DISA selects Thales' security products for SONET encryption

January 9, 2006 Weston, FL -- Thales, an international electronics and systems group serving defense, aerospace, security, and services markets, today announced that the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has selected the Thales Datacryptor SONET Link Encryptor as one of its security devices.

According to a press release, the deployment of the Datacryptor SONET Link Encryptor comes after extensive testing by DISA and the Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) JITC, the primary testing center for end-to-end functional assessments of command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (C4I) systems and networks for the U.S. government.

Thales' says its Datacryptor product line offers hardware-based FIPS 140-2 certified cryptography using the robust AES-256 algorithm for point-to-multipoint encryption over layer 3 IP networks and bulk point-to-point encryption applications over layer 2. The company notes that Layer 2 encryption platforms provide point-to-point security with virtually no latency or overhead. The company says its Datacryptor products provide a full range of solutions for layer 3 IP (10-Mbit, 100-Mbit, and Gigabit) and layer 2 (56K-512K, Frame Relay, Gigabit, SONET OC-3, OC-12, and OC-48) network connectivity.

Under the deployment plan, the Thales units will begin to secure significant numbers of unclassified circuits provisioned by the U.S. government; the worldwide network will provide a wide-range of information services to U.S. Department of Defense users, including voice telephony, data networking, and video applications.

DISA says it will continue to deploy the Thales Datacryptor products as network bandwidth requirements increase; the agency has purchased and deployed low speed (T1, T3, E3) and high speed (SONET) encryption solutions from Thales. DISA says the Datacryptor has significant advantages including price/performance, an easy-to-use network element manager, and upgradeability from OC-3 thru OC-48 (2.4-Gbit/sec).

"We are committed to providing the government agencies, in meeting their long-term vision of network-centric operations with highly secure, reliable commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions," comments Cindy Provin, president of Thales' e-security activities in the Americas.