The U.S. Joint Forces Command, headquartered in Norfolk, VA, and one of DoD's 10 combatant commands, is planning to test new encryption technology that will allow separate and secure virtual communities to coexist on a single network infrastructure. Currently, various defense networks operate under different security parameters, and that requires individualized infrastructure and extra costs designed to handle restricted data.

"The government spends a considerable amount of money on these networks, and they've been looking for years for a way to combine them," David Gardiner, vice president of security technology and solutions at Unisys, told Defensesystems.com.

Unisys is deploying its Stealth technology under a one-year contract. Gardiner said that if the tests are successful, the technology could be deployed on a wider basis. Stealth works by dividing bits of data into multiple packets as the data moves through the network. The data is reassembled when it is delivered to authorized users.

The ability to reassemble and unscramble the data would be permitted only by authenticated users who have obtained a workgroup key authorized by a server.

For more on network encryption:
- see this DefenseSystems article