一
家帮助中国华为技术有限公司打开美国电信设备市场的不知名的公司聘请了两位重量级人物加入其董事会，试图解决围绕华为的安全问题担忧。
Bloomberg News
世界银行前行长沃尔芬森
华为是全球最大的电信设备供应商之一，但被指与中国军方有联系，极大的妨碍了其进军美国市场的雄心大计。目前华为正努力争取赢得Sprint Nextel Corp.数十亿美元的网络更新项目的部分合同。
Sprint说，该项目的招投标进入到了最后阶段，六家供应商正在提交标书。Sprint拒绝对华为或Amerilink置评，两家公司进行了联合投标。
Amerilink创始人和董事长欧文斯（William Owens）说，格普哈特和沃尔芬森这样的人加入董事会对解决信任问题有极大的重要性。欧文斯曾任克林顿总统时期美军参谋长联席会议（Joint Chiefs of Staff）副主席，还曾担任北电网络有限公司（Nortel Networks Corp.）的前首席执行长。
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前国会领袖格普哈特
消除这些担忧不容易。华为长久以来一直否认与中国军方有联系，但对其安全的担忧仍然存在。华为希望将设备售予Sprint的新闻报道出来后，八位共和党参议员联名写信给各联邦机构的领导人，对华为的安全隐患提出警告。
据一位共和党参议员的助手说，在8月25日Sprint和参议院成员的一次会议中，Sprint被警告说，如果公司通过与华为的合作交易，其与美国政府的合约将会受到压力。Sprint拒绝置评。
缅因州参议员柯林斯（Susan Collins）说，我们必须对允许华为进入美国电信市场带来的重大安全隐患有更清楚的认识。她在信上签了字，但并未知悉Amerilink所作的努力。
为了取得美国官员的信任，Amerilink已经发起了一场声势浩大的游说运动。多位知情人士说，几个月以来，欧文斯和Amerilink其他高管与美国国会和奥巴马政府的官员进行了会谈，还包括美国国家安全委员会（National Security Council）成员，详细解释其安全计划。
美国国土安全部主管政策的前任助理部长、美国世强律师事务所(Steptoe & Johnson LLP)合伙人贝克(Stewart Baker)说，我估计此事将引起一场不小的争论。他说，不能割裂来看华为与中国政府的关系，华为没有上市，他们的财务状况还不为人知，美国和其它国家政府对华为与中国政府的关系感到十分担心。
摩托罗拉(Motorola Inc.)7月起诉华为，指控其设立了一个掩人耳目的组织，该组织雇佣数位摩托罗拉前工程师，意在盗取摩托罗拉的技术。华为说，该指控毫无根据。
一些分析人士说，华为不可避免要进入美国市场。华为早已是欧洲和亚洲市场电信设备的主要供应商，其产品在技术水平上可与欧洲设备相媲美，而价格上较后者更低。周一，印度公司巴帝电信(Bharti Airtel Ltd)选择华为作为其第三代无线网络供应商之一。
各电信运营商高管质疑，因安全为由将华为排除在外是否公平。他们说，还未发现华为有违反安全协议的行为，并说思科公司(Cisco Systems Inc.)等电信设备生产巨头也在中国生产电信设备。AT&T公司的首席执行长史蒂芬森(Randall Stephenson)在6月的一次采访中说，我们可以采取相应措施，确保公司安全。
华为发言人恩古延(Jannie Luong Nguyen)说，华为将提交其产品，接受第三方测试与核验。恩古延说，华为对于各方的忧虑十分重视，我们相信通过公开与透明的做法，可以消除人们对华为公司和华为产品的错误认识。
Amerilink建于2009年6月，华为是它的第一个客户。Amerilink聘请了很多曾经供职Sprint的高管，包括上月离开Sprint、出任Amerilink首席执行长的帕金汉姆(Kevin Packingham)。
声称自己独立出资创立公司的Amerilink创始人欧文斯表示，他对安全问题十分重视。他说，像安全这样的问题我们需要谨慎对待。
为确保电信设备不含任何安全弱点，Amerilink聘请了为美国政府和军方提供安全顾问服务的电子战协会(Electronic Warfare Associates Inc.)参与调查。该协会拒绝对此置评。
Amerilink将在硬件安装前对其进行抽检，一旦安装完毕，只有经过Amerilink授权的工作人员才能获准接触这些硬件。而软件更新要首先经过Amerilink的评估，然后才能通过互联网传播。
格普哈特接受采访时说，这个测试过程远远超过业内的任何标准。
Spencer E. Ante / Shayndi Raice
（更新完成）
（本文版权归道琼斯公司所有，未经许可不得翻译或转载。）
A little-known company working to open the U.S. market to telecommunications gear made by China's Huawei Technologies Co. has added a pair of dignitaries to its board in an attempt to address the security concerns around Huawei.
