Secure switching agreement for deployed environments signed by Curtiss-Wright and Cisco
NewsOctober 11, 2023
WASHINGTON. Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions announced a collaborative development agreement with networking and IT company Cisco to bring secure enterprise-class network switching solutions to rugged, deployed aerospace and defense OpenVPX systems environments for the first time, at this week's Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting and Exposition 2023, being held October 9-11 in Washington, D.C.
The Curtiss-Wright announcement lays out the products -- based on the Cisco Catalyst ESS9300 Embedded Series switches with Internetworking Operating System (IOS) XE -- that will emerge from its arrangement with Cisco:
• Cisco IOS XE will enable network system designers to build resilient networks and provide high-level, advanced capabilities that assist in mitigating network issues that can otherwise cause disconnected, intermittent, and limited (DIL) conditions at the tactical edge, such as switch looping.
• The new Sensor Open System Architecture (SOSA) aligned plug-in-card (PIC) network switch solutions will give network system designers access to advanced network switch features and capabilities, including port security and access control through 802.1x, support for SSH and SNMP v3, FIPS 140 and Common Criteria certification.
• The rugged OpenVPX network switch products will be STIG-Ready with DISA-authored Security Technical Implementation Guides; these guides provide the technical security policies, requirements, and implementation details for applying security concepts to Cisco IOS XE to enable users a fast path to a Risk Management Framework (RMF) process and drastically reduce the effort required to attain Authority to Operate (ATO).
Curtiss-Wright officials note that the new network switches -- which are designed to meet MIL-SDT-810H environmental ruggedization requirements -- will will be the first OpenVPX form factor members of Curtiss-Wright’s PacStar family of tactical communications solutions.
AUSA attendees can visit Curtiss-Wright at Booth #1509.
