marine expeditionary
force network. Its ease of installation and significant capability
and capacity have proven to be combat multipliers. Wireless
point-to-point links provide 54 mbps line of sight shot with
low latency. This has increased our throughput to the smaller
bases when they are within range and terrain that supports
this type of link. The AN/PRC-117G is a game-changing radio.
It provides high-bandwidth communications, enabling applications
such as streaming video, simultaneous voice and data
feeds, collaborative chat, and connectivity to secure networks.
The AN/PRC-117G’s wideband networking capabilities give war-
22 | MIT 15.1
fighters on the move, critical real-time information through a
man-portable radio.
Q: What are some of the key initiatives you are working on to
improve operations in the future?
A: My vision is a knowledge-based force that leverages seamless
enterprise capabilities across the spectrum of conflict in order
to enhance decision-making, achieve knowledge superiority,
and gain tactical, operational and strategic advantage over our
nation’s adversaries. This vision spans across both the tactical and
business domains and includes initiatives such as networking on
the move, tactical equipment modernization, and data center consolidation.
I am keenly aware of the benefits of inserting new and
emerging technologies such as VoIP, thin client, and virtualization
in the Marine Corps Enterprise Network, and we are working
to do so to increase effectiveness while gaining efficiencies.
Q: A strategy report released by the C4 office in 2010 states that
the Corps “currently lacks the ability to effectively model, manage
and control tactical MAGTF networks.” Do you agree, and
how are you addressing that lack?
A: The communications control strategy document from which
that particular quote was taken was meant to provide guidance
to the Marine Corps communications community on where the
Marine Corps will go in regards to the planning, installation,
operation and maintenance of our tactical networks. What the
quote really stresses is the fact that we must have a consolidated
and standardized approach across the tactical environment to
do these things. The desired end-state is to do it better and
align our governance and processes across both the garrison
and tactical networks to the maximum extent possible as our
enterprise includes both garrison and tactical. Additionally, the
strategy document discusses how implementing this strategy
can more efficiently utilize our limited fiscal and manpower
resources.
Q: The same report also states that the open standards based
approach to software design, rather than proprietary systems, is
best suited to the Corps. Why, and is there something about how
the Corps operates that makes this true for it even more than
the other services?
A: Adopting open standards, where sensible, is crucial to achieving
our vision for a knowledge-based force. Open standards are
important because they promote system and data interoperability,
information sharing and collaboration—and thus improve organizational
mobility and flexibility. We will significantly enhance
our warfighters’ ability to achieve tactical, operational and
strategic advantage by fielding improved mobile, seamless and
secure communications and IT services that facilitate collaborative,
coordinated actions, with instant or near real-time access to
mission critical data. We simply cannot do this with stovepiped
proprietary solutions.
Addressing the second part of this question, the Marine Corps
is unique among the services because we operate as a Marine
Air Ground Task Force. We fight as a combined arms air-ground
team with organic logistics and C2 capabilities. This structure,
www.MIT-kmi.com

our continuous global presence, and our
diverse mission set unique requirements
for mobility, flexibility and interoperability
that make us a middleweight fighting
force.
Q: What are you doing to provide
commanders with better situational
awareness, both of overall operations and
of network performance?
A: The Marine Corps requires robust,
efficient and secure connectivity in the
tactical environment. Recognizing the
physical constraints present in the limited
bandwidth tactical environment, we plan
to leverage future joint networking waveforms
currently in development, and we
are pursuing fielding Internet Protocolbased
mobile ad hoc network capabilities.
This added capability and enhanced
connectivity will help improve battlefield
effectiveness by reducing the amount of
equipment Marines must carry while at
the same time allowing for adaptability
and enabling Marines to operate at the
tactical edge, ensuring that Marines are
able to accomplish the mission with solutions
based on mission specific requirements.
Battlefield effectiveness through
optimized connectivity must also exploit
improved software applications that facilitate
the exchange of data in low bandwidth
environments. Marine Corps efforts
have been and will continue to be coordinated
with the joint community to ensure
interoperability and optimized response to
commander, joint task force requirements.
Q: What are some of your most important
training initiatives?
A: One key initiative is to realign MOSs to
ensure we have network-capable Marines
who have a basic understanding of communication
systems vice a single piece
of equipment. This allows unit flexibility
due to an overall understanding of communications
and enhances the use of
on-the-job training and distance-learning
in support of MOS producing schools. As
for the training continuum, we are establishing
a road map for career progression
that guides our communications Marines
to become subject matter experts across
multiple disciplines.
Q: Please outline your information
assurance (IA) and cybersecurity strategy.
How does your office relate to the new
Marine Cyber Command?
A: Information is a decisive strategic asset,
and IA provides a key component within
cyberspace operations for leveraging this
asset to achieve tactical, operational and
strategic advantage. As the Marine Corps
evolves its cyberspace capabilities, we
are emphasizing the need to improve
and institutionalize our IA capabilities
and practices. Institutionalizing IA across
the Marine Corps requires a total force
approach to ensure that IA skill sets and
proficiencies are codified and ingrained
through doctrine, policy, education and
training.
By continuing to professionalize the
IA work force, the Marine Corps can better
leverage enterprise information to
help negotiate and succeed in a dynamic
security environment. Additionally, the
Marine Corps will continue to use existing
developmental processes and continue
to refine certification and accreditation
processes to ensure IA requirements are
identified and included early in a systems
design project. Continual refinement
and incorporation of emerging policies
and guidance from the IA and acquisitions
communities will better ensure
IA controls are inherent to the system,
thus providing superior and transparent
threat protection across a wide range of
missions.
C4 is one of many Marine Corps cyberspace
stakeholder organizations. As the
director C4, I am designated as the deputy
commanding general for MARFORCYBER.
This establishes a unique and close relationship
between C4 and this new USMC
organization. We work very closely with
MARFORCYBER to assist in the development
of cyberspace goals and objectives,
as well as identify specific capability needs
for our cyber-work force.
Q: How would you describe your strategy
for achieving the goal, as outlined by
Corps leaders, to migrate to a net-centric
interoperable network by 2025?
