Science & Technology

Technologies Driving Australian Defence Communications Network To Be Overhauled

Business Wire - July 19th, 2001

US-based Baltimore Technologies today announced that it is a key member of the consortium selected to upgrade the Australian Defence communications network through the multimillion dollar e-Defence project.

Baltimore Technologies was chosen as part of the CSC-led consortium, to provide secure communications and e-business solutions to the 90,000 Australian Defence personnel. Under this agreement, Baltimore will provide e-security services in a deal valued at over $1 million, that is expected to be recognised over a seven month period from June to year end.

The aim of the e-Defence project is to provide a sophisticated and integrated infrastructure to protect critical operational communications. Every member of Defence will be given a digital certificate that has been generated using an accredited public key infrastructure (PKI). These digital certificates will enable Defence personnel to uniquely sign and encrypt their electronic correspondence, giving this e-correspondence the same assurance and legal status as a signed, paper-based letter.

The e-Defence communications system will be based on the commercial off-the-shelf products that are currently being used by Defence. Baltimore will provide the expertise to increase the security provided by their mail systems to a level appropriate for the communication of highly sensitive information.

When completed, e-Defence will be the largest such information security project in the Southern Hemisphere and will be compliant with the Australian Government's Gatekeeper requirements.