Successfully Managing HF Radio Networks

With the potential for new technologies to cause interference to traditional communications networks and even space itself at the risk of becoming weaponised, it is important to make sure that you always have a backup plan for your communications ready and waiting.

Should the worst happen and your primary network, typically SatCom, go down you need to ensure that you can still communicate with your forces wherever they are, and that communication needs to be fast,  simple and reliable. It also needs to be suitable for operation within degraded and denied environments.

That’s where HF Radio has a distinct advantage, utilising the ionosphere itself to relay communications and long-range radio signals. If you’re interested you can read more about the benefits of communications over HF Radio and how Isode is developing HF technology here.

When implementing new technologies, one of the challenges you can always expect to face is how you manage them and control how the important systems connect with one another. For HF Radio, that has always been a factor limiting its deployment, how do you ensure that mobile units remain connected to your HF network as they move from one location to the next?

This can now be done by our latest HF Radio enhancement product, Icon Topo. 

Icon Topo is a state of the art, web-based management system for HF Radio networks. The management system allows an operator to monitor and control the location of Mobile Units such as ships or aircraft, ensuring that as they move from one HF Access Point to another they can remain connected to your communications network.

The Icon Topo system allows you to manage your Mobile Units across multiple HF Networks, and plan a connection route for them as they do so, all from an easy forms-based interface. Removing any interruptions to service or downtime from applications as the MU moves across its intended path.

You can read more on Icon Topo here.

Alongside our HF management system, we have also recently developed our Red/Black solution to manage encrypted data over HF networks.

Red/Black is a Web-based server that can provide control and monitoring of different devices and servers. This is intended to complement, not replace, primary device management tools. Red/Black servers can operate in a pair, to monitor and control devices across a secure boundary.

Our Red/Black servers are designed to support HF radio systems through the display and management of communication chains, as seen below. They allow separation of, and passage for encrypted information across restricted networks from a ‘high’ side to a ‘low’ side. 

You can read more about our Red/Black solution here

The above two products give you full oversight over your HF networks so that you can be confident you will retain complete control over what gets to connect to your HF network and how exactly they do it.

If you’d like more information on our HF products, or are interested in a product demo then get in touch with us on sales@isode.com, alternatively you can fill out a contact form on our website and one of our team will get back to you.

Draft, Review & Release

This week we are excited to announce the release of Harrier 3.1 and Cobalt 1.1.

These releases are an important step for our Draft, Review & Release Solution, a capability of particular interest within Military Deployments.

Draft and Release is a process of handling formal military communication, it is vital for scenarios where formal responsibility must be taken for messages sent. For example, Military commands sent as messages needing to be approved/released by an appropriate senior officer. More information on this can be found in our recently updated whitepaper.

This latest release of Harrier provides a new, simple and intuitive UI for drafters, reviewers, and releasers, making each task straightforward. Also included is a visual workflow, allowing easy tracking of messages.

There will be situations where it makes sense to send directly and to avoid any workflow. Cobalt allows simple control of users who can send directly for selected messages based on SIC and Priority.

Cobalt provides a range of capabilities to support Formal Military Message Handling Systems (MMHS), with capabilities oriented towards the support of systems using Isode’s Harrier, M-Box, and M-Switch products.

Downloads and accompanying release notes can be found in the evaluator and customer sections of the website.

Oracle Java and Isode Products

Some components of release R17.0 are written in Java. You should install any Java dependencies before installing the following components of the Isode packages:

  • Sodium
  • M-Vault Console
  • Log Configuration
  • Isode Service Configuration
  • MConsole
  • M-Link Console
  • Web applications

If you do not require these components then you do not need to install Java.

Oracle has announced that Java updates for commercial customers ends after January 2019. See(https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/java-se-support-roadmap.html ).

For R17.0v7 and later, Isode recommend commercial users of Java who do not wish to purchase support from Oracle, to use Isode’s “OpenJDK for Isode” package instead. This is available from www.isode.com This contains a copy of the OpenJDK (see http://jdk.java.net) which has been tested for compatibility with R17.0, and is fully supported for use by Isode applications.

Isode will not be updating versions prior to R17.0 to work with Java 11. Commercial users using these releases will have the following options:

  • Upgrade to R17.0
  • Run with a version of Oracle Java 8 which will, after January 2019, no longer receive updates from Oracle
  • Obtain a suitable commercial license from Oracle for a supported version of Oracle Java 8 (which will receive updates after January 2019)

Isode R17.0 is supported with Oracle Java 8 and Oracle Java 11. A future version of Isode will remove support for Java 8.

