Cylink Targets ISDN Encryptors at WANs

Cylink Corp., a provider of technologies for securing e-business, rolled out two new ISDN encryptors last week for customers in Japan and Europe. The company is working on another version of the product slated for launch in the U.S. market later this year.

The encryptors are designed for businesses that transmit highly confidential client information.

“Our typical customers tend to be financial institutions and U.S. government agencies,” said John Parker, director of Cylinks WAN product line. “In Japan, the product is targeted at banks.”

Cylink anticipates high demand for ISDN in Europe as well, touting it as particularly useful for transmitting rich media such as graphics and video. The company has said it will partner with a German provider, DICA Technologies AG, of Berlin, to offer encryptors under an OEM agreement.

The Santa Clara, Calif., company is promoting the new ISDN encryptors as powerful yet affordable solutions for securing wide-area networking.

The encryptors are available for high- and low-bandwidth operations. The BRI (Basic Rate Interface) encryptor, targeted at telecommuters remote access service and other low-bandwidth connections, supports speeds up to 128K bps. For large-scale applications, including videoconferencing and LAN-to-LAN communications, the Primary Rate Interface supports up to 2M bps.

Cylink also plans to ship a Java-based security management system to allow centralized control of the encryption products, including its NetHawk virtual private network. The PrivaCy Manager will let users perform remote diagnostics and will prevent eavesdropping.

The U.S. version of the BRI encryptor will secure up to four ISDN lines for videoconferencing at speeds up to 512K bps, company officials said.