Mykotronx wins defense card work

Mykotronx Inc. has won a $7.7 million contract from the Defense Department to develop an enhanced cryptographic PC card.

Cryptographic technology company Mykotronx Inc. won a $7.7 million contract from the Defense Department to develop an enhanced cryptographic PC card, its parent company said today.

The Torrance, Calif., firm is a subsidiary of information security firm SafeNet Inc. of Baltimore. Mykotronx's enhanced cryptographic card ? the next version of its Fortezza Plus Crypto Card ? is a PC card that plugs into the federal government's secure telephones, called secure terminal equipment. These phones are used throughout the Defense and Homeland Security departments, the intelligence community and the country's international partners.

The project is part of the Defense Department's $1.4 billion program to modernize the cryptographic capabilities of the military.

SafeNet employs nearly 800 workers globally and provides security solutions using encryption technologies to protect communications, intellectual property and digital identities. It had 2004 revenue of $201.6 million, according to Hoover's Online.