NEW DELHI, INDIA: Brocade and Thales announced the integration of Thales Encryption Manager for Storage (TEMS) with the Brocade encryption SAN switching solutions recently.

The combination of TEMS presents a cost effective solution to simplify the storage encryption process. This is because the need for storage professionals to deploy multiple storage encryption systems is eliminated. It helps ensure safe and reliable data access.

The Brocade Encryption Switches and Brocade FS8-18 Encryption Blades form part of a family of fabric-based encryption platforms. These help organizations meet their security and corporate governance objectives by encrypting critical corporate data with high performance and centralized fabric management. The Brocade Encryption Switch provides encryption for both disk and tape storage systems.

The Brocade Encryption Switch is tightly integrated with TEMS. The latter consolidates and automates the management of encryption keys for storage systems in a transparent manner-delivering unified, fine-grained, and encryption key security controls. This solution enables organizations to adopt storage encryption.

The Brocade Encryption Switch recently received both FIPS 140-2 level 3 certification, a standard defined by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology and the most widely adopted security benchmark for cryptographic solutions in government and commercial enterprises, and Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL) 3+.Thales Encryption Manager for Storage will undergo evaluation for FIPS 140-2 level 3 certification.

TEMS is a key manager meant to support the draft IEEE P1619.3 key management specification. Subsequent releases will also support the recently announced OASIS KMIP key management standard, originally co-authored by Thales.

"Our Hitachi data resilience solution is comprised of industry-leading technologies and services designed to protect and preserve customers' critical business information. It does this wherever the data resides, and as it grows and transforms," said Asim Zaheer, VP-Corporate and Product Marketing, Hitachi Data Systems.

He further continued that standards-based data encryption solutions from Brocade and Thales integrated with Hitachi Data Systems storage systems will help organizations preserve the integrity of their sensitive information. The solutions also enable compliance with corporate and regulatory policies throughout the data's lifecycle

"Encrypting sensitive information has become a security requirement for organizations across all industries, especially as data breaches continue to make headlines. Establishing standards like IEEE P1619.3 and KMIP is a significant first step toward simplifying encryption key management, but it is up to leading vendors to offer solutions that support these standards," said Jon Oltsik, principal analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group.

"Thales and Brocade have taken this important step by integrating TEMS with the Brocade Encryption Switch, enabling organizations to seamlessly deploy storage encryption without concern over key management requirements such as reliability and data recoverability. This partnership demonstrates the continued momentum of KMIP and other industry standards, and should help accelerate the adoption of encryption for stored information as companies continue to bolster their security initiatives" he concluded.