Washington, DC-MD-VA-WV (1888PressRelease)
March 28, 2008 - A classified network developed by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which included two key components from stateless computing innovator and leader Symbio Technologies, Inc. (www.symbio-technologies.com), has been certified and accredited by the U.S. Department of Energy. The classified network, built from off-the-shelf components, included Symbio's diskless thin clients and boot devices, two of the most popular products Symbio offers as part of its security-centric computing technology.
Symbio received formal notification of the success of the project earlier this week from Carlos M. Segarra PMP, technical director, Diskless Workstation Task Force of NNSA, a semi-autonomous agency within the Department of Energy established by Congress in 2000. NNSA is responsible for enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear science, and maintains and enhances the safety, security, reliability and performance of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without nuclear testing; works to reduce global danger from weapons of mass destruction; provides the U.S. Navy with safe and effective nuclear propulsion, and responds to nuclear and radiological emergencies in the United States and abroad.
"The National Nuclear Security Administration has received a Certification and Accreditation letter for its pilot thin client architecture to operate in a classified production environment," Mr. Segarra wrote to Symbio about the pilot program which began last summer.
Symbio's Symbiont Certified Network Terminals -- small, stateless desktop devices, also called "diskless thin clients," that replace expensive PCs, were used in the pilot program along with Symbiont Boot Appliances, which can power, connect and manage up to 250 terminals each. The pilot program followed a year-and-a-half search by the Diskless Workstation Taskforce to identify a "tool kit" of commercially available products that would provide the highest level of security while using existing infrastructure.
The deployment of the pilot program was coordinated by Energy Enterprise Solutions (EES, www.eesllc.net), the prime IT services contractor to the DOE, and its subcontractor, GTSI Corp. (www.gtsi.com) of Chantilly, Virginia, a leading IT infrastructure solutions and services provider to the U.S. government, and a value-added reseller of Symbio products.
The Most Data-Secure Desktop Available
"Symbio was proud to have been selected by NNSA for this pilot project, and now is even more proud to have come through with such flying colors," said Lew Tischler, the company's CFO and director of worldwide VAR activities. Mr. Tischler said Symbio worked closely with EES and GTSI in the planning and implementation processes, "with respect for how important it was to NNSA to have the most data-secure desktop available. Symbio is extremely satisfied with the certification and accreditation. Quite frankly, "he said, "we are absolutely and justifiably bursting with pride!"
The Symbio solution works on a simple and basic premise: using stateless and diskless thin clients to create a "virtual desktop," leaving the operating system, applications and all data on the server. In this way, just one computer -- the server -- can be secured much better and more efficiently than hundreds and thousands of individual PCs. Symbio's stateless thin client products eliminate data stored on the desktop, creating a seamless solution with unmatched security and data theft prevention, while supporting industry-standard remote access techniques provided by Microsoft Windows Terminal Services, Citrix and others.
Along with Symbio, other participants in the now-certified and accredited program included Citrix, Dell, Network Appliance (NetApp), and nearly a dozen other top vendors.
About Symbio Technologies
Symbio Technologies is a leading developer and marketer of security-centric "stateless" computing. Symbio's innovative hardware, software and services reduce the time, complexity and cost of deploying and maintaining computer networks. Symbio's secure, simple and environmentally friendly solution consists of Symbiont Certified Network Terminals -- also called "diskless thin clients" -- that connect to a network in place of expensive PCs, Symbiont Boot Appliances, which can power, connect and manage up to 250 terminals each, and value-add subscription services. Users can connect to a variety of environments, including Microsoft Windows Terminal Services, VMware VDI, Citrix Presentation Server, Linux/Unix, NX Server, IBM iSeries and zSeries, and virtually any midrange, mainframe or other legacy system. Symbio products are available worldwide through a growing network of distributors, value-added resellers and integrators in Australia, Canada, Chile, Israel, Mexico, Pakistan, South Africa, and the U.K., as well as throughout the U.S.
