US telco Verizon yesterday announced it had won a $678.5m, ten-year deal to tie together the many disparate networks within the vast US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

"The Department of Homeland Security has entrusted Verizon Business to support its critical mission of protecting our country and its citizens," said Verizon biz prez John Killian. "The advanced network that we deploy will serve as the vital springboard for the department's evolving requirements going forward. We look forward to being a trusted partner of the Department of Homeland Security for many years to come."

The DHS was formed five years ago as part of America's response to 9/11, and brought many federal agencies together into a new and enormous structure. Examples include the US Coast Guard, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, the US Secret Service* and the Transportation Security Administration - to name just a few.

Under the long-awaited OneNet programme, Verizon will link all these WANs and the rest of DHS together in a single, fully-secure IP network, and will also provide specialist resilient emergency comms for use in disaster situations.

They're getting the best part of a billion dollars for it, but all the same it seems that Verizon may have to earn their money on this one. ®

*Not what's normally meant by a secret service. These guys are the government VIP bodyguards, and also investigate counterfeiting. (They used to belong to the Treasury.)

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