EPOCH CONCEPTS // AZTECAZTEC
Advanced Zero Trust Enterprise Capability
Identify your critical protect surfaces and build zero trust strategy around what actually matters to your mission.
Stop chasing the attack surface. Start defining what you actually need to protect.
The Problem
Every vendor wants to sell you a zero trust "solution." None of them know your protect surfaces.
Zero trust isn't a product you can buy. It's a strategy for protecting your most critical infrastructure, one protect surface at a time. But that requires knowing what those protect surfaces actually are in your specific environment.
Undefined protect surfaces. You know you have critical data, applications, and services. But you haven't mapped which ones matter most, how they interact, or where trust boundaries should be drawn.
Existing environment complexity. Legacy applications, fragmented identity systems, hybrid on-prem/cloud/OT environments. Your critical infrastructure wasn't designed for zero trust — and you can't just start over.
No transaction flow visibility. You can't protect what you can't see. Without mapping how users, applications, and data actually interact, you're guessing at policy.
Compliance pressure without clarity. You need to hit DoW ZT targets. But you don't know which investments actually move you toward them given your starting point and your mission priorities.
The Approach
We meet you where you are.
You've already made investments. You have systems in place, people trained on them, and workflows that depend on them. We're not here to rip that out. We're here to understand what you have, figure out where the gaps are, and help you move forward — augmenting and supplementing, not replacing.
The approach is vendor agnostic. We bring in trusted partners based on what your environment actually needs, not what any single vendor wants to sell you. And we shrink the problem from an infinite attack surface to what actually matters: your critical protect surfaces.
The protect surface becomes a problem that's solvable, versus a problem like the attack surface that's actually unsolvable. You build zero trust out incrementally, one protect surface at a time.
Start a Conversation
A working session with your technical and program leadership.
No pitch deck. No product demo. We sit down with your team to understand where you are today, where you need to go, and the constraints you're working under. We map your critical DAAS elements, understand your transaction flows, and determine what a realistic zero trust path looks like for your environment.
Initial protect surface inventory — a working list of your most critical Data, Applications, Assets, and Services ranked by mission impact and risk exposure.
Transaction flow sketch — a preliminary map of how users, applications, and data interact across your critical infrastructure.
Gap assessment — where your current posture falls short against DoW ZT pillars for your highest-priority protect surfaces.
Go/no-go recommendation — whether a full gap analysis makes sense for your situation, and what it would involve.
Who You'll Work With
Your engagement is led by Epoch's sales and solutions team, backed by experienced solution architects who've delivered zero trust components across DoW, IC, and civilian agencies.
Our President Kevin Mackey brings direct federal experience from his roles at Sun Microsystems, ADIC, NetApp and Epoch Concepts in engineering, solution design and large-scale program support. Patrick Parnell, our VP for Sales, Air, Land, Space & National Security, leads integrated solutions with a military veteran perspective and years of contract and sales management in the Aerospace and Defense arena. Jackie Stewart strengthens our U.S. Public Sector capabilities with deep technical expertise in presales systems engineering and go-to-market programs that align mission requirements with innovative solutions. Our CTO Matt Webster brings cybersecurity experience from DARPA and leads Epoch's technology strategy, ensuring every AZTEC engagement is grounded in real-world federal security operations.
When you engage with AZTEC, your Epoch sales rep is your primary point of contact. They connect you to the right solution architects and trusted partners based on what your environment actually needs.
How We Work With You
Zero trust is a journey, not a destination. We meet you where you are and help you move forward without starting over. Every engagement starts with a conversation, not a contract.
Understand Where You Are
We sit down with your team to understand your current zero trust posture, your existing technology investments, and the constraints you're working under. No cost, no commitment — we're here to listen and help you figure out if a deeper engagement makes sense.
Map the Gaps
If there's a fit, we conduct a deep technical gap analysis against DoW's 152 zero trust activities across the seven pillars. We map your protect surfaces, transaction flows, and all DAAS elements. We document where your current controls fall short and where your existing investments already cover you.
Architecture & Planning
Implementation paths with realistic timelines, budgets, and tradeoffs. Designed from the inside out, placing controls as close as possible to each protect surface. We bring in the right trusted partners for each pillar — vendor agnostic, built around what your environment actually needs.
Configuration, Integration & Validation
Procurement through your preferred contract vehicle. Installation and integration by experienced engineers aligned to your environment. Solution validated against DoW ZT pillars before handoff. One protect surface at a time, non-disruptively.
Sustained Support
Dedicated Technical Account Manager for first-call support. Options for on-site residency services for white-glove environments. Continuous monitoring, policy updates, and compliance verification. Zero trust isn't a checkbox — it's an operating posture you maintain.
Start with a conversation.
If you're facing a zero trust mandate and don't know where to start, let's talk. No commitment, no sales pitch — just a conversation about where you are and whether we can help you move forward.
Available to all DoW, IC, and Federal Civilian programs as well as critical asset based commercial entities.