A: I view a net-centric interoperable network
at the root of achieving my vision
for a knowledge-based force. Achieving
the vision requires the development of
improved mobile, seamless, and secure
communications and IT services across the
information enterprise. Communications
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www.MIT-kmi.com MIT 15.1 | 23

and services with these characteristics facilitate collaboration,
coordinated actions and instant or near real time access to mission
critical data, information and knowledge. To evolve the
Corps into a knowledge-based force that achieves decision and
execution superiority in traditional war fighting domains, cyberspace,
and business mission areas, investments in core enterprise
components are crucial. Investments for the MCEN and associated
technologies will focus on more effectively delivering, displaying,
and managing data, information, and knowledge across
the enterprise.
Furthermore, investments will emphasize better ways for
rapidly infusing emerging technologies that enhance command
and control, extend the reach of forward deployed forces, and
improve organizational and tactical agility. Investments will
be planned from the perspective of ensuring bandwidth limited
Marines and mission partners have improved access to mission
critical data, information and knowledge, wherever and
whenever needed, and in an understandable format. Enterprise
investments will also focus on work force education, training and
professionalization programs. Such initiatives will be designed
to ensure Marines, civilian Marines, and support contractors
know how to use improved enterprise governance tools, policies
and technological capabilities to create advantage in a dynamic
strategic landscape.
Much of this depends on improving reachback support to our
forward deployed and bandwidth limited Marines and mission
24 | MIT 15.1
partners. As I emphasized earlier, we must invest in every form
of transport infrastructure to deliver a “plug and play” capability
that facilitates mobile, seamless and secure communications.
Q: What is your role as deputy CIO of the Department of the
Navy? How do you find a balance between the Corps’ unique
needs and the overall C4 strategy of the DON?
A: The commandant of the Marine Corps and the DoN CIO
have tasked me as the director C4/DDCIO [MC] to provide IT
capital planning and portfolio management, to develop and
manage an IM/IT architecture and work force, and to provide
leadership and governance of IM/IT activities for the Marine
Corps. In this role, I have the flexibility to make IT management
and investment decisions specific to the Marine Corps to
ensure that our unique warfighting, business, and worldwide
enterprise and expeditionary infrastructure requirements and
capabilities are met. It is also incumbent upon me to ensure
that we are interoperable and integrated with joint, coalition and
naval IT.
Terry Halverson, the DoN CIO, has brought our three
teams—the DoN CIO, C4 and N2/N6—together to ensure we are
all aligned. I oversee all strategy, planning, directing and coordinating
of IT capabilities that support Marine Corps war fighting
and business functions, and the N2/N6 performs the same role
for the Navy. Together, I think we do a very good job of balancing
the war fighting IT strategies. Additionally, we need to work
with the DoN CIO to similarly align the post-Navy Marine Corps
Intranet strategies in the Next Generation Enterprise Network
and Naval Networking Environment [NNE] construct to ensure
that the unique supporting establishment requirements are both
effective and efficient. We are looking at where we can combine
efforts where it makes sense, to be more operationally effective.
Recently we actively collaborated with the DoN CIO in the development
of the current draft NNE base strategy document. We are
ensuring our service requirements are met by NNE objectives
and similarly are leveraging NNE objectives to shape our service
requirements.
Q: What lessons from your experiences in Operation Desert
Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom [OIF] are uppermost in
your mind as you approach your current position?
A: The information sharing requirements for these two distinct
forms of warfare are vastly different, but the communications
means and methods are very similar. We therefore need to think
holistically about how our networks are going to be used in
various operational contexts to ensure we field appropriate and
flexible capabilities. For highly kinetic conventional operations
such as Desert Storm or OIF I, we must provide a robust and
highly mobile network that provides real-time, or near realtime
sensor to shooter information. For today’s operations in
Afghanistan, we must provide network capabilities that supports
both traditional kinetic operations and also facilitates dynamic
collaboration, information sharing and coordinated actions
among a wide range of mission partners across vast geographical
spaces. The key lesson is the importance of sound strategic
assessments and planning to help us understand the true scope
of communications requirements. O
www.MIT-kmi.com

Encryption at the Edge
For developers of encryption technology,
information assurance (IA) at the tactical
edge is where the greatest challenges arise.
During field operations, the demand for
information is arguably at its most pressing,
with operators demanding access to the latest
intelligence about a time-sensitive target.
At the same time, however, the information
being transmitted is most vulnerable
to interception, and the devices
carried by warfighters for hosting and
www.MIT-kmi.com
the Challenges of taCtICal InformatIon assuranCe are
sPurrIng raPId develoPment of new teChnology.
By adam Baddeley
mIt CorresPondent
Baddeleya@kmImedIagrouP.Com
communicating that information, together
with the technology that makes it possible,
are at their most vulnerable to loss and
capture.
In response to this basic dilemma of tactical
IA and encryption—speed and access
versus increased exposure and risk—major
military communications companies are
developing a host of new products. Following
is a roundup of some of the many offerings
in this field.
network aPProaCh
ITT has been out of the IA device
business for some time, but that is now
changing with the advent of the company’s
new IA project, the name of which has not
been publicly disclosed. This approaches the
security challenge from a different perspective
than Department of Defense legacy
encryption products, company executives
say, because rather than looking at the
MIT 15.1 | 25

challenge from a hardware
perspective, it approaches the
issue from the network side.
The next generation
secure network processors
are in the final stages of the
government approval process
and have received broadbased
support from different
DoD bodies and government
agencies.
“We are bringing our
information assurance products
to market in the first and
second quarter of 2011. The
secure network processors
themselves are complete and
we are doing final testing,”
said Ken Peterman, president
of ITT Communications
Systems.
The first recipients of the
new secure network processors
will include ITT’s soldier
radio-based solution for
the Army-led Rifleman Radio
requirement and secure
smart phone technology.
The new network
approach is central, said
Richard Takahashi, IA director.
“The last major U.S.
government crypto modernization
was during the Reagan
administration. During
that time it was ARPAnet, not
the Internet, and everything
was single point encryption
systems. The hardware and
software encryption/cryptographic architectures/products
that came out in the ’80s to
early 1990s were, because of the applications
and certification process, basically still pointto-point
solutions [not network aware].
“Today, to use the older encryption hardware,
designers have to wrap a lot of external
logic around themselves to be network
aware. Crypto modernization in 2010 has
changed drastically, and is now about cyberinfrastructure—cyber-aware
and network
aware. We felt that to be a breakthrough
technology, we had to design crypto differently
to work within the Internet,” Takahashi
explained. “ITT’s secure network processor is
about the development of products that are a
10th of the power, a 10th the size, a 10th the
cost but 10 times the processing power. We
designed the engine so it can be applied not
just to radios, but also products from USB
26 | MIT 15.1
Ken Peterman
Richard Takahashi
Chris Wren
chris.wren@viasat.com
drives and smart phones to
entire networks—the whole
plethora of systems that DoD
needs.”
