EScon Launched a Range of Encrypted Storage Solutions

EScon Ltd. has launched a range of encrypted storage solutions, the first of which is the Guardian MX-4, a desktop enclosure with up to three terabytes of usable encrypted storage.

Although there is a mature market in MOD, Government, Financial Services and Regional Health Authorities, there are limited hardware based encryption solutions that address data security for local departments of private and public sector bodies who typically do not have large budgets for expensive high-end solutions. Also, there are strong emerging demands from the SME sector to protect data from theft or misuse, these include legal, finance and medical professions which hold personal data, also scientific and academic research data or data generated and transported by design agencies.

Tony Howard, MD of EScon, who has worked with the MOD developing bespoke encrypted storage systems said: “Backing up data to protect against hardware failure or accidental deletion is universally accepted as good business practice, protecting against data loss with RAID based storage is common place, however securing data against theft is less easy to guard against and may not even be recognised as a threat. When the storage unit is easy to steal or accidentally left somewhere, then you need encryption. Within solicitors, accountants, medical practices etc. the loss of data is totally unacceptable."

The Guardian MX-4 also has excellent ‘green’ credentials as the disk drives can be spun down when not in use, this is referred to as MAID technology (Massive Array of Inexpensive Drives).

The Guardian products are packaged in a stylish unit about the size of a music mini system and yet the MX-4/2 and MX-4/4 versions store up to 1.5 Terabytes useable or 3 Terabytes useable respectively, at prices starting as low as £1,999.

Product Features

FIPS Compliant
Password Protection
NIST and CSE AES 256 certified hardware cryptographic processor (Enova X-Wall MX-256)
Real Time full RAID subsystem encryption with Token Key management
Web based GUI RAID
eSATA 3gbs host interface
MX – 4/2TB, 2 Terabytes
MX – 4/4TB, 4 Terabytes
4 x 1-inch Hot-swap drive trays
RAID Levels 0, 1, 0+1, 3, 5 and JBOD
Windows 2000/SP3, XP/SP1 or later, Vista. MAC OS 10 or later. Linux Kernel 2.6 or later