New 40G MACsec product to add security to Ethernet links

Algotronix has announced that it has now added a 40G MACsec version to its growing range of intellectual property cores. The Media Access Control Security (MACsec) products are designed to efficiently meet the requirements of IEEE 802.1AE. The 40G joins the existing 10G and 1G cores to give a range of throughputs. The 40G architectural design is aimed at medium- and high-performance FPGAs or SoCs. The design has been carefully crafted to support both jumbo frames and minimum size packets with a key change on every packet, which represents the worst case situation for the system. The cores support both 128-bit and 256-bit encryption keys. “We are very pleased with this extension to our range of MACsec cores”, said Tom Kean, managing director, Algotronix. “The expanded range of applications needing 40G includes communication systems like Metropolitan Area Networks, data centres, military, enterprise and test equipment.” MACsec includes an option for 'multi-SecY' (multiple MAC Security Entities). This feature is fully supported in the Algotronix core, and allows a transmitting station to use unique encryption keys for packets to different destinations. In a data centre, for example, it allows data from different customers to be logically partitioned for added security. The MACsec core is evolved from the efficient 40G AES-GCM encryption core, and includes the extensive logic required to perform the validation, statistics and Connectivity Associations. MACsec is agnostic to the Ethernet traffic type, and with the introduction of this core can be easily added to 40G systems to provide an additional layer of protection to a network. Commenting on the new products, Paul Dillien, a consultant from high-tech marketing in the UK, said, “Customers will find the multi-SecY option an indispensable feature in many applications, because it provides a more elegant way to implement point to multipoint”. The IP is supplied as source code to allow customers to select from the options to match their needs and to perform a security audit. It also ships with a very extensive verification testbench. All Algotronix AES products are built around cores that are NIST certified for compliance. Applying the cores to ASIC technology provides a route to lower power. The cores comply with the full specification, however customers who do not need all the features can be provided with a sub-set to save resources, says the company.