Cylink Inc, based in Sunnyvale, California has introduced an integrated circuit for cryptographic key management applications – but don’t all rush at once, because the US government jealously guards these things, and exports are restricted. The new CY512 key management processor chip performs the special mathematical functions required for public key calculations in secure voice and data communication networks, doing addition, multiplication, and exponentiation on numbers up to 518 bits long. Cylink is expecting designers of security systems for communication and computer data networks to beat a path to its door for a chip that provides a solution to the critical need of quickly performing the calculations required by public key algorithms such as SEEK and RSA. The chip also provides designers with a way to authenticate users before they gain system access through the use of unique digital signatures. The CY512 integrated circuit is now available and is priced at $80 for small quantities, which falls to $49.60 for 1,000-up. It comes in a 600 mil 24-pin plastic dual in-line package, and operates on a single 5V power supply. The CY512 may be exported from the US only when used in equipment for financial institutions or for US companies’ foreign subsidiaries. These export restrictions are similar to those for the National Bureau of Standards’ DES Data Encryption Standard. All Cylink products feature use of electronic key management in order to eliminate the high cost of manual key distribution.
