Tandem Computers Inc’s Atalla Corp in San Jose, California has launched the A6000 Network Security Processor and claims that it attaches to any host system that supports IBM’s Synchronous Data Link Control implementation of the HDLC protocol (for those confused by that, there were two definitions of HDLC, and needless to say the one chosen for use in X25 was not the one that IBM used for SDLC). A6000 implements in hardware the cryptographic functions necessary to ensure that only authorised users have access to the network, Atalla says, and that network transactions are protected from unauthorised alteration, duplication, loss or disclosure. The A6000 package follows Tandem’s standard for fault tolerance and offers nine times the performance of the previous Atalla Security Modules. It is designed to provide secure transactions for Electronic Data Interchange, Electronic Funds Transfer at Point-of-Sale, automatic teller machine support and wholesale money transfer, as well as for transmission of critical corporate data. It provides support for personal identification number encryption, verification and translation using ANSI X9.8 1982; message authentication ANSI X9.9-1987; data encryption/decryption ANSI 3.92-1987; Visa Card Verification Value and Visa Unique Key Per Transaction and costs $20,000. The standard configuration for Tandem NonStop CLX or Cyclone is $44,800, has two A6000s and provides up to 90 transactions per second. The A6000 machine is available immediately.