The firm, Amerilink Telecom Corp., in recent months has recruited former congressional leader Richard Gephardt and former World Bank President James Wolfensohn as directors. It hopes the appointments will help overcome U.S. officials' skepticism about Huawei, which has hired Amerilink as a consultant and distribution partner.
Huawei is one of the world's top suppliers of telecom gear, but alleged ties to the Chinese military have stymied its ambitions in the U.S. market. It is currently trying to win part of a multibillion-dollar network upgrade at Sprint Nextel Corp.
Sprint says the bidding is entering the final stages and six vendors are submitting proposals. It declined to comment on Huawei or Amerilink, which have made a joint bid.
Adding directors such as Messrs. Gephardt and Wolfensohn is 'very important in terms of the trust factor,' said Amerilink founder and Chairman William Owens. Mr. Owens was vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Clinton and a former CEO of Nortel Networks Corp.
The appointments are part of Amerilink's strategy to work with third parties to scrub, deliver and manage telecom equipment made by overseas suppliers such as Huawei to make sure it can't be used by spies or to launch a cyberattack on U.S. infrastructure.
Overcoming those concerns won't be easy. Huawei has long denied links to China's military, but security concerns persist. Following news reports Huawei was hoping to sell gear to Sprint, eight Republican senators wrote the heads of federal agencies warning of the security implications.
In an Aug. 25 meeting between Sprint and Senate staff, the company was warned its U.S. government contracts could come under pressure if a deal with Huawei went through, according to one Republican Senate aide who was at the meeting. Sprint declined to comment.
'We need to get a better sense of the fundamental security implications raised by allowing Huawei access' to the U.S. telecom market, said Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine), who signed the letter but wasn't aware of Amerilink's efforts.
To win over U.S. officials, Amerilink has launched an extensive lobbying campaign. Over the past few months, Mr. Owens and Amerilink executives have met with officials from Congress and the Obama administration, including members of the National Security Council, to detail its security plans, said people familiar with the matter.
'I predict that there will be a real fight over this,' said Stewart Baker, former assistant secretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security and a partner at law firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP. 'Huawei's ties to the Chinese government can't be independently measured. The company's not listed on a stock exchange, so their books are a mystery. And there's real worry about those ties on the part of the U.S. and other governments.'
Motorola Inc. sued Huawei in July alleging it set up a front organization staffed by former Motorola engineers to steal the company's technology. Huawei has said the allegations are completely without merit.
Some analysts say Huawei's entrance into the U.S. market is inevitable. It is already a mainstream supplier in Europe and Asia, and its gear is comparable to European equipment on technical grounds but less expensive. On Monday, India's Bharti Airtel Ltd. selected Huawei as one of its suppliers for a third-generation wireless network.
Executives at telecom carriers question whether it's fair to keep the company out on security grounds. They say Huawei hasn't been caught in a security breach and point out that equipment giants like Cisco Systems Inc. manufacture gear in China anyway. 'There are things we can do to ensure we're protected,' AT&T Inc. Chief Executive Randall Stephenson said in an interview in June.
Huawei spokeswoman Jannie Luong Nguyen said the company will submit its products for third-party testing and verification. 'Huawei takes the concerns that have been raised very seriously,' Ms. Nguyen said. 'We believe that by being open and transparent, we will be able to dispel these mischaracterizations about our company and our offerings.'
Amerilink was founded in June 2009 with Huawei as is its first customer. It has hired a number of former Sprint executives, including Kevin Packingham, who left Sprint last month to become Amerilink's CEO.
Mr. Owens, who said he started and financed Amerilink with his own money, said he takes security concerns seriously. 'This is the kind of thing we need to be cautious about,' Mr. Owens said.
To help ensure the telecom gear doesn't contain any security vulnerabilities, Amerilink has hired Electronic Warfare Associates Inc., a Herndon, Va., security consultant that works for the U.S. government and military. EWA declined to comment.
Amerilink will spot-audit hardware before it is installed, and only Amerilink-authorized personnel will be allowed to access it once it's in place. Software updates will be evaluated by the company before they are distributed over the Internet.
