The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) plans to procure the ?brand name? Nortel hardware to support the current USPTO Enterprise Trusted User Firewall (ETU-FW). The Enterprise Trusted User Firewall (ETU-FW) requires server switches and the Nortel 5500-series switch provides the exact capability needed for layer two switching within the ETU design. The 5530 switch provides multiple 1-gigabit and 10-gigabit connections that will give the ETU firewall design flexibility for future expansion and throughput requirements. The 5530 switch is also IPv6 compliant at the layer 2 level. The USPTO has installed 220 Nortel Passport switches to support the PTOnet infrastructure made a large investment in deploying network equipment manufactured by Nortel Networks. Integrating another vendor?s network switches would require extensive lab testing, updating System Development Life Cycle documentation, establish and manage new maintenance contracts and conduct training for Network Operations staff. In addition, introducing other switch vendor would complicate network troubleshooting which could result in longer network outages. This announcement is considered a ?brand name? justification. This acquisition will be conducted utilizing Part 13 of the FAR, Simplified Acquisition procedures, and the test program authorized in FAR subpart 13.5, and the Patent and Trademark Acquisition Guidelines (PTAG) among the existing USPTO Information Technology ID/IQ contractors. No written solicitation will be issued as a result. The point of contact for information regarding this notice is Connie Lum at (571)272-4167, or via E-mail at
[email protected].