PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 31 (UPI) -- General Dynamics has announced a deal to partner with California-based VMware Inc. to develop a High-Assurance Platform workstation.
VMware is a virtualized desktops and servers software provider. It announced an agreement with General Dynamics' business unit General Dynamics C4 Systems under a contract with the U.S. National Security Agency.
The NSA contracted General Dynamics C4 Systems as chartered by the U.S. Office of the Secretary of Defense to design a secure workstation. VMware's virtualization software was selected by General Dynamics in an effort to provide Department of Defense employees with access information requiring different security clearance levels from a single machine.
Currently Defense Department employees and other ranking officials with multiple security clearances are forced to use separate workstations as a result of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, which states that access to government networks requires security features and certified assurance that exceed commercial-grade enterprise security standards. Many officials say the additional security measures have created expensive and logistically cumbersome information technology environments.
"Being selected as the virtualization provider for this solution reaffirms VMware's commitment to providing the industry with highly secure and reliable virtualization software," said Aileen Black, vice president of Federal Sales at VMware, in a statement.
"VMware virtualization software provides security and isolation to simplify IT operations in areas as wide-ranging as enterprise desktop management, application lifecycle management and system infrastructure management. Our efforts with General Dynamics and the NSA will allow government agencies with the most stringent security requirements to benefit from the broad efficiencies and flexibility afforded through virtualization."
