Thales, an international electronics and systems group serving Defense, Aerospace, Security and Services markets, and LightPointe, a designer and manufacturer of high-speed outdoor wireless products, today announced a partnership to provide secure high-bandwidth outdoor wireless solutions to the federal government and financial institutions. LightPointe has become a member of Thales' new Secure Wireless Alliance Program. The program is designed to provide the U.S. federal government with solutions to meet the new Department of Defense Directive (DoDD) 8100.2 and allows large financial organizations to meet the new security regulations, including Sarbanes Oxley and Graham Leach Bliley. Thales and LightPointe will focus on point-to-point outdoor wireless applications for federal agencies and tactical deployable wireless solutions for the DoD. This DoD mandate requires that all unclassified wireless transmission must be encrypted with Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS)140-2 Level 2 certified hardware utilizing the AES encryption algorithm. This alliance will facilitate an accelerated deployment of secure outdoor wireless solutions within the DoD agencies by enabling the use of low-cost commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) communication products coupled with high-bandwidth LightPointe optical wireless solutions for seamless, cost-effective connectivity. LightPointe products operate at OSI Layer 1 and are easily integrated with Thales' Datacryptor® family of encryption devices to meet FIPS compliance.
Thales’ 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. Layer 2 encryption solutions provide point-to-point security with virtually no latency or overhead. The Datacryptor products provide a full range of solutions for layer 3 IP (10Mb, 100Mb and Gigabit) and layer 2 (56K-512K, Frame Relay, Gigabit, SONET OC-3, OC-12 and OC-48) network connectivity.
LightPointe's optical wireless offerings are ideal for government and military installations that demand the rapid deployment of temporary high-bandwidth wireless links for quick restoration of communications in the event of a natural disaster or other emergency. As building-to-building wireless requirements grow, LightPointe provides solutions up to Gigabit Ethernet speeds for bandwidth-intensive applications such as video services, VoIP, digital imaging and disaster recovery. LightPointe's FlightStrata™ and FlightLite™ products, coupled with the Thales' Datacryptor® encryption solution, offer secure, high-bandwidth outdoor wireless options for customers in the Federal and financial markets," said Bob Preston, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for LightPointe.
"We are pleased to work with LightPointe and focus on secure gigabit wireless connectivity for tactical solutions and base infrastructure upgrades" said Alok Sharma, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, e-security activities of Thales in the Americas .
About Thales
Thales is an international electronics and systems group, serving Defense, Aerospace, Security and Services markets. The group employs 61,500 people and generated revenues of $12.6 billion in 2004.
Recent contract awards include the military’s multi-million dollar Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) program award; and an award from the Defense Information System Agency (DISA) for data encryption products.
Operating in three main markets covering e-security, card payment, and network security, Thales’ e-Security activity addresses the business, government, and finance industries’ need for cryptographic security products and solutions. Over half of the world’s banks, together with the majority of the busiest exchanges, currently use Thales technology.
About LightPointe
LightPointe designs and manufactures high-speed outdoor wireless products for cost-effective bridging in enterprise and carrier networks. LightPointe's outdoor wireless solutions have earned high marks in enterprise networking installations for linking two or more buildings in classic LAN-to-LAN backbone connectivity with extraordinarily high-bandwidth from 100 Mbps up to 1.25 Gbps. LightPointe outdoor wireless solutions are unique in that they use optical wireless based on free- space optics (FSO) technology and are license-free worldwide. The company's patented DualPath architecture integrates auto-switching optical wireless as a primary path and license-free 5.8 GHz radio frequency (RF) wireless as a secondary and redundant data path for industry-leading 99.999 percent network availability and uptime. LightPointe products have been deployed in more than 60 countries, and the company is recognized worldwide for the highest standards of quality and service. Web Site: http://www.lightpointe.com
Thales Media Contact
Rochelle Hopke, Manager, Marketing Communications
Thales e-Security, Inc.
Tel: 954-888-6200/1-888-744-4976 (x-6297)
Email: rochelle.hopke@thalesesec.com
Thales Company Contact
Alok Sharma, Vice President of Sales & Marketing
Thales e-Security, Inc.
Tel: 954-888-6200/1-888-744-4976 (x-6254)
Email: alok.sharma@thalesesec.com
LightPointe Contact:
Jeff Bean, Director of Marketing
LightPointe Communications, Inc.
Tel: 858-643-5319
Email: jbean@lightpointe.com
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