Broadcom is to embed cryptographic acceleration technology from nCypher into its networking chips.

As encryption becomes more widely-used in securing communications over the Internet, networking kit has to quickly process and manage the flow of encrypted traffic.

Vendors, most notably Intel, already supply chips that offload the heavy number-crunching work involved in performing encryption on Web servers; so the interest in the nCipher deal is that it brings similar technology to switches and network appliances.

The alliance means that Broadcom chips, which are commonly used in broadband networking kit, will be outfitted with nCipher Internet security and key management technology.

Broadcom's BCM5821and the CryptoNetX line of acceleration adapters are expected to be the first to be retrofitted with nCipher technology. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. ®