Cisco Provides Core Network Infrastructure for World's Largest Multinational Military Exercise; IP Leader a Major Supporter of U.S. European Command's Global Interoperability Exercise

More than 1,000 tests beginning this week will focus mainly on theability to pass data with a high level of security over an InternetProtocol (IP) backbone, using voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP),private mobile radio, high frequency and satellite communications.Information assurance is another key focus area for the participatingnations. In cooperation with the German Ministry of Defense, the U.S.European Command is sponsoring the communications and informationsystems interoperability exercise. Forty-one nations are taking part,including NATO, Partnership for Peace and non-aligned or strategicpartner nations.

"Combined Endeavor 2006 is breaking new ground in many of thenetwork areas that are being tested such as in multinationalinformation sharing," said Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Verbeck, thedirector of the International Interoperability, Concepts andExperimentation Directorate (ECJ9). "Our goal is to tackle these typesof challenges long before the call comes to deploy, certainly as partof Phase Zero operations."

Combined Endeavor officials knew from experience that upgradingits core backbone was crucial in working to ensure a more realistictest of simulated operational networks. Because the complex systems ofmore than 40 nations and organizations are involved, finding a commonthread was the key to success. Since Cisco equipment is common tonetworking in most nations, the company is playing a major role inthis year's exercise.

"As military units worldwide are being challenged to perform atever higher levels in conflicts and disaster recoveries, multinationalforces are increasingly driving to an IP standard," said KevinMacRitchie, vice president of Global Defense Space and Security forCisco's Global Government Services Group. "As the world leader in IPnetworking, Cisco, through its IP backbone will help ensure thatinteroperability testing for all equipment from participating nationswill be held to the highest standards of performance, furthering theinformation assurance and security enhancement goals of thisexercise."

Cisco technicians will provide real-time video teleconferencingand Web casting as well as the administrative local area networks(LANs) that will register and transport information and analyzeresults.

About Combined Endeavor 2006

Combined Endeavor 2006 (CE 06) is the 12th in the series of U.S.European Command (USEUCOM) sponsored "in-spirit-of" (ISO) Partnershipfor Peace (PfP) exercises planned and executed to identify, test, anddocument command, control, communications, and computer systems (C4)and information systems (CIS) interoperability between NATO and PfPnations' fielded military strategic and tactical communicationsinformation equipment systems. The overall objective is to develop anintegrated interoperability guide to assist deployment planning withina coalition network. Documentation of interoperability is a tremendousachievement toward operational readiness and further enhances theatersecurity cooperation.

News and information are available at http://www.ce.pims.org/.

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