Designed and built by Canberra-based IT security developers 90East, the secure infrastructure is now operating within seven departments with a further eight set to come online soon.
However, having created an impressively scaleable design 90East is looking forward to rolling out the service to hundreds of different Federal Government departments and agencies.
-One of the key things is the uniqueness in terms of the number of connections it can actually make," explained 90East federal business manager Andrew Bewick. -There are a number of secure networks that can do multiple sites but none that can scale to two or three thousand nodes."
Bewick also confirmed the government deal had helped the company leverage its products into other markets.
-We have been able to use the FedLink deal as leverage into a deal with our US partners," he said. -The fact that FedLink is up and running is an important part of our development of relationships with overseas partners."
According to Bewick, the infrastructure is one of two possible solutions proffered in mid 2001. While the Federal Government tender precluded any commercialisation of the chosen security architecture, further developments have enabled 90East to commercialise the alternative infrastructure.
-The government picked one solution, which was then developed into FedLink, and the other has been further developed and launched in the private sector," Bewick said.
However, linking into the FedLink services comes at a cost. Participating agencies will have to fulfil a number of criteria regarding their current physical and IT security status. Once approved by NOIE such agencies can gain access to the services at a cost of between AU$5,445 and AU$2,500 per connection depending on the number of connections, plus an ongoing monthly management fee of anywhere between AU$350 and AU$879.
90East has agreed to review connection costs in conjunction with NOIE as the total number of connections grows.
