With 344 stores located on 107 Naval installations around the world, NEXCOM provides active duty military, retirees, reservists and their families with quality, brand name merchandise and services at competitively low prices and supports quality of life programs.
NEXCOM has deployed the Columbitech Mobile VPN on mobile computers used in NEXCOM’s more than 340 retail locations around the globe. The mobile VPN client provides secure wireless access through mutual authentication and strong encryption of data, which is a requirement for PCI compliance. It also provides seamless roaming between networks and compression of data. Providing increased productivity, the mobile VPN is integrated with the OS and automatically logs back on to the network if the signal disappears or if the mobile computer goes into sleep mode. The suspended session is recovered and any data transactions are immediately resumed to save time.
"Computing mobility is a necessity in retail store and distribution center operations," said Kean Westcott, NEXCOM's Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer. "Providing a flexible and secure wireless network is also a necessity."
The Columbitech Mobile VPN is a scalable security solution with broad support for both DOS-based legacy devices and new devices supporting Windows Mobile 5.0 and 6.0, Windows CE, and Windows XP. By investing in Columbitech’s security platform, NEXCOM has a flexible security solution that can be implemented on a broad variety of wireless devices. Columbitech’s mobile VPN solution enables future applications, such as wireless POS and VoIP, and protects wide area network devices. It is already used by three of the top ten U.S. retailers and is deployed in more than 11,000 stores.
“Winning this contract with NEXCOM is a major milestone in establishing Columbitech as a direct supplier to the federal government and as a leading supplier of PCI compliant wireless solutions,” says Asa Holmstrom, President of Columbitech. “NEXCOM is the second DoD retailer to choose the Columbitech solution. We are honored that NEXCOM selected our mobile VPN after an extensive review process."
For the deployment, NEXCOM used Airbeam Smart © from Motorola to remotely set up and configure the VPN servers and clients. This provided a faster deployment with a central point of control of the software and all the mobile devices.
About Columbitech
Columbitech, a leading mobile VPN security software provider, offers end-to-end security, convenient always-on connectivity, and optimized performance for any mobile device on any wireless network. With a strong footprint in the Retail and Service Provider Industry, key customers include three of top ten US retailers and major European service providers. The embedded solution is OEM licensed by leading companies, including Motorola, Toshiba TEC, Hewlett Packard and Ericsson. Columbitech solution holds a FIPS 140-2 certification. The company is privately held with offices in Stockholm, Sweden, and New York, USA. For more information, please visit www.columbitech.com
About NEXCOM
The Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM) is headquarters for the worldwide Navy
Exchange System that oversees 107 Navy Exchange facilities and its 344 stores worldwide; 45 Navy Lodges; Ship’s Stores; Uniform Program Management Office and Navy Family Support Programs. NEXCOM’s mission is to provide authorized customers quality goods and services at a savings and to support quality of life programs for active duty military, retirees, reservists and their families. The Navy Exchange enterprise operates primarily with a non-appropriated fund (NAF) business instrumentality. Revenues generated are used to support Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) programs. $2.5 billion in sales were generated in FY’06 with over $40 million in profits provided to Navy MWR programs.
PR Contacts:
Columbitech, Inc., Åsa Holmström
Phone: 212 946 2799
asa.holmstrom@columbitech.com
PR@vantage, Fran Bosecker
Phone: 845 536 1416
fbosecker@pr-vantage.com
NEXCOM, Kristine Sturkie
Phone: 757-479-5596
kristine_sturkie@nexweb.org