This game-changing
technology is made possible
by the adoption of systemon-a-chip
technology, which
takes much of that peripheral
circuitry into the device, thus
saving on real estate as well as
power and cost.
“Our secure processor is
a multi-architecture processor
technology, with multicrypto
processor,” Takahashi
said. “It has nine RISC 32bit
processors inside and offload
engines for multiple types for
crypto and packet engines,
and it is fully programmable.
We have designed our secure
processor for today’s requirements,
and projecting 10
years out for programmability
and functionality.”
ITT is leveraging and
reusing core IA technology
from a software/hardware
perspective across a family
of products. “When you get
the fundamental DNA of this
product family through the
government certification
processes, which is now very
close, then instantiating that
core technology into a variety
of different applications
across the product family
becomes relatively quick to achieve,” Takahashi
continued.
Encryption is also central and integral
to ITT’s tactical communications strategy.
“In order to be able to compete effectively
in the domestic and global market, one
of those technologies is IA; another is RF
transceiver technology that has sufficient
capability to host wideband and narrowband
military waveforms with complex attributes
that include frequency hopping and Transec.
The IA and the RF transceiver technology
is fundamental to developing new products
that achieve size weight and objectives.
“Secondarily, it allows us to be able
to take commercial products, like smart
phones, and enhance them to incorporate
genuine mid-grade security or to be able to
implement military RF tactical waveforms as
a companion capability,” he said.
A key application for the crypto technology
will be secure USB drives, which have
been banned under DoD policy. “One of the
things that we have come up with was to
develop a trusted USB drive in such a way
that it completely encrypts the information.
Plus, it’s made by an American company in
Indiana with a setup that can be trusted in
such a way that it can be introduced into
your network and there can be no fear of
embedded virus or things that can attack you
network,” Takahashi said.
“That is going to enable the DoD customer
to update that technology and change
the game because we have a device that
overcomes those kinds of vulnerabilities,”
Peterman added.
data at rest
For Chris Wren, IA vice president at
ViaSat, the core security challenge is ensuring
that the level of security hitherto provided
in buildings and data centers can
be replicated in a mobile environment,
giving warfighters access to classified data
while simultaneously ensuring that the data
remains secure should the device fall into the
hands of opponents.
The security of data “at rest” is a critical
aspect of the issue, Wren noted. “We have
done a lot in terms of data in transit, protecting
the data from one entry point to another.
But what about data stored on computing
devices? What do you do to protect the
data? We have recently purchased a company
called Stonewood, which has a whole array of
products for data at rest that are approved to
protect classified data in the U.K. We are now
working with the National Security Agency
to get those products certified for use in the
United States for Secret and below. I think
the Eclypt product range from Stonewood
is going to change the game in the way
processors and end processing points are
protected.”
ViaSat’s KG200 and KG201 are currently
the only Type 1 certified data-at-rest solutions
for Top Secret data for DoD.
“Right now, U.S. policy doesn’t demand
that you have that level of encryption,
because DoD doesn’t want to have a policy
that no one can meet. We have those products
now. So we are working with the services
to make sure that policy is set up, which
is really there to ensure that warfighters have
what they need to do their job,” Wren said.
Encryption products are having to adapt
to vastly increased numbers of devices in use,
www.MIT-kmi.com

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he continued. “We have to do more in terms
of protecting data on a device that is lost. We
have a whole lot of things to make it easier
when these things are in hostile environment
either to rekey them or disable them.”
The same technology could also be applied
to commercial non-government users, whose
laptops are often stolen. ViaSat is already
beginning to install the same technology on
company laptops to ensure the security of
proprietary data.
ViaSat also has an array of Type 1 encryption
technology for data in transit. These
inline network encryptors (INE) utilize a
common encryption technology called
PSIAM. This embedded crypto module is also
offered as a system to companies who need
cybersecurity technology and can incorporate
PSIAM into their computing and communications
devices. The module went through
the final security verification approval process
by NSA in December.
“That will be a fully certified instantiation
of PSIAM,” Wren said. “We are working with
handset and tablet manufacturers and want
to enable them to communicate securely. We
are seeing a lot of play in that because vendors
don’t like being tied to one ASIC and ASIC
supplier. With PSIAM FPGA-based technology
they can implement a new algorithm and
change whatever needs to be changed to keep
the product moving forward. We are hitting
power and size requirements that compete
with ASIC architectures because the PSIAM
technology is going so well.”
The KG-250X, ViaSat’s latest INE, also
uses the PSIAM crypto engine and has been
certified by NSA for Top Secret data. An
uncertified version of the device has already
been demonstrated to customers across the
services. In addition to being smaller than
any currently available INE, additional functionality
has been added as well as ruggedization
and additional processing power for
future capabilities.
Wren expects to deliver units early this
year. “We are ramping up production now
and you will see this almost pocket-sized
encryptor device, using the same technology
that we have developed in the KG-250.”
Another innovative solution for the tactical
edge is the IPS-250, which is HAIPE
compliant and interoperable with the existing
fielded Type 1 network infrastructure. “That
gets a lot of play in the services because now
it doesn’t need to be treated like a COMSEC
device,” Wren explained. “Instead, it has to be
treated only as a high value item, although
that is still important. The IPS-250 is the first
28 | MIT 15.1
and only instantiation of an NSA certified
CHVP INE out there today.”
“HAIPE encryption is moving out to the
edge. If you have a device that is mobile
and you want to get it onto the grid, doing
that in a secure manner is a big challenge.
Nonetheless, we have been able to do that
because we have built up the knowhow over
many years,” he said, adding, “The IPS-250
can be used for NATO communications, and
supports HAIPE 3.1.2 and HAIPE-to-HAIPE
keying.”
non-ClassIfIed Box
The latest update to General Dynamics’
TACLANE KG-175 family of IA products has
been the NSA certification of HAIPE 3.1.2,
which started delivery in October. This gives
users a simultaneous capability in IPv4 and
IPv6, allowing users to have a staged migration
from the former to the latter. The software
will be shipped with all new TACLANE
products and is being made available as a free
download via NSA’s SIPRNet website or a CD-
ROM, and takes 15 minutes to install.
