Unisys has been awarded a task order to help the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) develop technology solutions for secure data storage, retrieval and sharing. The project will test and evaluate the Unisys Stealth Solution, a family of innovative secure infrastructure sharing, and network and storage data protection solutions for government and commercial organizations.
Under the one-year task order, awarded through the Defense Information Systems Agency's Encore II contract, Unisys will provide support for USSOCOM in Tampa, Fla. USSOCOM is developing a network-centric IT environment to help its forces communicate and share information across a spectrum of networks and storage environments with varying levels of security and communities of users. The project is designed to give users the capability to dynamically and securely exchange and store information and to move away from rigid network classifications based on various user groups.
The command will test and evaluate the Unisys Stealth solution for storage to protect data at rest, as well as the Unisys Stealth Solution for Network to protect data as it travels across networks.
"The Unisys Stealth solutions can help organizations like USSOCOM simplify their networks without sacrificing security, while delivering significant cost savings," said Jim Geiger, managing partner, Department of Defense, Unisys Federal Systems. "This new effort will give USSOCOM and Unisys the opportunity to operationally test and evaluate our newly developed Unisys Stealth solution for storage."
Unisys will work with Security First Corp., creator of the SecureParser cryptographic technology used in the Unisys Stealth solution to meet the stringent security and data availability requirements of military organizations, government agencies and commercial enterprises. SecureParser encrypts data, "bit-splits" that data into multiple packets as it moves through the network and to storage devices, and then reassembles the information packets for delivery exclusively to authorized users. Stealth uses a Unisys-developed storage virtualization technology and tunneling protocol that supports information sharing among different user communities, while permitting data to be accessed only by users authorized to see it.
The USSOCOM mission is to deploy fully capable Special Operations Forces (SOF) to defend the United States and its interests and to plan and synchronize operations against terrorist networks. The command will rely on the superior operation and support of its IT systems and networks to achieve its overall objective of synchronizing mission planning and execution among SOF, conventional forces and coalition partners.
Unisys and subcontractor Advanced C4 Solutions, Inc., will support the command in addressing a classic joint warfighting problem - the inability to dynamically communicate and share information anywhere, across a spectrum of network environments operating at numerous security levels or user groups. Unisys will bring to USSOCOM its extensive experience with the Unisys Stealth Solution for Network, which is also being tested by the U.S. Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Va., and its subordinate Joint Transformation Command for Intelligence (JTC-I) in Suffolk, Va.