L-3 Communications Receives $35 Million Contract Award for New Class of In-Line Encryptors
19 February 2007
New York, NY – L-3 Communications (NYSE: LLL) announced today that its Communication Systems-East (L-3 CS-East) division, a leading supplier of secure government communication products and systems, has been awarded a five-year, Indefinite Delivery / Indefinite Quantity (ID / IQ) contract by the National Security Agency (NSA) to supply the Talon KOV-26 in-line network encryptor to the federal government, US military, and other approved customers. The not-to-exceed contract value is $35 million.
Certified by the NSA for Type 1 communications, Talon is a PCMCIA card that provides secure remote access at broadband data rates in a small package requiring no external power source. Talon is a high-speed alternative to the Remote Access Security Program (RASP), which is facing obsolescence.
Talon protects user data up to Top Secret / Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS / SCI) and is compatible with the High Assurance IP Encryptor Interoperability Specification (HAIPE™ IS) protocol.
Talon enables high-speed access to classified networks, or to other remote Talon users via the Internet, through Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) USB communication adapters. Talon includes a user-friendly graphical user interface that makes the security operation transparent to the end user.
The initial release of Talon supports 10 / 100 Ethernet, but will be software upgradeable to support 802.11b/g wireless, V.90 dial-up modem, and RS-232 serial interfaces. This upgrade, planned for the first quarter of 2007, will add support for the Future Narrowband Digital Terminal / Secure Communications Interoperability Protocol (FNBDT / SCIP) voice and data protocol.
"As a portable crypto modern solution, Talon provides our customers a means to access and share sensitive information no matter where their travels take them," said Greg Roberts, president and chief operating officer of L-3 CS-East. "This award is a testimony to our world-class performance and reputation in secure communications."
