EADS North America's Advanced Voice Encryption Technology Approved to Participate in Annual Interoperability Exercise

The high channel capacity of the ECTOCRYP BLACK encryption device will support the goals of the exercise by enabling interoperability among numerous secure voice communications systems at geographically disparate locations, hosted on a combination of secure and unclassified networks.

The military aspect of this year's event will use the Afghan Mission Network as the operational backdrop to demonstrate the integration of mature information-sharing technologies that support coalition mission planning and execution. While the 9-day event, mission-specific role players using the CWID unclassified network will make several secure voice calls per day using Secure Communications Interoperability Protocol, or SCIP, terminals. The ECTOCRYP BLACK gateway will enable role players at Joint Forces Command to receive those calls on the CWID secret network.

"At CWID 2011, ECTOCRYP BLACK will make an important contribution to the exercise objectives by supporting a scalable communication architecture and providing interoperability among multiple secure voice systems operating in disparate bandwidth domains," said David Oliver, Chief Operating Officer at EADS North America. "Through this trial, we hope to demonstrate this capability to a wider Department of Defense audience, gain feedback on its utility to our warfighters, and better understand any enhancements or adaptations that would benefit them."

ECTOCRYP BLACK uses a common commercial off-the-shelf hardware architecture that can be programmed to perform various cryptographic functions, allowing the suite of products to meet the changing needs of communications and information networks. Capable of simultaneously handling up to 92 channels of SCIP voice communication, the gateway can provide interoperability between SCIP telephones and secure speech networks to a greater degree than any existing system of its size. It as well can interface to secure Voice over IP networks, providing interoperability between the different secure voice technologies.

Cassidian Systems, the division of EADS that developed the ECTOCRYP BLACK research, showcased a U.K. variant of the technology while CWID 2010 at the event's U.K. location. In September 2010 ECTOCRYP BLACK was certified by the United Kingdom's information assurance agency to the equivalent of U.S. Type 1 certification necessary to protect Top Secret information.

The North American operation of EADS

About EADS North America EADS North America is the North American operation of EADS, a global leader in aerospace, defense and related services. As a leader in all sectors of defense and homeland security, EADS North America and its parent company, EADS, contribute over $11 billion to the U.S. economy annually and support more than 200,000 American jobs through its network of suppliers and services. Operating in 17 states, EADS North America offers a broad array of advanced solutions to its clients in the commercial, homeland security, aerospace and defense markets.

About EADS EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defense and related services. In 2009, the Group -- comprising Airbus, Astrium, Cassidian and Eurocopter -- generated earnings of EUR 42.8 billion and employed a workforce of more than 119,000.