Solutions and Technology

Securing 10/40G Ethernet Networks With 40G NSA Type 1 Encryption Devices

Overview

As compute and storage infrastructures grow, information is becoming increasingly globally distributed. Government agencies are finding the need to provide robust, long-range communication to seamlessly connect these distributed resources between remote data centers. Data center connectivity requirements are being driven by, among other things, an increasing demand for large data movement, shifting compute and storage models (cloud computing), data replication/disaster recovery, and access to geographically distributed data, the need to provide secure, uninterrupted wide area network communication for applications and storage between remote sites is critical for maintaining business continuity.

Government network architects are tasked with designing, deploying, and maintaining these globally connected high performance networks that service a multitude of disparate applications and systems. These assets and their contents must be safeguarded without diminishing network performance required to foster efficient workflows. This task is accomplished using government-grade NSA Type 1 encryption devices. But ensuring a secure, seamless fabric between multiple worldwide agencies can be met with challenges due to incompatible local and wide area network technologies combined with limited NSA Type 1 encryption options. Additionally, interoperability must be maintained between each of the unique core networks and distinctive encryption systems so that seamless application connectivity is maintained along with a transparent policy scheme between data centers.

Transparent 10/40G Ethernet Encryption Solution

Bay Microsystems has developed a transparent network encryption solution designed to eliminate the compromises and connectivity challenges associated with securing 10G and 40G Ethernet networks. Using Bay’s Intelligent Bandwidth Exchange (IBEx™) platforms, high-performance 10/40G Ethernet networks can easily be interworked to the 40G NSA Type 1 SONET encryptor for uninterrupted, secure communication between global data centers.

The IBEx product family utilizes Bay Microsystems’ proprietary packet and transport processing technology allowing flexible, low-cost network adaptation and aggregation capabilities for a variety of protocols and interfaces. This allows the IBEx platforms to easily interface virtually any 10/40G network topology including Ethernet, thus simplifying equipment requirements and enabling cost-effective provisioning of high-performance network encryption solutions with the 40G NSA Type 1 SONET encryptor.

How It Works

The IBEx platforms extend the 40G NSA Type 1 SONET encryptor’s network interface capabilities by providing seamless protocol interworking to SONET OC-768 for an abundance of local and wide area network technologies and data rates. This enables the 40G NSA Type 1 SONET encryptor to secure 1/10/40G Ethernet LAN/VLANs by using the IBEx product family to provide network adaptation services thereby enhancing the 40G NSA Type 1 SONET encryptor interface and securing capabilities beyond just SONET OC-768 networks.

Flexible 10/40G Network Encryption Solution

The IBEx solution portfolio also provides support for a broad spectrum of other protocols beside 1/10/40G Ethernet including SONET OC-768/SDH STM-256, ITU-T G.709/G.975.I.4 OTU3, and 4X InfiniBand QDR enabling unencumbered, protocol neutral secure communication in a diverse array of high-performance network deployment situations. This allows the IBEx platforms to provide versatile local and wide area network adaptation services for most 10/40G network technologies both before and after the 40G NSA Type 1 SONET encryptor.