On June 13th, Sagem Defense Securite (SAFRAN Group) and Rohde and Schwarz SIT GmbH made an encrypted telephone call using two different terminals of the two manufacturers on the basis of the new SCIP – Secured Communication Interoperability Protocol – developed by the International ICWG (Interoperability Control Working Group).
Achieved successfully between the companies' sites in Paris and Berlin using terminals developed at the same time by both companies, the experiment has consolidated the SCIP standard definition which NATO is currently finalizing.
Thought to become a NATO STANAG, the SCIP brings a secured transmission capacity between different kinds of terminals, on all types of civilian telecommunication networks (IP, GSM, PSTN, ISDN, Satellites …).
This work is part of the programs to modernize information security that the French and German governments have awarded both companies: Rohde and Schwarz SIT GmbH under the authority of the Federal Armed Forces IT-Office in Germany, and for France, a New Generation Cryptophony study awarded in November 2004 to Sagem Defense Securite by the DGA.
This experiment was backed by both the French and German governmental agencies for information security: the BSI (Bundesamt fur Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik) and the DCSSI (Direction Centrale de la Securite des Systemes d'Information).
Proving Rohde and Schwarz SIT GmbH and Sagem Defense Securite's know-how in realm of the information security, this successful experiment opens up prospects for an efficient solution in information interoperability and protection between telecommunication terminals on a European scale.