The process 'will go far beyond any mechanism in the industry,' Mr. Gephardt said in an interview.
Spencer E. Ante / Shayndi Raice
The firm, Amerilink Telecom Corp., in recent months has recruited former congressional leader Richard Gephardt and former World Bank President James Wolfensohn as directors. It hopes the appointments will help overcome U.S. officials' skepticism about Huawei, which has hired Amerilink as a consultant and distribution partner.
Huawei is one of the world's top suppliers of telecom gear, but alleged ties to the Chinese military have stymied its ambitions in the U.S. market. It is currently trying to win part of a multibillion-dollar network upgrade at Sprint Nextel Corp.
Sprint says the bidding is entering the final stages and six vendors are submitting proposals. It declined to comment on Huawei or Amerilink, which have made a joint bid.
Adding directors such as Messrs. Gephardt and Wolfensohn is 'very important in terms of the trust factor,' said Amerilink founder and Chairman William Owens. Mr. Owens was vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Clinton and a former CEO of Nortel Networks Corp.
The appointments are part of Amerilink's strategy to work with third parties to scrub, deliver and manage telecom equipment made by overseas suppliers such as Huawei to make sure it can't be used by spies or to launch a cyberattack on U.S. infrastructure.
Overcoming those concerns won't be easy. Huawei has long denied links to China's military, but security concerns persist. Following news reports Huawei was hoping to sell gear to Sprint, eight Republican senators wrote the heads of federal agencies warning of the security implications.
In an Aug. 25 meeting between Sprint and Senate staff, the company was warned its U.S. government contracts could come under pressure if a deal with Huawei went through, according to one Republican Senate aide who was at the meeting. Sprint declined to comment.
'We need to get a better sense of the fundamental security implications raised by allowing Huawei access' to the U.S. telecom market, said Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine), who signed the letter but wasn't aware of Amerilink's efforts.
To win over U.S. officials, Amerilink has launched an extensive lobbying campaign. Over the past few months, Mr. Owens and Amerilink executives have met with officials from Congress and the Obama administration, including members of the National Security Council, to detail its security plans, said people familiar with the matter.
'I predict that there will be a real fight over this,' said Stewart Baker, former assistant secretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security and a partner at law firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP. 'Huawei's ties to the Chinese government can't be independently measured. The company's not listed on a stock exchange, so their books are a mystery. And there's real worry about those ties on the part of the U.S. and other governments.'
Motorola Inc. sued Huawei in July alleging it set up a front organization staffed by former Motorola engineers to steal the company's technology. Huawei has said the allegations are completely without merit.
Some analysts say Huawei's entrance into the U.S. market is inevitable. It is already a mainstream supplier in Europe and Asia, and its gear is comparable to European equipment on technical grounds but less expensive. On Monday, India's Bharti Airtel Ltd. selected Huawei as one of its suppliers for a third-generation wireless network.
Executives at telecom carriers question whether it's fair to keep the company out on security grounds. They say Huawei hasn't been caught in a security breach and point out that equipment giants like Cisco Systems Inc. manufacture gear in China anyway. 'There are things we can do to ensure we're protected,' AT&T Inc. Chief Executive Randall Stephenson said in an interview in June.
Huawei spokeswoman Jannie Luong Nguyen said the company will submit its products for third-party testing and verification. 'Huawei takes the concerns that have been raised very seriously,' Ms. Nguyen said. 'We believe that by being open and transparent, we will be able to dispel these mischaracterizations about our company and our offerings.'
Amerilink was founded in June 2009 with Huawei as is its first customer. It has hired a number of former Sprint executives, including Kevin Packingham, who left Sprint last month to become Amerilink's CEO.
Mr. Owens, who said he started and financed Amerilink with his own money, said he takes security concerns seriously. 'This is the kind of thing we need to be cautious about,' Mr. Owens said.
To help ensure the telecom gear doesn't contain any security vulnerabilities, Amerilink has hired Electronic Warfare Associates Inc., a Herndon, Va., security consultant that works for the U.S. government and military. EWA declined to comment.
Amerilink will spot-audit hardware before it is installed, and only Amerilink-authorized personnel will be allowed to access it once it's in place. Software updates will be evaluated by the company before they are distributed over the Internet.
The process 'will go far beyond any mechanism in the industry,' Mr. Gephardt said in an interview.
Spencer E. Ante / Shayndi Raice
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