M-Switch Edge

M-Switch Edge is a product in the M-Switch family. It is a central component in the Isode cross-domain messaging solution illustrated above. M-Guard is Isode’s XML Guard that provides checking of cross-domain messages following the specification set out in the Military Messaging Application Profile.

More information on the full cross-domain solution is provided in the Isode white paper “Cross Domain Military Messaging”.

The distinguishing capability of M-Switch Edge is that it converts messages to XML and communicates them to and from M-Guard using the secure GCXP (Guard Content eXchange Protocol).

Conversion to XML adds security, as it prevents protocol-specific attacks over the cross-domain boundary, as well as enabling industry-standard capabilities to verify messages within M-Guard.

M-Switch Edge has independent sending and receiving capabilities. A pair of M-Switch edges can be configured unidirectional (with one M-Guard) or bidirectional (with two M-Guards).

The XML format used by M-Switch Edge is aligned to SMTP, so support for other protocols necessitates first converting each message to SMTP format.

The sending M-Switch Edge has an option to strip selected headers, so that information flow across the boundary can be minimized. There is a GUI tool to configure this.

Apart from this special boundary configuration, M-Switch Edge provides all of the capabilities of M-Switch Gateway. These are described in the M-Switch Gateway product overview.