IBM System Storage SAN32B-E4 Switch

To meet the demands of compliance with regulatory mandates, industry standards of data confidentiality, and digital assets protection, the SAN32B-E4 switch from IBM Corp.http://www.ibm.com is designed to deliver:

• A thirty-two port, auto-sensing 8 Gbps Fibre Channel switch with cryptography (encryption/decryption) and data compression capabilities
• Support for Tivoli Key Lifecycle Manager for both disk and tape encryption applications in a centralized security platform for SAN environments
• A network-based solution that secures data-at-rest for heterogeneous tape drives, disk array Logical Unit Numbers (LUNs), and virtual tape libraries
• Seamless integration, forward and backward compatibility with the IBM b-type and m-type fabrics, to help organizations protect their technology investments

IBM System Storage SAN32B-E4 is designed to deliver fabric-based encryption services, providing up to 96 Gbps of encryption processing for disk and 48 Gbps of compression and encryption processing for tape.

Advantages of the SAN32B-E4 switch include:

• Ability to encrypt data at wire speed
• Central management of storage and fabric-based security resources
• Multi-vendor storage system and fabric support
• Transparent, online encryption of cleartext LUNs and rekeying of encrypted LUNs without disruption
• Data compression and integrity authentication for tape backup
• Simplified, non-disruptive installation and configuration

The SAN32B-E4 switch is designed for use
in the following SAN environments:

• New data center deployments with large-scale encryption
• Plug-in storage security services for existing SAN fabrics
• Heterogeneous disk and tape storage environments with out device-based encryption capability
• Standalone switches with encryption and compression
• Single and dual SAN fabrics
• Secure fabric-based environments that integrate with Tivoli Key Lifecycle Manager management system
• Expanding encryption environments that require protection for current data security and key management investments

The SAN32B-E4 switch is ideal for applications such as:

• Highly sensitive IT applications with secure data-at-rest requirements
• Secure data backups for offsite disk and tape storage, and long-term archiving
• Support for heterogeneous disk and tape storage environments from a centralized point of management
• Decommissioning of disk arrays that require legal validation of the logical destruction and data shredding of devices (the b-type SAN32B-E4 encryption switch helps secure decommissioning of disk-based storage devices by encrypting an entire LUN and destroying the data encryption key)
• Secure replication of virtual tape library (VTL) backups to remote facilities

Key prerequisites
The IBM System Storage SAN b-type switch family supports Fibre Channel connectivity for servers and storage. The SAN32B-E4 requires:

• Fabric Operating System V6.4.1, or later.
• Tivoli Key Lifecycle Manager v2.0, or later.

Planned availability date

• November 19, 2010

Read also:
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For data in-flight and at-rest