|
![](/i/fill.gif) |
>> I'm a litle surprised to hear that they use anything as
>> modern as a CD though...
>
> Actually the desktop systems they buy for administration purposes are
> generally the same stuff you can buy at any office supply store, and the
> other administrative IT is generally at the same level.
Mmm, OK.
> For some things, no commercial vendor makes it. For these items, the
> military has to contract out the manufacturing process, and generally
> the design as well. Proprietary designs abound. Quantities are limited
> (only items that are ubiquitous and in heavy use get more than a few
> thousand made), so margins are high. The design process takes so long
> that the equipment, when finally fielded, can be a decade behind the
> commercial world.
>
> When I first entered the service (in 1984), a certain piece of
> cryptographic equipment, which used vacuum tubes to generate its timing
> signals, and magnetic core logic to generate the right ones and zeros,
> was then nearing the end of its service life (I saw it in use until
> 1988). It took up an entire equipment rack (six feet tall, nineteen
> inches wide). All it did was encrypt/decrypt digital data at a rate
> measurable in kilohertz at the very fastest, but in the 1950's when it
> first saw service, it was considered more than adequate.
Weeee... and *this* is why I'm not sure I want to work on military
crypto devices. :-}
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
Post a reply to this message
|
![](/i/fill.gif) |