NSA Selects VMware

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW - News), the global leader in software for industry-standard virtualized desktops and servers, today announced an agreement with General Dynamics C4 Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD - News), to develop a complete turn-key High-Assurance Platform (HAP) workstation using VMware software for a contract with the National Security Agency (NSA).

Chartered by the U.S. Office of the Secretary of Defense, the NSA contracted General Dynamics C4 Systems to design a secure workstation. General Dynamics chose VMware's industry-leading virtualization software so that HAP-mandated users employed by the U.S. Department of Defense, the intelligence community and other government agencies can access information requiring different security clearance levels from a single physical machine.

Since the passage of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, Federal security policy mandates that access to government network assets requires security features and certified assurance that exceed commercial-grade enterprise security standards. Currently, users with multiple security clearances such as members of the U.S. Armed Forces and Homeland Security personnel must use separate physical workstations, called creating an "air gap," to access information in each security clearance level in order to uphold the government's security standards. This creates expensive and logistically cumbersome IT environments.

VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW)

General Dynamics Corp.