[Cygnus Solutions - Press Releases] Media Contacts: Nancy Chou Crystal Boykin Cygnus Solutions, Inc. Golin/Harris Technologies nchou@cygnus.com cboykin@hi-tech.com (408) 542-9687 (415) 904-7000, ext. 242 Cygnus Solutions Introduces Free Kerberos Network Security Solution Company Initiates Effort to Drive Industry Standard in Network Security for Desktop Computing Environments SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept. 3, 1997-- Cygnus Solutions, the leader in cross-platform development tools for 32- and 64-bit microprocessors, today announced the availability of the industry's first Kerberos implementation that fully supports Unix and Windows NT systems. The Cygnus Kerberos solution, KerbNet(TM) Security, provides a secure network authentication mechanism guaranteeing the true identity of network users and resources. KerbNet will be released freely to the marketplace via http://www.cygnus.com/product/kerbnet-download.html . Giving away its leading commercial implementation of Kerberos technology free-of-charge marks Cygnus' move to establish standards in the desktop market that enable key functionality in embedded computing products. Cygnus will make KerbNet binaries and sources available to the marketplace and allow the technologies to be modified or redistributed. Due to the nature of software enhancements of freely available Internet technologies, Cygnus will no longer offer KerbNet support to new customers. Cygnus will, however, continue to provide support services to existing KerbNet customers. "By releasing the KerbNet client-server technology to the marketplace free-of-charge, Cygnus has reduced the barriers to adoption for a set of industry-proven technologies," said Scott Petry, product marketing director of Cygnus Solutions. "Releasing Cygnus' innovative technologies freely to the marketplace is consistent with our business model. KerbNet adds to the more than ten million dollars that Cygnus already invests in the Internet for software research and development efforts," added Petry. KerbNet's feature set is targeted at enterprise-wide desktop computing requirements and is designed to establish network security standards that embedded developers can leverage in new mobile computing products. According to 82 percent of respondents in a 1996 Ernst and Young survey, secure user authentication ranks as either an important or extremely important network security component. Dataquest projects network security services to grow from 600 million in 1997 to one billion in 1999. A True Network Security Solution Since the early 1990's, Cygnus has been the leading commercial development force behind MIT's Kerberos technology. Cygnus has extended Kerberos across multiple platforms and added components to make it easy to administer in an enterprise-computing environment. Organizations in all industries, including companies such as AT&T, Oracle, Xerox, UUNET and NASA, have deployed Cygnus' KerbNet for secure user authentication. KerbNet's support of Windows NT is consistent with Microsoft's announcement to support Kerberos in the release of Windows NT version 5.0. Today, with KerbNet, enterprise users can deploy Kerberos in their environment with complete interoperability between Unix and NT clients, servers and administrative stations. KerbNet Key Features * Multiplatform support (Windows NT and UNIX) * Scalability to meet enterprise needs as the only Kerberos authentication server that taps the power of an Oracle database to keep user profile information safe, secure, and readily available * Ease of use with an intuitive front end for installing and managing Kerberos technology. KerbeNet can be installed with a simple installation script, and once deployed, administration of the user base is simple with the graphical administration application * Support of Generic Security Services API (GSSAPI) for easy integration into existing applications About Cygnus Solutions Cygnus Solutions is the leader in open desktop and cross-platform development tools technology for 32- and 64-bit microprocessor environments. Cygnus delivers integrated, commercially supported solutions for leading-edge applications on Windows NT, 95, and UNIX environments. The company works in conjunction with microprocessor manufacturers and OEMs on high-level, high-volume applications using robust development tools such as Source-Navigator(TM) and the GNUPro Toolkit. In addition, Cygnus provides its customers with custom-engineered solutions and superior technical support. Cygnus Solutions is a global company with headquarters in Sunnyvale and sales and engineering offices in Japan, the United Kingdom, and Germany. For more information on Cygnus, call 408/542-9600 or visit the Cygnus web site at http://www.cygnus.com . KerbNet is a trademark of Cygnus Solutions. All other company and product names are trademarks of their respective holders. Go back to the news page.