For the first time, U.S. military and government agency personnel will be able to access classified e-mail and information on a hand-held, National Security Agency-certified personal digital assistant.
Made by General Dynamics C4, the 11-ounce Sectera Edge is a phone equipped with Internet services that can switch between handling classified and unclassified data.
“The key thing is, it provides users with access to a secret Internet, wherever they are, as long as there is cellular service,” said Michael Guzelian, who directs General Dynamics C4’s secure voice and data products. “Today, if you need to check your secret e-mail, you have to go into your office. In some cases, the government spends $30,000 to $40,000 to drop a secret Internet Protocol router into someone’s house.”
With the Edge, he said, “I can go to home e-mail, go to Google, call my wife and then with one button check my classified e-mail.”
A handful of Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and government agency personnel have purchased the Sectera Edge, which GD C4 developed using an $18.8 million NSA contract from 2005.
More customers are expected now that the NSA has formally certified the device. In May, the spy agency gave the company an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a ceiling of $300 million.
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The device is built with cryptographic algorithms, computer programs that code or encrypt the information to assure it remains protected.
So far, the NSA has certified the Edge to run on T-Mobile and Sprint services; AT&T and Verizon are expected to receive certification in coming months, Guzelian said.
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The Army’s next frontier is a PDA that could combine classified and unclassified data; the effort is called the High Assurance Platform.
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The $3,350 device is 1.3 inches thick, 3.2 inches wide and 4.9 inches long, waterproof, and built to handle extreme temperatures and to withstand a 4-foot fall onto concrete, Guzelian said.
U.S. Army Col. Michael Williamson, a project manager for computer technologies with Future Combat Systems, examined the Sectera Edge.
“I was focused on the device in terms of how they built it and incorporated the software and hardware. It was not something I could use in my [FCS] platforms,” Williamson said. But he called the Edge “very impressive” and said, “I think there is a lot of use for it, especially for senior leaders who are on the move. The intent would not be for a tactical environment.”
The Army’s next frontier is a PDA that could combine classified and unclassified data; the effort is called the High Assurance Platform.
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