RESTON, Va., April 28, 2003 -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC), which developed the Defense Travel System (DTS), has integrated DBsign(R) into DTS software to process travel requests, approvals and payments securely and more quickly. The company's Mission Systems sector plans to release the software in June.
DBsign, produced by Gradkell Systems, Inc., of Huntsville, Ala., is a commercial off-the-shelf security-software product that authenticates users and signs documents securely. Although a commercial product, DBsign was originally designed for Department of Defense (DoD) and federal government users. It is based on more than 10 years of experience in government digital signature solutions.
DoD's Joint Interoperability Test Command has certified that DBsign is fully compliant with the DoD Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). DBsign can be used with various PKI tokens, such as software certificates and DoD Common Access Cards (CAC). It is interoperable with CAC middleware from major vendors, including ActivCard, SSP Litronic, Spyrus, Schlumberger and Datakey.
Over the next several years, the CAC will become the standard identification card for active-duty military personnel, DoD civilian employees and family members.
"The myriad combination of Common Access Cards, middleware libraries, card readers and workstation operating systems make it very complex to implement large-scale, DoD-wide public-key enabled applications," said Rich Fabbre, Northrop Grumman program manager for DTS.
"Our testing of DBsign revealed no compatibility issues and the software was easily integrated into DTS to provide the required digital signature capability. The small, unobtrusive browser plug-in is a snap to install and configure, allowing a remote user to get up and running very quickly," Fabbre said. "Combined with our move to a standard secure socket layer-based Web interface, this is a big step forward toward rapidly deploying DTS throughout DoD."
By 2006, DTS will be fielded to more than 250 high-volume sites across the country that serve about 80 percent of all DoD travelers. By incorporating DBsign into DTS, Northrop Grumman Mission Systems expects to maintain the high levels of security provided by DTS, while reducing the DTS footprint on client workstations.
"That will increase those sites' overall satisfaction with the DTS interface," Fabbre said.
The Defense Travel System, a DoD-wide travel management system, was designed and developed by Northrop Grumman Mission Systems to re-engineer defense travel to a seamless, paperless, automated system. By streamlining the entire travel process to authorize, make reservations and produce vouchers for global DoD travel, DTS reduces costs to the government. More information on DTS is available at www.defensetravel.osd.mil.
Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, based in Reston, Va., is a $3.5 billion global integrator of complex, mission-enabling systems and services for defense, intelligence and civil government markets. The sector's technology leadership and expertise spans areas such as strategic systems, including ICBMs; missile defense; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; command and control; and technical services and training.
Gradkell Systems, founded in 1990, offers a complete range of information technology services, such as designing, developing and implementing Oracle information systems; defining requirements for large-scale finance and accounting systems; and implementing digital-signature solutions. Gradkell can be contacted at (256) 722-8585 or at www.gradkell.com. Government customers can purchase DBsign from the company's General Service Administration Information Technology 70 Schedule #GS-35F-5391H. DBsign is a registered trademark of Gradkell Computers.
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