Operational Technology Meets Open Source: Enhancing Resilience with Secure Baselines

In any mission critical environment, such as the Department of Defense or critical infrastructure industries, Operational Technology (OT) must be resilient, secure, and maintainable under the most demanding conditions. The stakes are high and equipment failures lead to downtime that not only have financial impacts but potential safety of life implications. 

At Simplesense, we've spent years designing, developing, deploying, and operating the OTGateway™ to protect cyber physical infrastructure. It is a hardened, low-maintenance industrial appliance built for 24/7 operations in operating temperatures up to 55° C. This platform enables Zero Trust micro-segmentation, real-time building status and alerts, and minimal on-site support requirements. Today more than 140 buildings rely on the OTGateway™ and the Installation Resilience Platform™ to protect their operations and maintain mission readiness.

In partnership with Canonical, we are leveraging the latest Ubuntu developments to reduce costs, provide extended security maintenance, and take operational resilience into the future.

Bridging OT and IT 

Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, brings proven open-source software to enterprises and governments around the world. Canonical's Ubuntu Pro and MAAS (Metal as a Service) powers the OTGateway™ to deliver secure, scalable OT infrastructure both on-premises and in the cloud. 

• Ubuntu Pro extends security maintenance for up to 10 years, to 2032 for Ubuntu 22.04, includes FIPS 140-3 cryptographic accreditation, and enables automated STIG compliance to meet DoD security baselines.
• MAAS transforms bare-metal provisioning, allowing us to bring infrastructure online quickly with pre-configured compliance and monitoring baked in from the start.
• Combined with the OTGateway™, these technologies ensure that edge systems are as easy to deploy and maintain as they are to secure.

Security and compliance for fast-paced environments

Operational Technology security is about more than hardening as it must maintain responsiveness and availability. Simplesense and Canonical have aligned approaches to solve this that offer:

• Automated STIG application to easily start and remain compliant
• Apply critical vulnerability fixes rapidly to maintain authorization
• Maintain FIPS compliance for cryptographic operations
• Reduce hands-on maintenance requirements at remote locations
• Extend deployed capability viability through extended security availability

See it in Action at DAFITC

Join us at DAFITC 2025, August 24-26 at Canonical's booth on the exhibit floor. We'll be showing how OTGateway™, Ubuntu Pro, MAAS, and more work together to simplify compliance, accelerate deployment, and strengthen OT defenses.

Event: DAFITC 2025, Montgomery, AL
Date: 24-26 August 2025
Booth: Canonical Booth

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