DOD certifies Defense Switched Network connectivity solution

The Defense Department has certified a Defense Switched Network (DSN) connectivity solution from PacStar and Cisco Systems.

The PacStar 6800 Small End Office (SMEO) and the PacStar 6300 Deployable Voice Exchange (DVX), which run on Cisco hardware, have received information assurance accreditation by the Defense IA/Security Accreditation Working Group (DSAWG). The solutions have also received interoperability certification by the Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC), and consequently the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) placed them on the Approved Product List. Both solutions are designed to be the voice core of the network infrastructure for the U.S. military around the world.

The solutions enable the military to connect to the network without the two-step analog to IP network process, simplifying operations and reducing costs. They were designed to meet the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s everything-over-IP mandate, a requirement for the military to shift to fully IP-capable solutions. The solutions provide a common IP communications platform from the military base to the battlefield.

The PacStar 6800 is the only SMEO voice switch based on the Cisco Unified Communications platform, accredited for DSN. At the core of the two solutions is PacStar’s IQ-Core Software, which integrates disparate hardware components to meet JITC information assurance and interoperability requirements. The software also includes wizards for configuration and monitoring to simplify management of the system.