The business of government is changing. Government organizations around the globe are being challenged to improve efficiency, increase services and reduce costs. Today’s government employees work for many different agencies, are geographically dispersed and require seamless 24-7 access to secure, up-to-date intelligence. The network infrastructure is the critical backbone connecting users to the required IT resources and enabling instant sharing of information. This increasing reliance on network connected resources comes at a time of heightened security concerns. Compliance mandates require agencies to protect data and resources from unauthorized access or modification.

To meet these challenges the network must go beyond basic high speed connectivity. It must be interoperable, scalable, easily managed and highly secure. Critical services and real time applications need to be correctly prioritized. The network needs to provide the users from each department and agency with access to required resources and data while protecting the data and resources from unauthorized users in other departments.

With embedded intelligence that can be fine-tuned to the specific needs of the public sector, Enterasys networking solutions are leveraged by Federal, State and Local Government Agencies to:

• Ensure the availability of both wired and wireless networking services
• Prioritize critical services and applications
• Enforce role-based access control to protect data confidentiality and preserve data integrity
• Protect existing investments with standards-based interoperability
• Provide the security and reporting tools required to meet compliance mandates

Certifications

Enterasys maintains an active product certification and evaluation program for government customers to ensure that the products they use will perform as expected and work with existing infrastructure.

There are several certification standards and organizations including:

	UC APL certification is required for all Department of Defense (DoD) agencies to deploy voice solutions that connect to the Defense Switch Network (DSN). We are UC-APL certified for the following product lines: Enterasys S-Series and K-Series modular switching lines, as well as the C-Series stackable switches.
	Common Criteria is an internationally recognized methodology for security evaluation and certification that is sanctioned by the International Standards Organization (ISO). Enterasys Network Access Control (also known as NetSight) and Enterasys Intrusion Prevention System (also known as Dragon) are certified under Common Criteria as having federal certifications.
	FIPS 140 ensures proper implementation of cryptographic algorithms and handling of cryptographic keys. Enterasys is pursuing UC, Common Criteria and FIPS certifications for the Enterasys Wireless product line, which would allow DoD organizations to take advantage of the benefits of a unified management experience across a wired and wireless Enterasys infrastructure without having to sacrifice security or functionality.
U.S. Government IPv6 (USGv6) Profile and subsequent testing program resulted from the directive to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop the technical infrastructure necessary to support wide scale adoption of IPv6 in the US Government (USG). Enterasys is pursuing USGv6 certifications for the S-Series, K-Series, and C-Series switches. Successful completion of testing by certified laboratories will provide the validated compliance to allow Federal Agencies to comply with acquisition regulations and IPv6 adoption directives.