The presence of the TACLANE product line
is substantial, with about 60,000 TACLANE-
Micro devices in service. This is supported
by roughly 60,000 TACLANE Classics and
E-100s and a further 15,000 KG-175D-Minis
and 12,000 KG-175A TACLANE-GigE, which
provide a gigabit Ethernet capability.
“They are used just about anywhere,”
explained Mike Guzelian, vice president of
secure voice and data products for General
Dynamics C4 Systems. “They could be in
a command center, a tent in the battlefield
or data closets to secure LAN connectivity
in secure building. They are used all over
SIPRNet, JWICS, GCCS, the departments of
state and homeland security and for other
federal customers and on other classified networks.
They are also pretty widely deployed in
Canada, Australia and New Zealand.”
Another key feature of 3.1.2 is what is
called HAIPE-to-HAIPE keying, allowing a
user to download the encryption keys into
one device for the entire network and rekey
all the other devices on the network, even
from the other side of the world. Previously
the key fill would have had to be physically
inputted at each device by hand.
Beyond 3.1.2, General Dynamics C4
Systems is working on hardware and software
upgrades for TACLANE to support a
new mode that NSA calls Internet Protocol
Minimum Essential Interoperability Requirements
(IPMEIR).
“This is a second mode in the box using
all commercial protocols and algorithms
next to the government HAIPE mode,” Guzelian
explained. “The reason for doing this is
to enable the deployment of TACLANEs to
non-classified networks. As part of that software
release, we are coming out with a new
piece of hardware called TACLANE-C100,
which is an unclassified device, not a CCI.
There is new designation NSA gives it, called
Crypto High Value Product (CHVP). Basically
that will run this new IPMEIR mode only in
that hardware.
“Because it is a non-classified box, it can
be deployed to other federal agencies and
state and local government. TACLANEs with
both modes will interoperate with all the
existing devices in a classified network, but
will also have a highly secure solution that
is now easy to field to other agencies. It also
protects communications with very strong
security, but again, without needing someone
to obtain Type 1 keys and to operate in a
Type 1 environment,” he continued.
The goal is to deliver the new solution
ready for certification in April 2012. A second
option would be to use it in NATO and allied
countries so that in Afghanistan, for example,
the CHVP devices can be used in current networks.
But because they are non-CCI items,
they can be left in situ when the United States
turns over control to the local authorities.
In addition to the TACLANE INEs, in the
cellular world the Sectéra Edge is being continually
improved both to maintain security
and also to enhance ruggedization to better
enable its reliable use on the battlefields of
the near future.
The Sectéra Edge is essentially two PDAs
in one via NSA’s Secure Mobile Environment
Portable Electronic Device (SME PED) program.
Even though there is only one display
and one keyboard on the device, it is actually
two physically separate PDAs, not two different
modes. There are two separate chips in
the device plus a variety of measures in place
to ensure that data between the two processors
never meets.
Guzelian explained, “There is an unclassified
PDA that allows you to go to Google
or Yahoo or any website on the Internet you
want. Then there is a classified PDA that can
talk Secret or Top Secret on the network.
Now I can get my classified e-mail on one
PDA and my unclassified e-mail on the other.
It runs a Windows operating environment
capable of downloading imagery and video.”
At the forward edge, the device has
been selected to meet the requirement for
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www.MIT-kmi.com MIT 15.1 | 29

the Commander’s Digital Assistant under
Warfighter Information Network-Tactical
(WIN-T) Increment 2. Targeted
at the commander
level and those with at least
a Secret level clearance, it
enables users to pull classified
data while being able to
use unclassified mode as well
as communicate with soldiers
who might have unencrypted
smart phones.
“We have done some
demonstrations where they
have UAVs transmitting live
imagery data over the network
back down to these devices in the
hands of the commander which is extremely
powerful,” said Guzelian.
These devices have been shipped to users
since 2008, and the same devices with no
modifications will also be used to supply
WIN-T. A recent update has been a new HMI.
“It’s very user-friendly,” said Guzelian.
“Some people say that it’s iPhone-like, but
I think it’s better, with clear big icons and
a very easy bounce between classified and
unclassified buttons with a one button to
jump into your mail, another to view a document.
I like it better than my BlackBerry, but
then I am biased.”
For data at rest, the ProtecD@R product
line is at the cusp of certification, and for
implementations close to the front line, the
ProtecD@R Embedded is offered. Guzelian
said, “It is a solid state hard drive for reliability
in tactical environments and an encryptor
that is certified for Secret or Top Secret, but
it is also in a pretty small form factor. We
will do all the testing for NSA in February
and submit all of our test reports at the end
of April. People are ordering the uncertified
prototype unit so they can test them in
their environment and vehicle networks. We
have delivered prototypes to just about every
manufacturer of tactical vehicles, whether
UAVs, MRAPs and all the JLTV prototypes,
and it is being bid by GCV vendors.”
Other variants in the family include a
high-speed version for Boeing on its P-8
Poseidon multi-mission aircraft contract,
which encrypts as it stores at 40Gbps, the
fastest encryption available in the world.
CoalItIon InteroPeraBIlIty
One of the greatest challenges facing
U.S. forces deployed in the field is interoperability,
not least with allies who in many cases
30 | MIT 15.1
Mike Guzelian
cannot have access to legacy Suite A CCI
Type 1 communications. This issue that has
become increasingly apparent
in current operations, where
the United States is working
closely with allies often far
removed from traditional alliances
such as NATO. To overcome
this problem, Harris RF
Communications developed
the RF-310M handheld tactical
radio, which hosts NSA’s
new Suite B encryption standard
in a Type 1 manner while
keeping it as a non-CCI item,
thus enabling it still to interoperate
with standard U.S. military radios.
The first $9.6 million order for the RF-
310M-HH was announced in October and
the radio is now being provided to members
of the International Security Assistance
Force through the DoD Coalition Readiness
Support Program.
“This is one of the principal applications
for Suite B—to simplify coalition interoperability.
At the same time, we’re seeing interest
in the radio from branches within DoD
and the National Guard, for applications
such as base security and first responder
interoperability,” said Richard Rzepkowski,
vice president of communications security
products, Harris RF Communications.
The cryptographic core of the RF-310M
radio is based on Harris’s Sierra IIB encryption
hardware, utilizing the complete new
set of algorithms known broadly as Suite B.
Todd Moore, director of communications
security product management at Harris,
explained: “The algorithms cover functions
such as encryption, authentication and
key management. This technology in the
RF-310M provides non-CCI encryption for
Secret and Below traffic. Sierra IIB has been
NSA certified for Secret and Below applications.
