Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Information Technology (IT) sector, a leading provider of advanced IT solutions, engineering and business services for government and commercial customers, and Flarion Technologies, the architect of a mobile broadband network technology for personal computing for data and voice using the industry standard Internet Protocol (IP), announced that the two companies are working together to promote a Homeland Security network communications system based on Flarion's flash-OFDM™ technology (a).

Northrop Grumman IT and Flarion are promoting the network system to government customers wanting the most advanced, secure and flexible broadband network for homeland security and emergency response applications.

The Northrop Grumman IT and Flarion Homeland Security solution provides many significant improvements over existing network solutions, including:

  • A packet-switched voice and data airlink technology (flash-OFDM) for nationwide coverage that replicates the wire broadband computing transport experience.
  • Flarion RadioRouters™ for wireless coverage and access, deployed at cellular base stations around the country.
  • PC cards for personal computing for use with PDA and laptop wireless computing devices.
  • Applications access to any standard office and operational system: Operational Database Applications, Customer Specific Applications (IP), Data Mining as well as Instant Messaging.
  • Communications support for: "Push to Talk" for mobile voice services and "Always On," fully mobile broadband data access and support for priority access.
  • Interoperability with the industry-standard IP network with full support for network and device security (VPN and encryption), Quality of Service (QoS) and seamless handoff to 802.11-based wireless access points.
  • Network management tools which allow for Remote Network Management, ad-hoc/Mobile IP Network Design.
  • Rapid Deployment Cellular Base Station: Cell-on-light-truck (COLT) is equipped with two base stations and an IP network enables the COLT to offer up to five miles of cellular coverage and access to secure or public networks can be deployed at major disaster scenes to ensure continuous communications capabilities regardless of local carrier problems.

"In our own review for national High Speed Wireless Network for Homeland Security, we determined that a completely new approach would be necessary," said Jim Lindenfelser, Northrop Grumman IT TASC vice president and director, Space and Communications. "Flarion's IP friendly airlink and the business case for flash-OFDM convinced us that the communication network could scale to the demands of a federal network system."

"Along with Northrop Grumman IT, Flarion is pleased to offer help and assistance to the US government with their review of solutions for a secure and spectrum efficient wireless network for voice and data," said Ray Dolan, CEO of Flarion Technologies. "Together, we will demonstrate a highly scalable packet-switched end-to-end network which meets and exceeds the current objectives for a Homeland Security communications system."

Flarion's mobile broadband technology is a packet-switched radio access network, which allows licensed mobile operators to offer customers a seamless, always-on connection to the Internet and private networks, extending the personal computing experience beyond the limits of voice or LAN-based network technologies. The flash-OFDM PC-card modem is plug-and-play compatible with existing IP devices, operating systems and applications and does not require any changes to protocol, settings, devices or content.