Pattern TE-C

The red/black workstation

Two networks on one desk, with the separation physical rather than logical.

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Area: TEMPEST/RÖS
Environments: 2
Products used: 3

How it is built

An optical switch moves the whole path. No electrical conversion, no shared buffer.

Used in these environments

Command and control centreSeveral networks meet at one desk, and the operator must never have to think about which one is in front of them.
The bank trading deskMany screens, many networks and no tolerance for a switching delay measured in seconds.

How it works

Two networks reach one desk. The switching is optical the whole way: no electrical conversion, no shared buffer, and no software state that survives the change.

The indication is part of the design

An operator who has to remember which network is in front of them will eventually be wrong. The indication has to be driven by the actual state of the equipment, not by a control system’s understanding of it.

Separation is physical

Red and black cabling stays physically apart, and that covers every conductor including power. Encryption does not make a conductor black: the emission arises on the plaintext, before encryption.