Packaging
Raritan Expands Smart Card Solution Portfolio for Secure and Flexible Access to Data Center Servers
Wednesday 11. March 2009 - Raritan's Smart Card-enabled KVM-over-IP solution supports U.S. Government CAC and PIV Cards
Raritan today announced that it is expanding its smart card solution portfolio to provide data centers with an added level of security for accessing and managing equipment over IP. In addition to providing smart card-authentication security, the new Dominion(R) KX II Smart Card Reader Solution enables card readers to be placed where they are most convenient to IT administrators — including outside the data center.
The new solution is being unveiled at this week’s FOSE 2009 conference event for government information technology professionals. The KX II solution works with smart card readers that support widely deployed smart cards, including the U.S. Government’s Common Access Cards (CAC) and Personal Identity Verification (PIV) cards.
Whether working from a remote location or in the data center, authorized users are authenticated by inserting cards into the Smart Card/CAC Reader connected to their remote workstation or the Dominion KX II switch in the data center. A single card reader can authenticate access to multiple target servers. Once authenticated, users are given BIOS-level access and keyboard, video and mouse control of servers from any Web browser. Remote IT administrators can securely manage and view servers as if they were sitting in front of the rack, enabling them to perform software uploads, assess equipment health, repair operating systems, power cycle servers, and other server management operations.
“Our smart card solutions are ideal for government, financial and other organizations that want to augment their security policies with smart card authentication technology,” said Peter Suriani, Director of Product Management at Raritan. “Raritan’s solutions can help organizations securely manage their data center equipment and track who is accessing what IT assets and data. We have worked with a number of customers — including the Department of Defense — to define the requirements for our smart card solutions. As a result, our solutions work with widely deployed smart cards, including special government smart cards, called Common Access Cards, used for complying with U.S. Homeland Security Presidential Directive HSPD-12.”
For additional security measures, the Dominion KX II solution does not store or cache smart card data, and requires re-authentication when switching between servers. Smart card sessions are in private mode, allowing only one user at a time to access a given server. In addition, all data traffic — including keyboard, mouse, video, and Virtual Media — are encrypted with 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) or 128-bit RC4 encryption.
Additional capabilities — including both out-of-band and in-band access choices — are provided when used with Raritan’s CommandCenter(R) Secure Gateway solution that aggregates multiple KX II switches and connected servers using one IP address.