What Section 889 actually requires, who it applies to, and where your video management software fits. Section 889 is about equipment, and Visylix is hardware-agnostic software that runs whichever approved cameras you select.
Part of the US National Defense Authorization Act. It restricts named telecom and video surveillance equipment across the federal supply chain.
Federal agencies cannot buy covered telecommunications or video surveillance equipment. Straightforward, and the part most people know.
Effective August 2020, the government cannot contract with any entity that uses covered equipment anywhere in its operations. Not just on the contract. Anywhere. Including systems the government never pays for.
Covered manufacturers rebadge units under other brand names. The label on the housing does not settle the question. Diligence means tracing the actual manufacturer, not the brand.
Plus their subsidiaries and affiliates, which is where most of the risk actually sits.
A camera sold under an unfamiliar brand may still be a rebadged unit from one of these manufacturers. Verifying the brand on the housing is not diligence.
Your cameras, recorders, encoders and network gear are all in scope. No software product settles Section 889 on its own, because the question is what hardware runs in your estate.
What the right VMS does is add no restricted hardware of its own, work with the approved cameras you choose on merit, and let you migrate in stages instead of replacing an entire estate at once. That is exactly how Visylix is built.
Hardware-agnostic software that runs on your servers and your choice of approved cameras.
Visylix is video management software. It bundles no cameras or recorders, so it adds no restricted hardware to your estate.
Ships as a Docker image onto your servers. Fully on premise and air-gap ready, so no video or data leaves your network.
ONVIF and 13+ streaming protocols let you run whichever approved cameras you select, chosen on merit rather than locked to one manufacturer.
Add approved cameras alongside existing units. NVR archive access keeps historical footage on legacy recorders reachable during the transition.
Work through these before you sign anything, VMS included.
Visylix is hardware-agnostic, fully on premise and air-gap ready. Talk to our team about staging a migration without replacing your entire estate at once.
This page is general information, not legal advice. NDAA Section 889 obligations depend on your contracts and your equipment inventory. Confirm your position with your own counsel and contracting officer.
Section 889 of the US National Defense Authorization Act restricts federal agencies, and anyone contracting with them, from buying or using certain telecommunications and video surveillance equipment. Part A bars the federal government from buying it. Part B, in force since August 2020, bars the government from contracting with any organisation that uses that equipment anywhere in its operations, even on unrelated systems.
The statute names Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, Hangzhou Hikvision and Dahua Technology, along with their subsidiaries and affiliates. Rebadged units matter: a camera sold under a different brand may still come from a named manufacturer, so check the source, not just the label.
Visylix is video management software, not camera hardware. It runs on servers you own, fully on premise or air-gapped, and works with whichever approved cameras you select. Section 889 questions attach to the cameras, recorders and network equipment in your estate, so Visylix lets you build a deployment that meets your procurement rules.
No single product settles it. Section 889 is mainly about equipment, so your cameras, NVRs, encoders and network gear are all in scope. A hardware-agnostic VMS such as Visylix adds no restricted hardware of its own, runs the approved cameras you choose, and lets you replace restricted units gradually rather than all at once.
Yes. Visylix works with ONVIF and RTSP cameras from virtually any maker, so you can stage a migration instead of replacing an entire estate at once. Approved cameras are added alongside existing units, and NVR archive access keeps historical footage on legacy recorders reachable during the transition.
Federal agencies, federal contractors and subcontractors at any tier, and grant recipients using federal funds, plus a growing number of state governments, universities, healthcare systems and critical-infrastructure operators that have adopted the standard in their own procurement rules.