Sun offers open-source encryption key management protocol

It's working with standards committees to win acceptance of its protocol

Sun Microsystems Inc. announced today that it is throwing its hat into the standards arena, proposing that its open-source key management application programming interface (API) be used as a universal way to allow encrypting devices to communicate with key management systems.

Sun said its reseller partners can now adopt the open-source protocol to handle encryption keys without additional licensing. The protocol is implemented as a complete toolkit and can be downloaded from the Open Solaris Web site.

"This defines the way a key manager exchanges encryption keys with an encrypted device such as a tape drive or a disk drive," said Piotr Polanowski, Sun's encryption product manager. "The market has been pretty fractured when it comes to key management technology, and we just want to be able to offer widest availability of that. We believe it benefits our customers, and so it will ultimately benefit us as well." Sun said its API protocol is currently available to customers using the Sun StorageTek KMS 2.0 Key Manager and StorageTek T9840D, T10000A and T10000B tape drives, as well as Sun's HP LTO4 drives shipped in Sun libraries.

"Open Storage solutions allows customers to break free from the chains of proprietary hardware and software, and this new protocol extends this lifeline into the expensive and highly fragmented encryption market, Jason Schaffer, senior director of storage product management at Sun, said in a statement.

Earlier this month, IBM, Hewlett-Packard and EMC said they are also working on proposing a new standard, called the Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP) to make their encryption management software work together. The standard is being proposed through the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), the consortium best known for its development of Web services standards.

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