Mutualink will deliver sophisticated interoperable voice, video and data sharing capabilities to the U.S. Marines, NATO and global coalition partners throughout the month of June during the Joint Users Interoperability Communications Exercise (JUICE) at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), Maryland.
Mutualink's interoperable communications platform enables U.S forces and coalition nations to share voice, full-motion video and data in a sovereign, secure manner. The technology leverages existing equipment and resources to deliver advanced communication capabilities at an affordable cost. This operations fusion capability can be executed on an ad hoc basis, allowing parties around the globe to securely connect and collaborate in real time and with limited resources.
"This is an enabling capability ready to fill significant communications gaps now," according to David Goosman, USMC Chief Systems Architect. "Marines and other joint and coalition partners need the ability to communicate critical information without being concerned about the technology."
Throughout June, the U.S. Department of Defense (U.S. DoD) is conducting a global communications exercise, connecting more than 40 diverse organizations under one common operating environment. In the exercise, innovative private sector companies, in partnership with the U.S. DoD and coalition nation partners, will evaluate innovative technologies to fill key capability gaps within a live field environment. Two aspects of Mutualink's communications capabilities are deployed for the month-long exercise:
Cross-domain Lateral Link capability for coalition dismounted soldiers
Mutualink's platform is being fielded to improve communications between dismounted soldiers from the U.S. Marines and other NATO nations. The primary focus will be the passing of secure, real-time text messages between units on the ground. The data will be passed across secure networks on a sovereign, controlled basis using virtual ad hoc enclaves.
In addition, Mutualink will partner with TACDS (Tactical Cross-Domain Solution) to bridge a coalition network into the ad hoc and persistent virtual Mutualink enclave, pass traffic through the Mutualink enclave, and then output the traffic to any of the other sites that are equipped with TACDS. This seamless passing of traffic by linking TACDS with Mutualink represents a significant new capability for the U.S. DoD and its partners.
Coalition and partner communications integration and situation awareness
Throughout the JUICE exercise, Mutualink will dynamically bridge radio, phone, and video assets across numerous disparate networks worldwide. This capability will bring interoperability to all audio assets – from cell phones to radios to landlines – while also facilitating the sharing of video assets to coalition partners. Mutualink is also being integrated with REDCOM, which designs and manufactures reliable IP-enabled telecommunications systems.
In addition, Mutualink has partnered with Advatech Pacific to use their TACDS (Tactical Cross Domain Solution) to bridge between US national and NATO coalition networks.
The ad hoc and persistent virtual Mutualink enclave will pass traffic bi-directionally between the two networks, TACDS will guard the U.S. national network while also translating all data between coalition and national data formats. This seamless passing of traffic by linking TACDS with Mutualink represents a significant new capability for the U.S. DoD and its partners.
"It's very rewarding to have our technology selected and tested to provide reliable real-time interoperable communications and information sharing for our
nation's warfighters and those of our partner nations," said Cory Costanzo, Director Defense Services, Mutualink.
"This is an important forum that enables us to not only demonstrate our innovative capabilities as a private sector partner but to prove and deliver operational utility and effectiveness.
"While this type of event demands significant investment and resource commitments on our part and subjects us to high standards of performance, it is precisely the type of process that yields meaningful benefits to warfighters in a cost effective manner. Based upon our successes in other defense related areas, we are anxious to demonstrate our capabilities and look forward to being highly successful."
