Providing data confidentiality and data integrity over a fiber-optic communication channel, the Cisco® 10Gbps Optical Encryption Line Card brings encryption to the Cisco Network Convergence System (NCS) 2000 Series and the Cisco ONS 15454 Multiservice Transport Platform (MSTP). You get highly dependable security through the combined use of next-generation cryptography and Cisco’s trustworthy systems initiative, helping to ensure a highly robust architecture and adherence to product security development best practices.

The encryption line card (Figure 1) is a single-slot card that fits into the Cisco NCS 2006 and 2002 and Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP M6 and M2 chassis. The card (part number: 15454-M-WSE-K9=) has 10 enhanced Small Form-Factor Pluggable Plus (SFP+) ports that support five independent encryption streams, providing superb density for 10-gigabit encryption services.

By encrypting the Optical Transport Network (OTN) payload, the 10G optical encryption line card is able to securely transport a variety of protocols including Ethernet, fibre channel, OTN, and OC-192/STM-64 across a DWDM, dark fiber, or leased line infrastructure (Figure 2).

Features
- Integrated transponder: The encryption card supports both grey and dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) SFP+ optics on all ports with the option to use standard or enhanced Forward Error Correction (FEC) for longer reach.
- Secure key exchange: General communication channel 2 (GCC2), secured using Transport Layer Security (TLS) to mitigate a man-in-the-middle attack, is used to exchange the symmetric key for encryption between two communicating cards.
- Single GUI for management: The Cisco Transport Controller provides complete separation between security and transport operations by supporting role-based access control for different users.