The RF-310M radio utilizes the Suite
B algorithms based on the current waveform.
For example, the RF-310M has implemented
a VHF/UHF Line-of-Sight waveform
that utilizes AES traffic encryption.”
Other future waveforms will implement
additional algorithms, including asymmetric
keying. The AN/PRC-152 and AN/PRC-117G
radios are dual-mode radios that contain
both Suite A and Suite B waveforms and provide
interoperability with the RF-310M Suite
B radio and other legacy devices.
Suite A algorithms are U.S.-owned protocols.
They are highly protected and are
designated classified and cannot be provided
without the appropriate U.S. government
permissions. In contrast, Suite B algorithms
are commercial algorithms that can be
downloaded from the Web.
Harris’ PRC-152 and PRC-117G radios
have implemented both the Suite A and
Suite B algorithms and are thus dual mode
radios. To achieve this designation, these
radio implementations have been evaluated
by NSA and meet the requirements to transfer
up to Top Secret information for voice,
data and networking. In contrast, the RF-
310M has only implemented the Suite B
algorithms, and its implementation has been
NSA-certified to support Secret and Below
communications. With a common key and
interoperable waveform, the AN/PRC-152,
AN/PRC-117G and RF-310M can communicate
and interoperate with each other.
Whereas Harris’ Type 1 Suite A radio
utilizes the Sierra II, NSA certified a Suite
B-only variant of the Sierra II (called Sierra
IIB). Sierra IIB has been embedded in the
RF-310M radio. For export markets Harris
developed a programmable export crypto
engine/module called Acropolis II several
years ago, which also supports the Suite B
algorithm set and has been embedded in the
RF-7800M Multiband Networking Radio.
The recent award of the Force XXI
Battle Command Brigade and Below-Blue
Force Tracking-2 (FBCB2-BFT) program to
Northrop Grumman, as prime contractor,
included the Harris KGV-72 programmable
inline encryption devices. These devices will
be installed onto BFT platforms and in network
operations centers to provide enhanced
(Type 1) information security, which hitherto
has not be possible with FBCB2 over
SATCOM.
“Our devices are also fully interoperable
with the next-generation BFT-2 software
release. The KGV-72 will enhance information
security across the BFT network,
which includes more than 85,000 terminals,”
Moore said.
While the KGV-72 implements only U.S.
Type 1 security at present, it is software
upgradeable to also support the Suite B
algorithms. With the use of Sierra IIB technology,
a Suite B coalition version of the
KGV-72 could also be quickly developed to
be supplied to coalition partners, much the
same way the RF-310M handheld radio is
being supplied today. O
Contact Editor Harrison Donnelly at
harrisond@kmimediagroup.com.
For more information related to this subject,
search our archives at www.MIT-kmi.com.
www.MIT-kmi.com

Virtualizingthe Future
as the mIlItary moves strongly to “vIrtual” systems to aChIeve Cost savIngs and
greater Control, Industry exPerts examIne the Challenges and oPPortunItIes.
Technology, like the battlefields of
Afghanistan and Iraq, is constantly changing
and evolving. Successful CIOs and
commanders adapt and embrace change
and innovate in response. Server virtualization
has been around for over 35 years
and was brought to the mainstream Intel
x86-market in the late 1990s. Today it
has permeated into all aspects of IT, from
the servers to desktops as well as mobile
devices. The increased adoption can be
directly traced to the benefits of increased
efficiency, greater flexibility and increased
speed of action.
According to the website IT Dashboard
Information (it.usaspending.gov),
the Department of Defense is planning
on spending approximately $36 billion
on IT in 2011. Of that number, about
$23 billion is being categorized as IT
maintenance. That means that less than
40 percent is being spent on innovation.
With DoD facing tighter budgets, department
and agency CIOs are looking for
ways to increase the innovation side of
the equation.
Increased efficiency and cost savings
are by-products of virtualization—fewer
devices means less energy and space consumed
by heating and cooling systems as
well as reduced rack space. This reduction
allows an increase in production by packing
more punch into the same space, be it
onboard a submarine, an aircraft, a ship
or Humvee. Examples include the Distributed
Common Ground System-Army,
where a reduction of six to one on the
number of severs shipped translates into
less inter-theater airlift and less fuel con-
(Editor’s Note: Military Information Technology recently posed the following question to some of the
leading companies in the field of network systems: What benefits and potential drawbacks do you see in the
current military drive toward server, desktop and other forms of virtualization? Following are their responses.)
Flexibility and Speed
By David Hunter, Chief Technology Officer
VMWare
The increased adoption of server virtualization can be
directly traced to the benefits of increased efficiency,
greater flexibility and increased speed of action.
sumption. Other secondary effects include
reducing generators fuel requirements,
which manifests into reduced risk to
sailors, soldiers, Marines and airmen by
reduced demand for fuel convoys.
For any commander, the ability to
remain flexible is paramount in order
to take advantage of the opportunities
presented in the battlespace. For CIOs,
the old days of rigid, lengthy IT deployments
are a thing of the past with fully
virtualized infrastructures. Virtualization
provides the ability to rapidly deploy new
instances of existing applications based on
demand. This provision is now measured
in hours versus weeks. Upgrading and
patching of operating systems is simplified,
as well as the ability to more quickly
rebase line applications to a previously
known safe state is realized.
On the pace of execution front, the
question for CIOs and commanders is not
if the network is going to be attacked, but
how do we operate in an environment that
is not 100 percent assured. In a virtualized
environment, the speed at which the
infrastructure can be deployed and rearranged
is vastly greater than in a physical
world. This translates directly into
an increase in confidence of networked
assets. This applies equally to server, desktop
and mobile virtualization. Having the
ability to quickly re-establish a potentially
compromised coalition network without
the requirement to provision from the
ground up will provide a clear advantage.
According to a leading research firm,
in 2009 the number of applications being
deployed on virtual machines exceeded
those on new physical hardware. Combine
this with the appetite users have for consuming
new applications and services for
mobile devices, and the logical question
is: How does virtualization help?
The current proliferation of new enduser
devices that are tending to be more
mobile in nature will be a challenge.
Think about how many servicemembers
are carrying two or more phone devices
today. The ability to provide unambiguous
access from any end-point device,
securely and efficiently, will be enabled by
virtualization of these devices. Imagine a
virtualized, multi-domain mobile tablet
similar to today’s collapsed multi-domain
desktop analyst workstation, which is a
reality today because of virtualization.
