---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 1997 08:37:24 -0500
From: DIGITAL PRESS RELEASE
To: pr-news@majordomo.das-x.dec.com
Subject: Press/Digital Wins US Dept of Comm. Approval to Export Encryption Prod.
|||||| Digital Press and Analysts News ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Digital Equipment Corporation
Maynard, Massachusetts 01754-2571
Editorial contact:
Patrick Ward
(508) 493-9441
patrick.ward@mail.dec.com
Digital Equipment Corporation Wins US Department of
Commerce Approval to Export Stronger Encryption Products
56-bit Data Scrambling Technology
Safeguards Internet Commerce Worldwide
MAYNARD, Mass., February 3, 1997 -- Digital Equipment Corporation
today announced that it has won United States Department of Commerce
approval to export 56-bit encryption products worldwide, the
strongest yet for protecting Internet commerce worldwide.
Last week a University of California at Berkeley graduate
student used a set of workstations to crack a 40-bit encryption code
in 3.5 hours. "The same workstations would require more than 20
years to break a 56-bit Data Encryption Standard (DES Code),
according to Samuel H. Fuller, DIGITAL's vice president and chief
scientist.
"The Commerce Department's action enables DIGITAL to provide
its international customers with complete systems for electronic
commerce over the Internet, including the necessary security
software," according to DIGITAL's Chairman, Robert B. Palmer. "This
makes the Internet more attractive for our customers worldwide, and
represents an exciting market opportunity for DIGITAL."
"We are very pleased with the leadership shown by DIGITAL's top
management, including Robert Palmer, in making a long-term
commitment to develop, produce and market key recovery products and
to take advantage of the Administration's new policy on encryption
exports," said Sue E. Eckert, assistant secretary for Export
Administration.
DIGITAL will immediately export 56-bit encryption for its
OpenVMS operating systems and for its RoadAbout/DES Product for
wireless LAN computing. Shipments of the 56-bit export version of
AltaVista Tunnel will follow this year.
"AltaVista Tunnel software can simply and cost-effectively
create 'Virtual Private Networks,' allowing customers who are
traveling or at remote sites to securely access their company's
private network over the public Internet," said Ilene H. Lang,
president and chief executive officer of AltaVista Internet
Software, and a vice president at DIGITAL. "Now the Virtual Private
Networks we offer to customers in the United States can become
Global Private Networks as the market expands worldwide."
The Commerce Department announced on December 30 that American
companies could export "strong" or Data Encryption Standard (DES)
encryption products, such as DIGITAL's industry-leading AltaVista
Tunnel, if the companies could demonstrate progress in developing
key-recovery products over the next two years. Previously the US
government had restricted export of strong encryption for security
reasons.
Digital Equipment Corporation is a world leader in open client/
server solutions from personal computers to integrated worldwide
information systems. DIGITAL's scalable Alpha and Intel platforms,
storage, networking, software and services, together with industry-
focused solutions from business partners, help organizations compete
and win in today's global marketplace.
####
Note to Editors: DIGITAL, the DIGITAL logo and OpenVMS are
trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation.
CORP/97/537
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