After Java 8, the next LTS (Long-Term-Support) version of Oracle Java is Oracle Java 11. Commercial users of Oracle Java 11 are required to purchase a license from Oracle.

Commercial users may purchase extended support for Oracle Java 8 if they wish to deploy it after January 2019.

Icon-5066, Isode’s modem-independent STANAG 5066 server.

We’re pleased to announce the first release of Icon-5066, Isode’s modem-independent STANAG 5066 server.

STANAG 5066 provides a link layer optimized for HF Radio as described in the whitepaper [STANAG 5066: The Standard for Data Applications over HF Radio].

Icon-5066 will connect to one or two HF modems, either through a Crypto box or directly, and provides a single interface to an HF network, which can be shared by multiple applications.  A comprehensive product description of Icon-5066 is available on the Isode website.

Configured using a web interface, Icon-5066 is shipped with three test tools to help partners in testing Icon-5066 deployments:

  1. HF Tool: For running a range of tests to ensure good performance and operation of modem drivers in a range of conditions. It also gives a clear measure of modem performance.
  2. STANAG 5066 Console: Providing STANAG 5066 server discovery, HF operator chat and throughput measurements to peer S5066 Consoles with ARQ and non-ARQ traffic.
  3. MoRaSky: Provides a service equivalent to HF modems connected to Radios and operating over the Ionosphere. It enables sophisticated testing of Icon-5066 and the applications it supports, without use of hardware or Over the Air transmission.

Evaluations of Icon-5066 are available, contact your Account Manager or fill in the evaluation request form for more information.

R17.0 Now Available

R17.0, a major update to Isode’s product set, is now available, from our website, for customers and evaluators. Significant changes include:

  • Harrier for Exchange: Introduced with R16.6 for use with Isode products, our web based messaging client is now available for use with Microsoft Exchange.
  • Every IM domain in M-Link can now be configured to run with an independent directory. This enables support of multi-domain configurations with independent directories for users and groups.
  • Extensive improvements to ACP127 and ACP142 capabilities and management in M-Switch have been made, including a wide range of capabilities aimed specifically at Operators.
  • M-Vault has enhancements to OCSP support and built-in Web user password changing.

A comprehensive list of the new features in R17.0 can be found on the R17.0 Release Page.

R16.6 Now Available

The latest release of our complete product set, R16.6, is now available for customers and evaluators. In this blog post we look at some of the key changes, you can find a complete list on the Isode website.

New Product: Harrier Email Client

Harrier is a web-based secure email client with capabilities that make it ideal for use in support of military messaging deployments (including ACP127). Harrier includes support for security labels, time-related controls (reply by, expire on, deliver by) and Subject Indicator Codes (SICs).

Harrier can also operate as a general purpose client, providing a high performance, easy to use web interface to an IMAP/SMTP service.

New Messaging Server Capabilities

R16.6 sees a substantial extension of ACP127 support in M-Switch to provide a comprehensive ACP127 gateway and relay service. We’ve also added a range of capabilities in support of NATO BRASS (Broadcast And Ship to Shore) including support for BRE1TA (BRASS Enhancement One Technical Architecture).

New management capabilities include views in our MConsole management GUI to support management of ACP127 features, message history and operator alerts. A new web interface is provided for message correction, especially useful in military deployments where errors are handled by central operators and not returned to the sender.

M-Store X.400 has been enhanced to significantly improve performance and scaling, with message indexes now handled directly by M-Store (in previous versions this was held in M-Vault). M-Store R16.6 can store 100 million messages in a server, with mailboxes holding up to 100,000 messages.

Instant Messaging Enhancements

R16.6 sees a number of improvements to our M-Link XMPP server/gateway product including enhanced clustering to improve performance and simplify administration, control of messages based on maximum message body size and improved account provisioning for user information held in our M-Vault directory.

Download Today

R16.6 is available for download now from the Customer and Evaluator sections of the Isode website, both of which require you to enter your Isode login and password. If you have misplaced your login details (or wish to obtain a login in order to evaluate this release) please contact your Account Manager or reply to this email.

Documentation for this release is available from documentation page, which does not require a password.

R16.3v10: An Important Security Change

Today we’ve released the latest version of R16.3, R16.3v10.

