Isode Server Software Solutions for the Military Industry
Isode has been delivering server software product central to military messaging and directory deployments worldwide for more than 20 years.
The firm is a trusted provider of messaging infrastructure products Military Messaging and Internet Protocols, as well as gateways to connect military and non-military messaging systems.
Secure and scalable military messaging and directory solutions
Isode have a strong engineering focus with 75% of its staff dedicated to writing and / or testing code.
Partnering with only experienced systems integrators, the firm delivers successful, competitive, secure and scalable messaging and directory solutions to militaries, intelligence services, aviation authorities and governments worldwide.
Directory services for tactical and strategic systems
Directory services are a critical military component, used for tactical and strategic systems. Military directories, specified by ACP 133, are used to provide information services, support of military messaging, and as supporting infrastructure for other applications such as public key infrastructure (PKI).
The M-Vault X.500 directory server provides a unique set of security features, including strong authentication based on X.509 PKI, security policy, rule-based access control based on security labels, audit logging and password policy.
M-Vault comes with full ACP 133 support and conformance, including graphical user interface (GUI) support for data administration, and using the firm’s Sodium Sync product flexible directory synchronization with lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) directories is provided.
Secure XMPP for military use
Isode’s M-Link (together with their Swift XMPP Client) was the first extensible messaging and presence protocol (XMPP) server to gain a listing on the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Approved Products List and is used by militaries in Europe, North America and the Middle-East.
M-Link is also the server behind JChat+, which is the system delivering instant messaging, multi-user chat and structured forms services within Nato’s Afghan Mission and Federated Mission Networks.
Isode has incorporated security features that make M-Link the natural choice for XMPP in military, intelligence and government deployments. These features include support for security labels, data confidentiality using transport layer security (TLS) and support for simple authentication and security layer (SASL) authentication, Kerberos authentication and strong authentication for client / server and for server / server connections.
Along with the abundance of security features, Isode has ensured M-Link has a range of capabilities for operating over networks with low bandwidth, including support for federated multi-user chatrooms and extensible markup language (XML) stream compression. M-Link can also be configured to act as a gateway between XMPP multi-user chat rooms and internet relay chat (IRC) channels.
Formal military messaging to handle commands
Formal messaging is used by the military to handle commands, and is primarily communication between roles and organisations rather than individuals.
Isode’s M-Switch SMTP MTA comes with a range of security and management capabilities that make it ideal for military messaging.
Operation over constrained networks is vital for many Military deployments. Isode offers a SMTP messaging solution based on the ACP142 military specification.
This provides optimised communication for both point-to-point and multicast networks, and operation in emission control or radio silence (EMCON). This can be operated over IP networks, such as satellite communication (Satcom) and fast radio links.
Isode also supports direct operation of STANAG 5066 to give optimal performance for high frequency (HF) radio.
Military messaging gateways
Isode provides three gateway products:
- ACP127 Gateway: Based on Isode’s widely deployed M-Switch MTA and enables exchange of ACP127 messages with STANAG 4406 (including ACP145) and SMTP systems and operation over HF Radio using STANAG 5066
- ACP145 Gateway: Provides STANAG 4406 edition 2 with digital signatures and security labels. It is designed to interconnect national military networks operating according to different profiles. M-Switch can be deployed as an ACP145 Gateway, including support for Security Labels and Message Digital Signatures
- M-Switch MIXER: Provides a gateway between SMTP and standard STANAG 4406
- XMPP for single-user use and large-scale deployments
The Swift XMPP client is suitable for single-user use and large-scale deployments in security conscious environments. Features include easy status setting, security label support, keyword / phrase highlighting and message acknowledgement.
The web and Android versions of the Harrier Military Messaging client, which is the latest product added to the Isode portfolio and currently on beta release, provides a number of military features. Some of these are simply presenting standard email capabilities in a military way, others follow the extended family of standards and in particular RFC 6477.
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Products and Services
Video
White Papers
Harrier Cross-Platform Military Messaging on Android
Isode has introduced Harrier, a military messaging client on Android, which is on beta release.
Isode’s High-Grade Messaging Solution
Isode provides a number of client, server and management products to support high grade messaging, or military messaging.
Switch ACP127 Gateway to STANAG 4406 & MMHS over SMTP
ACP127 is an older military messaging protocol, which remains in widespread use along with a number of similar protocols such as DOI 103 and ACP128.
M-Switch ACP127 Gateway to STANAG 4406
ACP127 is an older military messaging protocol, which remains in widespread use along with a number of similar protocols such as DOI 103 and ACP128.
Isode’s Solution for BRASS
Broadcast and Ship to Shore (BRASS) is an approach used by navies, particularly in Nato countries, to communicate between ships and shore using high frequency (HF) radio.
XMPP Archive and Search
This whitepaper describes the new archive capability in M-Link, and how it enables searching of archive data by end users and operators.
Military Forms Using XMPP
Forms are important for military operations, and there is often a need to handle forms quickly and share with a large number of users.
M-Link Support for XMPP over Constrained Networks
This paper looks at how M-Link, Isode's XMPP server, is optimised for operation over constrained networks, including Satcom, HF Radio and other Radio links.
Using Message Acknowledgements for Tracking, Correlation and Fire and Forget
This whitepaper looks at how tracking end to end message acknowledgements can improve service reliability for mission critical messaging.
Related Projects
Press Release
Arctic Tiger 2012, a major military excercise involving aircraft from several nations, took place out of Ørland airbase, Norway between 29 May - 7 June.
Read moreIsode is pleased to announce that its 'M-Link' instant messaging and multi-user chat server software (based on the XMPP protocol) and 'Swift' desktop client software have been approved for inclusion on the US Department of Defense (DoD) unified communications approved product list (APL).
Read moreACP 145 was specified to enable communication between CCEB Nations (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK, US) by defining a common interface standard for military messaging between nations.
Read moreIsode is pleased to announe that CEO Steve Kille will be speaking at the next meeting of the High Frequency Industry Association (HFIA) meeting in San Diego on 27 January 2011. His talk on 'XMPP over HF using STANAG 5066' covers an area that Isode has invested a lot of time in over the
Read moreThe Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (CWID) is an annual demonstration that showcases information-sharing technologies that can be used by militaries and other government agencies to fill existing operational capability gaps. Initiated by the US, CWID includes participan
Read moreApple’s recent update to the iPhone operating system (iOS 4) contains some updates to the device’s IMAP (the Internet standard Internet message access protocol) support. The RFCs now supported are: COMPRESS (4978) ESEARCH (4731) CHUNKING (3030) 8BIT
Read moreIsode have released a new white paper which looks at how M-Link, Isode's XMPP server is optimized for operation over constrained networks, including satcom, HF radio, and other radio links. The paper starts by looking at the benefits of using XMPP over constrained networks, and the key problems f
Read moreThis is the first of a series of blog posts describing new features of Isode’s R14.6 release, scheduled for March 2010. IPv6 is the new version of IP. The major change relative to IPv4 (which is the version of IP most widely used) is the much larger address space. While many Isode produ
Read moreIsode will work with several leading companies to create a common XML security policy information file (SPIF) format. With the help of Cadmidium, Clearswift, CommPower, eB2Bcom, JSC, Nexor and SMHS, Isode hopes to encourage vendors to use a new system of security labels to exchange inf
Read moreIn Isode's latest release, R14.2, support for Directory Access Control using Security Labels has been introduced. Security Labels provide an important mechanism for controlling access to information in many high security environments, and are also useful in environments with lower secur
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