ncompassing but flexible net- work security is in place. Last but not least, these network security capabilities enable the manu- facturers of such products to compete effectively with the current Fibre Channel SAN infrastructure. The IETF has decided that the security framework of iSCSI will be based on IPsec, a set of cryp- tographic technologies and specifications. IPsec can not only allow encryption and authentication at different levels of sophistication for all packets and participating endpoints, but it also brings along years of proven solidity in mission-critical circumstances. IP-savvy organizations usually have exten- sive skills in deploying IPsec schemes. Some leading storage system vendors, including the power- house EMC, have also proposed a similar security specification for the Fibre Channel environment to the IETF known as FCsec. In conjunction with IPsec, it shows which direction the industry is taking on both of these storage realms. SECURE SNP TRENDS AND CONCERNS MOVING FORWARD However, several important differences exist between classical IPsec, such as the IPsec encountered in firewalls, virtual private networks (VPNs), or typical modern routers, and IPsec as required envisioned by secure storage networks. To start with, the performance requirements for multigigabit throughput and latency as well as the session traffic statistics of IP storage traffic require improved efficiency for the implementation of wire-speed IPsec, when compared to classical data-processing network traffic IPsec operations. The high percentage of large packets for IP storage networks as opposed to the classical data networks case should also be considered. Sessions between IP storage endpoints usually last longer than many traditional data-processing applications (for example, e-mail or Hypertext Transfer Protocol [HTTP]-based file transfer involved in web browsing). Looking to the future and thinking along the paths of integration and consolidation, the question arises as to whether an SNP-optimized IPsec processor 