Kasten Chase receives bid for RASP Secure Access
Kasten Chase Applied Research Ltd KCA
Shares issued 39,084,687 Apr 3 close $7.65
Tue 4 Apr 2000 News Release
Mr. Alan Kittson reports
Four large government contractors have all bid RASP Secure Access in their
responses to a request for proposal (RFP) for computing and communications
infrastructure issued jointly by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The Navy
Marine Corps intranet (NMCI) initiative is intended to develop a long-term
arrangement to transfer the responsibility for providing and managing the
vast majority of Navy and Marine Corps desktop, server, infrastructure and
communications assets to the commercial sector.
The four bidders are: Computer Science Corporation (CSC) of El Segundo
Calif.; IBM, headquartered in Armonk, N.Y.; EDS of Plano, Tex.; and General
Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Va. These potential prime
contractors have all proposed Kasten Chase's RASP Secure Access to meet the
requirements for secure remote access identified in the NMCI RFP. These
four organizations are the only prime bidders for the NMCI project.
The RFP closed on March 24, by which time all four bidders had submitted
written proposals and made oral presentations. The NMCI project is
extensive, with a base contract that includes a minimum of 440,000
workstations, portable systems and servers to be deployed within the U.S.
Navy and Marine Corps. The estimated value of the total base contract is
$2-billion (U.S.), with a long-term potential value reaching $10-billion.
The estimated value of the RASP component ranges from $3-million (U.S.) to
$15-million (U.S.). The contract is expected to be awarded in late summer,
with initial system deployment commencing in the fall of 2000.
"It would appear that RASP Secure Access is the only National Security
Agency-certified solution that meets the specific application requirements
for secure remote access as outlined in the NMCI RFP," said Alan Kittson,
vice-president of sales for RASP Secure Access at Kasten Chase. "I am
pleased that each of these industry leading organizations has recognized
the unique benefits of RASP Secure Access and have included our solution in
their bids to the NMCI project. CSC, IBM, EDS and General Dynamics are well
positioned channels in the federal government space and represent
significant leverage potential for future large scale government
opportunities," added Mr. Kittson.
About the NMCI project
By replacing multiple independent naval intranets and systems with one
common Navy-wide intranet, the Navy expects to increase business
efficiencies, improve business processes, significantly enhance security,
and achieve greater interoperability with Department of Defence agencies,
other geographic commanders-in-chief, and sister services.
NMCI's end-user benefits are twofold: firstly, deliver common applications,
integrated databases and shared tools to both the desktop and the mobile
user; and secondly, foster the growth of their organizational capital by
enabling group collaboration, knowledge sharing and teaching through net
meetings and on-line collaborative planning efforts.
About RASP Secure Access
Certified by the U.S. National Security Agency, RASP Secure Access is the
first complete remote access security solution designed to safeguard
government mission-critical information. When used in accordance with NSA
policies and guidelines, RASP may be used to protect classified (up to and
including the secret-level) and sensitive but unclassified (SBU) data.
Portable and cost-effective, RASP Secure Access provides remote, laptop
users with secure, dial-up connections to local-area networks (LANs) from
any location that offers a connection to the local telephone service. These
remote users can access the same services available to users attached
locally to the LAN. RASP is a multifaceted remote access security solution,
providing user authentication, link encryption and desktop data protection.
It prevents unauthorized network access and protects against intercept
attacks on data transmitted over public telephone lines. RASP Secure Media,
a key component of the solution, safeguards the confidentiality and
integrity of information stored on a personal computer, should it be lost,
stolen or otherwise compromised.
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