08 Aug 03. TRL Technology Ltd, the UK-based radio and satellite communications systems specialist, has been awarded a £2+ million contract to supply state of the art cryptographic equipment to BT. The five year project encompasses high grade network cryptos and support services, designed to enhance the operation of secure communications networks using Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) technology. TRL Technology’s CATAPAN product is the result of over six years’ research and development, with the company’s specialist expertise receiving full approval from the National Technical Authority for Information Assurance.
TRL Technology is currently the only approved supplier of high speed, high grade ATM devices in the UK. The principal customers for the new equipment and services will be Government agencies and the UK Ministry of Defence. Commenting for TRL Technology, managing director Peter McKee said: “This is a prestigious and significant contract award for TRL Technology, reinforcing our leading market position for sophisticated high grade cryptographic equipment. We have been working closely with UK Government agencies to develop the product and working design, following the original competitive tender issued by the UK Government. Recent live trials of our solution within the Government’s secure communications network have already demonstrated significantly enhanced performance, and we are already working on next generation high grade crypto designs, maintaining the UK’s lead in this specialist field.”
TRL Technology’s CATAPAN ATM crypto is designed as a rugged, robust unit that can slot into existing networks, for use at network interfaces complying with the ITU-T and ATM Forum UNI 4.0 specifications. Its principal functions involve encryption between Voice and IP end systems, communicating across a switched ATM network, as well as restricting and policing the necessarily unencrypted (addressing) information that can be passed between ATM devices.