Enabling Secure Network Communications for the MOD & FCO
Since 1998 MPE has been a supplier to Barton Engineering and Export Ltd of 20 different types of custom powerline installation filters with high insertion loss performance, for TEMPEST-specification rack systems located in the screened areas of IT and communications, or command and control facilities, typically for the Ministry of Defence, Government agencies, Police, banks and embassies. Barton specifies MPE’s resin-filled TEMPEST filters, with low earth leakage, in the range 10A to 63A, for filtering the electrical cable as it enters the cabinet. MPE supplies standard catalogue filters, as well as custom variants, to suit Barton’s cabinet or other application-specific requirements such as for mounting and cable entry.
With a 20,000 sq ft metalworking, fabrication and finishing facility at Whitstable on the Kent coast, Barton Engineering is an engineering contractor who has specialised since 1958 in screened enclosures and 19in EMC equipment racks, TÜV tested as necessary and operating at frequencies of up to more than 10GHz, for defence and security customers.
In particular the company designs and manufactures TEMPEST rack systems to SDIP 29 incorporating drilled attenuvents (an EMI-shielded, metal honeycomb panel for air ventilation, mounted in a steel frame) and MPE’s powerline installation filters.
Barton’s other products include purpose-built TEMPEST containers to house datacryptors, as well as bespoke prototype screened cabinets and containers with performance specifications ranging from 15dB to over 100dB at frequencies up to 20GHz. In order to be fit for purpose, all these systems require integral EMC filter solutions.
Combinations of designs, either flat-packed or fully welded-up, are shipped around the World on behalf of the Ministry of Defence or Foreign and Commonwealth Office for both new build and upgrade projects. Typically, cabinets are transported easily in flat-pack form, assembled and installed on site by security-cleared personnel.
As might be expected in the current climate of heightened network security, Barton Engineering (www.bartoneng.co.uk) has a full order book for its feature-rich screened enclosures and EMC racks. The company’s recent contracts have included 150 18GHz TEMPEST specification cabinets of different sizes for use by the MOD and FCO worldwide – incorporating MPE filters of different amperages and highly sophisticated Mark 8 dial-locks to prevent access.
