Hitachi Cable, Ltd. has operationally confirmed compatibility between its Apresia series of authentication switches and the WisePoint system developed by Falcon System Consulting, Inc. (hereinafter called FSC; headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and Representative Director: Masahiro Kishimoto). At the same time, FSC has joined the Apresia security-alliance partner program, EnSEC, promoted by Hitachi Cable.

Concerns about leakage of customer information and other data have risen throughout society in recent years. As an effective measure for countering leaks of information from inside the company, it has become important to secure both the devices used to identify individual users and the company network. To this end, Hitachi Cable provides user-authentication solutions through linkage of its Apresia authentication switches with devices such as various authentication devices and authentication servers.

In general, identification of individual users is conducted through authentication using IDs and passwords. Possible means of ensuring more secure authentication under this method include the use of more complex passwords. However, more complex passwords are more difficult for users to remember, which in some cases has actually led to an increased security risk due to users making written notes of passwords they could not remember.

FSC's WisePoint system, whose linkage with the Apresia series has been confirmed operationally, makes it possible to choose a means of user authentication by one of two onetime-password matrix authentication methods: image matrix authentication, under which the user is authenticated by choosing in a predetermined order from a group of designs displayed randomly, and matrix authentication, under which each user is authenticated by selecting and entering the values required by the server from a matrix distributed to him or her in advance, instead of using a specific password. This enables improved security by making it easier for the user to use a more complex password. Furthermore, the WisePoint system can be configured to conduct proxy authentication for networked applications requiring a range of authentication methods. With such a configuration, simply completing user authentication when first accessing the network will make it unnecessary for the user to perform authentication in order to use each application.

As demand for its Apresia authentication switches increases, Hitachi Cable plans to search out new partners to expand the number of companies participating in its Apresia security-alliance partner program EnSEC, in order to realize advanced security measures suited to a wide range of user needs. In addition, it is working to further expand its share of the Ethernet*1 switch market for service-provider and enterprise use, by utilizing the sales channels of its Apresia sales partners. Sales of the Apresia series for Fiscal 2006 are expected to reach approximately 13 billion yen.

*1	Ethernet is a registered trademark of Xerox Corporation.