NetApp announced that Tributary Systems Inc. (TSI), a company providing backup storage, virtualization, and encryption solutions for the HP NonStop enterprise computing platform, has become an OEM partner of NetApp.

As a result of this partnership, TSI will now provide NetApp DataFort storage security solutions with enterprise-class tape storage data protection and encryption capabilities across HP NonStop servers. Combined with the fact that HP selected NetApp as the recommended provider of disk encryption for HP NonStop earlier this year, NetApp is now the selected solution for all data-at-rest encryption on HP NonStop.

HP NonStop powers some of the world’s most demanding data centers, providing highly available transaction processing for financial services, banking, retail, telecommunications, and healthcare customers. In fact, 490 of the world's most prominent banks, including the five largest U.S. banks, use HP NonStop servers. HP NonStop servers also process more than 60 percent of the world's equity transactions and automate 64 of the world's largest exchanges.1 As a result, customers who use HP NonStop must address demanding compliance and governance requirements for security of data at rest. NetApp’s partnership with TSI will now provide HP NonStop customers with DataFort in-line encryption, which locks down data on disk or tape without impacting performance or requiring any changes to the computing environment.

“Security has always been a critical issue in HP NonStop computing environments due to the sensitive nature of the transactions that are processed,” said Shawn Sabanayagam, CEO of TSI. “With HP already leveraging NetApp DataFort for disk encryption, partnering with NetApp to also provide tape encryption was an easy decision. With NetApp’s long history of success in securing the data center combined with the large installed base of DataFort open platform customers, we’re confident that HP NonStop customers will be able to rest easy knowing their data is secured by TSI integrated DataFort solutions.”

HP NonStop customers will benefit from a NetApp DataFort storage security appliance that provides wire-speed encryption and authentication. DataFort fits transparently into any disk or tape storage environment, providing customers with data protection from both internal and external threats. Playing a key part in the overall DataFort solution is the NetApp KM500 Lifetime Key Management appliance. The KM500 stores and manages encryption keys and DataFort configurations for all DataFort appliances across the enterprise. The KM500 is able to scale to accommodate hundreds of encryption endpoints, providing customers with increased flexibility. It also provides an open interface that enables custom end user applications access to a highly secure key manager. With FIPS 140-2 level 3 validation across the entire storage encryption product line, HP NonStop customers have access to one of the highest levels of security for their encryption solution.

“The HP NonStop value proposition of providing continuous availability for business operations, simplified management, and real-time business solutions for the enterprise is right in line with NetApp’s,” said Tim Russell, vice president and general manager of the Storage Security business unit at NetApp. “Through our partnership with TSI, we are able to provide HP NonStop customers with a top-of-the-line data security and encryption solution. At the same time it allows us to gain tremendous traction with the Fortune 1,000 high-end customers that TSI serves.”

TSI currently provides all tape drive, tape automation, tape library management software, and connectivity solutions sold by HP’s NonStop Enterprise Division (NED). The TSI integrated DataFort products are compatible with all HP NonStop H-series operating systems (OSs) and select G-series OSs. TSI’s DataFort products will be sold by TSI as the TD5000 and TD10000 appliances for the two-port and 10-port configurations, respectively. All future releases of the G-series and H-series as well as the new J-series NonStop OS for blade servers will be tested for compatibility with all TSI products prior to release by HP.