LOS GATOS, Calif., Feb. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) has approved two new storage security standards, setting the stage for a new generation of interoperable and highly secure storage solutions powered by encryption technology from security market leaders such as Hifn(TM) , the catalyst behind storage and networking innovation.

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"Many issues in security and storage result from the lack of standards so the interoperability enabled with the IEEE 1619 developments is a huge value proposition for customers to deploy security across a diverse set of storage solutions from multiple vendors," said Russell Dietz, Chief Technology Officer at Hifn. "These new encryption standards were started by Tier 1 storage OEMs, and driven by Hifn, because standards have become imperative for the market to grow, to deliver simplified, broad, secured storage solutions."

The first standard, IEEE 1619(TM) "Standard for Cryptographic Protection of Data on Block-Oriented Storage Devices", addresses data storage on disk drives. The second approved standard, IEEE 1619.1(TM) "Standard for Authenticated Encryption with Length Expansion for Storage Devices", deals with data encryption on enterprise-class tape drives. The new standards provide a high level of interoperability for disk and tape products from different vendors, ensuring that data encrypted on a disk or tape drive from one vendor can be accurately decrypted and read back on devices from other vendors. One of the first commercial products to benefit from the 1619 standardization work is the new LTO-4 tape technology, utilizing encryption mechanisms and encoding models that are recognized by IEEE 1619.1.

Hifn was one of more than a dozen companies that actively participated in the IEEE Security in Storage Working Group that crafted the new disk and tape encryption standards. The company's strong support of storage and security standardization is nothing new and is the latest example of the company's market and technology leadership with a 10-year history of developing high-performance cryptographic processors. Hifn is committed to being an active participant in nurturing emerging standards related to securing information, whether the information is in transit across the network or data at rest residing on removable or fixed media systems.

"Our commitment is to making sure customers can use security in their storage systems," said Dietz. We've simplified the installation and deployment process for encryption ASPs to make security happen in storage systems. By also supporting storage security standardization Hifn is working to accelerate the use of encryption for data at rest."

Hifn's full line of Applied Services Processors as well as its board-level security acceleration products currently support, and are compliant with, the encryption algorithms specified in the IEEE 1619 standards. Hifn's processor architecture leverages a zero-impact design making it a simple process for OEMs to quickly add standardized security functionality to their storage products.

About Hifn

Hifn delivers the key channel and OEM ingredients for 21st century storage and networking environments. Leveraging over a decade of leadership and expertise in the development of purpose-built Applied Service Processors (ASPs), we are a trusted partner to industry leaders for whom infrastructure innovation in storage and networking is critical to success. With the majority of secure networked communications flowing through Hifn technology, the 21st century convergence of storage and networking drives our product roadmap forward. For more information, please visit: http://www.hifn.com/.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Specifically, statements regarding the Company's future financial performance including, without limitation, statements related interoperability enabled with the IEEE 1619 developments is a huge value proposition for customers to deploy security, standards have become imperative for the market to grow, and accelerating the use of encryption for data at rest are all forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Safe Harbor that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained herein. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described herein include, but are not limited to: dependency on a small number of customers; customer demand and customer ordering patterns; and orders from Hifn's customers may be below the company's current expectations. These and other risks are detailed from time to time in Hifn's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Hifn expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

CONTACT: Corporate Communications of Hifn, Inc., +1-408-399-3520,
press@hifn.com; or Judy Smith of JPR Communications, +1-818-386-0403,
judys@jprcom.com, for Hifn

Web site: http://www.hifn.com/