Wave Systems Gets U.S. Army Contract

Wave Systems Gets U.S. Army Contract for Encryption Management for Vehicle-Based Mobile Computers

Wave Systems, a Massachusetts-based provider of security, data protection, and encryption solutions, today announced that it has received a contract from the United States Army to provide labor, equipment and management to implement solutions for the Army’s self-encrypting drives (SEDs).

According to Wave, the Army is exploring the enablement of SEDs with Trusted Platform Modules (TPMs) in its systems in order to reduce the risk of sensitive data falling into enemy hands if such enemies were able to get their hands on hardware.

Wave did not disclose the value of the contract, but did say that its fees under the contract would be modest. Despite the modest contract value, the company views it as as an important application of trusted computing solutions by the Army, and the news appeared to please investors, with shares of Wave Systems (NASDAQ:WAVX) closing up over 18 percent at the close of trading on Tuesday.

Wave also said that the Army asked the company to provide expertise in the area of SEDs and TPMs to help maximize the security advantage of these technologies while minimizing the disruptive impact to Army’s fielding and sustainment. Wave will also provide engineering support to Army missions in support of global operations.

“This contract affirms the value and leadership that Wave brings in leveraging embedded security for mobile endpoints operating beyond the network perimeter,” said Steven Sprague, CEO for Wave. “We’re delighted to have the opportunity to help ensure that mission-critical data and communications remains under the secure control of central command at all times.”

Trusted computing standards provide capabilities that can be leveraged in many mission systems where device assurance and integrity and data protection are required.

According to the Trusted Computing Group (TCG), the international industry standards group that develops specifications and standards for Trusted Computing Technology, the term “trusted computing” refers to applications that leverage hardware-based “roots of trust” at the edge of the network and at the endpoints – sometimes referred to as “hardware anchors in a sea of untrusted software” – for higher assurance.

As the adoption of trusted computing continues to grow across all platforms, there are many ways this industry-standard technology can be leveraged to reduce costs and improve security and assurance of any computing system.