SRX Sra International

Public-Private Partnership Will Yield Lower Cost Solution With Improved Convenience and Secure Transactions HERNDON, Va., Oct. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- The Federation for Identity and Cross-Credentialing Systems (FiXs), a public-private partnership dedicated to building and deploying a secure, interoperable identity and cross- credentialing network, today announced that three of its member organizations are the first to provide GSA-approved, Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 (HSPD-12) Identity Managed Services on the FiXs network that enable organizations to achieve immediate and full HSPD-12 compliance. HSPD- 12 is a presidential mandate that establishes a government-wide standard for secure, reliable forms of identification issued by the U.S. Federal Government to its employees and contractors. EDS (NYSE:EDS), Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) and SRA International, Inc. (NYSE:SRX) -- all members of the FiXs consortium of federal, private sector and non-profit organizations -- worked together with other FiXs member companies to build the FiXs network in 2005. Modeled after the financial industry's highly-secure and widely-accepted ATM (Automated Teller Machine) approach, the FiXs network is a secure, scalable system that provides trusted, interoperable identity verification and credential authentication for contractors accessing secure government facilities and networks. With the continued deployment of the FiXs network, EDS, Northrop Grumman, and SRA issued identity management smart cards that meet HSPD-12 requirements to company employees and third parties in advance of the October 27, 2006 directive deadline. Card issuance is a core component of the HSPD-12 Identity Managed Services offering. FiXs meets federally-mandated requirements, supports both physical and logical access applications, and integrates with an organization's existing personnel system, while leveraging the network's economies of scale. The FiXs network currently is interoperable with the U.S. Department of Defense Cross- Credentialing Identification System (DCCIS) infrastructure, which is used for cross-credentialing and identity authentication of 1.6 million DoD Common Access Card (CAC) holders and FiXs-authorized credentials. "FiXs is the first interoperable identity cross-credentialing network between the Department of Defense and its industry partners, providing a trusted identity authentication network, available to other government agencies and their contractors," said Rick Sullivan, Vice President of Portfolio Management, EDS U.S. Government Solutions. "Through the managed service, public and private sectors will benefit from this lower-cost solution that affords convenience while improving transaction security and data privacy." EDS provides its Assured Identity(TM) solution and services as the enrollment function for the FiXs network and HSPD-12 Identity Managed Services. "On the FiXs network, government contractors, system integrators, and the like can be brought rapidly into compliance," explained Kent Schneider, Vice President, Business Development, Northrop Grumman Information Technology. "Through the HSPD-12 Identity Managed Services offering, now there is a way for organizations to essentially 'outsource' their HSPD-12 requirements, saving them considerable time and expense by maintaining the ability to use their own organization's identity credentials for verification at facility and network entry points." Northrop Grumman provides the network operations management component for the FiXs network and HSPD-12 Identity Managed Services. By using HSPD-12 Identity Managed Services and the FiXs network, organizations will maintain HSPD-12 compliance even as the directive implementation progresses from physical access management to logical access control. "This scalable, network-based solution adheres to requirements for security, privacy, and interoperability, without a significant financial investment or redirection of valuable human resources," said Tony Valletta, SRA Senior Vice President and Director, Defense Sector. "The economies of scale will provide substantial cost savings. In addition, government and industry employees now will have the convenience of using one credential at multiple facilities." SRA provides the mobile authentication software/hardware component of the FiXs network and HSPD-12 Identity Managed Services. The integrated HSPD-12 Identity Managed Services offer participating organizations a number of other benefits as well, including: * An overall enhanced security posture * Economies of scale that provide substantial cost advantages * Retention of their organization's proprietary systems and information * Full identity lifecycle management, including role-based access, privacy controls, proven biometric capturing and processing capabilities, and a complete audit trail * Scalable to meet changing enterprise environments * A service that enables participants to escape the "technology refresh treadmill" * Support by Tier 1 service integrators For further information regarding the FiXs network, FiXs member organizations, and the HSPD-12 Identity Managed Services, please visit http://www.fixs.org/. About FiXs Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, the Federation for Identity and Cross-Credentialing Systems (FiXs) is a coalition of government contractors, commercial companies and not-for-profit organizations whose mission is to establish and maintain a worldwide, interoperable identity and cross-credentialing network built on security, privacy, trust, standard operating rules, policies and technical standards. The FiXs network verifies and authenticates the identity of personnel seeking to enter military installations, government-controlled areas and commercial sites tied to the network, providing a trusted mechanism for federated identity infrastructure within and between public and private sector organizations. The coalition currently has 20 member companies, including systems integrators, financial institutions and other organizations that want to promote improved workforce protection and systems security for critical infrastructure markets. The U.S. Department of Defense and General Services Administration are participating government organizations. The FiXs Network is an authorized link to the U.S. Department of Defense Cross-Credentialing Identification System (DCCIS) and a joint recipient of the 2005 FCW Events Government Solution Center Pioneer Award for most "Successful Public/Private Sector Partnership," representing a premier example of a program managed collaboratively by government and non-government partners that tangibly improved government operations. For more information, visit http://www.fixs.org/. DATASOURCE: Federation for Identity and Cross-Credentialing Systems CONTACT: Media Relations: Courtney Jewell of Extension Group, +1-703-234-7815, , for The Federation for Identity and Cross-Credentialing Systems Web site: http://www.fixs.org/

Copyright