Batboard

LOWELL, Mass., Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- M/A-COM, Inc., a business unit
of Tyco Electronics and leading manufacturer of IP-based public safety
communication systems, today announced the signing of a $11 million contract
awarded by the U.S. Army's CECOM BRS (Base Radio Systems) to deploy and link
critical communications to more than 5,000 Army base personnel in and around the
National Capitol Region (NCR), including greater D.C., Maryland and Virginia
with
connectivity up to Fort Hamilton, NY. The contract is anticipated to exceed $16
million with the addition of training, life-cycle maintenance and options.
Deployed by the Army's DOIM (Department of Information Management) for
Department
of Defense (DoD) users, M/A-COM's P25IP Trunked IP Communications System, in
combination with its NetworkFirst Interoperability System, will be the first
deployment of its kind in the nation's armed forces.

The contract is a "turnkey", completely integrated, Land Mobile Radio system
that
will link 10 Army installations in the NCR region, including Walter Reed Army
Medical Center (WRAMC), Fort Hamilton, the Pentagon, Fort Myer, Fort McNair and
Fort Belvoir, and in addition, will include site preparation, equipment,
implementation, testing and maintenance of the system. The system also will
include the following installations/sites, Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Detrick, Fort
Meade, Raven Rock and the Germantown RF site located outside the National
Capital
Region in Maryland and Virginia. General Dynamics Wireless Services, a unit of
GD
Network Systems, is M/A-COM's subcontractor for site preparation work, site
management, equipment installation, and life cycle maintenance.

In addition, this IP-based network solution will facilitate interoperable
communications, via its NetworkFirst system with approximately 60 civilian
public
safety agencies located in both the National Capital Region and in suburban
Maryland and Virginia. These agencies are currently communicating on different
frequencies and have disparate radio systems throughout the NCR. "M/A-COM's
advanced system will provide critical interoperable communications for Army
personnel based in the NCR and will leverage COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf)
servers, routers and PCs to provide reduced total ownership cost," said Kevin
Fleming, Director, Federal Sales. The new system, called P25IP, combines the
P25
air link standard with the power of IP packet technology in a trunked voice and
data communications system. The M/A-COM system will dramatically improve the
existing communications capabilities, providing a more secure and highly
reliable
and interoperable digital communication system.

The digital system supports P25 trunking standard features and DES encryption
for
secure communications. This system will operate using DoD UHF spectrum in the
380-399.9 MHz frequency range. Additionally, the system meets the NTIA
Narrowband
mandate and the guidelines set forth in the Deputy Secretary of Defense's Policy
Letter for LMR Systems and the Army Plan for Narrowband Systems Operating in the
Land Mobile Radio Spectrum. M/A-COM's system employs fault-tolerant P25IP
technology that supports current operational requirements, in addition to
addressing future growth, scalability, and interoperability.

"M/A-COM is extremely pleased to work with the Army-DOIM, a vital IT
organization
within the DoD community, to provide a secure and highly reliable advanced
communications system," said John Vaughan, vice president, M/A-COM Wireless
Systems. "M/A-COM is proud to partner with the National Capital Region DOIM and
BRS to complete this critical initiative, which is vital to the Army as well as
Homeland Security. Our NetworkFirst interoperability solution will be rapidly
deployed to provide crossband multi-vendor interoperability between Army users
and
State and local public safety agencies."


"Although many companies provide just P25 portable radios, the Federal and DoD
community now have a choice for full turnkey P25 trunked networks that meet the
Narrowband mandate. This is the first P25 system that truly leverages the power
of IP technology," said Jay Herther, federal market manager, M/A-COM.
The NCR system is slated for completion in early 2005

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stori ... Y=/www/sto\
ry/09-23-2003/0002022541&EDATE=TUE+Sep+23+2003,+10:15+AM

The two most common encryption formats in APCO-25 are DES and AES - you don't see much triple-DES although it is an option.

Single DES is still pretty robust for most uses, if all you want is to keep J. Random Person from listening on your conversations on his P-25 capable scanner.

And if you feel the need for real security, AES lets you go up to a 256 bit key - quite a bit better than even triple-DES.

The nice thing is that single DES can be exported, so if you are looking at an international market you can get permission to ship DES capable units.

AES, on the other hand.... The TLAs get a bit persnickety about exporting that. We had to make it a completely seperate section of code to make them happy.