Highlights:

  • Forward Networks has been selected as a producer for the ITES-SW2 contract for US Army CHESS.
  • The central pillar behind the contract is Carahsoft Technology Corp.
  • Forward Networks shakes hand with Carahsoft to offer cybersecurity, enterprise network verification, and visualization tools to the Federal Agency.

Contract information

Forward Networks recently broke the news that it has been selected as a producer for the Information Technology Enterprise Solutions – Software 2 (ITES-SW2) contract for the US Army Computer Hardware Enterprise Software and Solutions (CHESS).

The ITES-SW2 contract is the Army’s obligatory source for buying Commercially available-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software products.

The main face behind the contract is Carahsoft Technology Corp., which is a leading government IT solutions provider.

Forward Networks shakes hand with Carahsoft to offer cybersecurity, enterprise network verification, and visualization tools to the federal agency. There is an estimation that the contract will be effective through August 30, 2025.

Purpose behind friendship

Under this contract, with the help of Forward Networks, Carahsoft will offer software, ancillary, and software maintenance services to fulfill the enterprise software requirements of federal agencies.

The major purpose of the ITES-SW 2 contract is to support the Department of Defense (DoD), Army, and Federal Agency enterprise Information Technology (IT) infrastructure and info-structure goals.

The Forward Networks platform helps the DoD, Army, and Federal Government consumers make their networks more secure, predictable, and agile by developing an accurate digital twin network.

More on Forward Networks

Forward Networks is a frontrunner in network assurance and intent-based verification. The Forward Networks platform works on a mathematical model that can map every possible traffic path in the network.

Further, it delivers a complete device index comprising state information and configuration. Also, it predicts how variations will have an impact on the network before they are pushed live.

Consumers preferring the platform reported that they have saved hundreds of hours every week on troubleshooting, significantly reducing network outages and saving millions of dollars per annum.

Security teams value the complete visibility provided by the Forward Networks platform. Its verification functionality offers an always-on audit to ensure the network is working as per the security policies. Whenever an incident occurs, the available application within the platform allows security analysts to identify the affected hosts when the network was compromised and the reason that created the incident.

The Forward Networks platform could be used as an on-premises solution or SaaS (Software-as-a-Service).

Expert’s take

Zack Zimmerman, Regional Sales Director, Federal at Forward Networks, commented: “We are honored to help the U.S. Army and other Federal Government agencies with their enterprise network management software needs with the goal of modernizing their networks to best enable and support the mission.”

Zimmerman also added, “The addition of Forward Enterprise on the ITES-SW2 contract will allow the U.S. Army and other Federal Government agencies to create software replicas (Digital Twins) of their network to analyze its entire behavior. This unique approach empowers network and security operators and engineers to quickly visualize and search complex networks, debug configuration problems, verify network-wide policy implementations, and predict network behavior prior to deploying changes.”