75% Cost Savings When Using Hardware Rather Than Software Encryption

WinMagic Inc., in full disk drive encryption (FDE), along with the Ponemon Institute, LLC and companies in Self Encrypting Drives (SEDs), LSI Corporation, Micron Technology, Inc., Plextor, Seagate Technology LLC, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc., announced the results of a study that compares the TCO of software vs. hardware-based FDE.

In this study, it was found that hardware-based encryption solutions such as SEDs offer more than a 75% cost savings when compared to software-based encryption solutions.

This study was commissioned by WinMagic and has received industry support from SED manufacturers that have co-sponsored the work done by Ponemon. The purpose of the study was to learn how organizations are deploying software and hardware-based FDE solutions for desktop and laptop computers as well as determine the total cost and benefits for organizations.

The Ponemon Institute surveyed 1,335 individuals in IT and IT security in four separate country samples: USA, UK, Germany and Japan, representing a variety of industry sectors.

Key findings from the study include:

• SEDs offer a savings as it relates to lost end-user productivity by reducing total idle time during encryption and excess time spent on traditional operation of the computer.
• With SEDs there is no user or IT idle time during the encryption process as it happens instantly.
• In the US, the per-user/per-year savings value of SEDs compared to software-based encryption is $300.
• On average, when compared to software-based encryption, hardware based encryption with SEDs can offer a 75% total cost savings.
• The TCO for all form of drive encryption is an astounding $300 to $600 per year while the average licensing cost for FDE solutions is less than $20 per year.
• Regardless of the encryption method used, the benefits of encrypting data outweigh the total cost of ownership by a factor of 4 to 20x, depending on the country sample.

"For the past five years, we have been saying there are two key technologies that will drive significant change in the drive encryption market, SEDs and pre-boot networking. The results of this study clearly demonstrate the value that SEDs offer and we can enhance that value with our pre-boot networking solution – PBConnex," said Thi Nguyen-Huu, CEO of WinMagic. "We believe it’s important for businesses to be aware of security technologies such as SEDs and the benefits they offer. We’re very pleased to be working with these industry-leading OEM providers to share this information with the broader community and businesses globally."

"In looking at our data, it is clear there is a substantial cost difference between software-based and hardware-based FDE methods," said Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon. "The main source of differences between software and hardware FDE solutions concern IT tech time/labor, end-user productivity and licensing fees."

The information revealed in this study, which touted the benefits of hardware-based encryption, really is a revelation. WinMagic, recognized by SED OEMs as the leader in FDE and contributing member of the TCG, is one of the few software vendors today that has the ability to support both software FDE and hardware-based FDE.

SEDs are HDDs or SSDs that encrypt the data stored at a hardware level, built directly into the drive electronics, without the assistance of software. This means encryption is always on, the encryption keys never leave the drive and authentication is done independently of the OS.

Many drives today follow Trusted Computing Group (TCG) standards when manufacturing SEDs designed to Opal. Opal is a TCG-developed standard for building and managing SEDs. It is a common set of criteria that SED drive manufacturers follow to ensure compatibility. Many of the co-sponsors of this study are members of the TCG and support Opal standards in their SEDs.

"Encrypted SSDs are undoubtedly the future of business computing," said Justin Sykes, GM of Micron’s client SSD division. "The strong encryption capabilities built into our M500 SSD are drawing significant interest from multiple customers – including those in cloud and web 2.0 applications. We’re proud to work with WinMagic to provide a complete and easy-to-use data security solution."

"LSI was a pioneer in the development of hardware-based encryption for SSDs and we’re excited to see the Ponemon study clearly validate the significant cost savings compared to software-based encryption solutions," said Kent Smith, senior director of marketing, flash components division, LSI. "LSI SandForce flash storage processors have always supported full AES hardware-based encryption to minimize CPU burden and deliver TCO benefits related to provisioning, management and end user productivity. As a key contributor to the TCG-developed Opal specification, LSI continues to be at the forefront of innovations that help to drive the broad industry adoption of hardware-based FDE solutions."

"Plextor is fully committed to leadership in the storage industry and we take that role very seriously. We are excited to partner with WinMagic as one of the first SSD manufacturer to sponsor this study," Darlo Perez, MD for Plextor Americas, commented. "Plextor has gone to great lengths to produce what we believe to be the best storage products on the market. For us, that has meant taking one hundred percent ownership of the R&D and manufacturing process and making a substantial investment in the ground-up development of our proprietary firmware and TrueProtect and TrueSpeed technologies."

"Samsung is proud to be the first drive vendor to offer a solid-state version of a self-encrypting drive (SED), as defined by the TCG," said Dr. Michael Willett, storage security consultant with Samsung Electronics. "The Ponemon study quantifies the significant cost savings for the customer of using hardware-based SEDs versus traditional software encryption solutions. The pairing of the superior performance and durability of a SSD with the robust security of an SED creates a winning combination."

"Seagate has been investing in a broad portfolio of HW-based storage security solutions for many years, and works closely with security vendors like WinMagic to support customer needs around data-at-rest security," said Bob Griswold, Seagate’s SVP, product line management. "As the leading SED storage provider in the market today, we’re excited to see the results of this study, which clearly validates the value SEDs offer for customers looking for maximum security in the most efficient and cost-effective solutions."

"The results of Ponemon’s survey reinforce the importance of self-encrypting storage technology in enterprise environments," said Scott Wright, product manager, Toshiba Storage Products Business. "Toshiba and WinMagic are dedicated to delivering end users with the most reliable and secure storage hardware available, in an effort to reduce TCO and increase efficiency."

Full study summary (registration needed)