CipherOptics introduces the CipherOptics SG1002 security gateway

Raleigh, N.C. (Jan. 23, 2006) - CipherOptics Inc., the leading innovator of solutions for Protecting Data in Motion™, has announced the debut of the CipherOptics SG1002, the first extensible IPSec security gateway. Providing full-duplex, gigabit speed IPSec encryption with virtually no latency, the CipherOptics SG1002 provides safe passage for business-critical information traveling over IP networks. Unlike high-cost multi-purpose devices that can have significant latency and performance issues, the CipherOptics SG1002 easily integrates into the existing network and supports High Availability (HA) in less than half the rack space of its predecessor, ensuring that all data in transit is locked down. The CipherOptics SG1002 will be generally available Feb. 1, 2006.

Today's complex business processes depend upon application-to-application connectivity, demanding seamless low-latency communications across multiple geographies and data centers. Network encryption can maintain confidentiality for these critical applications but current IPSec and SSL options can add tremendous processing and operational overhead, forcing companies to choose between security and network performance. The new CipherOptics SG1002 alleviates these issues by aggregating encryption operations into a high-speed optimized platform, enabling organizations to support business processes with strong but unobtrusive security protection.

"Large organizations are slowly learning that there is far more to encryption than simply deploying a VPN," said Jon Oltsik, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. "To truly protect business processes, encryption operations must be balanced against networking topologies, application requirements, and latency sensitivity. The new CipherOptics SG1002 security gateway was designed for these exact functions enabling companies to protect confidential data with FIPS-validated security protection while remaining transparent to networks, applications, and money-making business processes."

A recipient of the internationally recognized Common Criteria certification, the CipherOptics SG1002 is a purpose-built appliance that protects storage data in motion; protects data as it traverses third party networks; secures sensitive virtual networks; and, protects wireless network links end to end.

Unusual for encryption products, the CipherOptics SG1002 features low-latency line rate encryption for virtually no impact to mission-critical applications and offers a non-disruptive, transparent, bump in the wire architecture that is easy to implement. Easy to manage through the use of the CipherOptics CipherView™ management tool and integration into leading enterprise management applications, the SG1002 is available in a 1U platform.

The HA option in the CipherOptics SG1002 adds redundancy and fail-over capabilities, critical to high-availability networks. With the HA option, two units are installed in a master-slave configuration, so that should a unit or link become unavailable, there will be no impact on the network or the data. The HA option uses Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP), which eliminates the single point of failure inherent with a single link or security gateway. VRRP dynamically assigns responsibility for a virtual router to one of the CipherOptics SG1002 gateways, called the master, that controls encryption to the security gateway devices on the other end of the encrypted links and which forwards encrypted packets to those IP addresses. When the master becomes unavailable, the backup CipherOptics SG1002, called the slave, takes the place of the master and assumes responsibility for encrypting packets to those IP addresses.

“The CipherOptics SG1002 is a significant advance in robust data security and will be a critical component of any high-availability IP network that needs to protect its data in motion,” said Ron Willis, president and CEO, CipherOptics. “Like all of our security gateways, the CipherOptics SG1002 overlays security on the network, enabling it to be up and running in 15 minutes with zero impact on the network. No downtime, no infrastructure re-configuration, no need to touch the routers. It’s as close to an out-of-the-box solution as you can get.”