Encryption Blade From IBM

To meet the demands of compliance with regulatory mandates, industry standards of data confidentiality, and digital assets protection, the Encryption Blade or IBM System Storage SAN768B and SAN384B systems from IBM Corp. is designed to deliver:

Sixteen port auto-sensing 8 Gbps Fibre Channel (FC) blade with cryptography (encryption/decryption) and data compression capabilities
Support for Tivoli Key Lifecycle Manager support for both disk and tape encryption applications
Network-based solution that secures data-at-rest for disk array LUNs, heterogeneous tape drives, and virtual tape libraries

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The systems features seamless integration and forward and backward compatibility with IBM b-type and m-type fabrics.

IBM System Storage SAN768B and SAN384B systems can be ordered with Fibre Channel Encryption Blades (feature number 3895). Encryption Blades include sixteen 8 Gbps ports and are designed to support data compression and encryption, with up to 96 Gbps of capable encryption processing and up to 48 Gbps of compression processing.

Advantages of the Encryption Blade solution 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
Plug-in storage security services for existing SAN fabrics

SAN768B and SAN384B systems installed with Encryption Blades are designed for use in the following SAN environments:

New data center deployments with large-scale encryption
Heterogeneous disk and tape storage environments without device-based encryption capability
Standalone data center backbones with encryption and compression in b-type and m-type 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 Encryption Blade is made for applications requiring:

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 Encryption Blade 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 Switch family supports FC connectivity for servers and storage. SAN768B and SAN384B systems with Encryption Blades require: