Vendors Team on Key Mgt. Spec

CAMBRIDGE, U.K. -- Brocade, HP, IBM, LSI, RSA The Security Division of EMC, Seagate and Thales (formerly nCipher) today announced the creation of a jointly developed specification for enterprise key management that is engineered to dramatically simplify how companies encrypt and safeguard information. The companies -- leaders in enterprise computing, storage, and security -- developed the Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP) in response to customers’ needs to enable the widespread use of encryption. The companies intend to submit KMIP to OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) for advancement through the organization’s open standards process.

KMIP was developed by HP, IBM, RSA and Thales to meet the compelling needs of today’s enterprise data center environments, with Brocade, LSI and Seagate joining the effort. All seven companies will now be devoting time and resources to OASIS for ongoing development.

According to IDC[1], 44 percent of enterprises plan to encrypt more than 75 percent of their data by 2009, and one of the top two issues related to deploying encryption is the ability to recover the data[2].

“The use of encryption is widely recognized as the best method for protecting valuable information and enabling compliance with industry and government regulations," says Charles Kolodgy, research director at IDC. “Time and time again, our research shows the primary barrier to the widespread use of encryption is the fear that encrypted data will be lost – slowing the adoption of encryption. Users are demanding strong key management systems and advancing this work through the open standards process offers tangible benefits for vendors, developers and enterprises alike.”

Brocade Communications Systems Inc.