Tyco Illustra and the National Defense Authorization Act

On August 13, 2018, the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (the “NDAA”) was signed into law. Section 889 of the NDAA restricts U.S. federal government agencies from, among other things, procuring or obtaining any equipment, system or service that uses telecommunications and video surveillance equipment from certain Chinese manufacturers as a substantial or essential component of any system, or as critical technology as part of any system (See §889(a)(1)(A)).

On August 13, 2019, interim Federal Acquisition Regulation rules were published implementing the initial ban on purchases of the subject telecommunications and video surveillance equipment that took effect on that date.

Our premium Illustra Pro (including Pro Thermal EST camera), powerful Illustra Flex, and Essentials Gen4 product lines are not subject to the restrictions in Section 889 of the NDA, and therefore remain qualified for purchase by U.S. federal government agencies. Legacy Illustra Essentials entry-level cameras (Gen1- Gen3), however, are subject to the restrictions of Section 889 of the NDAA.

While our customers are at liberty to install Tyco Illustra Essentials products in any application that they deem reasonably suitable (subject to the requirements of the NDAA and other applicable laws), we do not believe that these products are generally appropriate for U.S. federal government and U.S. federal government-funded projects, regardless of whether they are impacted by the prohibitions in Section 889 of the NDAA.

Illustra Pro (including Pro Thermal EST camera), Flex, and Essentials Gen4 cameras have been designed to be resilient against cyber-threats, one of the key concerns the NDAA seeks to protect against. These products are gated, analyzed, tested and required to meet or exceed the rigorous standards of the Johnson Controls Cyber Solutions Product Security Program for every consecutive release. This holistic approach is aimed at providing peace of mind to our customers. Our security mindset begins at initial design concept and is supported through deployment, including a rapid incident response to meet the comprehensive and evolving cybersecurity environments.

For more information please contact your local area sales representative or fill out a form here.

John McCain