This release, and all subsequent updates include OpenSSL 1.0.1s or later in order to address the OpenSSL Security Advisory described here.

This version of OpenSSL removes the availability of all unrestricted cipher suites. This means all ciphers of 56 bits or less have been removed from this release. In practice this means that if you wish to use TLS, you will need an export-controlled High Grade Encryption (HGE) license from Isode. These licenses are subject to export control.

Please read the page on Transport Layer Security for a further description of HGE.

If you wish to continue using TLS and your license does not currently include HGE, or if you are unsure, please contact license@isode.com for further details. You should obtain the new license file prior to installing the new version.

An update has been issued for the R16.2 branch (R16.2v21) to address this security advisory, releases for all other supported branches will be issued over the next week and announced on our twitter feed using #release.

R16.4 Preview Release

We’re pleased to announce that a preview release, R16.4, is now available.

This preview release will be mostly of interest to military users. It will enable the evaluation of a number of new ACP127 and BRASS capabilities.

The following BRASS features are in R16.4.

  • ACP127 Broadcast. Including operation over serial and non-ARQ COSS, ship and shore sides, and NATO and Italian RECAP messages, automatic retransmission requests/retransmission, and two minute messages.
  • Ship to Shore. Configuration of separate ship to shore circuits is added.
  • Off The Air Monitoring (OTAM). The OTAM process can compare the transmit and receive data streams. If they vary by more than a configurable amount (i.e., corresponding to a bit error rate on the received stream) then the OTAM process will flag this to a management process.
  • Serial Line support. Support for serial hubs such as Digi Portserver TS. The ACP127 data can be sent direct to modem allowing broadcast with or without the use of a 5066 server.
  • Support for Recap messages and retransmission allowing lost messages to be sent successfully.

The new ACP127 management features are:

  • Mconsole has a new Circuit Monitoring View, that enables useful monitoring of ACP127 traffic. This also provides the ability to take over the stream manually.
  • Mconsole has a new ACP127 Message Transfer View allowing the operator to view ACP127 messages currently queued for transfer out
  • Mconsole has a new OTAM monitoring GUI.

Support for the following ACP127 Variants has been added.

  • ACP128 support.
  • ACP126 support.
  • DOI-103 support.
  • DOI-103s support.
  • ACP 126 support.
  • Janap 128 support.
  • BSG support.

R16.4 is currently available on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, 7 (64 bit) including CentOS equivalents, Windows Server 2008 R2 (64 bit), Windows 2012 and Windows 2012 R2. Debian Linux 8 64-bit will be added in a subsequent update to R16.4.

R16.4 will be supported until the release of our next major release (R17.0) and is for test and demonstration systems only, we will not support running R16.4 in a production environment.

If you wish to obtain a copy of the R16.4 preview release contact us at customer-service@isode.com.

R16.3: Multi-Master Directory, XMPP Archive/Search & ACP127 support

We’re pleased to announce the availability of Isode’s latest release, R16.3, which can be downloaded now from our website. R16.3 is a major Isode release which adds new capabilities across the entire Isode product range, including:

M-Vault

We’ve introduced a multi-master capability to M-Vault, complementing the single-master approach to replication defined in the X.500 protocols around which M-Vault was developed. M-Vault is the first directory to offer both multi-master and X.500.

M-Link

M-Link gains a new Archive Server for archive of all messages (including 1:1 chat, MUC and PubSub). XMPP clients can access archives using Message Archive Management (MAM) as defined in XEP-0313. M-Link also gains three new web applications:

  1. Message Archive Management, allowing browser-based access to information in the archive.
  2. Statistics, a lightweight monitoring alternative to the M-Link Console GUI.
  3. Forms Discovery and Publishing, for end-user publishing and display of FDP forms.
M-Link Statistics Web App
M-Link Statistics Web App

M-Switch

We’ve added gateway support for text based organisational message protocols, which we’re collectively describing as ACP127. The first release of this capability supports ACP127 and DOI 103S, a popular US variant, and enables conversion with STANAG 4406 (compliant to STANAG 4406 Annex D) and SMTP (following the MMHS over SMTP extensions).

In addition we’ve made extensive improvements to MConsole and M-Link Console to support the new M-Switch and M-Link family capabilities. For a full run-down of new capabilities in R16.3, please see the Product Release page. We’ll be publishing further blog posts over the coming weeks focusing on some of the new R16.3 capabilities.