Department of Energy Certifies Classified Network with Symbio Technologies Thin Clients

A classified network developed by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which included two key components from stateless computing innovator and leader Symbio Technologies, Inc. (www.symbio-technologies.com), has been certified and accredited by the U.S. Department of Energy. The classified network, built from off-the-shelf components, included Symbio's diskless thin clients and boot devices, two of the most popular products Symbio offers as part of its security-centric computing technology.

Symbio received formal notification of

the success of the project earlier this week from Carlos M. Segarra PMP, technical director, Diskless Workstation Task Force of NNSA, a semi-autonomous agency within the Department of Energy established by Congress in 2000. NNSA is responsible for enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear science, and maintains and enhances the safety, security, reliability and performance of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without nuclear testing.

Symbio's Symbiont Certified Network Terminals -- small, stateless desktop devices, also called "diskless thin clients," that replace expensive PCs, were used in the pilot program along with Symbiont Boot Appliances, which can power, connect and manage up to 250 terminals each. The pilot program followed a year-and-a-half search by the Diskless Workstation Taskforce to identify a "tool kit" of commercially available products that would provide the highest level of security while using existing infrastructure.

The deployment of the pilot program was coordinated by Energy Enterprise Solutions (EES, www.eesllc.net), the prime IT services contractor to the DOE, and its subcontractor, GTSI Corp. (www.gtsi.com) of Chantilly, Virginia, a leading IT infrastructure solutions and services provider to the U.S. government, and a value-added reseller of Symbio products.