General Dynamics chose the anniversary of 9/11 to announce its acquisition of Open Kernel Labs, a Chicago software startup that makes virtualization software to enhance security on mobile devices. Virtualization software allows one device to host two different “virtual personas,” most often a work environment and a personal one. It’s becoming more and more important as employees use their own smartphones and tablets at work, and nowhere is secure virtualization more critical than in government applications.
“We have been doing voice data communications with the National Security agency for 30 years,” said Chris Marzilli, president of General Dynamics’ C4 Systems. “Now, public safety mission critical voice is moving to 4G LTE and I don’t see that taking all that long. So voice becomes more data and you can do that over 4G LTE efficiently.”
Open Kernel’s solution means that commercially available LTE smartphones and tablets will be suitable for government employees working with classified information, General Dynamics says. “The software … ports directly to the CPU and allows you to do separation so you can run multiple operating systems and have multiple persona on the same device,” says Marzilli. “It’s a breakthrough technology … it was not available until Open Kernel.”
Open Kernel Labs (OK Labs) will become part of General Dynamics Broadband, a subsidiary of General Dynamics C4 Systems. The cash transaction closed August 18, and the value was not disclosed.
While government clients are important customers for the technology, General Dynamics sees the OK Labs solutions as highly applicable to any enterprise environment that requires security. “Anyone in a corporate environment is a target,” says Marzilli.
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