Opengear Joins OSSI's Efforts to Expand Secure Open Source Network Communications within Federal Computing Environments
Opengear Sponsors Extension of the OpenSSL FIPS Object Module FIPS 140-2 validation to ARM Processors


SANDY, UT December 05, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Opengear (www.opengear.com) today
announced it has joined the Open Source Software Institute (OSSI) and
will work to contribute software that will expand the use of safe,
secure computing protocols in Federal computing environments. As a
part of Opengear's commitment to open source, Opengear has extended
the OpenSSL cryptographic module - for the first time making it FIPS
140-2 compliant for ARM-based processors.

The Open Source Software Institute (OSSI) is a non-profit organization
dedicated to the promotion and implementation of open source solutions
within U.S. federal, state and municipal government agencies and
academic entities. As a part of its charter, OSSI works with
representatives of the U.S. government, IT industry and Open Source
Community to maintain and support open source projects such as
OpenSSL.

By joining OSSI:
• Opengear Chairman Bob Waldie will become a board member of the Open
Source Software Institute.
• Opengear's full line of ARM-powered console servers and power
management solutions will be FIPS compliant.

Opengear has previously partnered with OSSI and the OpenSSL project to
sponsor an extension of the existing OpenSSL FIPS Object Module v1.2
validation (certificate #1051) that enables, for the first time, that
open source cryptographic module to meet the FIPS 140-2 standards for
ARM processors. The OpenSSL project is a collaborative effort to
develop a robust, commercial-grade, full-featured, and open source
toolkit implementing the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL v2/v3) and
Transport Layer Security (TLS v1) protocols as well as a full-strength
general purpose cryptography library.

Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) are standards created
by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for
Federal computer systems. These standards and guidelines are issued by
NIST for use government-wide. NIST develops FIPS when there are
compelling Federal government requirements such as for security and
interoperability and there are no acceptable industry standards or
solutions. FIPS 140-2 is a standard specific to cryptographic
implementations.

"Opengear is a recognized leader in the software security industry and
has made a major contribution to the open source community through
their efforts to secure the modification to allow the FIPS validated
OpenSSL module to be compliant for ARM processors," said John
Weathersby, OSSI executive director. "We welcome Opengear as a member
of the organization and look forward to their active participation in
promoting the adoption of open source throughout government and
industry IT environments." Weathersby added that a representative
from Opengear has agreed to join the OSSI advisory board and will help
lead a special Open Source Security Working Group which will
officially launch at the organization's annual meeting in December.

"Opengear has a long tradition of working with various organizations
and people in the open source community to help spread the use of open
source software," said Bob Waldie, founder of Opengear. "The FIPS
validated OpenSSL is an example of industry, government and community
working together to produce and maintain certified security components
for all to use."

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