EMC and Cisco Team up for Security

May 24, 2007: EMC and Cisco are putting their heads together to improve and simplify encryption of confidential information, such as medical records and credit card numbers.

Cisco will be working with EMC’s RSA security on new technology that will include Cisco’s Storage Media Encryption (SME) and RSA’s Key Manager. SME handles encryption of data-at-rest as a fabric service, while Key Manager functions as a centralised solution for encryption key lifecycle management.

Together, the two say the system will create a highly secure, scaleable technology capable of managing both encrypted media and keys, helping companies meet regulatory and privacy requirements.

“Security threats are no longer confined to companies with backup tapes stored at an off-site facility,” says Rajeev Bhardwaj, director of product management, Data Center Business Unit at Cisco. “Now companies of all sizes are exploring encryption because of the real threat of losing data or having it stolen.”

By encrypting data at-rest on tapes and other types of storage media and managing the associated encryption keys within the storage area network infrastructure, the two claim the process will be less invasive, more secure and easier to manage overall.

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