As with all innovation and change,
there are challenges and adjustments in
thinking that is required in order to
achieve optimal success. CIOs and commanders
alike need to focus on simplified
management structures and balancing
access versus security in a virtualized
environment. With the innovation around
ease of creation, the temptation to create
because you can is there. This is known as
“VM sprawl.” Without effective, simplified
management frameworks and policies,
VM sprawl can escalate out of control
quickly. Think about what happens when
servicemembers’ mobile devices are virtualized
and what it will be like when each
of those cell phones will have multiple
VMs on them. Getting a handle on the
management, oversight and configuration
control is a challenge that needs to
be addressed.
www.MIT-kmi.com MIT 15.1 | 31

In military IT, the goal is always to
find the next force multiplier—a solution
to expand capabilities without incurring
massive costs, increasing personnel
levels or dramatically altering existing
infrastructure. This is the promise of
virtualization: Not only can units expand
IT capabilities using current resources,
but many other benefits can also be realized,
from lowered operational costs to
enhanced mobility.
The primary benefit of virtualization
comes from the improved ability of centralized
military data centers to manage
and automate their operations. For
example, when a new project starts, there
is no longer a need to procure a physical
box, space in the data center, a power
supply and so on. IT simply provisions a
virtual machine for the project team—
and that’s it.
This improved management and
automation also plays a big part in the
military’s efforts to meet the data consolidation
requirements of the Office
of Management and Budget. A single
server running multiple virtual machines
can replace dozens or more of physical
boxes, cutting not only costs but also
reducing the space needed to run an effective
data center.
The question above is one I’m sure
the Navy has considered since their
recent announcement of a server buying
freeze. Shifting to virtual desktop and
server environments enables the military
services to strengthen IT security, reduce
32 | MIT 15.1
Next Force Multiplier
By David Kimball, Vice President of Public Sector
SolarWinds
david.kimball@solarwinds.com
Consolidation for
Efficiency
The primary benefit of virtualization comes from
the improved ability of centralized military data
centers to manage and automate their operations.
Finally, virtualization plays a big
part in reducing training requirements,
a major driving force in nearly every
military unit. Virtual desktops will
serve a powerful role in the military
of the future, helping to bring highly
mobile, lightweight computing devices
to the field with an extremely small
training footprint. For example, iPads
equipped with virtual desktops are
already being deployed to warfighters in
Afghanistan. The desktop itself is controlled
from a centralized military data
center, giving the warfighter the power of
a desktop sans form factor and training
requirements.
The downsides of virtualization, however,
can be steep for project teams that
aren’t prepared. First and foremost, managing
a combined virtual and physical
infrastructure is a tall task, something
that most legacy network monitoring systems
are poorly equipped to handle. The
visibility necessary to meet the military’s
stringent requirements is just not there,
but can be once new management solutions
are procured and deployed.
Secondly, frontline technical support
must also change; rebooting a virtual
desktop isn’t done at the client side, but
rather the server side. This means that
By Sean Kenis, Director of Sales
Citrix, Department of Defense and Special Programs division.
IT management costs and consolidate
datacenters and other IT infrastructure—all
primary goals of recent DoD
initiatives.
Stronger IT security. A virtual desktop
gives users access to data and applications
a vast majority of technical concerns
are shifted upstream to a centralized IT
location, potentially requiring additional
staff, training or ticketing systems.
Finally, one of the biggest challenges
around virtualization for the
military is scale—implementing virtualization
within a small agency is one
thing, but deploying it across an entire
military operation or global task force
is completely different. Managing physical
resource provisioning is key for
project leaders to ensure that they are
getting the most out of their virtual
infrastructure, but it also means that
units must invest in additional technology
solutions to address capacity planning,
optimization and waste reclamation
and chargeback.
So are the downsides of virtualization
worth the benefits for military IT? In a
word, yes. Not only is virtualization a key
technology in and of itself, it’s also an
enabler. Without virtualization, the military
can forget about cloud computing
and any other technologies that come
afterwards. The military needs virtualization
now—they can’t afford to wait any
longer, and with the right management
tools and strategies in place, they don’t
need to.
Virtualization will drive datacenter consolidation
because it enables a single server to carry the storage
and application workloads of multiple virtual servers.
securely from any device, such as a PC,
phone or personal laptop. Data never
resides on the end device; rather, data
and applications remain behind the firewall,
in the cloud or data center. Information
stays even more secure via controls
www.MIT-kmi.com

that determine the level of access that
users have to government data. For example,
IT managers can set the security controls
to allow a user access to only certain
types of databases, while also prohibiting
the user from printing or downloading
information onto a storage device. These
security protocols—including limits on
download and upload capabilities—can
also change based on the type and location
of device used to access the data.
This provides a strong level of security
against internal as well as external
threats, and can help prevent breaches
similar to WikiLeaks. Finally, the virtual
desktop and server environment provides
more robust continuity of operations, an
important requirement for every DoD
organization.
Reduced costs. Virtualization streamlines
the management and provisioning
of desktops and other devices. IT personnel
can centrally manage user access,
High-Performing
Environment
There have been many different definitions
for virtualization in the IT industry.
“Virtual” is a concept where an object
appears to exist for all its functions, but may
not be physical—similar to virtual private
networks, for instance, where the network is
not physically private, but appears and functions
as a private network. Virtualization of
hardware gives you a whole operating environment
all inter-networked to each other,
instead of a single server.
evolutIon of
vIrtualIzatIon
Experiments were done with different
architectures, where one “host” operating
system was running one or more “guest”
operating systems. However, the challenge of
networking them and creating a stable and
high-performing environment was solved
in the past few years, making virtualization
a reality. Modern virtual machine software
provides an entire, networked virtual environment,
where one gets an entire data
center, all communicating with each other
passwords, patches, provisioning and
other tasks, saving time and money.
Desktops, laptops and other devices last
years longer, because the virtual desktop
alleviates operating system and memory
requirements on the end device itself.
Getting users up and running following
PC crashes is also much easier, because
their entire desktop resides in the data
center rather than on the device itself. In
addition to saving money in IT management,
organizations gain enormous efficiencies
from the ability of employees to
work securely on any authorized device at
home, on the road or anywhere they have
a connection.
Effective consolidation. In January,
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
said the Pentagon plans to consolidate
hundreds of data centers. Virtualization
will drive that consolidation because it
enables a single server to carry the storage
and application workloads of mul-
Modern virtual machine software provides
an entire, networked virtual environment,
where one gets an entire data center.
