BALTIMORE, Md. -- SafeNet, Inc. (NASDAQ: SFNT), setting the standard for information security, today announced the launch of a new line of SafeEnterprise Ethernet Encryptors to secure Metro Ethernet communications. The SafeEnterprise™ family of Ethernet Encryptors have been developed to enable the world’s leading financial, pharmaceutical, legal, government and enterprise organizations to protect critical information assets traveling across regional and global networks. The new products are on display at Interop 2006, which is being held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada from April 30-May 5, 2006.

One of the greatest misconceptions in networking is the belief that fiber optic communications are inherently secure. In booth #705, SafeNet will have two demonstrations: a fiber wire tap to make evident the vulnerability of a traditional fiber line; and the world’s first encrypted video feed secured at Layer 2 over simulated Metro Ethernet using the new line of Ethernet Encryptors.

Global spending on Metro Ethernet equipment nearly doubled last year to about $5 billion, according to new data from Infonetics Research, which projects the market to triple by 2009. As Metro Ethernet continues to become the premier enterprise technology for site to site communications and as data security and privacy regulations become stricter, SafeNet’s line of SafeEnterprise™ Ethernet Encryptors are a security necessity.

"Traditionally, to mitigate the risks associated with high-speed communications, IPSec VPN solutions (which operate at Layer 3) have been used to protect Metro Ethernets. Unfortunately, IPSec solutions, in site-to-site applications, are plagued by bandwidth overhead, latency, and management complexity issues,” said Andy Solterbeck, vice president and general manager for the Data Protection Business Unit, SafeNet, Inc. “SafeNet is proud to be launching its line of SafeEnterprise Ethernet Encryptors to enable organizations to significantly reduce costs, meet data protection and privacy regulations, manage regulatory compliance reporting and auditing, and implement the highest level of encryption security with minimal impact on network latency.”

SafeNet Inc. (Nasdaq: SFNT)