Critical communications are those used by security, civil protection, emergency corporations, as well as strategic institutions such as water, energy and oil supply. It is therefore essential that despite any contingency, this type of communication continues to operate.
Already with a year of operation in our country, MXLINK, the virtual mobile operator of Airbus SLC, is consolidated as a secure mobile broadband platform that offers its users public security, defense, civil protection and medical services a high priority communication mechanism.
Introduced in April 2019, this platform has already been adopted by several security institutions in the country or that have operations that require critical communications.
In an interview with Newsweek Mexico, Eduardo Cuevas Altamirano, Director of Business Development at Secure Land Communications, Airbus business unit, explains the benefits of this platform.
According to Cuevas, there are seven key points that return to MXLINK a unique service.
1.- Priority and guaranteed access. In this way the user has communications, even in the most critical situation where any republic collapses.
2.- Coverage, we have unmatched coverage, we use the access network of the shared network of Altán networks and Telcel networks. We add these coverages and overlap them, so that if one failure, the other is available, it is the only multi-operator service available in Mexico for any type of application, in this case it is designed for security.
3.- Autonomy for management and control. A customer obtains from MXLINK a private and virtual network and all elements and consoles for the management and control of their services. It does not become a dependent on an operator. We don’t know how they organize their communications. They are 100% self-employed in their information.
4.- Safety by design. Through a number of elements such as end-to-end encryption, being on a private IP, there are no information vulnerabilities.
5.- Interoperability. We have the technical platform that allows to provide interoperability in any radio system that the customer has.
6.- Comprehensive support and warranty. A single point of contact for any problems, failures or difficulties a customer may have. It is a model of integral services and MXLINK has a service that works 24 hours, 365 days a year, through which it solves any type of problem associated with the platform in any of its elements.
7.- Easy to acquire model because it is a service model. Basically a customer buys the device of their choice, we do not tie it by putting the integrated device to the rent and contracts for the time the service needs.
—What advantages does MXLINK offer to security corporations?
“First of all, user institutions can link at the level of audio, voice communications, so that an operative can be coordinated between a commander or group leader and its elements. Also, voice communications between dispatch and emergency care centers with units in the field. That is the basic service and is done with a guaranteed priority access mechanism. Today, there is no other mobile communications service based on public networks that have it.
“On top of that, it has the ability to provide a secure broadband data platform. This is very useful for institutions or security agencies that have been given certain information tasks or even research to the first responders, as they are the first link in the entire chain of the National Justice System. The first responder is tasked with delivering an approved police report, a standardized report in accordance with the National Public Safety System in order to meet a number of requirements so that it can be integrated into an investigation folder. What MXLINK does is put in the hands of a first responder the approved police report and ensure that the information will be delivered to the authority in a complete and secure way, that is, that there is no way that it is violated or misrepresented along the way, since it is a fully armored platform
“That is, MXLINK is a network for voice communications, but also a high-security mobile data platform.”
Photo: Special
—What is priority access?
“We have been operating this platform in Mexico City since the end of last year, particularly it has been deployed in the CDMX Water System. This is a critical service, as it is responsible for coordinating all water supply and the eviction of waste water; failure of this system drowns CDMX or collapses. That’s why he’s considered a mission-critical user; they use MXLINK as their communications platform. In the earthquake of Tuesday, June 23, it was the only communication service with which they were able to continue their operations. What do I mean? At no time was there an interruption in their communications despite the saturation of public networks that occurs after an earthquake.
“This is how MXLINK’s priority access mechanism works, it works on coverage of public cellular platforms, which makes a service very accessible, very economical, but, on the other hand, it has a traffic prioritization mechanism that guarantees you communication even in the most critical situations, as was the earthquake.”
—What success stories in the use of the platform can you share with us?
“In Querétaro they use it for two purposes. On the one hand, for voice communications, for the coordination of operatives that have to be done more discreetly, through a device other than a radio. The agents of the prosecutor’s office need to operate discreetly in the investigation work, so, MXLINK serves as a much more discreet platform, because a smartphone is used and that is what the communications application and information security mechanisms are about. This allows them to operate in communication groups integrated into all other state operations that are based on the Tetrapol radio network.
“The other purpose of use is data. They have a platform called the Single Computer System, SIU, on which the state’s Cosmos justice model operates. The SIU platform allows them to align all operators of the justice system on a single platform, from citizen security, public prosecutor’s office, public prosecutor’s office, to the judiciary and even the same Secretariat of State with the administration of criminals, all aligned on one platform.
“MXLINK provides them with the secure data platform that allowed them to put in a state police officer an application on which they can draw a ministerial record, this obviously carries confidential information. MXLINK provides is that secure data platform that allows a policeman to have a tablet and be able to draw up a ministerial record in the field directly and that information is transmitted in a complete, safe and inviolable manner.
—What are the conditions for MXLINK to be adopted by a corporation or institution?
—MXLINK is an easy-to-acquire platform. I do a preamble, creating technology of this type usually has to be done generating dedicated networks, in this case, they would have to be broadband networks, but that is very expensive and takes a lot of time. So what we did was a shared platform of high-security services. How does it work? The moment an institution is interested in MXLINK, what we do is create a virtual segment for its exclusive use in such a way that it is as if it has a network for itself.
“If an institution is interested in MXLINK what we do is basically create that network segment for you to operate and do all the knowledge transfer so you can manage your services, communications. They all make them directly by customers, they don’t have a dependency on us to do all this.”
—How is Mexico in a matter of infrastructure to support such networks?
—We see ourselves as a service operator that can help security institutions have more applications. That is, we aspire to be the official communications platform. Because the challenge in all official communications is the integrity of the information and the secrecy of that information. Basically, offering the two main elements that are required to do so, one is to protect information, secrecy, not to fall into inadequate hands and, on the other hand, the integrity of the information, that the information arrives and that the servers of the official applications are not exposed to availability attacks when exposed on public IPs, in public clouds.
—How do I achieve end-to-end encryption of communications?
“Our platform has been thoroughly searched and to this day no one has violated an MXLINK communication. This has the security in every design, in all layers, not just one of them; However, on top of that, it has a private address, there is no way to get to MXLINK communications unless you’re a userauthorized Aryan.