By Roger Raj, CISSP CISA, Senior Technical Director
Oracle Corp. Advanced Technology Services
roger.raj@oracle.com
with logical TCP/IP connections, sharing a
physical network card.
key BenefIts of
vIrtualIzatIon
Virtualization of hardware has several
benefits, including the following:
• Smaller footprint, compared to
physical, interconnected servers,
but yet achieving most of the benefits
of a distributed architecture.
Such smaller footprints may be
needed for quick deployments in
military, especially in smaller planes
and smaller ships used for war/rescue
missions. Power requirements
are also lower, due to the smaller
footprint and uninterrupted power
supply can get these machines running
for many hours, when they are
away from shore, with no access to
full power supply.
• Lower costs in most cases, as a
single hardware can be effectively
tiple virtual servers. Virtualization also
automates and streamlines server management,
further supporting the consolidation
effort and cutting costs.
Occasionally, someone who is unfamiliar
with the virtualization concept may
wonder whether a virtual desktop is just
a thin client—a computer that accesses
one or two simple applications or runs a
routine operation, such as e-mail. This, of
course, is incorrect. The virtual desktop
delivers the end-user’s entire computer
environment.
Citrix delivers virtual desktops and
services to all branches of the military,
helping our DoD customers consolidate
datacenters and streamline IT
management while improving IT security.
But the most important benefit of
virtualization may be the resulting savings,
which DoD can repurpose for other
priority programs without sacrificing IT
performance.
www.MIT-kmi.com MIT 15.1 | 33

used to provide multiple “virtual”
servers.
• Efficient use of hardware—in many
cases, hardware is of excess capacity,
causing organizations to have
wasted resources.
• Backup/recovery of the operating
environment is very much simplified—in
most cases, the “guest”
operating systems are simply one or
two files, which can be copied to a
backup media, without logical complications
of copying out multiple
volumes.
• In addition to production deployment,
virtual machines are also
ideal for research and development
and prototyping. Thus, organizations
can create prototypes
and demonstration environment,
before settling for a high cost data
Mature Technology
Regarded as a novelty just a few years
ago, virtualization has become a mature
technology that will be the standard architecture
for IT departments for the foreseeable
future. The many concrete benefits
of virtualizing an infrastructure make this
paradigm shift inevitable, including reduced
administration, better security, greater efficiency,
more uptime, less power and cooling,
and lower costs.
“Virtualization” is a broad term that
includes different types of solutions. Each
provides the benefits of virtualization, but is
better suited to a particular type of customer
circumstances. CDS recognizes four major
subgenres of virtualization:
center and refine such a prototype,
until decisions are made on
the actual architecture of the data
center.
key ProvIders of
vIrtualIzatIon
Virtualization vendors are of different
types; some are specific to operating systems
such as Linux, Windows or Mac OS. Many
are also many types of virtualizations, such
as full virtualization, hardware assisted virtualization,
operating system-level virtualization
and so on.
Key providers include Oracle/Sun, whose
VirtualBox is a family of powerful x86 virtualization
products for enterprise as well
as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an
extremely feature rich, high performance
product for enterprise customers, it is also
By Charles Rarick, Vice President of Sales and Technology
CDS
• Desktop virtualization, which transparently
provides users a familiar
work environment while centralizing
their applications and data.
• Server virtualization, which unties
operating systems from the underlying
hardware, enhancing flexibility
and utilization
• Storage virtualization, which simplifies
data handling and improves
34 | MIT 15.1
the only professional solution that is freely
available as open source software under the
terms of the GNU General Public License.
Among other providers are VMWare, Rightscale,
eNormany, Gigaspaces and Citrix.
some of the drawBaCks
of vIrtualIzatIon
Some key areas of caution include security
of the environment. Since the machines
can be easily cloned, there is some concern
in the industry about data falling into unauthorized
hands. There are several solutions
to mitigate such as risk, including Oracle’s
Transparent Data Encryption, where the
keys can be stored separately from the virtual
machine’s data files. Other concerns include
misuse of licenses. But with proper license
management enforcement within the organization,
this concern can be overcome.
Virtualization will be the standard architecture for IT
departments for the foreseeable future.
back end data protection and performance.
• Cloud computing, which has
become an abstraction related to
remote access, utility computing,
virtualization and SaaS/IaaS/PaaS.
The objective is that the user does
not necessarily know (or care)
where his/her apps, data, or processing
are, but only that they can
be accessed through a variety of
devices.
Each of these types of virtualization can
be implemented in several different ways,
and combined to maximize the benefits of
the virtualized infrastructure. In missioncritical
environments a fully integrated
platform is essential to ensure high availability,
ease of migration and to future proof
secure solutions.
CDS’ proven approach is called Mission
Application Virtualization Environment
(MAVEN). MAVEN is a preconfigured virtual
environment that automatically detects
hardware failures and transfers critical applications
to other physical servers, restarting
them in 60 seconds or less. Administrators
can upgrade applications and operating systems
centrally, rather than attempting to
manage patches and versions across hundreds
of workstations.
Migration from existing applications to
the virtual MAVEN environment requires
little or no modification. MAVEN also supports
any application, such as Microsoft
Exchange and SQL, COMPOSE, and Oracle
Cross Domain Security Express. MAVEN is
in active deployment at U.S. Coast Guard
Headquarters CG-26, with further deployments
planned at other military sites.
A major benefit of this approach is the ability
to take commodity server hardware from
many IT providers, thus avoiding forklift
upgrades.
With the advent of the cloud-computing
trend, organizations look toward a new
range of possibilities for streamlining data
center operations, as well as new concerns
and threats. With the right expertise cloud
computing offers managed expenses and
administration, or in combination “private
clouds” can also improve productivity while
maintaining security and control. O
www.MIT-kmi.com

The advertisers index is provided as a service to our readers. KMI cannot be held responsible for discrepancies due to last-minute changes or alterations.
