Thursday, May 24, 2007

Cisco to join storage encryption fray

Network World

Storage in the Enterprise




Network World's Storage in the Enterprise Newsletter, 05/24/07

Cisco to join storage encryption fray

By Deni Connor

Cisco plans to introduce encryption for its MDS 9500 and 9200 storage switches by the year-end.

Called Storage Media Encryption (SME), the technology will be for protecting data at rest on tape and disk. While there are many places to implement encryption – tape, disk, in the storage fabric or on specialized appliances – Cisco has chosen to offer encryption as a storage service for its Fibre Channel switching platform.

Cisco’s SME will be a heterogeneous technology for tape, virtual tape and disks that can be inserted into existing data center environments without disruption to operations.

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Cisco will use open APIs for key management and is working with partners on APIs. The software will include a key management function that is integrated into the Cisco Fabric Manager. This component will also integrate provisioning so devices can be encryption enabled.

In the second half of this year, the company will announce products that provide encryption of tape drives and virtual tape libraries. They will also introduce an API for integrating third-party key management software. A subsequent release will support encryption for heterogeneous disk arrays.

Cisco’s Storage Media Encryption will support a number of standards - IEEE 1619 compliant AES 256 encryption, NIST approved media key generation algorithms, the PKCS 11 cryptographic token interface standard, Common Criteria EAL-3 and the FIPS 140-2 level 3 architecture.

Editor's Note: Does Apple belong in enterprise data centers?: We're putting together a story to be published in Network World looking at the enterprise-readiness of Apple technology, and we need your help. Have you deployed or evaluated Apple's XServe servers or its XServe RAID storage platform? What did you find? Do you think Apple's server and storage gear is ready for enterprise data centers? What are the biggest drivers or deterrents? Should IT administrators become more Mac friendly? We're looking to tap into our readership and share your experiences with our audience. Please send your ideas and contact information to senior editor Deni Connor.


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Contact the author:

Deni Connor is senior editor for Network World magazine covering storage, archiving and compliance, IT in healthcare, Novell and data center-related issues. E-mail Deni.

 



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