MIT CALEND A R & DI RECTO RY
aDVertisers inDex
Gamber-Johnson ............................ 9
www.gamberjohnson.com/federal_military
General Dynamics C4 Systems-Needham ........C4
www.gdc4s.com/secureproducts
Harris RF ................................. C2
www.harris117g.com
L-3 Communication Systems-West ............. 20
www.l-3com.com/csw
Redcom ................................... 5
www.redcom.com
Solarwinds ............................... 33
www.solarwinds.com
Sprint ................................... C3
www.sprint.com/convergence
Tactical C4 Conference & Exhibition ........... 24
www.tacticalc4.com
TCS ...................................... 3
www.telecomsys.com
Tellabs ................................... 23
www.tellabs.com/olan
University of Maryland University College ....... 29
http://military.umuc.edu/cyberspace
ViaSat ................................... 27
www.viasat.com/eclypt
calenDar
February 23-25, 2011
AUSA ILW Winter
Symposium
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
www.ausa.org
March 14-17, 2011
Satellite 2011
Washington, D.C.
www.satellitetoday.com
March 28-30, 2011
AFCEA Belvoir
Industry Days
National Harbor, Md.
www.afceabelvoir.org
March 31-April 2, 2011
CyberFutures
Conference
National Harbor, Md.
www.afa.org
April 11-13, 2011
Sea-Air-Space 2011
National Harbor, Md.
www.seaairspace.org
April 19-21, 2011
Tactical C4 Conference
and Exhibition
Atlanta, Ga.
www.technologyforums.com
NEXTISSUE
Cover and In-Depth
Interview with:
Gary L. Winkler
Program Executive Officer
Enterprise Information
Systems
Army
Features:
Closing Deadline: March 4, 2011
March 2011
Volume 15, Issue 2
Industry Roundtable: SATCOM
What role do you see for the commercial SATCOM sector
in providing connectivity for government/military UAVs
and ISR capabilities?
COTM Antennas
Advances in antenna technology are offering warfighters
enhanced communications-on-the-move (COTM)
capabilities.
Joint Interoperability
Military exercises and research projects are probing the
opportunities and challenges of achieving information
interoperability among multi-service and multi-nation
joint task forces.
Message Classification
Data leak and message classification companies are
joining the fight to prevent the exposure of sensitive
information such as that made public in recent WikiLeaks
episodes.
NGEN Contract
As the Navy moves ahead with the Next Generation
Enterprise Network (NGEN), which will be the follow-on
to the Navy Marine Corps Intranet, companies are putting
together their teams and strategies for winning this huge
contract competition.
www.MIT-kmi.com MIT 15.1 | 35

inDustry interView Military inforMation technology
Q: What types of products and services does
Deloitte offer to military and other government
customers?
A: Deloitte focuses almost exclusively on
delivering professional services to our
clients, and today is the largest private professional
services organization in the world.
Deloitte entered the federal consulting
market about six years ago and significantly
accelerated our commitment to the market
through key acquisitions over the past two
years. So while still relatively young in the
federal and defense market, Deloitte already
ranks in the top 20 of most government
contractor lists. Deloitte’s professional services
provide the government with a virtually
unmatched breadth of capabilities ranging
from strategy, operations, technology, human
capital, business and technology risk, and
financial advisory services. Deloitte strives
to be the standard of excellence and the
first choice of our clients to assist with their
most complex, strategic challenges across
our capability areas.
Q: What different benefits does your company
provide its customers in comparison
with other companies in your field?
A: The breadth of Deloitte’s capabilities combined
with tight integration with Deloitte’s
commercial practices distinguishes us in the
market. The ability to leverage the knowledge,
skills and experiences of our commercial
practices, in addition to our government past
performances and prior military experience
of many of our professionals, allows Deloitte
to provide services and solutions to agencies
in support of achieving their strategic goals.
In Deloitte’s federal technology practice, we
help agencies in their efforts to address critical
information and technology challenges,
providing services related to data center consolidation,
data analytics, virtualization and
mobile applications, to name a few.
Q: What are some of the most significant
programs your company is currently working
on with the military?
A: Deloitte’s DoD practice serves a broad
range of clients including each military
36 | MIT 15.1
James D. Brock
Principal
Deloitte Consulting LLP
service, many OSD agencies and activities,
as well as some of the COCOMs. While our
practice is primarily supporting our clients
in CONUS, we do have projects OCONUS.
Deloitte’s culture and values create an environment
where our professionals are constantly
challenging themselves to identify
new or additional ways to help our clients
achieve their objectives.
Some of Deloitte’s current programs
include:
• Assisting a client with an analysis of
a large technology outsourcing situation
where Deloitte helped identify
very large savings for the client.
• Leveraging the combination of
Deloitte’s financial experience
and ERP experience, where we are
involved in seven of the 10 largest
implementations in the world, to lead
the development and implementation
of a large intra-service ERP.
• Supporting a number of commands
and agencies in the analysis of data
center consolidation and other technology
cost savings initiatives leveraging
our commercial merger and
acquisitions experiences.
• Supporting the operations of a large
PEO office with a technology-oriented
set of programs through many aspects
of the PEO’s operations.
• Providing many aspects of the business
and technology operations support
to a tier 1 data center within one
of the services.
• Providing financial data analytics,
financial consolidations and budgeting
support to a number of defense
agencies.
• Support for counter-threat finance
analytics and anti-fraud analysis for
multiple DoD organizations
Q: How are you working to strengthen the
security of your solutions?
A: Deloitte’s technology risk practice has a
depth of skills around the security and privacy
requirements of our defense and government
clients. Again, there is tight integration
to our commercial business, leveraging the
skills developed serving many of our financial
services clients and those from other industries.
The technology risk practice works very
closely with our other groups to strengthen
the security and privacy of the services we
offer to clients.
In addition, because we are broadly vendor
neutral, we have been able to work with a
number of our clients on their overall cyberstrategies
without creating OCI issues or having
a potential internal bias toward particular
solutions. While Deloitte will clearly make
collaborating decisions with a particular vendor
in certain situations where the client’s
need requires it, Deloitte’s position as an
organization is to remain vendor neutral and
make recommendations based on a particular
client’s requirements. This approach is part
of Deloitte’s culture and values that permeate
the entire organization.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
A: We are passionate about serving the
Department of Defense. Many of our leaders
either served in uniform or in civil service
and we are actively involved with multiple
wounded warrior and veteran organizations.
While Deloitte is very proud of our position as
the largest private professional services organization
in the world, we are really excited
when others recognize our success through
external rankings. In most technology and
functional areas, as well as most industries,
Deloitte is continually ranked in the top
three by multiple outside researchers. We are
proud of those rankings and believe it is
a reflection of the high caliber professionals
who make up our practices along with
our continued focus on helping our clients
achieve their objectives. O
www.MIT-kmi.com

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